The Vision of the Patriarchs

The Bible is about one overarching theme: redemption. God's redemptive agenda is not a nebulous philosophy or an ethereal revelation to one person. It chronicles and explains God's self-revelation through many people and set in the context of verifiable human history. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus as presented in the four gospels is the focal point in redemptive strategy when God enters history. The Christian faith, while focused on Jesus, is rooted in the formative narratives of the Old Testament. From the beginning, God has orchestrated his plan. The patriarchs of Israel were the founding pilgrims who paved the way for everything that followed in God's redemptive agenda. This book looks at the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to better understand the extent of revelation God gave to them. We combine the Genesis narratives with other Old and New Testament references to those events to broaden our insight into the vision given to these patriarchs and to us. This is not a comprehensive commentary on the lives of the patriarchs. Rather, it selects certain specific events from the patriarch's lives that speak to us today. My hoped-for result will be our greater appreciation of God's grand purpose in redemption, allowing us to comprehend its enormity, its wonder, its glorious beauty and its inexpressible benefit to us. While finding these truths, we will also discover some embedded life principles along the way that we will do well to know and apply. Through the knowledge of God and His purposes, may our worship be elevated and our love of God grow.