Genesis 1:1-26

October 24, 2012 Genesis was written nearly 3,500 years ago by Moses. Its an important book because it gives us a history of the world and of the Israelites. It covers nearly every major doctrine including the triune Godhead, sovereignty, original sin, death, election, reprobation, propitiation, atonement, and many others. Its also important because it reveals the origin of life. Genesis means beginning, and we see from the very first sentence that God created all things. We dont owe our existence to an electrical spark or primordial goo or some aliens who happened by. But most importantly, Genesis is a book about Christ. For instance, we know that no one has ever seen the Father (Jn. 1:18), and yet we see the people in Genesis interacting with and looking on someone they rightly worship! We can study Genesis and actually see the preincarnate activity of the Word. We also see several types or shadows of Him in the slaying of the first animal, the ark of Noah housing the people from Gods judgment, Isaac offered up as Abrahams only son, and so many more! As we read well have to remember that whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning (Rom. 15:4). Every word (even the genealogies) is written to point us to Christ and show how He is our rest and our hope. Lets start now with the creation of the world: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. These first words set the tone for the rest of the book and are the foundation for every book which follows. From just this one sentence we can know that God exists, that He personally created the realms of existence, and that as Creator of these things they are under His rule. He is not only the Lord and King of these places by His power, but He has the right to be over them because they belong to Him and are His possession. Paul uses this very point in Romans 9 to show that God is the sovereign Potter who can do whatever He desires with His own clay (Rom. 9:20-21). Now, I told you that Genesis is a book about Christ, and from the beginning we arent disappointed. Lets skip ahead to the New Testament: Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands (Heb. 1:10). We understand that Jesus Christ is God and the Creator of the heavens and the earth! All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made (Jn. 1:3).

And the earth was without form, and void;

Now, I dont want to waste a lot of time arguing about the age of the earth right here because thats not even the point being made. However, sometimes it comes up that theres a multi-billion year gap between verses 1 and 2. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth [billions and billions of unaccounted years go by and then] the earth was without form and void. Apparently the earth became evil because of Satan and God punished everything and thats why we have all these dinosaur fossils now. The scene in the garden is just take-two of this whole account. Theres so much wrong with this, but the most apparent problem is that its just so forced into the text. The plain reading simply tells us that when God first began to create the world, it was an empty mass or an unformed body of water. If there is a great gap its is awfully vague, and this argument didnt even exist until the 1600s. I find it to be a particularly irritating addition to the Scripture, so Im not giving it any more credence: and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Light has not yet been created so its dark over the surface of the water, And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. We see the Spirit participating in creation. He was moving over the water.
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And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Light was created before the sun or stars,

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And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Theres some controversy over whether one day means 24 hours or an undetermined amount of time (or an age of time). A plain reading of the text (especially verse 14) seems to indicate that a literal 24 hour day is in mind. Also, youll notice that plants were created before the sunit would be difficult for plants to live for an age without the sun. Even if Im wrong about these things, theres just no concession for Darwinian evolution, and no reason to add things to the Scriptures.
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And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which

were above the firmament: and it was so. 8And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. This is the sky, or the place between the waters of heaven and the waters of earth,
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And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. Now the waters come together to take the form of what we know as earth.
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And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13And the evening and the morning were the third day. Isnt it interesting that the vegetation comes before the sun?
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And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16And 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. 17And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 20And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Finally, on the fifth day, we see animals in the water and in the sky. I suppose this order is fitting since water for the fish came first, then sky for the birds, and then land for the animals. 24And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25And God made the beast of the

earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. Everything else is created on days 4-6.
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And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:

Note that God created man in His own image. What does this mean? Well, let me ask you this: who has ever seen God? According to John 1:18, John 6:46, and I John 4:12 no man has ever seen Him. So, who wrestled with Jacob? Did he not say, I have seen God face to face (Gen. 32:30)? Who did Abraham see right before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah? Was it not the Judge of all the earth (Gen. 18:25)? What does God mean when He says, With [Moses] will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold (Num. 12:8)? (The newer translations say he sees the form of the Lord.) Who did Nebuchadnezzar see walking around in the fire? The form of the fourth is like the Son of God (Dan. 3:25). There are so many more examples all through the Old Testamenthow can we say no one has ever seen God? Lets consider a few New Testament verses about Christ: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and was with God (Jn. 1:1). What does it mean to be God and with God? We have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15Who is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:14-15). In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9). The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them (II Cor. 4:4). Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:5-8). Look at verse 6. Was He in the form of God before or after the incarnation? Does it not appear that He was in the form before? And then took upon Him the form of a servant. Its helpful to think of Christ after His resurrection: His flesh and bone body (Lk. 24:39) was a glorified body. Adam was created with a glorified type of body, but

death was part of the curse of sin (a return to dust). In Adam we all die, but in Christ we hope to be resurrected[Jesus] shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body (Phil. 3:21). And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was (Jn. 17:5). Could it be that Christ existed in that glorified flesh (appearing all throughout the Old Testament), that He set it aside to become like us (as a servant able to die), and took it up again after His resurrection? But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting (Mic. 5:2). The baby born in Bethlehem had been going forth for quite some time! I think its true that to be made in the image of God means our bodies are similar to the body Christ had before He came to die for us and has after He was raised. I think this is why it specifies male and female he created them (:27). We were made in the image of God, yet we were made male and female. With this understanding (1) This verse makes more sense, (2) Scripture doesnt contradict itself with theophanies, (3) we see Christ all through the Old Testament, and (4) the meaning of God giving His only begotten Son has more meaning. He didnt just throw something together to give awayHe prepared a body for His already-existing Son and sent Him here for us. http://newgracebaptist.blogspot.com/