Getting the Beginning Right
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Much that we could talk about in the book of Genesis and there is a lot of time that could be spent in Genesis but that is another study for another day.
Our goal as we approach the book of Genesis on Sunday Mornings for the foreseeable future is to have an overview of the text and notice major themes or points from the text.
I want to begin by saying that the book of Genesis is foundational for a Biblical worldview.
Understanding some of the central truths taught in the opening chapters of the Bible sets the stage for the way that we view the world, the way we view reality.
Genesis is huge in giving us a Biblical metanarrative.
A metanarrative is really your understanding of reality, of the world.
Really in a forming of a metanarrative there are four questions that must be answered, that every worldview must answer
Where did we come from?
What is the big problem with the world or with humanity?
Is there any hope of deliverence or salvation?
Where are we going?
These are really the questions of life, these are the big questions.
And I would submit to you that unless we understand the book of Genesis correctly then the gospel of Jesus Christ does not make sense.
In other words the gospel of Jesus Christ does not come to us in a vacuum, instead it is a part of a bigger story, no doubt if we read our Bibles right the gospel of Jesus Christ is the apex and is central in reality, in the unfolding of History.
I would even say to you that as the book of Genesis opens and takes off it it headed toward the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ completes the book of Genesis, it completes the whole of the OT, in other words without Jesus, without the gospel Genesis and all of the OT is a collection of books with unfulfilled promises and hopes and desires. The OT leaves us longing for something to which we have no answer if you take Jesus and the gospel away.
Coming to the book of Genesis and reading chapters 1 and 2 this week and meditating on them has reminded me that my life is not my story, and your life is not your story, that we are not ultimate but instead we are tiny parts of a far greater story and that story is God’s story and unless we understand that we are always beginning in the wrong place and always headed in the wrong direction.
Why is it that our culture is so confused and so easily tossed here and there.
My goodness we have seen this lately have we not
With the pandemic
With recent events surrounding the tragic killings have made the news
People are not grounded, people do not understand reality and people are grasping, they are grasping for answers, the are grasping for solutions, they are grasping for hope but without the Biblical story, without the gospel; they are grasping for the wind, it is an exercise in futility.
Oh brothers and sisters we have the story of all stories, the biblical story, the gospel story, the story that makes sense of all other stories and this story is not a story of how we might work our way to God, this story is not a collection of heroes for us to imitate so that we might earn God’s favor instead this is the glorious story of how God for His eternal glory and for the eternal joy of His people decided to put on glorious display His glorious attributes through Creation, the Fall, and Redemption and Restoration provided by God’s grace alone, through faith alone and in Jesus Christ alone.
Oh brothers and sisters we dare not take this lightly, we dare not minimize this book or be tempted to think, oh this is an OT book, this book is not relevant for me today, this book is just as relevant today as it has ever been.
I want to share some truths that are foundational for us as we begin reading here in the book of Genesis.
I. God created the heavens and the earth
I. God created the heavens and the earth
Let’s just take the first verse of the Bible, this verse of the Bible changes everything, it changes the way we understand reality
and this is a huge statement in the culture in which we live today.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
I will point out a few things here.
The first subject in the Bible is God, the Hebrew word elohim which speaks of God’s majesty, His Strength, and His sovereignty.
The Bible is clear
know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
God is the uncaused cause, He is the first Actor, He is the uncreated One, He is the Self-existing One, He is the independent One.
Notice the Bible does not begin with an argument for the existence of God, the Bible does not try to convince you that there is a God, instead the Bible is written with the understanding that deep down we all know that there is a god and the Bible is written to tell us who that God is.
The Bible God’s self revelation to us, through the Scriptures God makes Himself known to us
2. God created all things, the heavens and the earth is a phrase that is meant to communicate to us that God has created all things.
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“and my servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor shall there be any after me.
Anything outside of God has has being or existence owes it existence to God and belongs to God and God does with His as He pleases.
For I know that the Lord is great,
and that our Lord is above all gods.
Whatever the Lord pleases, he does,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all deeps.
So this is a novel idea for some and it is a radical idea for many in our culture and even in our churches
But the Bible presents God to us as our Sovereign Creator, we belong to Him, and He has the right to do with each and everyone of us as He pleases.
We have this independent idea that this is our life and that almost this idea that God owes us certain things, no the truth is that we are His and He does with us as He pleases.
At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?”
3. The God of the Bible is God, He alone is God and all of History is nothing but His story and this story is headed toward the end of Revelation.
This God who created the heavens and the earth is the same God of Revelation 21.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
This story that begins with creation ends with new creation.
I talked about creation, fall redemption, and restoration.
We could exchange the word restoration and put in new creation.
Look at the glorious unity of the Bible
We begin in Genesis with God creating the heaven and the earth and God’s glorious presence with His people in a garden
Then there is a lot of things that happen after that, a lot of bad things, a lot of wicked things
But we have this blessed assurance that though that is the case and we will talk more about that later, that we are headed to the new creation, the new heaven and the new earth and the language used to describe this new heaven and new earth sounds a lot like the garden language of Genesis 1 and 2 and notice what v.3 says of Revelation 21
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
Revelation 21 we have God present with His people in the New Creation, in the garden.
And think about this, we have God with His people in the garden in Genesis 1 and 2, God’s people exiled from the garden and one of the central places in the highlight of the story of getting God’s people back into the garden paradise enjoying God’s presence is the dark garden of Gethsemane where God’s Son who took on human flesh came to do war with the enemy and to take upon Himself the sin of His people so that they might be restored back into the garden not where the serpent rules and tempts and destroys but into a garden where nothing evil will ever enter.
But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Concluding Thoughts
Concluding Thoughts
Brothers and sisters the Bible is clear about our blessed hope. Our Creator, the One who created the heavens and the earth, is moving all things toward the New Creation where He will dwell with His people forever in His glorious Kingdom.
We are not there yet and that has been made painfully clear in the past months. We are living in the time between the gardens. We are living in the land of exile, we are living in a land where there is disease, pestilence, where there are thorns and thistles, we are living in enemy territory where the price of the power of the air has blinded and deceived so many. We are living in a land of hate, a land of chaos, a land where people do what is right in their own eyes.
But again brothers and sisters, this is not our homeland, the Bible tells us that if we are new creatures in Christ Jesus our Lord then we are pilgrims, we are sojourners, we are those looking for a better land with a better King, we are looking for that place where God dwells with His people, that place where there are no more tears, that place where there is no more death, that place where there are no more diseases, that place where there are no more senseless murders, that place where there is no more injustice, that place where there is no more hate, that place where all the former things have passed away and all things have been made new.
But listen brothers and sisters, while we are living between the gardens our God has called us to be salt and light. We are to be those who stand for truth, we are to be those who stand for what is just and right, we are to be those who love and forgive. Why you ask, because we have a different King than those of this world, we live for the King of truth, we live for the King of justice and righteousness, we live for the King of love, the King who is gracious and merciful. Brothers and sisters we live for the King who stepped off His throne and laid down His life for the good of His people.
You see the Biblical story shapes our lives, it shapes the way we think about everything. May we know this story, may we cherish this story, may we share this story because this story is the story of all stories, it is the story that makes sense of all other stories and it is the only story that offers truth and hope and life in a world full of lies and hopelessness and death.