Summary: In just these first three chapters of Genesis, we’ve covered a tremendous amount of history. It is in these very pages where we first learn about the power and nature of God. We learn His name, His character, and His desire. Furthermore, this is where we learn our origin, purpose, and function. It is because of this first part of Genesis that we learn why there is evil in the world and how we recognize it.
If it were not for Genesis, we would be completely adrift and hopeless. That said, it is painfully obvious that these first few chapters not only show us who God is, but actually reach down and show us who we really are, and that God wanted us anyway. It has a message for us if we would simply take the time to listen.
Genesis 1-3
What you really need to know about the book of Genesis is that this is the book that takes us all the way back to the beginning and gives us the account of the origin of everything. This is actually what the word “Genesis” means: “Origins.” Simply enough, right? Of course you knew that. Well what about this? The book of Genesis comes as the first part of a five part book known as the Pentateuch, which is a word that literally means “Five Part Book.” Therefore, Genesis is the first part, to the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), which were all written by God’s servant, Moses.
At this point, you might be tempted to pass by this information and not give it any real consideration, but you really shouldn’t. This five part book, in a sense, kick starts the rest of the Bible for us and provides real substance, meaning, and understanding for the remainder of Scripture. Furthermore, what we have in Genesis, are the seedlings that begin to grow and develop into the rich theology that we see in the whole of Scripture. For example, the book of Genesis is where we first learn about the power of God. We learn that He is self-existent, eternal, and creates literally out of nothing. He speaks, and it happens. It is in the book of Genesis where we learn about the character of God. We find that when God does create, it is a “good” creation. We also learn from this book the nature of God. From just the first few verses of Scripture, we are introduced to the beginning understanding of the ‘Trinity’ as God begins to reveal Himself.
There is much more that can be said, and will be said both in this chapter and in latter chapters, but the point is this: Genesis is extremely important. If you get Genesis wrong, you get the entire Bible wrong. This is exactly why Satan has levied a major assault against this book. I mean, the truth contained in the book of Genesis has become so taboo in the world’s ‘modern’ societies, that many Christians are now ashamed of it. Instead of defending Genesis with boldness and love, its truth has been given away to the scientific community to be scoffed at and made into an intellectual laughing stock. And as a result, Christians have been giving away the very foundation that explains man’s greatest questions: 1) How did we get here? 2) What is the meaning of Life? 3) What went wrong? 4) How is it fixed? All of these questions are answered in Genesis. But if the answers are taken away, where do we go for answers? Ourselves? Others? Where?
I am under the persuasion that we need to get recommitted to and reacquainted with, the book of Genesis. And being reacquainted with Genesis, really is to be reacquainted with who God is. In fact, this is exactly the truth that we are first confronted with… Who“God is.”
God Is— Genesis 1:1
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God…”
There is so much packed into this one fraction of a verse it is incredible! In this verse we see God’s absolute oneness. There is no spouse along with God. There is no “Great Counsel” of deities as other pagan religions have maintained. There is only God.
Now just look at what this teaches us about God: It first teaches that GOD IS self-existent and self-sufficient.
He doesn’t need anyone and he doesn’t need anything to sustain Him. He doesn’t rely on external power in order to survive; he is the power. If the universe, or anything else were never created, God would have still always existed, and would continue to exist, right on into the foreverness of eternity.
A second aspect this verse teaches about God— and something that will become more clear as the chapter unfolds— is that GOD IS speaks of the plural nature of God.
We come face to face with this truth as we read the word “God” in verse one. The name that you are reading here is the name “Elohim” which is the word “God” written in the plural form. Do you see the last two letters at the end of the name “Elohim”— “IM”? This is indicating masculine plural nouns.
We get a little more insight when we come to Genesis 1:26 when the Bible says, “And God said, let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness:”
Furthermore, once we get into the New Testament where we have a more perfect knowledge of God’s revelation, this teaching loses all ambiguity and debate and we simply see that God reveals Himself as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Now, pay attention to what I said. I said that that this teaching loses ambiguity, not it’s depth in terms of explaining it. I tell you this only to assert what the Bible is telling us here. God is plural in nature.
God Creates— Genesis 1:1-31—2:1-25
Genesis 1:1 “…created the heaven and the earth.”
I want you to think about how simple, yet profound that statement is. As was stated previously, as far as our universe is concerned, there was a time when it did not exist. There was a time when the only thing that sat where the entire cosmos are currently operating, was a thick pitch of impenetrable blackness. Nothingness. Nothingness used to reside where our world is right now. And once again, even when there once was black nothingness, there was God.
But there came a time when God stepped into the darkness and turned on the light of creation. Out of His own volition and self-will, God created the heaven and the earth. He wasn’t bound by obligation. He was not coerced by some external force. He created because He wanted to. More specifically, God created, because He wanted you.
And understand, God didn’t create as some have suggested He created and just simply started the process of creation, and then allowed let evolution to take over. That is not what the Genesis account tells us. What Genesis tells us is that when God began to speak the cosmos and life into existence, He did so by giving everything the fulness of maturity. The stars began to shine is if they had always been shining. The spinning and courses of the solar systems began operating as if they had been doing so for eons. Plants, waters, lands, and animals not only suddenly existed at God’s Word, but began behaving and functioning in complete wholeness.
