Joseph became a ruler in Egypt. Pharaoh was the only person in the land who had more power. Joseph was given a wife and they had two sons.
There were good crops for 7 years and Joseph had the people to store the grain. Then it quit raining and no crops would grow. The famine was over all the earth, and Egypt was the only country with food.
Jacob sent 10 of his sons to Egypt to buy grain for food. The brothers bowed down before Joseph. He knew who they were, but they didn't recognize him. He gave them food, kept one of the brothers in prison, and told them that when they came again, they would have to bring their youngest brother. (Benjamin was Joseph's own brother.)
Jacob was afraid to send Benjamin, but Benjamin went with the brothers when they returned to Egypt to buy grain a second time. This time Joseph told them who he really was. They were afraid because of the way they had treated him, but Joseph was forgiving.
He told them to go and get their father and move him and their families to Egypt because the famine would not be over for a long time.
Jacob was so happy when they told him about Joseph. Jacob and all the family moved to Egypt and he was able to see his son again.
The famine lasted for 7 years. The Egyptians spent all their money for grain. Then they traded their livestock for food, and finally their land. They all became servants to Pharaoh, but Joseph's family lived in the land of Goshen and had plenty of food.
Joseph's brothers treated Joseph unfairly when they thought that their father loved him more than he loved them. They were jealous, especially when Joseph received a beautiful coat and when Joseph told them of his dreams of the brothers bowing down to him. They sold him into slavery, thinking they would never see him again.
However, God was going to use their evil deed for good. After many years of separation, they learned of Joseph's identity and realized that they had wronged him.
How about you? Have you ever done something wrong to someone else or have been mean to them? Joseph forgave his brothers. How can you get someone to forgive you? When you have been forgiven, how did you feel? When God forgives our sins, He forgets they ever existed. Kinda neat, huh?
This story about Joseph and his brothers can be found in the Bible in Genesis chapters 42-47.
An Angel Announces the Birth of John
A man named Zechariah was a priest of the Jewish temple. He and his wife, Elizabeth, were very holy people. They had prayed for children but had never been able to have a child, and by now they were too old.
One day, the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah. Zechariah was terrified, but the angel said to him,
"Don't be afraid, Zechariah! For I have come to tell you that God has heard your prayer, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son! And you are to name him John. You will both have great joy and gladness at his birth, and many will rejoice with you. For he will be one of the Lord's great men. He must never touch wine or hard liquor - and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from before his birth! And he will persuade many a Jew to turn to the Lord his God. He will be a man of rugged spirit and power like Elijah, the prophet of old; and he will precede the coming of the Messiah, preparing the people for his arrival." (TLB, Luke 1:13-17)
Zechariah should have had faith in the angel and given thanks to God for the good news he received, but Zechariah was not convinced. He told the angel that he and Elizabeth were too old to ever have a child. For his irreverent lack of faith, the angel told Zechariah he would be unable to speak until the time John was born!
Everything the angel said came true. Zechariah was unable to speak, and Elizabeth did become pregnant. It was not until after John was born that Zechariah was able to speak again.
A Fiery Preacher
John the Baptist lived in the wilderness. He wore clothing of camel's hair and ate grasshoppers and wild honey.
When John grew up, God called him to be a preacher and reformer. But John was no well-dressed "feel good" preacher. He lived in the wilderness and ate grasshoppers and wild honey. He wore primitive clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt. John bluntly told people they would suffer the wrath of God if they did not change their ways. Yet, when John preached, people felt that God was working among them, and huge crowds of people went into the wilderness to listen to him.
John announced that the kingdom of God was coming near. He warned the people that being God's chosen people was not enough to save them from God's wrath. They must repent - change their sinful ways. He warned the well-to-do that they must share their food and clothing with the less fortunate. He exposed the greed of tax collectors and warned them not to cheat people. He warned soldiers to be satisfied with their wages and not take advantage of people. John criticized King Herod for unlawfully marrying his brother's wife. This confrontation eventually led to John being beheaded on the king's order.
John baptized people with water. It was a symbol of washing away the old sins and making a new beginning toward living a holy life.
Many people thought John was the the Savior, the Messiah, that they had been waiting so many years for. But John told them,
I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. (NRSV, Matthew 3:11-12)
John Baptizes Jesus
John baptized Jesus in the River Jordan, and the Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove.
