EP 161: Tracing The Scarlet Thread Of Redemption Through Genesis (Part 2)

“From Babel’s pride to the ark’s single door, Genesis traces a unified thread toward a promised King that converges in Christ. 

Question: How do Joseph’s rejection and exaltation deepen your understanding of Christ’s first and second comings?"

A scattered tongue at Babel and a single open door on an ark don’t just make memorable scenes—they chart a path across Scripture toward a promised King. We follow that path with open Bibles and honest questions, tracking how God overturns human pride with patient promises, how signs and stories become waypoints, and how two prophetic lines—the coming man and the coming God—meet in one person.

We start with the tents of Shem and the Shekinah hint that God intends to dwell with his people. Noah’s ark stands as a living parable: one door, judgment kept at bay, and a preacher of righteousness calling anyone who will hear. From there the focus tightens to Abraham, whose name is made great not by tower-building but by trust. The promises to Abram—nation, blessing, a seed—build a scaffold for hope that stretches to every family on earth. In the laughter of Isaac’s birth we hear the echo of a greater miracle in Mary’s womb; on Moriah we see wood laid on a son’s shoulders and learn the name the mountain still bears: the Lord will provide.

Then Judah steps forward with a scepter and a clue: Shiloh is coming. Early readers knew the word as shorthand for Messiah, a signal that royal authority would stream from one tribe until the true ruler appeared. Joseph’s story brings the pattern into focus. Rejected, sold, thought dead, and then lifted to the right hand with authority, he receives a Gentile bride and offers forgiveness to the very brothers who betrayed him. His second appearance to them is not humble; it is glorious and undeniable, a scene that foreshadows how we expect Christ to return—with splendor, justice, and mercy.

Along the way we unpack why firstborn expectations keep flipping, how typology works without being forced, and why the call remains urgent: the door is open today. If you’ve ever wondered whether the Bible’s earliest chapters actually cohere, this journey shows a single thread running through Noah, Abraham, Judah, and Joseph—tied securely in Christ, the door, the Lamb, and the King. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves Old Testament puzzles, and leave a review telling us which moment in Genesis lit up for you.

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Transcript

From Babel To Human Pride

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Lord, you know. You're now listening to playing God is the best.

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Satan said, I'll be like the most high. That's what Eve fell for. You can be like God. We're gonna make our name great. We're gonna do something about ourselves. And God God scattered their languages, gave them all these languages, and one guy he was using a hammer, trying to build a tower, and he was like, Hey man, give me that song. And the other guy was like, and he didn't know what was going on. Can you imagine the chaos that ensued?

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Hello and welcome to Plays on Word Radio, where we discuss, analyze, work, and play on the Word of God. Thank you for joining us on this excursion today. Let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Fred David Kenny Jr., the founder of Plays on Word Theater, as he does a deep dive into the Word of God.

