Read: Genesis 49:5-7
“In all of this history leading to Jesus, God was teaching the world the horrific consequences of the sinful natures that we all share and in that way preparing the world for the one who came from heaven and became a man so that as the God-man he could break the power of sin in the lives of a chosen people. He did that by living a life of perfect obedience and love. He did it by dying on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. He did it by rising from the dead and thus obtaining the forgiveness and new life that would enable his people to gradually learn to love rather than to hate.”