I think we often overlook the Old Testament, as we rightfully pay great attention to Jesus and His work to save us. But I’d like to say that there is so much more to the Old Testament, and if you’re willing, let’s uncover some of these together this year!

We know that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. If we believe that, and we include the Old Testament in our Bible, let’s gain a new appreciation for its creativity, connection to Jesus and expression of God’s plan for us from the start. For example, let’s look at Genesis 5.

We see in this chapter the genealogical records from Adam to Noah. If we take the Hebrew meaning for the names listed here, we gather more insight.

Adam means “man”. Seth means “placed or appointed”. Enosh means “mortal man”. Kenan or Cainan means “sorrow”. Mahaleel means “Praise of God or Blessed God”. Jared means “descent or come down”. Enoch means “dedicated”. Methuselah means “man of death or man who dies”. Lamech means “to bring for or to carry out “. Noah means “rest”. So if we take the deeper meaning of this genealogy then we can arrive at this statement: “Man was placed or appointed, but mortal man brought sorrow. Blessed God came down, dedicated to die to carry out rest.”

The story of the gospel, that is the good news of the salvation of mankind, is here in the first five chapters of the first book of the Bible. I hope you’ll join with me as we unveil understanding from the scriptures.