Two Prophecy Lines Converge

Ark As Salvation And Door

Preacher Noah And Open Door

SPEAKER_02 1:22

During the Exodus, when they left, there was a pillar of fire at night and a cloud by day, and God, the creator, dwelt in the camp of the Israelites. Many see that. Pointing to God dwelling with in the tents of Shem. God himself. So as a messianic prophecy, check this out. In Genesis 3, back with Adam and Eve, we get the idea of a man coming. Here, we get the idea of, okay, it's a kernel, it's not fully worked out, but God coming. So we have God coming and a man coming. Those two lines, the messianic scriptures, will move throughout this, will move throughout the scripture like this, and they converge only in one person. In Christ. You don't see the messianic prophecies converge until it gets to Christ. As far as the God and the man prophecy. We learn about the suffering servant, the man, in Isaiah. And also in Isaiah, we find out that he's going to be from eternity. You know, this one in Micah, not Isaiah. Next to Isaiah, Micah. Out of Bethlehem, I will come to call the one who will be the rule of my people, whose origins are from ancient times, from eternity. And the idea here is like the first kernel of God actually, can God, how's God gonna, how can God dwell in a tent? Solomon's like that. What kind of house can I build for you? But this is where that idea starts, and this is one of the uh prophecies that deals with that. Let's see. Alright, and I'm only gonna go up to Abraham on on this on this study here, so you don't have to worry, I'm not gonna stay here super long. The Shekinah glory, it came to Shem, not the others. Didn't come to Japheth. The word of God came through Shem, the Messiah came through Shem. And it's like I said, it's just a kernel. Now, there's typology. Let's just deal with Shem because he was on the ark. There's typology in this story of Noah. The ark was God's provision for salvation. There was one door, there was one way into the ark. There weren't multiple ways to get into the there was one way. Right? Follow me on this. There was one door. What did Jesus say in John 10? He said, I am the door. He also said, Anyone who comes to me, I'm not gonna cast out. There was one way to go. In multiple places, Jesus makes, he lays down the gauntlet and says, There's not multiple ways. I am the way, the truth, and the life. So Jesus is indeed the door, and there's a parallel between the ark and the door. But there's more. The pitch that covered the ark prevented the judgment water from getting in. Right? It had, God told Noah, make an ark and cover it in pitch. And that pitch that was covering it prevented that judgment water from getting in. And the blood of Christ, which covers, protects us from the wrath of God. It's the blood of Christ. That shed blood of Christ, which is portrayed in the Passover, having the blood of that Passover lamb on the doorpost. Right? Up top. That makes a cross right there. The blood. But there's more to this. The blood. God called the people through the word. I love this part. God called the people. His call. He called the people through the word and the preaching of the man of God, Noah. How do I know that? Look what Peter tells us. And God did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a what? A preacher of righteousness with seven others. And he brought a flood upon the world and then the ungodly. Bottom line is Noah preached about God and his call went out to everybody. There was enough room for other people on that ark. Nobody else came. And when they did come, it was too late. When they did decide, oh, let's get on that boat thing or whatever that is, oh, the door's shut. And they're banging on the door, trying as the water's rising. Let us in, let us in. It's there's a comes a point when it's gonna be too late. Right now the door's open. There's one way in. Stephen, don't let me forget. We gotta talk, we got you need to tell everybody about that. Sure.

SPEAKER_04 6:30

Um today is the day of salvation.

