Grace Greater than our Sin

As we’ve been studying through the book of Genesis, we see time and time again how man, even in their best attempts, continue to fall short of God’s righteous standards and end up facing the consequences of their sin and shortcomings. Often times, the consequence of sin impacts future generations. We saw this with Ham, Noah’s youngest son. His sin caused him to be cursed and if you look at the lineage of Ham, this curse continued throughout his descendants. They have always been the ones who have opposed the Israelites and ultimately, God. Among them is Ham's oldest son, Cush who fathered Nimrod, who built the tower of Babel and the city of Ninevah. His second son, Egypt fathered the Philistine people. His youngest son was Canaan. They have disobeyed God and worshipped many pagan gods. Their territories include Sodom, Gomorrah, Gerar, Gaza, and Sidon.

10 generations later, we see Abraham and Sarah, who took things into their own hands in order to produce an heir for Abraham. Sarah’s Egyptian servant Hagar, gave Abraham a son, Ishmael who became a great nation that opposes Israel to this very day. Isaac and Rebekah had twin sons and Rebekah plotted with the younger son Jacob to steal his older brother’s birthright and blessing. Jacob got tricked into marrying Rachel’s older sister Leah by his uncle, Laban, who became his father-in-law. After 14 years of labor, Jacob eventually married Rachel. Between his 2 wives and their 2 servants, Jacob fathered 12 sons. Through these 12 sons, we eventually get the 12 tribes of Israel. Jacob’s 4th son Judah forgot his promise to provide a husband for his daughter in law after she married his two older sons whom God put to death because of their wickedness. She ended up tricking him and getting pregnant by him. She bore him a son who became part of the genealogy of King David, and eventually Jesus Christ. Among this genealogy, we also find Rahab the harlot of Jericho, Ruth and Boaz, and king Solomon.

Even though we see so much disfunction throughout the generations of man, we also see how there are many who are faithful to Him and see how God uses them both for His purposes and for His glory. This is a reminder of God’s grace and His mercy towards mankind.