“Introduction to Genesis”

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Genesis is the first and foundational book of the Bible. A good knowledge of Genesis is essential to make the rest of the Old Testament, the New Testament and the meaning of human existence understandable. It explains the origin of all things, therefore the meaning of all things. According to Jesus, Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible (Luke 16:31; 24:27), and therefore Genesis – under inspiration of the Holy Spirit of course (2 Peter 1:20-21). Genesis is an unparalleled literary work that chronicles the creation of matter, space, time, and humankind as well as man’s fall from God’s good graces. The word “Genesis” means “origins” or “beginnings” and Genesis has been referred to as the “Book of Beginnings”. We find recorded within its pages the origin of the Universe, the earth and its atmosphere. We have documentation of the beginning of plant, animal and human life. We read about the first day, the first couple (marriage), the first sin (and its consequences), and the first murder. We learn how languages, government, cultures, nations and religions began. We also read about the origin of God’s chosen people that He brought to being through Abraham, the founding forefather of our faith.

The first book of the Bible begins with the Creation of a suitable environment for human beings to live in. Moses then chronicles the creation of human beings, the brightest jewel in the crown of God’s Creation, but soon afterward, their disobedience to God and consequent expulsion from the perfect environment that the Lord created for them to live in. But, as quickly as God decreed judgment and punishment upon Adam and Eve for their transgression, He also pronounced the seed promise and plan of redemption and spiritual restoration of mankind to his Creator through God’s chosen vessel, Abraham, and his descendant Messiah Savior who would bless the whole world that He created. Jesus is the common thread woven throughout this inspired tapestry, and all who desire to understand Genesis must do so through the prism of the Son of God and the New Testament that illuminates His story (2 Corinthians 3:14-16).

After sin hardened the vast majority of the world’s inhabitants, Moses recorded the global flood that the Lord sent to punish them and provide a new beginning for humanity through the person of righteous Noah and his faithful little family. After the earth was repopulated, a second hardening of the collective heart of humanity at the tower of Babel required the scattering of peoples to the four corners of the earth and the formation of languages and nations. The book of Genesis can be broken down into two major components. The first is the general history of God’s dealings with humankind (including the creation account), constituting the first eleven chapters. The second part, chapters 12-50, is the special story of the specific family that God choose and used to execute his plan of salvation for all the world. Even though Israel was hand-selected and beloved by God, Genesis still records their sins and misdeeds, and does not whitewash the story of this very dysfunctional family. Not only does this truth make Genesis all the more believable, it also gives us hope that our heavenly Father will not abandon us or stop loving us when we stumble because of poor judgment and through the weakness of our flesh.

We will close with a quote from James Burton Coffman from his commentary on Genesis: “This unity of Genesis pertains not merely to that single book but to the whole Bible as well. It opens the OT with God seeking man, “Adam where art thou?” The NT opens with another question, “Were is he that is born king of the Jews?” – man seeking God. The tree of life appears at the beginning of Genesis; but because of sin it was lost, appearing again only at the end of Revelation. The whole Bible is a unified discussion of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. The OT has the record of the Old Israel; the NT has the record of the Spiritual, or the New Israel. The Twelve Patriarchs of the OT are matched by the Twelve Apostles of the New. The types and shadows of the OT become the divine realities of the NT. The Wilderness Wanderings of the First Israel are typical of the Wilderness of Probation for God’s Church. Only God could have constructed such a unity line, bit by bit, throughout sixteen centuries of time with forty different writers from all times, occupations, and races of men! In the broad view, Genesis and the whole Bible reveal a single purpose, that of redeeming fallen man from the curse of sin.”

Please read Genesis 1:1-8 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

- Louie Taylor

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