Abraham Called And Promised

Miracle Births: Isaac And Mary

Mount Moriah And The Cross

Bride For The Son Typology

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Thank you. Yes, right. Today it's important. We're God hasn't changed. Noah preached righteousness, and we're preaching Christ. He is righteous, he's the king of righteousness. That's his title. And it so it's in this aspect, God hasn't even changed. He doesn't change, but it's it's just fascinating when you think about the parallel to where we are right now. And God is making that call, and he's making the same call today, and he draws people through his word and the preaching of his word. Primarily through his word, but through the preaching of his word. Okay, we're gonna keep moving on this section. Genesis 12. We learn about somebody where it's gonna narrow down, start to start to narrow down this seed. Genesis 12 is the call of uh Abraham. God says, the Lord says to Abraham, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. This is another, this is another brick building on that messianic concept or the Messiah concept. Now it's not just generalized because there's all these people in the world, it's going to, wait a second, this one guy, Abraham, that God's calling out. And the irony is, if you back up, a chapter before, mankind got together and they said, Let's build a tower. God told them when they got off the ark, they were supposed to go and repopulate the earth. Man didn't listen. Man said, nah, that's cool, we're gonna chill out here in this land here, in this plain. And they did not listen to what God said. They had one language, and they were like, Let's build ourselves a tower, and we we will make our name great. And basically, it's the same thing that Satan said, I'll be like the most high. And that's what Eve fell for. You can be like God. We're gonna make our name great, we're gonna do something about ourselves, and God scattered their languages, gave them all these languages, and one guy he was using a hammer, trying to build a tower, and he was like, Hey man, give me that saw. And the other guy was like, And he didn't know what was going on. Can you imagine the chaos that ensued? So that's chapter before. And now we have God in chapter 12 saying, Abraham, Abram, I'm gonna take you, I'm gonna make you great. I'm gonna make your name great. He'll make you the father of many. And uh whoever blesses you, I'm gonna bless, and whoever curses you, I'm gonna curse. So don't miss that. That's not really pointing to Messiah, but it's it's just uh just an interesting contrast between man and then what God does with this one man. But this idea that in you all the families of the world are gonna be blessed. This these uh he makes eight promises to God. And I mean, he makes eight promises to Abraham. God makes eight promises to Abraham in this. And there are these different there's eight of them in there. I know there's one, two, three, four, five, six, but verse seven is one and thirteen through eighteen. Those are, and these will be up on the website if you want to check them out. What the promises that he says to Abraham what he's gonna do. And there are there's typology. That's what I'm gonna we're gonna close this up in a second. There's typology in this, which is fascinating. You have in Abraham, when he's like 99 years old, he doesn't have, he doesn't, he's got uh Ishmael, but his wife, Sarah, Sarah, is barren, and the Lord comes back and he says, I'm gonna be here next year, and uh Sarah's gonna have a son. She starts laughing. And sure enough, she she got pregnant, and she was beyond childbearing age. The point is, the miracle, the miracle in this is that she who was not supposed to be able to get pregnant gave birth to a son. They named him Isaac, which means laughter. But do not miss how that points to Mary. She wasn't supposed to be able to get pregnant, and she wasn't supposed to be pregnant. She hadn't been with a guy. But yet she she was pregnant. It points to, it's just another little brick in the wall there. At the time, Abraham had no clue how profound this miracle birth of Isaac was. This miracle child was, but that points to Christ and the virgin birth, the miracle of Christ. In a very small way. It's like a one brick in the wall, but it does point to that. Um, if you move further, Isaac grows up when he's older. Abraham takes him, it's in Genesis 22, Abraham takes him to sacrifice him. And Isaac's like, we've got the we've got we've got the wood. Isaac carried the wood. Let me paint the picture for you. You have a father, and he's going to sacrifice his sons. The only place in the whole scripture where God asks for a human sacrifice. The only place in scripture. Except now he's asking us to be a living sacrifice. But it's the only place where God asks for a human sacrifice, and he stops Abraham before he does it. But Isaac carried the wood. The son carried the wood. What did Christ carry? He carried the cross. The son carried the cross. Isaac said, We've got the wood. Where's the land for the sacrifice? And Abraham says, God himself will provide the sacrifice. That's where we get Jehovah Jabreh, our provider. God will provide. And that's a picture and type. And Abraham, he was about to kill his. I mean, it was a dumb deal. Imagine that. He Isaac probably thought he was going for a walk with dad, and then the next thing you know, he's being tied up and he's put on the thing. And Abraham was like this about to kill. And the angel of the Lord, Christ in the Old Testament, says, Well, Abraham, Abraham, here I am. He said, Don't do it. Now I know. Now I know that you love me. You know? And then Abraham's eyes were opened, and he sees this ram caught in the fit. I mean, that's amazing. And that's where he named it, you know, Joe of Jirah, the Lord's the provider. But the interesting thing is the sacrifice of Isaac. This happened probably the same location where the cross of Christ was. It was on Mount Moriah. It was the same location. 2,000 some years before Christ. The same thing. Except this time the father went through with it. There was no one to say, don't do it, don't do it. No, he went through with it. And the son died. And his blood was poured out on that wood that he carried. In Abraham's mind, in the father's mind, it was a done deal, Isaac was dead. And he reckoned, Hebrews tells us he reckoned in his mind that God can raise the dead. He's telling me to sacrifice my son. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. And he came back down the mountain with his son. And it was as if his son was resurrected. When God said Abraham, don't do it, it was as if life was breathed back into his son. And from that point on, we don't hear much about Isaac. Well, until we do. There's a section. Right after that, it goes back to Abraham. And there's this period of time with Abraham. And then we find Abraham telling his servant, I want you to go to my people and get a bride for my son. So the father sends his servant to get a bride for his son. He goes and he gets the bride, Rebecca. She agreed to go with him, and she's coming back with the servant, and the son comes out to meet them. She covers herself with the veil and everything. And then they go in the tent, and then the marriage ceremony happens. Some see this, I see this. Some see this as a picture and a type. The Holy Spirit bringing the bride to Christ. And we meet him in the air. And then we go in, and then you have the marriage supper of the Lamb. It's a picture and a type. Don't want to push it too far.

