Viktor Fomenko

In Gen 39 Joseph over and over chooses to do what is right by refusing Potiphar’s wife because he doesn’t want to “sin against God” (vs 9), yet she falsely accuses him and Joseph ends up in prison and seemingly loses everything he worked so hard for.
Its interesting that the story never focuses on Joseph defending himself or explaining. Instead, the repeated emphasis is that “The Lord was with Joseph” (v. 2, 21, 23)

There’s a fine line between defending ourselves and allowing God to be our defender.
There are times to speak the truth and confront false accusations, but we don’t have to become consumed with proving ourselves to everyone.
Joseph’s reputation was temporarily destroyed, but his character wasn’t.

If we take care of our character, God will take care of our reputation and future

In Gen 38 it’s so wild to me when you realize that Jesus’ royal bloodline runs directly through Perez, the son of Judah and Tamar.

Tamar was a Canaanite woman who married Judah’s son Er, but God judged Er for his wickedness and he died.
She was then given to his brother Onan, who also acted wickedly and was judged by God and died.
Judah deceptively refused to give Tamar his third son Shelah as he had promised, because of fear of him dying too, so Tamar eventually disguised herself as a prostitute, and Judah slept with her thinking she was a cult prostitute? What!? Why does God use this particular act of sin for Jesus to eventually be born from these two? Tamar becames pregnant by Judah with twins, Perez and Zerah, what are the chances the timing lines up perfectly for her to get pregnant?
And somehow, out of this incredibly messy and broken story, God chooses Perez to carry the royal line that eventually leads to David and Jesus.
Wow 😳 what an unexpected family tree for Jesus to come through.
A Canaanite woman, sexual immortality, lies, moral failure, injustice, brokenness… and yet God works through it all.

Matthew even intentionally names Tamar in Jesus’ genealogy rather than hiding the messy story.
Judah → Perez → … → Boaz → Obed → Jesse → David → … → Jesus.
God’s doesn’t need a perfect family history to work with people.
He can take the most broken and unlikely circumstances and redeem them into His purposes.

Interesting that Perez literally means something like “breach/breakthrough” because of how he was born.
What a fitting name for a very unexpected son through whom the royal line of David & Jesus would eventually come.

Matt 12:31–32 is the famous passage about how blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven… not in this age or the age to come.

A couple comments on this passage, as it’s often asked about…

I’ve done an extensive YouTube teaching on this passage and this idea as well, but in short, I don’t think blasphemy against the Spirit is unforgivable because Christ’s blood is somehow insufficient to forgive a particular sin, or because God is unwilling to forgive a repentant sinner. Instead, Jesus is pointing to a hardened rejection of the very Holy Spirit who leads us to repentance.

In Matthew 12, the religious leaders see God’s work by the Spirit and call it satanic. If I persistently reject the One who convicts and draws me to Christ, I’m rejecting the very One leading me toward repentance and forgiveness.

Jesus in John 16:7-8 clearly tells us that part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin. The Holy Spirit is the One who draws us toward repentance and faith in Christ.

So I believe a persistently hardened heart, a settled posture of rejecting the Holy Spirit is what Christ is warning about here, not simply a careless word against the Holy Spirit or a moment of criticism, doubt, or confusion.

Often the enemy will try to convince believers that they’ve committed the unforgivable sin, leaving them under condemnation and hopelessness, feeling as though they are doomed to hell.

But if someone is genuinely concerned and grieved that they may have committed the unpardonable sin, that concern itself is strong evidence that they have not. Grief over sin demonstrates a heart that still cares about repentance and relationship with God, not a settled heart of rejection and rebellion against Him.

Gen 28:21 - I love watching Jacob’s relationship with God become personal.
Up to this point, God has only been “the God of Abraham” and “the God of Isaac.” Even at Bethel, God introduces Himself to Jacob as “the God of Abraham YOUR father” (28:13).

But Jacob’s response to God shows that his faith is still immature and God is not his personal God just yet.
Jacob says, “IF God will be with me… IF He will keep me… IF He brings me back safely… THEN the LORD shall be my God” (28:20-21).

It’s almost like Jacob is saying: I know You’ve been faithful to my fathers, but let’s see if You’ll be faithful to me first before I make you MY God.
He just powerfully encountered God, but he hasn’t learned to fully trust Him yet as His own God.

As we continue to read we will see what the next 20+ years of Jacob’s life will teach him as her serves under Laban for 20 years and then returns to his homeland and is about to encounter Esau and wrestles with God…

Jacob personally experiences God’s provision, protection, faithfulness, and steadfast love and kindness and eventually has his own life changing encounter with God at Peniel before he meets Esau.
Afterward he builds an altar called El-Elohe-Israel - “God, the God of Israel” (Gen 33:20).

Israel is now Jacob’s new name, renamed by God Himself in two separate encounters.

By the end of Jacob’s life he calls Him “the God who has been MY shepherd all my life” (Gen 48:15).

What a progression: the God of my fathers → IF You’ll be faithful to me → my God → the God who has shepherded me all my life.

