The One Year Chronological Study Bible - Flipbook - Page 23
faithfulness. Flawed people do not prevent God from fulfilling His promises; rather, He receives
great glory for accomplishing His purposes through unlikely participants.
The stories of the patriarchs teach the Israelites about their God (He introduces Himself to
Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), about how He works, and about the importance of walking by faith, not by sight. The promises made to the Israelites’ forefathers develop
their identity and define their purpose.
The book of Job also falls into the Patriarch Era, as it records a story that likely occurred during that time period. Job, a wealthy man described by God as “blameless—a man of complete
integrity” (Job 1:8), suffers unspeakable tragedy. He and his friends then attempt to make sense
of what happened. In the end, God reveals Himself to Job and restores his wealth. The story highlights the experience of suffering, the limits of Satan’s power, and the sovereignty of God. The
story also corrects wrong ideas about God, suffering, and righteousness—especially the idea
that only the wicked suffer and the righteous always prosper.
Throughout all these stories, God reveals the spiritual-formation process that He uses to
develop the type of faith that pleases Him. A gap exists between the promises of God and the
fulfillment of those promises. During this gap, people must learn to walk with God by faith
(Hebrews 11:6). Things are never as they appear in the natural realm. Circumstances are often
the least reliable gauge to spiritual reality.
TH E PATRI A RCH ER A reveals a God who speaks: God initiates a relationship with
Abram and commits Himself to Abram by promising him an heir, a land, and a nation that will
be a blessing to all the families of the earth. He who spoke the world into existence, who formed
and filled it, will do what He promises. God’s detailed information about the future of Abraham’s
descendants, including the announcement of a four-hundred-year enslavement followed by liberation, reveals His foreknowledge and His determination to fulfill the promises He made to past
generations.
The Patriarch Era reveals a God who acts: He opens Sarah’s barren womb twenty-five years
after He first promised Abraham a son. He provides a substitute (a ram) in place of Isaac. He provides a wife for Isaac. He preserves Jacob while he’s living in Haran with his crafty uncle Laban.
He protects Jacob when he returns to Canaan. He gives dreams to Joseph and works through the
betrayal of Joseph’s brothers to position him in Egypt for their preservation. He defends Sarah,
protects Hagar, and vindicates Judah’s daughter-in-law Tamar, through whom runs the line of
the promised Seed, the Messiah. God fulfills with His hands what His mouth has spoken.
God reveals Himself as sovereign and faithful to His promises.
The Bible text for the Patriarch Era begins with Genesis 11:27-31 on page 22.
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