Way to Life-Lesson 1 - Origin of the Universe - Leaders copy

Lesson 1: The Origin of the Universe
Leader’s Copy

Icebreaker question

If there was in fact a God, and you could ask him any one question, what question would you ask?

Read Genesis 1:1 – 2:3

Basic Theme: ‘Meet God’ – God reveals himself

Questions

Genesis is His Story. We stated last week that the Bible is about God – it’s about his work throughout history. That applies to Genesis as well.

1. What can we learn about God from this passage?

a. He is eternally pre-existing (“In the beginning…”)

b. He is the Creator
Question: What kind of attributes would God have to create the universe?
Answer: All-knowing (Omniscient), All-powerful (omnipotent)

c. He has a spirit (not a physical body)

d. He is able to speak (“and God said…”)
Question: What can we infer about God if he can speak?
Answer: He has intelligence, he can communicate, he expresses his will

e. He is involved w/ his creation – i.e., a God of relationship (“God…said to them” i.e., humans. He communicates with his creation)

f. He is a Provider (Gen 1:29)

g. He is Good (1:31)

h. He is able to fulfill what he wills (2:1 – he created and then rested because he finished what he had intended to do)

i. He is perfect (also implied from Gen 2:1-3. God rested because his work was perfectly fulfilled)

j. Additional… (at least ½ dozen more)

Lets spend some time looking at the overall direction or theme that this passage seems to be taking us.

2. How does the author divide up this passage? (Hint: look for repetition and sequence.)

Answer: Into 7 days.

Note: The days of the Creation account form subunits within the larger passage. These subunits are our first clue towards the author’s intended meaning behind the text.

3. What statements are repeated within each of the divisions?

a. “And God said…”

Question: What does that indicate about God’s nature?

He is a God who plans and orders his actions to accomplish his purposes. A God of order, intelligence, will, communication.

b. “It was good…”

Question: What does that indicate about God’s nature?

He is good

Question: But what are these works really good for?

Say: To find out, let’s ask some additional questions.

Question: How are the needs of the earth met through God’s work on each of the successive days?

The problem of darkness, formlessness, and water are solved on days 1,2, and 3.

Question: God describes the dry land and vegetation from day 3 as ‘good’, but good for what?

Question: What is ultimate purpose for God creating the luminaries on day 4?

‘let them serve as signs to mark seasons’ (Gen 1:14)

Question: So what good is that?

It’s essential for much of life – provided a means of knowing seasons for migratory animals, a calendaring system for humans.

Note: luminaries on Day 4 is one strong argument against a literal interpretation of the 7 day Genesis account. The author would not have missed the obvious fact that you couldn’t have a ‘day and night’ until Day 4. He must have meant something else.

Question: What good was there in God creating birds, fish and animals on day 5 and 6?

4. How do these statements change during Day 6? (What does God say differently before and after creating man?)

Note: This may be difficult for students to pick up. You may opt to just state the answers in a & b and then ask the follow-up question under b.

a. The author shifts from “God said…” to “Let us create…”

Note: Ancients Hebrews referred to this as the ‘plurality of self-deliberation’ – It indicated God was entering into this with the fullness of his being.

b. ‘And it was good’ changes to ‘And it was very good.’

Question: What’s significant about these differences?

It indicates a building of climax – movement toward the author’s main point.

Note: the author intends to convey that there was something very special about the creation of humanity. We will look more at that next week.

5. What is climatic about God ‘resting’ on the seventh day?

“God was perfectly content with what he had perfectly created on days 1-5 which culminated in the creation of man on day 6. Therefore, he could completely rest.

Summary

· Genesis is the “book of beginnings.” It’s an account about how ‘everything’ began.

· More important, it provides a beginning for how we think about all of life.

· God reveals himself as a Person with many wonderful qualities.

Lesson 1: The Origin of the Universe