Genesis: "A long time ago..."

Famous Openings

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. —Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859)

Call me Ishmael. —Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851).

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. —Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813).

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. —C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)

You better not never tell nobody but God. —Alice Walker, The Color Purple (1982)

Steve Martin once opened a speech saying: “How many people have never raised their hand before?”

“With the shape I’m in you could donate my body to science fiction.” – Rodney Dangerfield

This is the story about the day I died. - Tangled (Disney)

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Opening statements have a way of capturing the attention of the audience. Whether you’re reading or listening, the words have a way of drawing you in while laying the foundation for what’s to come. Some are pithy, some are funny, some are tragic, some are informative.

Just as opening statements in books, speeches, movies, and plays pave the way for what’s to follow, so to the opening statement of the book of Genesis does the same. It opens the door of Scripture by making a bold statement.

Genesis 1:1 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

In fact the entire book of Genesis, which is very much a book of beginnings, sheds light on the message and theme of the Torah or Pentateuch - the first five books of the Bible. According to the guys at the Bible Project, the main message of Genesis as it introduces the Torah is “God’s plan to rescue and bless His rebellious world through Abraham’s family.”

Two weeks ago, we began a new series entitled “God’s Story in Scripture” as we consider the grand drama that God unfolds in scripture and in our lives. We briefly considered the entire scope of scripture as we looked at the 7Cs of history - creation, corruption, catastrophe, confusion, (calling, covenants, consecration), Christ, Cross, Consummation. Last week, we considered the overall message of the Old Testament, recognizing that God is telling a particular history while communicating His passion for holiness, and a promise of hope. Today we are going to focus on the book of Genesis as we march our way through the books of the Bible.

One of the challenges of doing these broad brush-stroke sermons is the question of what to cut. One commentator described the book of Genesis as a pie - there are many different ways to slice it. I want to give enough information to be informative without being overly academic. I also want to be able to help us glean practical lessons and truths from what God has done here.

Because there are a few ways to slice it, we’re going to divide the book of Genesis into its two main divisions - chapters 1-11 and 12-50 and then we’ll look more broadly and practically about the truths that we can learn and apply.

As we go through this, we’re going to summarize so many things about the book, and unfortunately we may not do it justice. My hope is to refresh stories that you’ve already heard or read and see how God puts them together. As we go through and as you read on your own, there may be questions that come to mind - while we may address some of them - we will likely not answer them effectively. If you’d like to have a further conversation about the book, I’d love to chat about it.

So the first section of Genesis - covering the first 11 chapters - could be categorized as...

Primeval History (ch. 1-11)

It’s in this section of History that we get the first four of our 7Cs - Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion - we’ve already talked a bit about these so I don’t want to take a lot of time to address them, but here are some of the high points of these first few chapters.

The creation of the universe (ch. 1-2)

narrative of God’s creation of the universe and the world

Day 1 - light

Day 2 - separating the waters/expanses

Day 3 - dry land

Day 4 - lights - sun/moon/stars

Day 5 - fish and birds - command to be fruitful and multiply

Day 6 -land animals and humans - command to be fruitful and multiply

It’s important for us to realize that humans are the only creatures created in the image of God.

Day 7 - rest

each day begins with “and God said” and ends with -”there was evening and morning on the ____ day.”

There is balance and order in what God created.

Chapter 2 reiterates some elements of chapter 1, but also dives into the specifics of how Adam and Eve were created. God gives the humans dominion over the rest of creation and gives them one restriction - to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. - the punishment would be death.

The fall of man (ch. 3)

The very next scene in the book reveals a serpent talking to Eve - deceiving her into taking of the one thing that God told them not to eat. He cast doubt about God in her.

One of the interesting things is that Adam and Eve were already like God - they were made in His image - and yet the root of the serpent’s lie was that they would be like God - knowing good and evil.

Their rebellion resulted in

immediate shame - they realized that they were naked

broken fellowship with God

corruption that impacted the rest of humanity - which is why we are born with a sinful nature

banishment from the garden

There are many more ramifications of their sin, but that’s just the beginning.

over the next couple of chapters, we see...

The continued decline of humanity (ch. 4-6a)

Cain kills Abel

The genealogy progresses, leading to,,,

Lamech takes multiple wives and treats them like property, he brashly kills people and charges that he will be avenged much more than Cain.

we finally get to a climax in these early chapters:

Genesis 6:5–6 ESV

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

Did God make a mistake? No, I don’t think He did. He was disappointed in how His creation turned out to this point. What started out as very good had become “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Which takes us to the next part of history.

The Flood (ch. 6b-10)

Noah finds favor in God’s eyes and is commissioned to build a boat. It takes about 120 years for him to complete it. When the appointed animals and Noah’s family are on board, God causes a massive flood - wiping out all of the living creatures on the land and in the air.

When the flood subsides, Noah worships God, giving thanks for his salvation.

He then winds up drunk and naked - still corrupted by sin - and is treated shamefully by one of his sons - whose descendents are then cursed.

In these days after the flood - we get the first real blessing:

Genesis 9:1 ESV

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

There is more to the blessing - talking about the dominion they would have and the fear that others would have toward them. This point that I want us to take away is that in spite of their continued sin nature and propensity to make mistakes, God still blessed them.

In the next part of the history, instead of spreading out and filling the world, we get come across the...

