Sermon Tone Analysis

Outline of Today’s Bible study.

We are going to look at Genesis 1 in three different aspect

History (historical aspect)( what Does Genesis 1 Tell us about the History of the physical world)

Spirituality (spiritual aspect):- what does Genesis 1 tells us about the spiritual realities, or what are the spiritual truths revealed in this chapter

Note to understand these apsect of Genesis 1 we have to see it in the New Testament light.

Why? because remember the New Testament is under the New Covenant, and the ministry of the New Covenant is the ministry of the Spirit.

2 cor 3:6 “6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

This applies to all of the Old Testament.

What reveals about the spiritual nature of the Old Testament is the New Testament.

We see Christ in the Old Testament through the light of the New Testament.

Theology (theological apspect) :- defination of Theology ( it is the study of the nature of God and belief)

What does Genesis 1 tell us about God and his nature.

General points before reading

First we will read the whole chapter together.

then we will deal with the historical aspect of the chapter

Then we will deal with the Spiritual Aspect of the chapter

Then we will deal with the theological aspect of the chapter

Let us read Chapter 1

Historical Apsect of Genesis 1

Note, the history of Creation is not given to us in detail but rather what we need to know.

Division (sections) of Chapter 1

Verse 1 (summarry of all creation)

Verse 2 ( the condition of the earth) before creation)

Verse 3-5 (the creation of Light into the universe)

Verse 6-29 (focus on the creation of the earth -(the globe) which we live in- and everything in it )

Exception to this rule (verse 16) “he made the stars also” outside of this phrase everything in the passages of verse 3-29 focus on the earth.

The first section Verse 1 (summary of all creation)

This is a summary of all of creation.

The heavens reffering to the universe of everything in it and the earth or the globe as we know it.

God is the creator and the source of everything that we see in this physical world.

Note to take from verse 1

Everything that we see in the universe ( space) and the Earth has a begining, and the creator of all of this things is God.

He alone has created them.

He is the cause and the sustainer of all the things he has created

He is also outside of time Because:-

Isaiah 57:15 “15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”

The second section Verse 2 (the condition the world before creation)

“without form and void” :- “tohu” and “bohu” describing a material substance that is lacking boundary, order ,defination or shape.

“darkness was on the face of the deep”:- darkness represents in the Bible in spritual terms as evil or calamity but here it is refering to the uniformed and unfilled condition of the Earth.

“the deep” is reffering to the primordial or primeval sea- the sea that existed at the begining of time: the waters of chaos, formless, shapeless waters

Psalms 33:7 “7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses.”

“the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters”:- The water here is mention before creation.

This does not mean that God did not create water, in the same way the absence of creation of angels does not imply that God did not create angels.

The bible does not include the creation of the waters, but in a way it signifies the important of water of in the creation of life.

Water plays a significant role in the formation of life ( hence scientist when they try to look for life in other planet they first search for water ) and also has symbolic meaning when it comes to spiritual life.

We are born again of the water and Spirit.

A new creation is formed in the water of baptsim.

Verse 3-5 ( the creation of light in the heavens /universe)

Day 1

The first thing that God creates is light, and then he divides the light from the darkness and calls the light day and he calls the light night.

Verse 6-29 ( the narrative focuses on the earth)

Day 2

remembering that the earth was without form and empty and covered with water .

The first thing God did was separate the water by creating a firmament .

Frimament means “sky” or “expanse”.

The expance of the atmosphere or the sky that we see above which is water.

Then under it there is water which he called

This sky it called heaven

Day 3

Genesis 1:9–13 (NKJV)

9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas.

And God saw that it was good.

On the third day God gathers the waters together and calls them Seas.

And he called the dry land the Earth.

So God creates the Earth and and the sea on the third day

11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good.

13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.

He also creates the plants or vegetations on the third day.

He creates the the herbs that yeild seed and the tree that yeilds fruit after its own kind.

Day 4

Genesis 1:14–19 (NKJV)

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;

15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.

16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.

He made the stars also.

17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,

18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness.

And God saw that it was good.

19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

God creates the Sun (the greater light) and the moon ( the lesser light) and the stars in the “firmament of the heavens”

Firmaments meaning sky or expanse, heavens meaning space or universe

Their roles

To give light not only to the earth but the “firmament of the heavens” or the expanse of the universe

They are to rule the day and night, so the sun the day and the moon the night

They are to be for signs and season.

Our season, summer, winter, spring, autum is based on the solar system or the sun and moon

The sign, we know that God uses for examples the stars and moon a a sign of spiritual

For example God used a star as a sign to lead the four wise men to Jesus

The bible tells us in the last days that “there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars;” Luke 21:25

They shall be for days and years

Our day is long or short depending on the sun rotation around the earth.

So if in Summer our days are long and nights are shorts and in winter our days are shorts and night long.

All this was created by God.

Day 5

God creates the birds of the air and the animals of the sea and blesses and commands them to be fruitfull and multiply and fill the earth and the sea.

Note throughout creation the principle put forth by God which is everything is to reproduce after his kind, a fish does not become a bird, nor does a plant become a bird.

Day 6