Through the Bible - Genesis

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (Genesis 1:1–3)

From "In the beginning, God" to a coffin in Egypt, Genesis tells the whole story of man's inadequacy and God's redemptive plan.

The Old Testament Was Written for Us

In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul recounts many events from the Old Testament, and then at verse 11 he says these things happened to the children of Israel as examples, written for our instruction—"upon whom the end of the age has come." Underline that in your Bibles.

If you look at the world today and consider the Scriptures, you'll see the Bible speaks much about the days we're living in. Turn on K-Wave and nearly everyone is talking about the coming of the Lord in the last days. One of the biggest indicators is what took place on May 14, 1948, when Israel became a nation once again—a direct fulfillment of Ezekiel 36 and 37.

I've met Christians, and I'm sure you have, who think, "We're New Testament believers; we don't need the Old Testament." I strongly disagree, because Paul tells us all these things happened to the children of Israel for a reason and a purpose. God has given us His word that we would read it, study it, and understand what He desires to speak to us.

In the Beginning, God

The book of Genesis—the very word Genesis means beginnings or origins. God tells us how it all started; He does not want us to be ignorant of these things. Notice the first three words: "In the beginning." And then the very next word, "God," blows the minds of many people, especially secular, unregenerate man.

We've been indoctrinated under a scientific worldview for several hundred years. Science investigates the physical world—microscopically and telescopically—but you can't examine "In the beginning, God" with a microscope or a telescope. You won't find God in the physical world because He is separate from His creation, outside of and independent of it.

What Creation Can and Cannot Tell Us

Romans 1 and the Psalms tell us the heavens declare the glory of God. The creation cries for a creator. By observing creation we can deduce three things. First, there is a God—there must be a creator. The Psalms say, "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God."

Consider this computer on the desk. If I told you I heard an explosion in the kitchen and came in to find it had assembled itself out of parts scattered on the floor, you'd call me an imbecile. Yet someone will say the DNA molecule, vastly more sophisticated in coded information than any computer, just happened by random chance and mutation. My wife has been studying anatomy and physiology for nursing, and what I understand from it is this: it can't just happen by chance.

Second, creation shows that this Creator has power. Consider the energy released when we split a single atom you can't even see with the naked eye. The God who created all this must have immense power. Third, creation reveals intelligence—the wisdom to take that power and resources and assemble them into life.

So any inquiring mind that comes to creation without bias will reach three conclusions: there is a God, He is powerful, and He is intelligent. But to learn anything more, God must reveal Himself. The world gives us general revelation; to know His character and will, God must give special and even personal revelation. And as we go through the Bible, we'll see that He does.

Some say God is too powerful to speak on our level. That's foolishness. The man who designed these computers is smart enough to write a language the computer understands. If God made our minds—far superior to these computers—then He can certainly speak to us on our level. He's that immense, that awesome.

The Book of Beginnings

This book gives us the firsts: the beginning of the universe, of the earth, of man, of marriage (Genesis 2), of sin (Genesis 3), of the family (Genesis 4), and of the followers of God (Genesis 5). "In the beginning, God"—understand that He is the initiator, the first cause.

Cosmology, in philosophy and science, asks about the first cause. Bible-believing Christians see that first cause as God. The evolutionists say the first cause was the Big Bang—but what caused it to bang? Where did all that "stuff" come from? They turn it back on us: "You want us to believe there was nothing, and then something, because it came from a God outside of it?" Yes—and that's far more intelligent. As we'll see next week in Exodus 3, God's name is "I AM," the ever-existing one, outside of space and time.

The only way to grasp this is by faith. Hebrews tells us, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." No matter how far we send probes into space, we'll never find God with science. He can only be found through revelation—through this book.

The Trinity Revealed at the Start

Even in the first three verses we see, on the lowest level, the doctrine of the Trinity. Throughout the Bible there is progressive revelation, and here is the first glimpse. In the beginning was God; the Spirit of God moved upon the waters; and God said—that is the Word of God.

John 1:1 parallels Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word." And John 1:14 says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." The Word is Jesus, and there we see Him at the very beginning—eternal, and God. Later, God says, "Let us make man in our image." Even the word for God here, Elohim, carries the plural ending in Hebrew. There is one God, yet He exists in three persons.

God and the Lord God

In Genesis 1, the words "and God" repeat over and over—"And God said," "And God saw." God is the supreme character of the chapter, the one who made it all. But in Genesis 2, we meet "the Lord God."

