Prayer: God, open our eyes to see Jesus! Make our hearts burn in your presence. We want to see Jesus. Father, we ask You to open our minds and soften our hearts to learn more of You…

Read the Introduction, written by the author.
Read the first chapter “The Beginning in Light of the Ending”

The Promised One: Seeing Jesus in Genesis is an in-depth study of the first book of the Bible. Our goal of going through this study is to understand it [Genesis] in the way that Jesus himself taught the disciples to read and understand the Old Testament: as being all about him. As we see Christ in the people and patterns and in the shadows and stories of Genesis, it will help us to understand the person and work of Christ more clearly and cause us to worship him more fully.

Summary

Nancy starts by telling us why we’re starting our study of Genesis with the end of Jesus’s earthly ministry. For it is there that something is revealed that makes us want to go back to the very beginning. This week we’re beginning at the end and next week we continue at the beginning!

Next we read Luke 24. Jesus’s followers thought they understood who he was and what he came to do but they actually did not! Their understanding was distorted or diminished.

“Do you think you have Jesus figured out? Have you ever found yourself profoundly disappointed because Jesus has not done what you expected him to do?”

Jesus explains to his followers who he was and why he was on earth but he didn’t start with his own birth. Rather he opened up Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, all the way through to Malachi. He showed them, “This is who I am… why I came…”. As he worked his way through the OT, he pointed out various prophecies that he had fulfilled but he did more than that. He didn’t tell them to look to the OT men and women for how to live. He didn’t tell them (and us) to follow a formula. Rather he helped them to clearly see what God has done for them through Himself (Christ).

“… Jesus is saying here that the Bible is not primarily about what God wants us to do but about who God wants us to see.”
~Nancy Guthrie

Discussion Questions

Have a look over the 6 points for discussion. Choose to answer one or more of them either here in the comment section or on your blog. (If you respond on your own blog, please leave a comment below and link to it so that we can follow along with you).

What jumped out at you this week in the study? Have you been pondering a particular verse? What have you learned so far? Share a favourite passage or paragraph from the book.

Prayer: Father God, we thank you for Your word… we ask that you use this study to implant in us a greater longing for the end of the story – when we will one day enjoy the Promised One in the way You always intended. Strip away all the false assumptions that we have and replace them with your views. Lord, give us more than facts and doctrine, rather work in us – burn away the impurities that are in our hearts. Father, open our eyes to see Jesus… give us the ability to recognise him.

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
~Luke 24:27

*Next week: We will read through the second teaching chapter (Week 2: Creation) and complete the Personal Bible Study (PBS) section. You might like to put an asterisk beside the questions in the PBS that you’d like to share on. Be sure to underline any key passages in the chapter and your Bible – passages that are meaningful or that raise questions you’d like to discuss.