God patiently takes Jacob from faith that is inherited from his parents and grandparents to personal faith built through years of walking with Him and seeing His faithfulness and goodness.

I highly encourage you to track this language in Genesis with Jacob particularly with “God of my fathers” vs “MY God.”

Psalm 8:5 is interesting because the Hebrew literally says in reference to God making man: “Yet you have made him a little lower than Elohim.”
Elohim most commonly means God, although depending on context it can also at times refer to gods or heavenly/divine beings.

So the idea may actually be that humanity was made “a little lower than God.” Which makes a lot of sense because only humans were created in the image & likeness of God. No other created being in heaven or earth carries that description.
And this actually fits perfectly with Genesis 1:26-28 and that may be what David has in mind here in that humanity is made in God’s image and given dominion over creation.
Ps 8:6 similar to Gen 1 says, “you have given him dominion and put all things under his feet.”

The Greek Septuagint (Greek translation of the OT) interestingly translated “Elohim” here as “angelous” - “angels,” which is why some translations say “a little lower than the angels.”

Then Hebrews 2:6-9 quotes from that same Greek translation of the OT “a little lower than the angels,” instead of the Hebrew Scriptures “Elohim” and ultimately applies Psalm 8 to Jesus.

So there’s this amazing progression
Genesis 1 - humanity created in God’s image and given dominion
Psalm 8 - humanity crowned with glory and honor, just below Elohim
Hebrews 2 - Jesus fulfills humanity’s purpose and calling and restores our intended destiny 🙌🏼

Interesting to follow how God progressively develops His covenant with Abraham over his lifetime. It’s the same covenant but it develops and is referred to in different times of Abraham’s life.

1. Age 75 - God calls Abram and promises him land, descendants, a great nation, blessing, and that through him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:1-4)
2. ~ Age 85 - the covenant is formally made/cut by God (Gen 15:1–18). God promises Abram descendants as numerous as the stars and promises them the land. “On THAT day the LORD made a covenant with Abram” (v 18). God alone passes between the covenant pieces meaning it’s a one-sided covenant.
3. Age 99 - the covenant is “established” and given a sign (Gen. 17:1-21)
   God calls it an “everlasting covenant” and changes his name from Abram to Abraham and gives circumcision as “the sign” of the covenant.
4. ~ Age 115+ - God confirms the covenant promise by an oath after Abraham’s was willing to offer Isaac. God reaffirms the promises of descendants and blessing to all nations (Gen 22:15-18).

The span of years that God keeps bringing up the covenant is fascinating. God keeps talking about & reminding Abraham about his promises to him.

Gen 12 God promises it
Gen 15 God cuts the covenant
Gen 17 God establishes it & gives the sign
Gen 22 God confirms it with a promise in response to Abraham’s obedience and faith

Interesting how Matthew uses three different terms for the same being in Matt 4

“The devil” (4:1) = the slanderer/accuser
“The tempter” (4:3) = the one who tempts
“Satan” (4:10) = the adversary/opponent

We’re being shown
his character (accuser)
his activity (tempting), and
his position (opponent of God & people)

Ps 4:7 - “you have put MORE JOY in my heart” - believers need more joy in our lives, I receive more joy in my heart 🙌🏼

Gen 9 - it’s fascinating that the covenant God makes after the flood isn’t just with Noah and humanity. He specifically includes “every living creature,” the birds, livestock, and animals (Gen 9:9-10). Its repeated several times and God calls it an “everlasting covenant” with “every living creature” (v. 16)

I think we sometimes underestimate how important the rest of creation is to God. Animals aren’t made in His image like man, but they are still His creation and God cares about them.

It also connects back to Genesis 6. “All flesh,” man and animals, were affected by the corruption and judgment (Gen 6:12–13) and now “all flesh” is included in God’s covenant kindness.

Sin affected more than humanity annd anll of creation and also God’s redemption and restoration is bigger than just for humanity. Romans says creation itself is waiting to be “set free from its bondage to corruption” (Romans 8:21)

Interesting thought from Genesis 6. We usually think about the flood being because humanity had become corrupt and violent, but the language seems broader than just people.

God says He will wipe out “man and animals and creeping things and birds” and then says, “for I regret that I have made them” (Gen. 6:7). A few verses later it says the earth was “filled with violence” and that “all flesh had corrupted their way” (Gen. 6:11–12).

Makes me wonder how much the fall and sin actually affected and corrupted the animal world and creation itself. Genesis 1 says everything God made was “very good” (Gen. 1:31), but Romans 8 says creation was later “subjected to futility” and is now “groaning” waiting to be set free (Rom. 8:20–22).

Maybe some of the violence, predators in nature, and even strange parts of the animal world we see today aren’t exactly what creation originally looked like.
Scripture doesn’t tell us exactly how much changed, but it definitely seems like sin didn’t just affect people. It affected creation itself.

There is also an interesting biblical theme concerning animal violence and its restoration. One example is Isaiah’s picture of God’s restored kingdom including:

“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb…
the lion shall eat straw like the ox…
They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain.” (Isaiah 11:6-9)