Back in the 1700s, during the great awakenings, a group spun off into deism, saying God wound up creation like a clock and then left it alone. That's the God of Genesis 1 to them. But Genesis 2 brings us the Lord God, who is intimately involved in creation. In Genesis 3, He actually walks with man in the garden. He cares. And when we reach Exodus, we'll see He wants to dwell in the midst of His people.

The Theme and the Redemptive Plan

The major theme of this book is the inadequacy of man without God. We see it in every key character. Tonight we'll look at five: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. But first, notice that even in Genesis 3:15, after the fall, God reveals a redemptive plan—that the seed of the woman will crush the serpent's head though the serpent bruises His heel.

God didn't make a mistake. Some Christians imagine God gave Adam a law, was surprised when man failed, scrambled with sacrifices, then tried the Tower of Babel approach, then called Abraham, then gave Moses the law—all as a series of failed remedies until finally, after 4,000 years, He sent Jesus as a last resort. That's not what happened. Revelation 13:8 calls Jesus "the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world." God had His plan before He ever said, "Let there be light." He knew man would fall and what He would do about it.

The Gospel Hidden in a Genealogy

Turn to Genesis 5, the genealogy of the godly line of Seth. It was in the days of Seth that men began to call upon the name of the Lord. As you read it, the refrain is the same: they were born, they had children, and they died.

But names matter to God. Look at their meanings. Adam means man; Seth means appointed; Enosh means mortal; Cainan means sorrow; Mahalalel means the blessed God; Jared means shall come down; Enoch means teaching; Methuselah means his death shall bring; Lamech means the despairing; Noah means rest.

Put it together: "Man appointed to mortal sorrow; the blessed God shall come down teaching that His death shall bring the despairing rest." That's the gospel—hidden in the very names of the first men who followed God. Salvation has always been by grace through faith. The law, Paul tells us in Galatians, was given to point us to Jesus, to prove that man cannot reach God by his own efforts—"for by the law shall no flesh be justified."

Noah: A Picture of Regeneration

Genesis 6 introduces Noah, the man whose name means rest. God saw that the wickedness of man was great, that "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Genesis shows us that man is not inherently good. God determined to destroy man from the face of the earth.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:8)

Grace is unmerited, undeserved favor. Notice that Noah found grace before the text says he was "a just man and perfect." It is grace that brings that standing of righteousness. And in his life, Noah was not perfect—yet he received grace from God.

Noah lived through the flood that destroyed all mankind except eight people, and the only reason is that, by faith, he obeyed God. There had never been rain and never been a boat, yet God told him to build one. For a hundred years he built a huge ark to house the animals. Hebrews 11 says he believed God to the saving of his soul and his household. Carried through death and destruction, Noah is a picture of regeneration—the new birth.

Abraham: A Picture of Justification by Faith

Genesis 12 brings us Abraham. Notice verse 1: "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country... and I will make of thee a great nation." Then verse 4: "So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him." He believed and obeyed.

And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

Was Abraham perfect? No. Read his story and you'll find at least eight major failures of faith over the hundred years he followed God, from age 75 to 175. How would you like every one of your major failures written in a book for all generations to read? Why were they written? Because, as 1 Corinthians 10:11 says, for our instruction.

God gave him righteousness because he believed—the same way you and I obtain a right standing with God today. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in Christ." Abraham even failed in the same way twice—telling first Pharaoh, then Abimelech, that his wife was his sister. Yet God called him His friend, because he had faith even though he failed. Abraham is a picture of justification by faith alone.

Isaac: A Picture of Sonship

Isaac pictures the blessed son. Just as we are born again by faith and thereby receive sonship—adopted into the family of God—Isaac is the blessed son whom his father loved, the son of the promise. Though Abraham had other children, everything was given to Isaac. Just before Abraham's death in Genesis 25, the entire inheritance and promise were bestowed upon him.

Jacob: A Picture of Sanctification

And then there's Jacob, whose name means heel-catcher, supplanter, deceiver. He was a twin; as Esau (named for being hairy) was born, Jacob came out grasping his heel. His name fit his character. He talked his famished brother Esau out of his birthright for a bowl of beans—and Esau despised that birthright.

Later, when blind Isaac prepared to bless Esau, Jacob, prompted by his mother, disguised himself with goat skins on his arms and deceived his father into blessing him instead. Esau wept and vowed to kill him, so Jacob fled to his forefathers' homeland.

There he met Rachel and loved her. He agreed to work seven years for her—years that seemed but a moment because of his love. But on the wedding night, Laban, another deceiver, gave him Leah instead. The deceiver was deceived. When Jacob protested, Laban said, "In our country it is not right to give the younger before the older"—a dart of truth that surely rang in his ears, given the birthright. So he worked another seven years for Rachel.