That one more powerful than John was Jesus. John, with his baptism and announcement of the coming kingdom of God, had prepared the way for Jesus. There was a spirit of revival and a new religious fervor among the people. It was time for Jesus to begin His ministry.
Jesus was about 30 years old by this time. So far, He had lived His life quietly as a carpenter. But one day Jesus came to the wilderness, where John was preaching, and asked to be baptized. John knew Jesus was the Messiah and told Him, "No, I am the one who needs to be baptized by You. Why are You coming to me?" But Jesus said it was the proper thing to do, so John baptized Jesus in the River Jordan.
After Jesus was baptized, as He was coming out of the water, the Spirit of God came down on Jesus like a dove from heaven. A voice from heaven was heard to say, "This is my beloved Son, and I am very pleased with Him."
An Angel Visits Mary
One day about 2,000 years ago an angel named Gabriel appeared to a young Jewish woman named Mary. Gabriel told Mary she would have a son, Jesus, who would be the Son of God! Mary was confused and worried about this sudden news, but she had faith in God and said, "I am the Lord's servant; let it be as you say."
Journey to Bethlehem
Mary and her husband-to-be, Joseph, lived in a town called Nazareth. But they had to travel to the city of Bethlehem to register for a census ordered by the Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus. Both Nazareth and Bethlehem are in the country now called Israel. It is about 65 miles (105 km) from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and the trip probably took them several days.
When Joseph and Mary got to Bethlehem, there was no place for them to stay because the inn was already full. They ended up spending the night in a stable, a place where animals were kept. There was probably fresh hay on the floor that they used for beds.
That night, Jesus was born. There was no crib, so they laid baby Jesus in a manger, a feeding trough for animals. The manger probably had fresh hay in it and made a nice bed for the baby.
Shepherds Visit Jesus
Jesus was born in a stable and laid to sleep in a manger. The shepherds came to see firsthand the things the angel had told them.
That night, some shepherds were in the fields near Bethlehem, keeping watch over their flocks of sheep. An angel appeared to them and gave them the good news that a Savior, the Messiah, had been born. The angel told the shepherds they could find Jesus lying in a manger. Suddenly a whole group of angels appeared saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"
The shepherds hurried into Bethlehem and found Jesus in the manger, just as the angel had told them. After they had seen Jesus, they spread the news, and everyone who heard was in awe.
Wise Men Visit Jesus
Wise men from the East came to worship Jesus, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Some time later, wise men, or magi, from eastern countries saw a star in the sky that signaled the birth of a new king. They came to Judea, the region around Jerusalem and Bethlehem, to worship Jesus, the new king.
A man named Herod was the king of Judea. He called the wise men to a meeting and told them to find the new king so he could go and worship him, too.
The wise men continued on to Bethlehem and followed the star until it was directly above the house where Jesus was. They found Mary and Jesus in the house and knelt down to worship Him. They brought Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, some of the finest things in the ancient world. Frankincense was burned to make a sweet smell, and myrrh was an expensive perfume.
After visiting Jesus, the wise men had a dream that warned them not to go back to King Herod, so they took a different route home.
Journey to Egypt
King Herod lied when he told the wise men he wanted to worship Jesus. He was afraid this new "king" would replace him as king of Judea. He did not understand that Jesus would grow up to be king of God's spiritual kingdom, not king of Judea.
What Herod really wanted was to find Jesus and kill Him! Herod was furious when he realized the wise men had not come back to tell him where to find Jesus. He sent his soldiers to Bethlehem to kill all the children under two years old, thinking Jesus would certainly be one of the ones killed.
But God had told Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt. Joseph took Mary and Jesus to live in Egypt where they would be safe from Herod. Joseph, Mary and Jesus stayed in Egypt until Herod had died, and then they returned to Nazareth.
God Calls Abram
Sometime around 2000 B.C., God spoke to a man named Abram [A brum] and said,
"Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (NIV, Genesis 12:1-3)
So at age 75, Abram left the land of Haran and set out for the land of Canaan. He took his wife, Sarai [SAYR eye], his nephew, Lot, and all their possessions and slaves.
Ishmael is Born
Abram was worried about God's promise that he would be the ancestor of a great nation of people. He and Sarai had no children, and Sarai was beyond the age of childbearing. But Sarai had an Egyptian slave girl named Hagar, and she gave Hagar to Abram as a second wife. Hagar bore Abram his first son, a boy named Ishmael [ISH may ell].
