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A Lesson In Genesis

Today many Christian educators are trying to teach their students to love and serve God armed with textbooks dedicated to the opposite purpose. The battle for our students’ hearts and minds is ongoing, and textbooks filled with the errors of secularism, humanism, and materialism are—at best—dangerous. It’s important for Christians to understand that Christianity is reality, not a part of it. Therefore, any education which tries to explain reality apart from Christianity is ultimately false. Do your textbooks teach truth?

Psa 11:3  If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

We hear a lot about the Book of Genesis today. There are continuous debates that argue between Creation, evolution, theistic evolution and a new side on this called intelligent design. What is the importance of Genesis and the Creation story? Why should we believe it over these other stories of our beginnings?

The story of Creation is the very foundation of the Christian beliefs. It tells us who God is. It tells us of our beginning and it tells us of our need for Him. We must keep in mind that Genesis 1 is just as true as Exodus 20 which gives us the Ten Commandments. It's just as true as Isaiah 53 which describes the suffering servant who would be the Messiah and bear our iniquities. It's just as true as Matthew chapter 1 which indicates that Jesus was to be born of Mary and to be the Savior of the world. It's just as true as John chapter 3 which says you must be born again. It's just as true as any other and every other part of Scripture. There is no basis for tampering with, questioning, or denying the veracity of Genesis 1 anymore than any other part of Scripture. In fact, any disbelief in or tampering with or altering of Genesis 1 is an act of rebellion against God and His Word. It's a serious thing to do that because like any other such rebellion, one who attacks the veracity of God and the Word of God brings upon himself the threat of divine judgment.

Creation beliefs get their title from the first verse of the Bible, God Created. Even though there is an abundance of scientific information that supports the Biblical Creation and this information is highly important, I will not be discussing anything in this lesson grouping that is not given anywhere except in the Bible. I will leave the scientific evidence for other lessons.This lesson grouping will be discussing God's word and eventually show that Genesis is indeed the foundation of Christianity and it is fully supported by the entire Bible.




Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2  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.
Gen 1:3  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Gen 1:4  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Gen 1:5  And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

The first five verses tell us so very much information in such few words. "In the beginning". We know that this is the very start of all that there is in the physical world that we are familiar with. "God created the heaven and the earth" it did not evolve, it was not some unknown intelligent being that designed it. It was God and He created it. As we see in verse 3, "God said". He spoke and it came into existence.

Psa 33:6  By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

Psa 33:9  For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

Psa 148:5  Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.

Heb 11:3  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.


"The earth was without form". The word form in this instance is telling us there was nothing there, unusable. "Darkness was upon the deep". There was no light just yet and the word deep is telling us that it was an abyss (as a surging mass of water), a deep place, depth. God spoke and there was light. Then He divided the light from the darkness. The light is called Day and the darkness He called Night. We are told here exactly what He means by a "day" in these verses. In fact He went to great lengths to define what a day is. A "day" is "the evening and the morning were the first day". One period of light followed by a period of dark is one day. Not a week, not a month, not a year nor thousands or millions of years. A day is a day. (More on what a "day" is later.)



Gen 1:6  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Gen 1:7  And 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.
Gen 1:8  And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Verses 6 through 8 tell us that God then created the firmament. The word firmament means an expanse, an area, a visible arch of the sky. This area was made to divide "the waters which were under the firmament" (the expanse of an ocean) from waters "which were above the firmament". This is telling us that there was an area of space (which God called Heaven) above the earth with an area of water above that. This was done within the second day.


Gen 1:9  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.
Gen 1:10  And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
Gen 1:11  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.
Gen 1:12  And 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.
Gen 1:13  And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Here in verses 9 through 13 we first see the creation of dry land. In most versions we see the word "Seas" as plural. In the original Hebrew it was a singular word meaning one body of water not multiple. Verse 9 also tells us the waters were "gathered unto one place." From this we can derive the land mass was also one and not many because the land was not divided by the water. This is also the day that grass, herb, and fruit trees were created. Notice that it says "the fruit tree yielding fruit ... after his kind". We see today that fruit trees still produce in this manner. Apples will not cross with peaches and peaches will not cross with bananas. It is in this manner that we have classifications of plants and animals called "after his kind".
 
cont'd

Gen 1:14  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:
Gen 1:15  And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
Gen 1:16  And 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.
Gen 1:17  And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
Gen 1:18  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.
Gen 1:19  And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.