Then, in Genesis 32, God finally tracked him down. Jacob wrestled with God all night—and I believe it was Jesus before the incarnation, who is eternal and can appear anywhere in history. The being touched his hip and put it out of joint, yet Jacob held on: "I will not let you go until you bless me." God asked, "What is your name?" The last time someone asked Jacob that, he had lied, "I am Esau." Now he answers honestly, almost a confession: "I am Jacob." And God says, "No longer Jacob; your name shall be Israel"—governed of God.

Jacob's life pictures sanctification. After regeneration and justification, God pursues and catches us to deal with the sin in our lives. The man who always ran from his problems now walked with a limp for the rest of his life. Sometimes God has to cripple our flesh to clean our hearts.

Joseph: A Picture of Glorification

Finally comes Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob—a beautiful character to imitate. He loved his parents, sought God, received dreams, and could interpret them. But his dreams of his brothers bowing down to him made them hate him.

They cast him into a pit and sold him into slavery in Egypt, dipping his coat of colors in goat's blood to deceive their father. In Potiphar's house he showed great integrity, refusing Potiphar's wife: "There's no way I could do this and sin against God." When she falsely accused him, he was cast into prison—and again rose to oversee everything.

In prison he interpreted dreams for Pharaoh's butler and baker; the baker was executed, the butler restored, but the butler forgot him. Two years later, when Pharaoh was troubled by a dream none could interpret, the butler remembered Joseph. Joseph interpreted the seven years of plenty and seven of famine, and Pharaoh made him number two in the kingdom—lifted up from the ash heap and the prison to be exalted at the right hand of the king.

Joseph is a picture of glorification. After we've been redeemed, justified, adopted, and sanctified, there is coming a day when God raises us up from this prison of our fleshly bodies and seats us in heavenly places to rule and reign with Him.

How We Got This Book

Genesis presents the entire story of redemption across fifty chapters, including the beautiful pictures of the Savior—as in Genesis 22, where the son Isaac is offered by his father. But how did we get this book? Second Timothy 3:16 says all Scripture is God-breathed; God spoke these things to holy men stirred by the Holy Spirit.

Most sound Bible scholars believe Moses wrote the first five books—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—though the portion describing Moses' death could not have been written by him. While serving in Germany, I noticed the German Bible simply calls them Moses 1 through 5. But Moses doesn't appear until Exodus, some 2,500 years after Adam. So how did the Genesis stories survive?

Writing didn't really begin until around the time of Moses, with the Egyptians' papyrus. Before that, the stories passed by oral tradition. Critics scoff—"we've all played telephone; that can't work." But remember how long men lived before the flood. Adam lived 930 years, dying just before Noah was born, so he could tell Noah's father exactly what happened at the fall and how God walked with him in the cool of the day—no chain of distorted retellings.

After the flood, Shem lived a very long time too—outliving Abraham by 35 years and still alive when Esau and Jacob were born. So just a few long-lived links carried the account faithfully. God knows what He's doing when it comes to these things.

From Creation to a Coffin

The book began with creation. Notice how it ends:

So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. (Genesis 50:26)

It begins with creation and ends with a coffin—which brings us back to the theme: the inadequacy of man without God. Where does man without God end? Simply in death. Next week we'll enter Exodus, whose theme is redemption, because without God intervening we all end up in a coffin and in spiritual death.

Yet redemption is promised. God told the first man and his wife that a Redeemer was coming, and laid out the whole plan in coded language in the names of the first men who followed Him. God's plan of salvation runs from Genesis to Revelation. Here He reveals His will to Abraham—"Come, follow Me by faith." Next week we'll consider His character as He reveals it to Moses and to Israel.

Sadly, many look on this book as a bunch of archaic stories or fables, and even some churches in our area teach it as mere moral lessons that aren't real. But these things are real and true. God recorded them so we would know how it all started—and He tells us exactly how it will end, as we'll see in 65 weeks when we reach Revelation.

Closing Prayer

God, we thank You for Your word and for Your truth. I pray, Lord, that as we journey through Your word line upon line, You would speak to us and give us understanding. I pray that tonight we've gained a little more insight into the work You did at the very beginning. We thank You that You created us to have a relationship with us, that You have brought us through death, that we can follow You by faith, be adopted as Your children, be sanctified and cleansed, and ultimately look forward to the day when we're glorified in Your presence, seated on the throne with the King. We praise You, Jesus, that You have brought our life out of the coffin. You've redeemed us. Ready our hearts to consider that redemption next week as we get into Exodus, for we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.