Understanding Bible Christianity

1.     How many languages did the people speak? ____________ 

Genesis 11:1 - And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

Until now, there was only one language. The people travelled and lived together. They settled in the land of Shinar, modern day Iraq.

2. The people wanted to build a city and a ___________to reach to heaven.                                                                                

Genesis 11:4 - And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

One of Ham’s grandsons, Nimrod, was a mighty man. He built the city of Babel, which would become Babylon. He rebelled against God and led the construction of a high tower in attempt to reach heaven. This was where the false religions of the world originated. The people wanted to build a city and a tower to reach heaven. They wanted to make a name for themselves and not spread over the earth. This was in direct defiance of God’s command to repopulate the earth. 

3. Who saw what they were doing? ___________________________                   

     Genesis 11:5 - And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.'

4. How did God scatter the people? __________________________ Genesis 11:7-9 - Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Instead of punishing the people’s rebellion with death, God mixed their languages, forcing them to spread throughout the earth. This is the origin of diverse cultures on earth. 

We see throughout history the effect of Babylonian religion on all civilizations. People want to do something to attain heaven. False religions teach people to worship the sun, moon, stars, or trees, stone, and animals! They want God’s knowledge, but they don’t want God Himself. They want to make a name for themselves, instead of giving glory to God. Self-effort, self-sacrifice, and self-glory are the basis of all man-centered religions. But no amount of dharma or karma can take away your sin. God Himself would have to bring the solution.

Notice the common symbols of the sun and moon represented in many religions that originated in Babylon. Nimrod had led the people to worship the sun and moon. Note also that with most of these religions, there is use of tarot cards, special days on full moon, and astrology. These things are related to witchcraft.

Lotus with sun and stars in Buddhism

Crescent moon and Star of Islam

Moon on Lord Shiva of Hinduism

Mary on moon in Catholicism

God said in Deuteronomy 4:15,19, “Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you… lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them…” 

Soon after God had mixed the peoples languages, God chose a man through whom he could have a people to make himself known to the world.

5. God told Abram that he would become a great ___________.                                                    

Genesis 12:1 - Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

God made Abraham, one of Shem’s descendants, a promise that he would bless all the other nations of the world. Kings would come through his lineage. This special people became a very important nation called Israel, also known as the Jews. 

6. What did God count to Abram as righteousness? _____________                               

Genesis 15:6 - And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Just like Noah, Abraham believed God and obeyed him. Faith is what God requires from all people. Abraham’s descendants became slaves in Egypt. So God raised up a leader named Moses to deliver them out of Egypt and to take them into the land he had promised Abraham.

9. The leader Moses went to the Egyptian Pharaoh and said, “Let _____ ____________ go…”                                                      

Exodus 5:1 - And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.

10.   Why did Pharaoh refuse to listen? ________________________                   

 Exodus 5:2 - Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.

God sent ten plagues on Egypt, including frogs, flies, lice and darkness. But Pharaoh still hardened his heart and refused to let Israel go serve God in the wilderness. It is interesting to note that Pharaoh’s magicians were able to replicate the miracles of God for the first three plagues. But when God sent lice, the magicians could not. They admitted that only the hand of God could do this work. Satan has much power, but God is superior and has all power.

11. God had one final judgment to send on Egypt by killing whom? ___________________  

Exodus 12:12 - For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.

12.  For the Israelites to be spared when the angel of death came, what did they have to do with a lamb and its blood? _________________________________________________                                     

Exodus 12:21-22 - Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; 

13.  What did God promise if he found the blood properly applied? ______________________________                                                   

Exodus 12:23 - For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

The blood is significant because it is the life-giving agent. Leviticus 17:11 says, “The life of the flesh is in the blood.” God required blood sacrifices of animals to be offered in the place of man for his sin. This blood sacrifice of animals would offer temporary peace with God.

After living in Egypt, God’s people Israel had been exposed to the idols and false religion that was practiced there. God gave Israel laws so they would remember to only worship Him. The most well-known of these laws are the Ten Commandments.

List of the Ten Commandments:

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
2. Thou shalt make unto thee any graven image (idols).
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Keep the Sabbath day holy.
5. Honor thy father and your mother.
6. Thou shalt not kill (murder).
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness (lie) against your neighbor.
10. Thou shalt not covet.

14.  God said not to have any other ______________________.                                                                                 

      Exodus 20:1-3 - And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

15. His people were not to make any _____________________.                                                         

Exodus 20:4 - Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

16. God said he was a ____________________God.                                                                            

Exodus 20:5a - Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God,

Jealousy is the proper desire to protect what one rightfully owns. God alone deserves worship and glory. It is intolerable to worship anyone or anything else beside the Creator.

17. They who worship creation instead of the Creator have changed the truth of God into a ____.  

Romans 1:25 - Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

18. God gave the Ten Commandments to show how sinful man is. If we only break the law once, we are guilty of ________.                                                            

James 2:10 - For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

19. Is a man justified by keeping the law? Circle one: Yes or No                                                     

Romans 3:28 - Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

20. The law makes all become _____________ before God and gives us the knowledge of ____.                                               

Romans 3:19,20 - …what things so ever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

As a mirror shows us that we are dirty, so the law shows us that we are guilty in our sin. But a mirror cannot make us clean. How would God deliver mankind from sin? How can wicked men be made right with a holy God? 

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