Judah, Shiloh, And The Scepter

SPEAKER_01 16:24

I was just going to share one of the beautiful things about Abram. God had promised him prior to this event when he commanded him to take his son Isaac up on the mountain of sacrifice. He had told Abram specifically that I'm going to bless you through your son Isaac. And it was the faith when Abraham took his son to the mountain. The reason I believe in my heart that he was able and willing to slay his son, that he knew if he killed him, God would resurrect him because God had already made a promise to him. Yes, that's scripture. And that I believe had God not told him that, I don't, it could have been a little different. That definitely played a role, I bet you played a role in his mindset of life. He's going to bring him back. Right. That he would bring his son back if he went through with God's. You know, I God asks us to do stuff. He's never asked me to do anything like that.

Joseph As A Picture Of Christ

SPEAKER_02 17:43

I think I it's also an interesting point that there's that concept that goes throughout the scripture that it's not always the it's not about the first or the firstborn. You have Adam. Because of sin, he lost his right to be firstborn over all creation. It is the second Adam who was now the firstborn over all creation. You have Abraham had two sons. Ishmael was the one that didn't wasn't following God, that was getting ahead of God. Ishmael did not have the promises. The promises went through Isaac, the next son. And then you move down the line. Isaac had two sons that were twins, uh, Esau and Jacob. And for a meal, Esau, who had the right to be firstborn, he said, I don't care about being firstborn. Give me some of that red stew. And Jacob said, Yuck. Let me get your birthright. Let me be the firstborn. And Esau was like, I don't care. Whatever. Give me the food. For a meal, he gave his up his right to be the firstborn. The things that come with that, and for a meal, Adam. When he ate of that fruit, he gave up his right to be the firstborn overall. Not firstborn, but the first overall creation. He gave up that right. And that theme goes throughout the scripture. We'll unpack some of that a little bit more, but yeah, that's an excellent point. Okay, we're gonna close this up. I have one more thing on this. Did you guys follow me on that? The bride thing, that's a little, it's it you can go off in the weeds and be like, what is he talking about? You know, that the bride representing Christ, uh, representing the church. The church, the Holy Spirit brings the bride to the sun. The sun comes out and meets them part of the way, and then they go into the tent. And it's you don't want to push these too far. I just think it's interesting to make a note of it. So, how about this one? One last one in this section, we'll close it up here because this is under the Abraham thing. Um Judah. This is the next messianic section or anchor or street sign on our GPS. And here, this is fascinating. I have the NASB up on this one too. And I like the NASB better than the ESV on this one. Um, and the King James also renders it the way that NASB does. Um, the scepter, I'm reading from the right, the scepter shall not. Let me give you background on this one. This is when Jacob was about to die, and he's blessing all his sons. He called all his sons to him, and he's about to die, and he starts prophesying over his different sons, and he gets to Judah, not the firstborn, Judah's the fourth, and he gets to Judah and he says, The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes. And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Now, that's kind of cryptic. It's cryptic shorthand and a personal name for Messiah. It's and it was understood by the rabbis as Messiah, the way that the term Shiloh comes. Here, ESV has it written, comes to him until tribute comes to him. Uh okay, I guess you can go with that. Uh, but the idea of this scepter, it means rule or dominion, being in charge. The scepter will not leave until Messiah comes. The scepter will not depart from Judah. And Judah was destroyed, basically, the temple was destroyed in AD 70. But Christ had already come. And no one since that point can say, I'm from the line of Judah. Up until that point, they could. All the records were at the temple. They all got destroyed and so and lost. So Messiah had come, he will come, and we're gonna see. Now there's you guys following on that, 49 10? Um there's a sheet on on I'll put on the website that you can get all these passages. As we go through. Or I can email them too. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 22:04

Apparently, Shiloh is an appellate for the Messiah in Judaism.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:10

I looked it up. And it was like it was known. Yes. Known.

