For some weeks now, I have been studying a bible plan called “Jesus in all of Genesis” on Youversion Bible. It is centered on the times we see Jesus in the entire book of Genesis. This bible plan along with the Holy Spirit, have been a great inspiration to today’s post.

When Isaac was about to die, he called Esau, his first son to make him a meal and receive his final blessing. Note that these kinds of blessings were decree type of blessings. They were sealed in the presence of God and irreversible. Rebekah had told Jacob, her second and most loved son that he should act as his elder brother Esau to get the blessing instead. Move with me, I’m heading somewhere. Jacob replied his mother that there is a risk of him getting cursed instead, if her plan fails. Rebekah then replied “let your curse be upon me” (Genesis 27:13). Now, although the means Rebekah and Jacob took was wrong, this part of the story reflects Jesus. Jacob didn’t qualify for his father’s blessings because he was not the first born however, Rebekah took up the curses that may have followed his deceitful act and she gave him access to his father’s blessing. So also, we are very underserving of God’s blessings and we deserve a curse (because with sin, comes a curse and no man is totally free of sin). But Jesus took up those curses we ought to have received and He put them upon Himself and gave us access to the blessings of The Father. We now have access to the blessings and bountiful gifts of God because of Jesus. (Genesis chapter 27; Galatians 3:13)

In the past times, sacrifices of lambs were made unto God for atonement of sins. It was a repetitive process that involved a lot of stress. First, one has to find an unblemished lamb to use, then all manner of procedures are involved in the slaughtering of the lamb and then subsequently, further procedures in the manner of offering the sacrifice. In a way, this reflects Jesus. How? The bible makes us understand in John 1:29 that Jesus Christ is The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Just as blameless lambs were sacrificed unto God for the atonement of sins, Jesus Christ the lamb of God, offered Himself as a pure sacrifice unto God so that our sins may be forgiven. Formerly, a lamb would most likely cover just one person or at most, a family. But Jesus, The Lamb of God, covers the whole world. This time around, there is no need for repetitive sacrifices. Jesus Christ paid the price for us, once and for all. (Leviticus 23:19; Exodus 13:13; Hebrews 10:12)

Jonah is definitely the most stubborn of all the prophets in the Old Testament. God sent him on a mission to bring salvation the people of Nineveh by preaching a scary message to them of His impending wrath on them (God knew they would repent). The scary message was just to remind them of how great the repercussions of their numerous sins were. Contrarily, the messages of Jesus were not scary at all, however, His messages were also leading to a common goal as Jonah’s; to save the people (us) from God’s wrath on all who disregard Him. Now don’t get me wrong, God is not a man to dish out punishments anyhow. He warns countless times before taking action. Also, if He really wanted to deal with them, He’d not have sent Jonah to warn them. Just as Jonah was dislodged from the world three days before coming back to show people the way to salvation, Jesus Christ was dead for three days and arose on the third to deliver to us all, salvation. If death could not hold Jesus down and you have Jesus living in you, tell me, what can hold you down? (Jonah chapters 1-3; Matthew12:40-41)

In Genesis, only six chapters into the book, we see how God is very much displeased with the level of sin going on in the world at that time and He plans to wipe everyone off the surface of the earth and restart. Nevertheless, He is too loving to do such a thing without a warning, without providing a way out of His wrath. Noah happened to be a righteous man and he walked habitually with God. God in His loving kindness then tells Noah to build an ark against the coming flood so that all who enter the ark during that period, may be saved from perishing. Do you see Jesus now? Just as Noah was a righteous man that God used to save a little population of mankind, Jesus is a righteous Man that God used to save us all. All who entered the ark in Noah’s time were saved from destruction and we are not so sure but what we see from the bible, only Noah’s family were entitled to enter. But Jesus Christ Himself, is the new ark and He has qualified each and every one of us to enter. All people had to do to enter the ark in Noah’s time, was to be related to Noah but to enter The Ark Jesus, all you have to do is believe. Sailing in The Ark Jesus keeps you safe from worldly troubles and in the long run, eternal perish. Come into The Ark, come to salvation. Jesus is calling you to come into His rest. (Genesis chapters 6-7; John3:16; Matthew 11:28; Psalm 91:1)

These are just a few of the times we see Jesus reflected without His name being mentioned. There are so many other times this happens though. The entire bible from Genesis to Revelations points us to Him. Jesus had always been revealed to us even before He was born on earth because the bible makes us understand in John1:3 that the entire world was made in Him and nothing that was made was made outside Him.