In the year 2348 before Christ, over 2,000 years had passed and God became grieved because the people had turned away from Him. He instructed a godly man, descendant of Seth, named Noah and his family to build an ark large enough to contain animals and bird of all different species so that they would survive the coming judgement against evil in the world, and God was going to cause rain to fall on the earth 40 days and 40 nights, including underground earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. This caused a world-wide flood that covered all the earth but God kept Noah and his family safe in the ark because Noah believed God and the other people did not, refusing to repent. God's heart was heavy and full of anguish for He takes no pleasure in judgement, but He is a Just and Fair God and judgement is of a moral necessity. (NEED TO KNOW TEXT)

A year later when it was safe enough, God told Noah, his wife and his sons, Shem Ham, Japeth and their wives to disembark along with all the animals and birds in pairs. "As long as the earth endures", "Never will there be a flood to destroy the earth. I have set MY rainbow in the clouds and it will be a sign of the covenant between ME and the earth". "I now establish MY COVENANT with you and your descendants". "As long as the earth remains, there will be spring time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night". This promise was made to all mankind and every living creature on the earth. GENESIS 8-9

The survivors of the world-wide flood and their descendants set out to build a tower to reach heaven as a monument to themselves. Speaking one language, they became proud and wanted for themselves glory and fame at the city of Babel, a godless society (situated near the modern day Bagdad in Iraq). The people of Babel began attempted to control their own destiny excluding God. Babel later became Babylon. Humanity started to look for guidance from the stars instead of God. Instead of the tower reaching heaven, their rebellious act did, so God confused their language and scattered them all over the earth. Peleg was the ancestor of Christ's human lineage at the time of the language confusion. GENESIS 11

In spite of wickedness of the human heart caused by The Fall in The Garden of Eden, God wanted a chosen people to whom He could reveal He could entrust His word and will for the nations, through whom The Deliverer would come. It was God's decision to call Abraham, a descendant of Shem, to leave the City of Ur, (now Southern Iraq) to travel where God would lead him. Abraham lived in a society of civic laws and decrees, although worshipping pagan idols and the moon and stars. The cities cultured in the arts contained many libraries of History and philosophy.

Abraham was prompt in obedience and in believing God. Abraham was to live in the land of Canaan and God initiated a COVENANT with Abraham,a formal oath. God made a pledge to give this land to Abraham's descendants even though his wife was barren. Abraham arranged the animals ready, as was the custom in his day for binding an oath. God put Abraham into a deep sleep, then a smoking pot and a flaming torch (a sign of His Presence) : thus God bound Himself with an oath that His Promise would be fulfilled. This prophecy was fulfilled through Joshua, hundreds of years later. God also told him that his descendants would be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years in a foreign land (Egypt) but God Himself would punish the nation for enslaving them. GENESIS 15. GOD MADE SEVEN PROMISES TO ABRAHAM THAT WOULD CARRY ON TO BLESS ALL MANKIND. Abraham became known as the friend of God.

In the year 1921 before Christ, Sarah, Abraham's wife, though ninety years old and Abraham was 100 years old, were to have a son, by God's intervention (Sarah had been barren all her life) and he was to be called Isaac. PROPHECY OF CHRIST -"I WILL SIGN MY COVENANT WITH HIM FOREVER."

Abraham entertained The Lord, plus two angels in the form of men, who confirmed the prophecy concerning Christ. God pronounced judgement on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for the people had become wicked and evil, as in the days of the flood. Abraham interceded on behalf of the people, because his nephew, Lot and family lived in one of the cities. The angels were able to blind the eyes of the men in the city temporally because they wanted to abuse them in a homosexual manner, and the angels had to rescue Lot from the men of the City of Sodom. Homosexuality was one of the reasons that caused these cities to be judged of wickedness against God. Abraham's nephew and his daughters were saved with the help of the angels and as they all departed the area, salt, sulphur and tar rained down and covered Lot's wife as she hesitated and looked back in disobedience, for she loved that type of living and really didn't want to leave. She became a pillar of salt. GENESIS 17-19 Archaeologist believe these cities now lie under the southern part of the Dead Sea.

God tested Abraham to see if he was willing to sacrifice his much loved son. 2,000 YEARS LATER GOD DID SACRIFICE HIS ONLY BELOVED SON. Abraham proved his faith to God, and believed God would provide another sacrifice, so God reckoned to Abraham as righteous, because Abraham believed, trusted and put God first. PROPHECY OF CHRIST, God said "I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and through your offspring all the nations on earth will be blessed." Ultimately all who belong to Christ are the spiritual offspring of Abraham. GENESIS 22

Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebecca. Twenty years later God blessed them with twin sons, Esau and Jacob, Jacob being the human lineage of Christ. God had promised Rebecca that Jacob, the younger twin would receive Isaac's blessing. Esau had hairy skin, so when the time came she dressed Jacob in goat-skin to make Isaac think he was blessing Esau for Isaac was aged and almost blind. Jacob received the blessing. Esau was angry, determined to kill his brother, so Jacob fled to his relatives in Mesopotamia. GENESIS 27

The Covenants were a key part of God's plan for the Salvation of mankind. The Messiah was promised through one family, Abraham, his son Isaac and then to Isaac's son, Jacob, and his descendants. Abraham lived approximately 2,000 years before Christ. Only through his family was this heir promised and no one else's family. God planned to develop a nation of people through which all peoples of the earth would be blessed. It was God's sovereign right to choose, by grace the lineage which was of the promised anointed heir.

While Jacob was on his way to his relatives he had a dream from God. Prophecy, "I am The God of Abraham and your father Isaac, all the nations of the world shall be blessed through you and your descendants and I will be with you".

Unlike God, people are restricted to their own territory and different regions, but God, The One and Only True Living God, is not confined or limited by boundaries of any kind. God, The Father guarantees His present help and believers are to rely on His wisdom and strength and not our own. Jesus, The Son, also has promised that He will be with His disciples forever and will never leave them. God promised to direct, sustain and assure accomplishments. By asking Him to help believers can conquer life's challenges, if they allow the help of The Holy Spirit. God promises both Gentile and Jewish believers that they can be confident that He will always be with them, never forsake or abandon them, and never fail to help no matter if a believer feels His presence or not.

Jacob married Leah and Rachel while he was away living with his relatives and he had eleven sons and one daughter. God had blessed Jacob greatly and he decided to go back to his own family. On the way, God came to Jacob in such a form that Jacob was able to wrestle with Him successfully, yet God showed Jacob He could disable him at will. His hip was wrenched by a touch from God, but Jacob would not stop wrestling until God had promised to continue to bless him. "Your name will no longer be Jacob but Israel." Here, in Jacob, Israel the Nation got it's name and characterisation (the people who struggle with God and man and overcome). Later on in life Jacob had another son, making him the father of twelve sons. GENESIS 32.

THE TWELVE SONS OF JACOB BECAME THE BEGINNING OF THE NATION OF ISRAEL. GENESIS 20-30.