Why read a book from the Beginning?

Genesis is a great place to begin a Bible study. I have gotten the answers to the most important questions in life by studying this amazing book.

The Book of Genesis answers the most important questions in life:

·        Who am I?  

·        Why am I here?   

·        Where did here come from?  

·        Why is life so messed up?  

·        Is there a fix for the mess?  

The Purpose Of Genesis:

·        To reveal to man his origin:

               Created by God in the image of God with the understanding of his 

                relationship to God and the universe.

·        To reveal man’s original fall:

               Adam & Eve’s disobedience and rebellion against God’s Command   

               brings about sin & death into the world and the need for a Savior.

·        To reveal the promise of redemption:

               Through the offspring (Jesus) of the woman (Eve) man will be restored 

               back in relationship with God.

·        To record authoritatively God’s choice of individuals and their descendants: 

   God makes sure a record is kept (Genealogy) of the Jewish Line that   

   eventually led to the Birth of the Messiah Jesus. (note: see Genesis 10, 

   Matthew 1:1-17 , Luke 3 )

God created man for the purpose of His desire for love and relationship. 

God’s primary reason for His ordered creation was to give man a place suitable for him to live. He created the earth and everything else to benefit man in every aspect of his existence. ( Read Genesis chapter 1 )

The Key Attributes of God found in Genesis:

·        Love and Grace

Note:  It is very important while you are reading Genesis to ask God to reveal himself to you out of the passage of scripture you are reading.  It is important to see yourself and the world through God’s eyes. Most of the time we see these things through our own eyes.  An important question to ask yourself is:

·        What do I need to do as a result of what I have learned from my reading?

 Examples:

·        How should I view God?

·        How should  I serve God?

·        How should I view others?

God instituted time and the physical laws of the universe as we understand them with the creation of the universe. 

Genesis 1:1 NIV   

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Even though the universe is so vast God ordained that the earth be the central role of importance because it was designed by God to be man’s home.  

The Big Question:

Is the First verse of the Bible true? 

If  not then all of the Bible becomes untrustworthy.  We must understand

That because we believe it is true, we have the foundation for all things that exist along with the foundation for all truth.

We see that God had a purpose for all the things he created.  One thing to notice is that God pays great attention to detail and order.  It is amazing to think how incredibly detailed  God’s design for life is, down to our very own DNA.

How could this design be the cause of random events over time?

After each day of creation God said that what He created was good. Notice after He created man He said that His creation was "Very Good". We see that God does not give us arbitrary moral standards; what He calls “good” is good because it reflects His Holy Character.  God has given us free will to choose what is good or to choose what is evil. Adam and Eve had that choice as well. They were told to not eat from one tree in the garden, the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were warned that if they did, they would surely die. In many ways we are faced with that choice every day.  Because we have God’s Word we have a clear distinction between what God sees as good and what He sees as evil or sin. We are either with God or we are against Him. Think about which master you serve. I have had to ask for forgiveness many times for my choice to serve the wrong master.

Question: 

Why didn’t God just create everything in just one day? (He could have done so seeing the immediate response to His spoken Command on each day of creation.)

Answer:

Each day of creation was special, specific and orderly. We get to see more clearly His glory in more detail as we see Him create over 6 days.  As we spend time thinking about God’s creation we can contemplate His majesty and power and understand 

just how great and sovereign God really is. This picture of God can only help us to understand that we can not reduce Him down to our own desire to create for ourselves a God, that suits our needs and who also has limited power to do what He has promised. Putting God in a box keeps us a prisoner in the box as well.

·        God Created with the utterance of a spoken word.  Now that’s power.

It is interesting to note that the Bible teaches that, at the time of creation, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit were all present And working together.

Examples:

Genesis 1:2 NIV

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

God creates through His Word. “and God said Let there be light”, and there was light. Refer to John 1:1-4. The term “Word” Is used to designate God’s Son – Jesus Christ.

John 1:1-4 NIV    

 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

Genesis 1:26 NIV  
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

It is interesting to note that in Genesis, the Hebrew the word used for God “Elohim” is plural.  As an interesting side bar, in Deuteronomy we see how in Israel’s great statement of faith, we see the singular Yahweh used with the plural Elohim in a interesting way that suggests the Trinity.

Deuteronomy 6:4 NIV 

Hear, O Israel: The LORD (Yahweh) our God (Elohim), the LORD(Yahweh) is one.  

With His creation, God gave value to all things. Each of us are valuable in God’s eyes and that it why He goes to extremes to get our attention. God has a plan for each of us. We will never know what that plan is unless we spend time with God each day. Many times we ignore God only to act on our own will to further our earthly desires. If we give priority to God in our daily lives, we will learn how to appropriate each of God’s blessings. Why remain in a futile existence when we can experience God’s blessings each and every day.

In Genesis we can see the magnificence of God’s creation down to the very last detail. Don’t you think God cares about every detail of our lives as well? In Genesis we see God speaking life into existence with His Word. God’s Word will also speak life into our existence if we choose to read it and apply it to our lives. When God created  light He separated the light from the darkness. Jesus will do the same for each of us if we follow His ways and if we truly desire for Him to be Lord over our life. 

May I suggest you begin a daily reading of Genesis. While doing so, ask God to help you with those passages of scripture that may be difficult to comprehend or even hard to believe. Then see for yourself how God will respond to your request. I believe He will help you understand in a much  deeper way the meaning of His Word, revealing His Truth about the meaning of your life.

Matthew 7:7-8 New International Version 1984 

Ask, Seek, Knock
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

……………Just Sayin………………..Dave