Adam to Moses

1. WHAT ARE THE MAIN EVENTS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF MANKIND?
THE BIBLE SAYS -

Genesis. Numbers, chapters 1-20. 32-34.
A BRIEF OUTLINE OF BIBLICAL HISTORY FROM ADAM TO MOSES.

THE ORIGIN, FALL, AND SPREAD OF THE HUMAN RACE. (Creation to about 2000 B.C.)

The creation. Adam and Eve are holy and happy in the Garden of Eden.
Tempted by the devil, Adam and Eve fall into sin. God gives them the first promise of the Savior. They are driven out of Paradise.

Eve believes her firstborn to be the promised Savior and calls him Cain. Cain kills his brother Abel. As the human race multiplies, men become so wicked that God decides to destroy them.
God sends a world-wide flood, or deluge. Only righteous Noah and his family, eight souls, survive in the ark which Noah built at the direction of God.

Of Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Shem, the father of the Semitic races, is chosen as ancestor of the promised Savior. In spite of the flood, sin has not been wiped out. With the growth of the world's population wickedness again increases and comes to a head when men attempt to build a great city (Babel) and a tower reaching to heaven, in order to make a name for themselves. God confuses their tongues -until now there was only one language- and scatters men over all the earth.

God calls Abraham, a descendant of Shem, directs him to go to a land (Canaan) which He has chosen for his descendants, and tells him that the promised Savior is to come from his seed. Abraham and his wife Sarah are childless. Years later God repeats His promise and announces to the ninety-nine-year-old Abraham and the ninety-year-old Sarah that within a year they are to have a son. Circumcision, from now on a pledge of God's covenant with His people, is instituted by God. At this time the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed by fire and brimstone. Lot, a nephew of Abraham, escapes, but his wife perishes when she disobeys God's command and looks back.

Isaac is born to Abraham and Sarah and God declares that this son is to be the ancestor of the promised Savior. Later God tests Abraham's faith by commanding him to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham does not hesitate and is about to slay his child when the Angel of the Lord (Christ before His birth) intervenes. Abraham, the "Father of the faithful," is blessed by God and once more receives the promise of the Savior.

Isaac's wife, Rebekah, gives birth to twin sons. Of these, Jacob is chosen by God to be the ancestor of the promised Savior. The father prefers Esau, the firstborn, but Rebekah and Jacob deceive the blind and aged man with the result that Isaac unknowingly gives the blessing, which includes the promise of the Savior, to Jacob.

Jacob flees before his incensed brother to his uncle Laban at Haran. On the way he has a vision of a heavenly ladder, from the top of which God Himself repeats the promise of the Savior. After serving Laban for twenty years, Jacob, now a rich man and the father of a large family, returns to Canaan. As he nears his homeland, he wrestles with the Angel of the Lord until he obtains the victory and with it a blessing and the name Israel.

Joseph, one of Jacob's twelve sons, is sold by his jealous brothers into slavery in Egypt. He spurns the advances of his master's wife and is imprisoned. Later he is not only freed, but raised to the governorship of all Egypt. A prolonged famine sets in, but under Joseph much grain has been stored during the preceding good years. Jacob's family, having no food, is brought to Egypt and given the rich land of Goshen. Before Jacob's death his son Judah is designated as the ancestor of the promised Savior.

ISRAEL'S BONDAGE AND DELIVERANCE. THE GIVING OF THE LAW.
(ABOUT 1700 TO 1490 B.C.)

After years of peace and growth a Pharaoh, or ruler, who remembers not Joseph, seeks to weaken the rapidly increasing Israelites by making them slaves, cruelly overworking them, and finally ordering every male child killed. At this time Moses is born, placed by his mother into a basket, and hid among the reeds near the riverbank. Pharaoh's daughter finds the babe and adopts him. Through Moses' sister, his own mother is hired to nurse and rear him for the princess. Later he is brought to the royal palace and trained in all the learning of the Egyptians. One day, while trying to protect one of his countrymen, Moses, now forty years old, kills an Egyptian and flees to Midian.

When Moses is eighty, God appears to him in a burning bush and commands him to lead Israel out of Egypt. Accompanied by his brother Aaron, Moses goes to Pharaoh and demands the release of his people. After God has sent ten plagues the king consents. Before the final plague God institutes the Passover. In every Israelite household a male lamb is killed, its blood is painted on the doorposts, and its flesh, roasted whole in the fire, is eaten with unleavened bread. (The Passover, hereafter celebrated annually, pointed forward to "Christ, our Passover, sacrificed for us.") During the observance of the first Passover, the Angel of the Lord passes over the blood-marked homes of the Israelites, but kills the firstborn son of every Egyptian family. Pharaoh now begs Israel to leave.