Reconciliation And Closing

SPEAKER_02 22:16

Right. That's why I said it's shorthand, like a personal name for the Messiah. So if they were to say Shiloh, the Jew from the first century be like, oh, that's that's our that's our messianic hope. We're hoping that's our kid. They would know. So that's why I love it. And I also love it because my buddy's a pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Magnusqua, New Jersey. The good Reverend Mike Shiloh. Oh, help me, Holy Ghost. That's where I get that. That's where I get that from. Oh, help me, Holy Ghost. So yeah. So we have typology though, also. I'm gonna end on this typology of uh with Judah. Listen to this. In the typology aspect, and there's more, but just dealing with Judah. When Judah is, and all the brothers with the story of Joseph, the technical dream code, and all that. When Benjamin, the cup was found with Benjamin, and they go back to Joseph's house, and Judah's like, What did you do? What is it? Don't you know I can figure things out? And they're like, Oh my god, you've God's uncovered our guilt, and they fall down before him. And and Judah says, We're we're your slaves, oh man, and the one who had the cup, oh no. And Judah goes and pleads with Joseph. And he ends up saying, Um, take me instead of my guilty brother. Judah makes a point. He wants to be a substitutionary for his brother. The Messiah, coming from Judah, is our substitutionary atonement. He atoned for us. He paid the price that he didn't owe. Because we uh we owed it, we owed a debt. He paid a debt, he didn't know, because we owed a debt we couldn't pay. And so that that picture, that just that typology there, but check this out. In the story of Joseph, overall, you have a father who loved him very much. Jacob loved Joseph. And Jacob, the father, sends his son Joseph, his special son. He sends him to his brothers. And his brothers reject him. You could say this is his first appearance to his brothers, you know, and they reject him. They say, get out of here. Who made you ruler? You think you're gonna be ruler over us, you dreamer? They reject him. Not only do they reject him, they sell him for the price of a slave. He's believed to be dead by Jacob because the brothers go back. After they sell him, they take the dream coat that's covered in blood by the innocent animal that was killed. And they show it to the father. They say, Is this Joseph your sons? And he's like, Oh my god, no, no. He's destroyed. The blood of the innocent animal. Joseph, going through Potiphar's house and through prison, he would be raised to the right hand of power and all authority when Pharaoh makes him the ruler over Egypt. Pharaoh lifts him up with all power and authority. He was equal to Pharaoh. He began his ministry at 30. He was given a Gentile bride by the sovereign. Pharaoh himself said, here is a bride. Her name was Patapharah. And he she wasn't Jewish, she was a Gentile. She was given a bride by the king, Pharaoh. Little side note, notice that the bride does not supersede or replace the brothers. Both are saved through the man of God. That's just a little something to think about. His second appearance, in Joseph's second appearance, when his brothers go to buy grain. And then when he's when he reveals himself and he says, I am Joseph. I am your brother. His second appearance was not humble. He had the glory and the power of almighty power of Pharaoh. He spoke with all authority. He had the glory and splendor. He was dressed to the nines or whatever. He was the man. He was basically Pharaoh in their eyes. The second appearance. Jesus' first appearance, his brothers rejected him. He started his ministry when he was 30, his public ministry. His brothers rejected him. They killed him. But his second appearance is going to be much like Joseph's. When they look upon him who they pierced, they're going to go, oh wow. Because Jesus is coming back with glory and splendor. All power and all authority. The same way, when the brothers saw Joseph the second time, they were like, oh my, what? They couldn't believe it. That it was him. And the same thing's going to happen. There's a parallel there. In the eyes of his father, Jacob, when he saw Joseph the second time, it was as if he was resurrected from the dead. Because in his mind he'd been dead for 22 years. And now he sees his son, and he sees his son with the glory of all Egypt. In charge of everything. This Joseph, he forgave his brothers and he reconciled with his brothers. He had a ministry of reconciliation. Christ has a ministry of reconciliation. He reconciles us to God. This picture and typology is profound when you start looking at it. And that's that's all I'm gonna give you guys today. For for right now. I think we're gonna end it there.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

I'm gonna do this.org.