Genesis -The Book of Beginnings
Introduction
Today we will begin our study of the book of Genesis. Genesis
starts with creation and ends with the people of Israel in Egypt
after the death of Joseph. Genesis is truly a book of beginnings.
It tells us about:
- The beginning of the universe
- The beginning of a perfect world
- The beginning of people
- The beginning of sin (and suffering)
- The beginning of nations (civilization)
- The beginning of our struggle for independence from
God - The beginning of God’s revelation of Himself to man
- The beginning of the plan of salvation for man
Who wrote Genesis?
Moses is the author of the book of Genesis. In fact, Moses,
inspired by God, is the author of the first five books of the Bible.
The first five books are called the Pentateuch and include
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Joshua completed this work after Moses’ death. Of course,
Moses was not an eyewitness to the events of Genesis, having
not yet been born. God told the story we have in Genesis to
Moses through special revelation. It is interesting that the first
and last books of the Bible are given by special, divine
revelation.
What does Genesis tell us?
To begin with, Genesis tells us that God created everything.
Genesis also reveals to us a great deal about our nature. It tells
us this through stories about people and relationships. Most
importantly, it tells us about man’s relationship with God.
What does Genesis not tell us?
God does not choose to tell us anything about how He created
everything, at least from a scientific standpoint. Neither does
God tell us the age of the universe, of earth, or of man.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth.
This is probably the most profound statement ever made. Some
have called verse 1 the “doorway through which we have to
walk into the Bible.” Why would verse 1 be described in this
way? Several answers may be appropriate, but I feel the most
fitting answer is that we must accept God’s creation account by
trust. There is no other way to accept it or begin to understand it
than by trust. Please refer to Hebrews 11:1-3. In these verses,
the Apostle Paul more eloquently explains the trust relationship
we must have to understand the creation account.
What does Genesis 1:1 tell us/do?
This verse introduces us to God, the central figure of all
scripture.
This verse shows that God was in existence before the beginning
of the universe and earth. God is preexistent.
Genesis 1:1 tells us how everything in the universe began.
This verse tells us that God created everything from nothing.
The Hebrew word “bara” is the word we translate into “created.”
Bara means to begin or originate a sequence of events. The
ability to create something from nothing is unique to God alone.
Man must have raw materials to work with, either inside or
outside the body.
Lastly, Genesis 1:1 tells us that God is greater than and separate
from His creation.
What is God’s purpose in giving us such a short, abridged
version of the creation story?
Why did God not give us a scientific account of creation?
To answer these questions, it’s best we refer to scripture. Please
read II Timothy 3:14-17.
Scripture is:
- From God
- for instruction in righteousness
- to show how man can be complete in God.
Therefore, God did not intend for us to understand the “science”
of creation. In fact, it is doubtful man will ever understand it.
We are to accept God’s word by trust in many instances.
Creation is certainly one of those instances. Think about
this….If Moses had brought the fully revealed scientific story of
creation to Israel, would they have understood it? Would we
even understand it today? Most likely we could not. Anything
that is not well understood tends to be rejected. God did
not/does not want man to reject his account of creation.