Numbering about two million people, the Israelites begin their journey towards the Promised Land. God guides them in a pillar of cloud and fire. When Pharaoh pursues them, God opens a dry lane for them through the midst of the Red Sea and drowns the Egyptian army. Feeding His murmuring people with manna from heaven and quails, He leads them to Mount Sinai. Here God, amid thunderings and lightnings, gives His Law to Moses: the Moral Law which is binding upon all men: the Ceremonial Law pertaining to the forms of Jewish worship: and the Civil Law by which the Jewish state was to be governed. The Moral Law had been written into man's heart at creation (Rom 2:14-15). But the writing was blurred by sin. Therefore God now writes the Moral Law on two tables of stone in the form of Ten Commandments. Returning form Sinai where he had been with God for forty days, Moses finds his people worshiping a golden calf. He casts the tables of the Law to the ground that they break, burns the calf, grinds it to powder, strews that upon the water and makes the Israelites drink it. After three thousand idolaters have been executed, God once more writes the Ten Commandments on two tables and gives them to Moses.

Gen. 3:15. I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and Her Seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.
Gen. 12:3. In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (See also Gen 18:18; Gen. 22:18; Gen. 26:4, Gen. 28:14. Compare Gal. 3:16.)
Gen. 49:10. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from, between his feet, until Shiloh come: and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.
Job 19:25. I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.

The two outstanding factors in the early history of the world are man's sin against the Law of God, and God's grace as revealed in the Gospel of the promised Savior. (Law and Gospel are the two great doctrines of the Bible.)

*(a) Lv. 19:2. Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.
(b) Ex. 10:3, 7, etc. Thou shalt... Thou shalt not.

1 John 4:9. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God SENT HIS ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON into the world, that we might live through Him.
*John 3:16. God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.
Rom. 1:16. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the Power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.

The Gospel is that doctrine of the Bible in which God tells us the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ.

4. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL ?
THE BIBLE SAYS -

(a) Luke 10:28. This do, and thou shalt live.
(a) John 19:30. It is finished.
(a) 1 Pet. 1:5. (You) are kept BY THE POWER OF GOD THROUGH FAITH UNTO SALVATION.
(b) Rom. 3:20. By the Law is the knowledge of sin.
(b) Rom. 1:18. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
*(b) John 1:29. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
(b) Eph. 2:8. By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.
(c) Matt. 19:16, 17. Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life ?... If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
(c) Acts 16:30, 31. Sirs, what must I do to be Saved ?... BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

(A) The Law teaches what we are to do and not to do; the Gospel teaches what God has done, and still does, for our salvation.
(B) The Law shows us our sin and the wrath of God; the Gospel shows us our Savior and the grace of God.
(C) The Law must be preached to all men, but especially to impenitent sinners; the Gospel must be preached to sinners who are troubled in their minds because of their sins.

Before the Next Lesson
FILL OUT Work Sheet No. 6.
MEMORIZE the Bible passages marked with and asterisk (*).
READ Genesis, chapters 36-42.

Name the ancestors of the Savior mentioned in the "Brief Outline of Biblical History from Adam to Moses."
(A) ........................................................

Check each of the following Bible passages, indicating whether it is Law or Gospel -
(A) 1 John 1:7. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Law. [_] Gospel. [_]
(B) Matt. 5:48. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Law [_] Gospel. [_]
(C) 1 Tim. 5:22. Keep thyself pure. Law. [_] Gospel. [_]
(D) Matt. 18:11. The Son of Man is come to save that which was lost. Law [_] Gospel [_]
(E) 1 Tim. 6:8. Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. Law [_] Gospel [_]
(F) Hab. 2:4. The just shall live by faith. Law [_] Gospel. [_]
(G) Rom. 6:23. The wages of sin is death. Law [_] Gospel [_]
(H) Is. 58:7. Deal thy bread to the hungry. Law [_] Gospel [_]
(I) Mark 16:16. He that believeth not shall be damned. Law [_] Gospel [_]
(J) Mark 16:16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Law [_] Gospel [_]
(K) Is. 43:1. Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness. Law [_] Gospel [_]
(L) James 4:11. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. Law [_] Gospel [_]
(M) Matt. 11:28. Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Law [_] Gospel [_]