Reading the Bible in One Year as One Story
Bible Readings 2026, Week 5; January 26-Feb.1
Verse of the week to live by:
“God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” (Exod. 3:14)
Stage 3: Redemption
Moses Exod. (2-)
In the flow of the biblical story—Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration—Moses appears after humanity’s fall and Israel’s descent into slavery as God’s chosen instrument of redemption. Through Moses, God acts publicly in history to reclaim a people for His name. The exodus from bondage echoes God’s original purpose to dwell with humanity and answers the pressing question raised in Genesis: How will God undo the curse and restore His presence among a sinful people? Moses does not complete the story, but he decisively advances it.
As redeemer and deliverer, Moses mediates the exodus—the Old Testament’s central act of salvation. God hears the cries of the oppressed, defeats the false gods of Egypt through mighty acts, and sets His people free. This redemption establishes a foundational biblical pattern: grace precedes command, redemption comes before law. “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Exod 20:2). This pattern becomes the template for all later salvation, ultimately fulfilled in the gospel.
At Sinai, Moses serves as covenant mediator and lawgiver. Through him, God reveals His holy character and shapes Israel as a redeemed people. Yet the law also exposes sin and humanity’s need for deeper transformation, preparing the way for something greater still to come.
A defining theme of Moses’ ministry is the presence of God. The holy God comes near at the burning bush, dwells among His people in the tabernacle, and is passionately sought in Moses’ intercession: “If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.” This longing anticipates the fuller reality of God dwelling with His people.
Moses is also a prophet who points beyond himself. He promises that God will raise up a greater prophet like him (Deut 18:15). The New Testament identifies this promise as fulfilled in Jesus—the greater Moses—who delivers His people from a deeper slavery, mediates a new covenant, fulfills the law, and leads them toward the true inheritance.
Thus, Moses is honored in the New Testament as a faithful servant, yet Christ reigns supreme. Moses’ unfinished mission—his failure to enter the promised land—teaches that God’s promises are larger than any single leader and that ultimate rest still lies ahead. The story, therefore, presses forward beyond Moses toward resurrection, fulfillment, and new creation.
January 26; Stage 3: Redemption
Gen. 40-42
1. Gen. 40:23; “Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.”
Was it truly harmful—for Joseph or for the world—that the chief cupbearer did not remember him at that time?
2. Gen. 41:38; “And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?”
What did Pharaoh mean by “Spirit of God?”
3. Gen. 42:5-7; “Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. Now Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”
How does this passage fulfill Joseph’s dreams in Genesis 37?
January 27; Stage 3: Redemption
Gen. 43-45
1. Gen. 43:34; “Portions were taken to them from Joseph's table, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry with him.”
What is the significant of “Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of his brothers?”
2. Gen. 45:5; “And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”
How did Joseph become an instrument God used to preserve life?
3. Gen. 45:8; “So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”
Did God send Joseph to Egypt?
January 28; Stage 3: Redemption
Gen. 46-49
1. Gen. 46:26-27; “All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his own descendants, not including Jacob's sons' wives, were sixty-six persons in all. 27 And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two. All the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy.”
How many from Jacob’s household went into Egypt (Genesis), and how many Israelites came out at the Exodus (Exodus)?
2. Gen. 47:7-10; “Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” 9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.” 10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.”
What does Jacob’s description of his life as “sojourning” reveal about faith, suffering, and hope?
3. Gen. 48:15-16; “And he blessed Joseph and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
Was it God or the angel who redeemed and blessed Jacob?
January 29; Stage 3: Redemption
Gen 50; Ex 1-2
1. Gen. 50:25; “Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”
How do Joseph’s words show his deep faith in God and confidence in God’s redemptive plan for His people?
2. Ex. 1:15-18; “Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” 17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. 18 So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?”
In what ways does this passage anticipate the birth of Jesus, as fulfilled in Matthew 2?
3. Ex. 2:23-25; “During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.”
How should we understand the phrase “God knew”? Does it imply that God was previously unaware of His people’s suffering?
January 30; Stage 3: Redemption
Ex. 3-5
1. Ex. 3:4-5; “When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
What makes a ground in the wilderness a holy ground?
2. Ex. 3:14; “God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
How does Jesus’ use of the name “I AM” in the Gospel of John reveal His divine identity?
3. Ex. 4:31; “And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.”
What does it mean in Scripture when it says that God “visited” His people?
January 31; Stage 3: Redemption
Ex. 6-8
1. Ex. 6:2-3; “God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them.”
What did God mean when He said that He did not make Himself known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by His name “the LORD”?
2. Ex. 7:1; “And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.”
In what sense was Moses “like God” to Pharaoh, and how did Aaron function as his prophet?
3. Ex. 7:2; “You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land.”
How do Moses and Aaron each function in speaking to Pharaoh in this passage?
February 1; Stage 3: Redemption
Ex. 9-11
1. Ex. 9:20-21; “Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, 21 but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field.”
Does this passage suggest that some of Pharaoh’s servants came to believe in the God of Israel?
2. Ex. 10:21-23; “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 23 They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived.”
Compare this passage with Isaiah 60. How do both point forward to Christ?
3. Ex. 11:10 “Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.”
Did God harden Pharaoh’s heart?