The Covenant
A covenant is an agreement, and God made an agreement with Abram when he was 99 years old. God appeared to Abram and said,
"I am God Almighty; serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to make you into a mighty nation." At this, Abram fell face down in the dust. Then God said to him, "This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of not just one nation, but a multitude of nations!" (NLT, Genesis 17:1-4)
God also gave Abram and Sarai new names, Abraham [A bruh ham] and Sarah [SAYR uh], to mark their entry into this new covenant.
Isaac is Born
One day, as Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent, he looked up and saw three men standing there. Abraham instantly recognized them as messengers from God and bowed down to worship. One of the men told Abraham that Sarah would have a son within the next year. Sarah overheard this and laughed at the idea that she could have a child; she was already almost ninety years old!
However, just as promised, Sarah became pregnant and had a son the next year. Abraham named him Isaac [EYE zik]. When Isaac was born, Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90.
Hagar and Ishmael are Driven Away
Abraham forced Hagar and Ishmael out of the family because of Sarah's jealousy.
After Isaac was born, Sarah became jealous of Hagar and Ishmael. She did not want them around anymore and did not want Ishmael to get a share of Isaac's inheritance. Abraham cared for his son Ishmael, and he was greatly distressed by Sarah's demands. But God assured Abraham that Ishmael would also be the ancestor of a nation of people, so Abraham reluctantly sent Hagar and Ishmael away forever.
The Supreme Test of Faith
Abraham was willing even to sacrifice his own son in obedience to God.
God tested Abraham to see how strong his faith really was. Was Abraham really worthy to be the ancestor of two great nations of people? Would Abraham go so far as to sacrifice his only remaining son if God asked? So God said to Abraham,
"Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you." (NRSV, Genesis 22:2)
Abraham did not hesitate. He took Isaac and set out for the land of Moriah. He gathered firewood. He built an altar and placed the wood on it. He tied up Isaac and placed him on the altar. He took his knife and lifted it up to kill his son as a sacrifice to God.
At that moment the angel of the LORD shouted to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Yes," he answered. "I'm listening." "Lay down the knife," the angel said. "Do not hurt the boy in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld even your beloved son from me." (NLT, Genesis 22:11-12)
Abraham had passed the test. He had demonstrated that he was willing to obey God - no matter what!
Father of Three Great Religions
Three great religions - Christianity, Islam and Judaism - trace their spiritual heritage to Abraham.
Ishmael had twelve sons who became princes of twelve Arabian tribes. The Muslims of today trace their heritage to Abraham through Ishmael.
Isaac had twin sons - Esau and Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons who were the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Jews trace their lineage to Abraham through Isaac and Jacob.
Because of their shared heritage with the Jews, Christians also count Abraham as their spiritual father.
Genesis 6-8
The descendants of Adam and Eve had become evil and wicked, and God was sorry He had ever created mankind. He decided the only thing to do was destroy them all and start over! But there was one man, Noah, who was obedient to God and found God's favor.
Noah Builds an Ark
God told Noah to bring a pair of every living animal into the ark to keep them alive during the flood.
God told Noah to build a big boat, called an ark, and He told Noah exactly how to do it. The ark was to be 450 ft. (137 m) long, 75 ft. (23 m) wide and 45 ft. (14 m) high. It was to have three decks, be divided into rooms and have a door in the side.
Noah was to find one male and one female of every kind of animal and bird and take them into the ark. He also had to take food for all those animals. It took Noah 120 years to build the ark and find all the animals to put in it, but Noah obeyed God and did just as he was told.
The Great Flood
Noah was 600 years old by the time everything was ready. God told Noah to go into the ark with his wife, his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. Then it started to rain. It rained without stop for forty days and nights! The water got so deep that even the mountains were covered. Every living creature on earth died in the flood. But the ark floated on top of the flood waters and the people and animals in the ark were safe.
Noah knew the dove had found dry land when it returned to him carrying an olive branch.
Eventually, the water started to go down again, and the ark came to rest in the mountains of Ararat. After being on the ark about 11 months, Noah sent out a dove to see if it would find land, but it found no place to rest and returned to the ark. Seven days later, Noah sent the dove out again. This time it flew back carrying an olive leaf, and Noah knew it had found land. After a full year on the ark, God said to Noah,
Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you — the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground — so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it. (NIV, Genesis 8:16-17)
God Makes a Promise to Noah
After leaving the ark, Noah built an altar and worshipped God. God was pleased with Noah, and He promised never again to destroy the earth with a flood. Then God placed a rainbow in the sky as a sign of that promise. The descendants of Noah and his sons filled the whole earth with people again.