We saw that light was created in verse 3 yet now we see in verses 14 through 19 that God placed the light in the firmament of the heaven. At first this appears to be a contradiction but there are no contradictions in the Bible. It is simply a matter of understanding the scriptures. If we look in Revelations we can find the answer.

Rev 21:23  And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

This verse shows us clearly that there can be light and most assuredly was without the sun, moon or stars producing it. In verses 14 through 19 we see that God now places light in a form that will "be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" and to produce "light upon the earth". From the descriptions given we know that these verses are speaking of the sun and moon.

In verse 14 we read that 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."

If the word "day" here is not a literal day, then the word "years" being used in the same verse would be meaningless!



Gen 1:20  And 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.
Gen 1:21  And 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.
Gen 1:22  And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
Gen 1:23  And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

On the fifth day God created all living creatures in the waters and all the birds. Again take note that we are given the classification of them "after their kind".  This tells us distinctly that each type of fish and fowl did not come from another. The fowl did not come from fish or any other creature. They were created as that "kind" from the very start.

"Let the waters bring forth abundantly". This is not saying that the fish were made from the water. The original Hebrew word (shârats) means to wriggle, that is, swarm or abound.


Gen 1:24  And 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.
Gen 1:25  And 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.
Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Gen 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Gen 1:28  And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Gen 1:29  And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Gen 1:30  And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
Gen 1:31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

In verses 24 through 31 we see first the creation of land animals. They are listed as cattle, beast and creeping things. They were made, not from fish or fowl, but they were created as they are. They were all created simultaneously. We know this because in verse 24 we see one order given but in verse 25 we see that it was reversed. This mixing of the order was done to show that they were created at the same time.

"Let the earth bring forth", Why did He say let the earth bring forth? Well, I think it's just another way of saying let them appear on the earth, but it also is true that the bodies of animals are composed of the same elements as the earth, just as man is and we will see later in Gen 2 that God did form man from the dust of the earth.

We also see again the term "after his kind". This is an important wording. We see it ten times just in Gen chapter 1. This tells us there is a limitation that God has placed on them. One kind did not come from another. One kind cannot breed with another. Each one is separate from the other and according to God's plan they are to stay that way.

Verse 26 tells us a lot in one sentence. We see the creation of man. One man, not many. He is made in the image of God, after His likeness. He is given dominion, to have rule over, to be above that of, the fish, the fowl, the cattle, over all the earth and every creeping thing. Man is listed as a different kind, not an animal nor on the same level as the other created life but rather a separate "kind".

Notice these words God says in this verse, "Let us", "our image", "our likeness". These are very important words. The original Hebrew word for God in this verse is 'ĕlôhîym which is a plural word and is used right from the first verse in Genesis. This indicates more than one, yet we know that there is only one God.  This was a mystery to the Hebrew people who attested throughout the Old Testament that there was only one God. This mystery is revealed to us in the New Testament by the Spirit through the apostles and prophets.

Eph 3:4  Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
Eph 3:5  Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

1Ti 3:16  And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Joh 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

There is much more that can be pointed out in various verses throughout the New Testament but I will leave that for another time and lesson.

Verse 27 tells us that God created man in His image and created woman also. Jesus attests to this fact:

Mar 10:6  But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
 Notice He says "from the beginning", not weeks not hundreds, nor millions of years but in the beginning.

In verse 28 He tells man that he has dominion over all living things on earth.

In verse 29 He tells them that He has given man every herb bearing seed and fruits of trees as food. Notice there is no mention of animals as being food for man at this time. This is because there is no death as of yet, no spilling of blood on the earth.

In verse 30 God tells them that "every green herb" is given for the food of all the beasts,  fowl, and creeping thing. Again note that there is no animal eating the flesh of another animal at this point in the history of the earth.

Verse 31 is the end of the sixth day and God saw that it was all "very good". The original Hebrew word for very means "wholly, exceedingly". It was made perfect.