The Tower of Babel (ch. 11)

In rebellion against God’s command to spread out over the earth, humanity joins in one place and begins to build a great city and a tower - in order to “make a great name for themselves. (11:4)” The fact that they wanted to come together and not be scattered was in direct opposition to the plan and command of God. He called them to be fruitful and multiply, to subdue the earth.

How often do we go against the call/command of God for our own fame, renown, convenience, or comfort?

Their pride and self-righteousness pit them against God and so God confuses their languages - forcing them into groups and spreading them out.-

These first 11 chapters cover a few thousand years, at least - but they tell some elements of God’s work in Primeval history.

Gen. 11:27-32 provide the link between the Primeval history and the patriarchal history as it tells the genealogy that leads up to Abram.

Patriarchal History (ch. 12-50)

This part of the Genesis account moves from the grand narrative to begin to tell the story of one family - which then points toward God’s work in the rest of the Old Testament.

Calling and Life of Abram (12:1-3)

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

promise of land, great nation, great name (unlike Babel where they wanted to make a name for themselves), blessing to the world through him). And yet, even with all of this talk of blessing - Abraham is not perfect…

nLack of trust - lying about Sarah (twice), child with Hagar

In spite of his shortcomings and mistakes, Abraham seems to demonstrate a sincere desire to follow God.

When God tells him that his descendents through his son of promise will be as numerous as the starts, Genesis records that Abram believed God, He trusted him even though he could not see it - credited as righteousness

After Abraham, the history takes us to...

Isaac - the hidden patriarch -

Isaac is very much a transitionary guy - as the main crux of the plot moves to his second son, Jacob.

blesses Jacob over Esau (which is a pattern that ends up getting repeated multiple times in the story - Abraham’s blessing falls on Isaac (the second born), Isaac’s blessing deceptively falls on Jacob. We’ll even come to find later that the first borns do not always get the highest regard.

And so that brings us to...

Jacob - the deceiver who gets deceived

Stole his brother’s birthright

Stole his brother’s blessing

receives a blessing from God w/ a name change - no longer a deceiver, but now wrestler

The Twelve Sons

still seeking to follow God - but misguided in application - murderous, immoral, jealous

blessing on Judah - Kings, foreshadowing future reigns of David and Christ - (Judah proposed selling Joseph, he slept with the widow of his son, he offered to bear the shame if Benjamin did not return, he defended Benjamin in front of Joseph)

Joseph (ch. 37-50)

sold into slavery

wrongfully accused of adultery

raised from dungeon to the throne to save the Israelites and the whole region

What you meant for evil - God meant for good.

Received a birthright (Manessah and Ephraim received an inheritance among the other tribes)

younger son blessed

And so the history of Genesis concludes with God’s people in Egypt and this final main character, Joseph, is dead. It ends with a promise to bring his remains back to the land where his forefathers had been buried. It ends succinctly but leaves the door wide open for what’s to follow in the book of Exodus.

Beyond just the historical elements of the book, I think it’s important that we consider...

Practical Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics is the science of interpretation (Dictionary.com). Hermeneutics is the process that preachers, scholars, and teachers use to take what is delineated in the Bible and reveal its meaning, hopefully making it applicable to living a biblical Christian life. While Genesis is a book of history and a book of beginnings, it’s also a book of revelation. Genesis reveals some of the Character of God.

God is Sovereign and Self-Sufficient

- (creation - he did not need any help or anything/counter Babylonian texts, Noah, Abraham, Joseph - governing the affairs of his brothers)

Nothing is impossible - Isaac’s birth to Sarah and Abraham in their old age

Joseph - being sold into slavery, wrongfully accused, and yet was in the right place to be used of God to save the people of Israel (and many others) through the famine.

God is holy and expects holiness from His people

(Adam and Eve’s rebellion, Noah’s drunkenness, Noah’s son’s poor behavior, - we didn’t get into it but the debased nature of the people in Sodom and Gomorrah - God had to pull Lot (Abrahams’ nephew) from the city - even with that, there was still corruption.

God expects us to be different, distinct from the world around us. There are a variety of ways that will manifest it self. One of the clearest is what we’re doing now - in coming together to worship Him, considering his word and how to live it out.

God is merciful

provided a sacrificial covering for Adam and Eve, provided shelter for Noah, provided a lamb for Abraham so that he would not sacrifice Isaac, provided a dream to pharoah and Joseph to interpret it in order to save many people.

God is benevolent

Sometimes people look at the history of Genesis and thing that God is some cosmic killjoy. He doesn’t want people to have fun. What we need to see is that, even as we’ve already discussed, God is holy. He is perfect and can only allow perfection in His presence. Beyond that, God is good.

Romans 8:28 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

We may not always understand why or how he is working. Sometimes His goodness seems to be veiled, but there is more that God is doing!

Consider these things...

God’s blessing of Abraham - so that Abraham could be a blessing to all nations - consider how that manifests it self in how we live, in how salvation has been made available to so many people.

Joseph - for the 17+ years that he was in Egypt - I don’t know that Joseph felt like the God that he served was very good - but he remained faithful - ultimately being able to tell his brothers - what you meant for evil, God meant for good. Oh that we would have that outlook when we face trials and challenges

Jesus Christ - permanent blessing

Are we blessing others by how we live

Do you see the people around you as people worthy of receiving a blessing from God through you

Have you communicated God’s love for them through Jesus Christ?