But then we have to stop for a moment and consider God’s crown of creation— man-kind— separately. When you are reading Genesis 1:26-30, your taking in a general, overall synopsis of God’s creation of, and intention for, all of man-kind. In this instance, Adam and Eve were create, were a married couple, and had already received their instruction from God concerning the purpose for their lives.
However, once we get to chapter 2, we are taken from a “general overview” in the creation and formation of man-kind, to a specific explanation of how this was accomplished. Genesis 2:1-25 is a retelling of the same story mentioned in chapter 1 and explains a great deal.
First, we learn that we, mankind, the only creation who received the “breath of life.” Meaning, that as God is eternal, we reflect who He is by having an eternal side to us. In Genesis 2:7 the Bible says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” The first act God completed in creating us, was giving us the ability to be with Him forever. God made an eternal commitment to us before anything else.
Second, God gave a job assignment to Adam. In Genesis 2:8-15, God planted a garden, placed Adam inside of it, and then instructed him to care for it. I want you to notice again how we were created to reflect God in this instance. Ultimately, God created and therefore, He is the Supreme Owner, but Adam— representing mankind— was to be God’s vice-regent on the earth. As God was productive in creation, man was to be productive in the garden. As God cared for His creation by providing resources, man was to care for God’s creation and cause it to produce. As God’s design in creation displays His magnificent intellect, man was to use his intellect to “dress and keep” the garden in which he was placed, as well as naming the animals as God instructed (Genesis 2:19-20).
A third truth we find in this passage is the moral standard of our Creator. God created a moral law for Adam. Have you ever wondered why someone is able to know right from wrong? Have you ever wondered why every culture, no matter the age, had some set of varying rules for living? It starts right here with God. God IS the standard of moral perfection. In other words, moral law flows out from His character and not the other way around. And in this passage, God places the “Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil” before Adam and instructs him not to eat it or death would follow. Adam, everyday thereafter, had a moral choice to make: would he believe and trust God by believing His word, or would he refuse God’s word?
Fourth, we find that just as God is a Being in relationship, man was also created to be a being “in relationship.” What is meant by this is that just as the Trinity is explained in the fulness of the New Testament, we see that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit operate in complete harmony and exclusivity with One another. God is a Being “in relationship.” There is a complete Oneness in the Godhead that cannot be broken or added to.
This is where the creation of Eve comes into the story. Genesis 2:21-25 tells us about God’s creation of the first marriage. God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (2:18). So as the narrative continues, God caused Adam to sleep, took a rib from him, and then formed from Adam his wife, Eve. Adam, then recognizing this significance after Eve was brought to him and said, “…This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (2:23).”
Together they were a complete compliment to the person of God. They were one, just as God is One. There was a complete harmony among them, and there were no additions.
God Restores— Genesis 3:1-24
This is where we move into the third chapter of Genesis. In Chapter 3, we are introduced to the most ardent enemy of God, His creation, and everything God stands is; Satan Himself. To be sure, one really does need a good working knowledge of the New Testament in order to piece this together. In just reading this account, we would be left with some very intriguing questions were it not for the the full revelation of Scripture given to us. Questions like: what is this serpent’s origin? If God created all in the earth, and all creation was “very good” what happened to this creature? How did it learn to communicate? How did it determine to levy an attack against God? However, once again, we know from passages like Revelation 12:9 and Revelation 20:2 that this is the Devil, the deceiver of the whole world.
Once the stage is set for this serpent, we know what happens next. We read on in sorrowful anticipation as Adam and Eve are lead away from their trust in God, from the bliss that He has created for them, and from their sinless innocence, and toward the prospect of being “gods” themselves. How would this happen? By eating of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and thus breaking the one command that God had set before them.
From here, there is only a spiral downward as Adam and Eve begin to cover themselves, then they hide from God, and then a “blame game” immediately follows as God confronts them about what they had done (Genesis 3:1-13).
What happened after this event left reverberating mark on all of human history. God’s image in His creation of man was now marred and ruined. Man was now able to know good and evil, but chose evil in order to come to that knowledge. Therefore, they became inconsistent with God’s character and both spiritually died that very moment, deserving eternal spiritual judgment having sinned against God’s eternal justice.
However, this is not where the passage stops. God instead, gives mercy. Where immediate judgment was warranted, mercy was given.
God also began providing grace. From the time Eve finished her explanation in verse 13, the next words come from God as He instituted the course. Now, many people may not like to think of this curse as a measure of God’s grace, but in reality, that is exactly what it was. Because mankind was now separated from God relationally, but He still desired relationship, there had to be a way for us to be drawn to Him. God’s curse is our signal that something is wrong in the universe.
It was also in this instance when God gave a promise of full restoration. God, in essence said, you failed, but I love you, and I’m going to restore you to your original position.” We see this in Genesis 3:15 when the first prophecy is given in Scripture. It was a prophecy that spoke of how ultimately a Savior would come and crush the curse of death and restore us back to Him.
Also, if you drop down to verse 21, you will find that God killed an innocent animal to cover their shame. This was a picture of God’s promise of restoration. Because of our shame, God’s justice still demanded death. But the picture here is that God would provide an eternal sacrifice to cover our shame.
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