4 - The Rise of Israel

How it all started

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The book of beginnings

Genesis is often referred to as ‘the book of beginnings’.

The Nation of Israel had its beginning in Genesis through the successive calls of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Israel is one of the longest surviving nations on earth.

Actually, in terms of recorded human ancestry, Israel is the oldest identifiable nation on earth as we can trace her ancestry right back to Adam through Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Shem, and Noah.

See Timeline 1 & 2 at the bottom of this page - The combined genealogies of Genesis 5 & 11 provide the vital link from Adam to Noah and from Noah to Isaac. This is how we calculate 1656 years from Adam to the Flood.

Genesis 32 v 28

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”

Jacob was renamed – Israel, and so, the children of Jacob would be forever called the ‘Children of Israel’.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

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The call of Abraham

Genesis 12 v 1-3

The LORD had said to Abram, “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.”

So Abram left as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy five years old when he set out from Haran.

He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

The call of Isaac

Genesis 26 v 2-6

The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you.

For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.

I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws.”

The call of Jacob

Genesis 28 v 13-15

There above it stood the LORD, and he said, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.

Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land.”

Double connection

First: There is the promise of the Land of Canaan. Hence the name; The Promised Land!

Second: There is the promise that - all nations on earth will be blessed through them; God wants people from all nations to know him and worship him. God was not and is not exclusive to Israel.

Psalm 82 v 8

Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.

At the end of each of the 13 time periods on this timeline you will see 'The Thread'. This thread traces all through human history the fact that there is one true and living God. He wants people from all nations to know him.

This was the core message in the New Testament that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Regardless of your background, colour, culture or religion, God loves you and Christ died for you. If you are willing to surrender to him he is willing to save you and transform you into his likeness and bless you for all eternity. The choice is yours.

Timeline 1: Genesis 5 genealogy - Creation to the Flood

Timeline 2: Genesis 11 genealogy - The Flood to Jacob