The Story so Far Part: 1 From Creation to Fall
Overview of the Gospel of John, using Logos, on How to Study the Bible
Recap
Where are we in the Story?
The Beginning
ברוך אתה יהוה אלהינו מלך העולם אשר נותן תורת־אמת ובשורת־ישועה לעמו ישראל ולכל העמים על־ידי בנו ישוע המשיח אדוננו.
Praised are you, Adonai our God, King of the universe, who gives the Torah of truth and the Good News of salvation to his people Israel and to all the peoples through his son Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord.
A Hebrew word often used for the depths of the ocean or with reference to a great and destructive amount of water (see Ezek 31:15).
Tehom may refer to the chaotic primeval ocean (Gen 1:2), to one of the sources of water in the great flood (Gen 7:11), to the waters of the sea (Isa 51:10; Psa 107:26), or to waters that bring death and destruction (Exod 15:5; Ezek 26:19). A common Semitic word for “sea” may lie behind the Hebrew tehom and the Akkadian Tiamat (see HALOT, s.v. תְּהוֹם, tehom). The possible connection is important since Tiamat figures prominently as Marduk’s adversary in the Mesopotamian creation epic, Enuma Elish. Tehom is sometimes used in biblical contexts that evoke this common imagery from ancient Near Eastern mythology (e.g., the Chaoskampf motif).
darkness Throughout the Bible darkness represents evil or calamity. Here, darkness refers to the unformed and unfilled conditions of the material of v. 1.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.
Humanity and the Fall
COVENANT (בְּרִית, berith; διαθήκη, diathēkē). A sacred kinship bond between two parties, ratified by swearing an oath. Covenant making was a widespread custom throughout the ancient Near East and Graeco-Roman culture, serving as a means to forge sociopolitical bonds between individuals or groups. God’s covenants are prominent in every period of salvation history. Divine covenants reveal the saving plan of God for establishing communion with Israel and the nations, ultimately fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Christ.
21 ADONAI smelled the sweet aroma, and ADONAI said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, since the imaginings of a person’s heart are evil from his youth; nor will I ever again destroy all living things, as I have done. 22 So long as the earth exists, sowing time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”