Lessons
Except for Noah and his family, all the people of the world were going about their evil and wicked ways. The earth was filled with violence. Mankind had lost sight of God and the way He wanted them to live together in harmony. God rewarded Noah for his righteousness, but He decided there was no choice but to destroy the wicked people of the earth.
Similarly, those of us who love God and obey His commandments will be rewarded with eternal life, but God will not let that life be corrupted by evil people. Those people who have shown themselves to be evil will be destroyed in hell (Matthew 5:22, 5:29-30).
Jesus said His second coming will be very similar to the Great Flood. Referring to himself as "Son of Man," as he often did, Jesus said,
When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah's day. In those days before the Flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn't realize what was going to happen until the Flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes. Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left. So be prepared, because you don't know what day your Lord is coming. (NLT, Matthew 24:37-42)
The Garden of Eden
Adam was the first man that God created, and he was very special. He was created "in the image" of God Himself.
God planted a beautiful garden, the Garden of Eden. It had beautiful trees with delicious fruit - everything a person would need to eat. Right in the middle of the garden were the "tree of life" and the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Then,
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (NIV, Genesis 2:15-17)
Adam was all alone in the garden with no one to help him. So, God put Adam into a deep sleep and took one of his ribs and formed it into a woman to be Adam's wife. Adam named her "Eve."
Of all the animals God created, the serpent was the most tricky and deceitful. He came to Eve and asked, "Really? None of the fruit in the garden? God says you must not eat any of it?" "Of course we can eat it," Eve replied. "It's only the fruit from the tree tree of the knowledge of good and evil that we cannot eat. God says we mustn't eat it or even touch it, or we will die."
"That's a lie!" said the serpent. "You won't die! God knows very well that when you eat it you will become like Him - you will know good from evil!" Eve looked at the fruit on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and saw that it looked fresh and delicious. She thought the fruit would make her wise like the serpent said it would. Eve was convinced! She picked the fruit and ate it, and she gave some to Adam to eat, too.
The fruit did not make Adam and Eve very wise, but they did realize for the first time that they were not wearing any clothes! They were embarrassed and made themselves skirts of fig leaves.
God was Angry
Later that day, God was walking in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were ashamed of what they had done and afraid to face God, so they hid in the trees. But God knew they had eaten the forbidden fruit. Adam tried to put the blame on Eve, and Eve tried to put the blame on the serpent, but God was angry with all three of them!
God punished the serpent by cursing his kind. They would forever have to crawl on their bellies in the dust and be enemies of mankind.
God punished Adam and Eve, and all their descendants, by making their lives hard. No longer could they live in the perfect world of the Garden of Eden. Men would have to struggle and sweat for their existence. Women would have to bear children in pain and be ruled over by their husbands. Adam and Eve were thrown out of the beautiful Garden of Eden forever.
Lessons
This is more than a story about the first man and woman; it is a story about all of us. Adam and Eve thought they would get pleasure and wisdom from eating the forbidden fruit, but they got neither. Their lives were ruined because of their sin.
We may know right from wrong, but sometimes, like Adam and Eve, we give in to temptation and convince ourselves that doing wrong is actually a good thing. Also, like Adam and Eve, we often find that doing wrong gets us into trouble and has other bad results.
Long ago, before the earth and all things in it, there was only God.
On day one , God said, "Let there be light ." God called the light day, and the darkness He called night.
On day two , God made the sky.
On day three , God separated the land from the waters and created flowers, trees, and grass .
On day four ,God made the sun, moon, and stars.
On day five , the birds and fish were created.
On day six , God made animals and then He made people to be like Him. He named the man Adam, and Adam named his wife, Eve.
God rested on day seven . He saw everything He had made and said that it was good.
God made a garden home for the man and woman. It was called the Garden of Eden. He told them they could eat fruit from all the trees in the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The serpent lied to Eve and she ate of the fruit. She gave some to Adam and he also ate of it. They had not been obedient and they had to leave their beautiful home. After that, they had to work hard and had many troubles.
It is always best to listen to God and do as He says.
* In John Chapter 1 we read that the Word (Jesus) was with God in the beginning and that He was God. This is hard for us to understand, but we do know that Jesus was also the Creator. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
The Spirit of God had a part in the Creation because the Bible says the Spirit of God was "hovering over the waters".
