If like me you have decided to start a new year with a bible reading plan, Genesis chapters 1 to 3 will be your starting point. There is so much in these chapters to meditate on that I have decided to put all my thoughts and findings into this blogger so I can come back in future years!
A W Pink's Gleanings from Genesis chapter 1 has these thoughts ...
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." in the Hebrew there are 7 words, composed of 28 letters (ie 7 x 4). 7 is the number of perfection and 4 of creation - the primary creation was perfect as it left its Makers hands! There are 7 distinct stages in God's work of restoring the earth:
vs2 - activity of the Holy Spirit
vs3 - calling of light into existence
vs6-9 - making of the firmament
vs11 - clothing of the earth with vegetation
vs14-18 - making and arranging of the heavenly bodies
vs20-21 - storing of waters
vs24 - stocking of the earth
The purpose of chapter 1 is to assure us every item in our natural environment has been set there by God!
Genesis means "beginnings". The Hebrew "Bereshit" means in the beginning, the Greek translation means generations or origin
Notice in these opening verses how God first formed then he filled.
32 times the creative God is called "Elohim", the Hebrew word that emphases His majesty and power. It is a plural noun, plural in majesty. God exists in 3 persons.
"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." The Holy Spirit is not a New Age mystical teaching introduced after Jesus. The Spirit was present at creation, named here in Hebrew the original language of Genesis. The Hebrew "ruakh" like its Greek counterpart "pneuma" can be translated into English as either spirit or breath - verse 7, "breath of life" is the same word. God fills his people with his divine life, His Spirit.
Verses 26 and 27 - God created people to live in physical world while enjoying spiritual communion with him. God made humans in his image as a kind of physical representation of himself.
God made human beings in his image - creatures who resembled, reasoned, related, reproduced and ruled like him. God told man to fill the earth but because of his sin restoration and recovery was necessary.
"dominion" - God has dominion over the entire creation visible and invisible. Humans have dominion over animal kingdom and earth. God created in 6 days and rested on Day 7. People are to be creative in their work in 6 days and rest on the seventh.
Men and women were meant to sense likeness to God to enjoy fellowship and harmony with the Father in heaven and with one another - gives a sense of purpose and meaning. Made for 2 worlds - the physical and spiritual.
Genesis 1, 2 and 3 show the pattern of Creation, Fall and Redemption. In the centre of it all there is a God of incalculable glory. Sin is the ultimate human tragedy. Its legacy is destruction and death. A Saviour will come, crush the power of evil and provide redemption for his people. We must be good stewards of creation.
ADAM – How God comes to Man
“And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the
garden in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the
presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God
called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?" Genesis 3 verses 8
and 9
This is the first character C H Spurgeon looks
at in his book and like any good preacher he chooses 1 text to draw out some
points to be considered.
The first point to make is clear - God will come
to sinful people sooner or later. His coming will be different to everyone else
but he will come even if it is in "the cool of the day".
Notice God's great patience with guilty man -
God will do nothing in the heat of passion; everything shall be deliberate and
calm, majestic and divine. Surely there is a lesson for us too - if God is
patient with us so we should be patient with others.
God cared for Adam and Eve - he might have left
them all night long but he didn't and he remembered they were his creatures.
God is slow to anger the bible tells us and he is always ready to pardon. He is
compassionate even when he has to pass sentence upon the guilty.
When God came he showed us the pattern of how
the Holy Spirit comes to arouse the conscience of men. He comes seasonably -
work was finished for the day, it was time to sit and rest. God generally
visits when we have a little time for quiet thought. God spoke to Adam
personally - "where art thou?" He makes both of them realise their
lost condition and he made them answer him.
This coming of the Lord to Adam and Eve is also
prophetic of the way in which he will come as a judging spirit to those who
reject him as an arousing spirit. Adam had to answer the Lord's question and so
will we ... one day.
When sentence was passed it was done gently with
the thunder of his wrath and the soft shower of his grace. Notice the words
"the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head" If we are in
that woman's seed have we been saved by Jesus? If we have been covered by
Jesus' righteousness we have no nakedness to fear - we will be able to answer
"Here am I, thou didst call me. I am hidden in thy son."
EVE
The first woman, the first wife, the first mother.
Genesis 2 verse 28 - what prompted God to make this "help meet" to Adam? Everything up to now that God has created was seen as "good" but now it was "not good" that man was alone. Both reflected God's image and his glory individually. Eve was created to complement and to be a helper to her husband, to be a wife. Eve was created for a position of honour. She reflected the glory of her husband. It was only after the darkness of sin that Adam declared her name. Eve glimpsed a fresh ray of life - a future an da hope. She was Eve - the mother of all life. Imagine what it must have been like as Eve gave birth to her first child. There was no-one there to help her, only God and she gave him credit when he was born. She was thankful to God and trusted him to help her face the present as well as whatever the future held. Did she ever think she would be the mother of the first murderer? She had to experience the loss of both of her first sons. She was the first to experience loss in the bible, She experienced many firsts as well as many losses in life
- a perfect relationship with God
- a sinless marriage
- a lack of acquaintance with evil
- the ideal home in the Garden of Eden
- a son murdered by his brother
- a son sent away by God.
"But God ... gave her another son" He would bring hope to her sore heart and one whom God's son would come bringing bountiful and eternal hope for all mankind.
Genesis 2
Notice in verses 1 to 3 we have the mention of the first Sabbath. The seventh day is mentioned 3 times. "Sabbath" comes from the Hebrew word "shabbat" which means to cease working, to rest. It is related to the Hebrew word for seven. Notice God blessed this day alone, none of other 6 days are blessed! The word "sanctified" means set apart for purpose.
In verses 4 to 14 we have the mention of the first home. Adam the worker (verse 5) - there was not a man to till the ground. Adam the tenant (verse 8) "the Lord planted a garden". Eden means delight or place of much water - paradise. In Revelation 21 and 22 there is a glorious garden city but the garden of Gethsemane came in between.
In verses 16 and 17 we have the first covenant. Notice we read "and the Lord God commanded the man". God makes the terms of agreement, with privilege comes responsibility.
There were 2 Trees - the Tree of Life which confers immortality and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil which confers experential knowledge of good and evil but also death.
In verses 19 to 25 we have the first marriage - "it is not good". Man was alone and he needed an help meet. Notice the dignity of the woman in verses 18 to 22.
"She was not made out of his head to rule over him nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arms to be protected and near his heart to be loved." Matthew Henry
In verses 23 and 24 we see the sanctity of marriage.
Genesis 3
This chapter describes how Adam and Eve reused to be content with life of absolute dependence on God; they wanted to be like God themselves - free and independent of him.
In verses 1 to 15 God is in control. It is his story. God is compassionate. Notice the ongoing conflict. 2 Families, 2 Seeds. There is a victory that is certain - "he shall bruise thy head."
In verse 8 we notice that God will come to sinful man sooner of later! It will be different to different men but he will come to guilty men, even if he waits until "the cool of the day"
- suggests God's patience with the guilty
- suggests God's divine care for the guilty
- suggests how God comes to arouse the conscience of man
- suggests seasonably - resting, leisure
God spoke to Adam personally and he asked for an answer.
God came on loving terms - his sentence was gentle mingled with thunder of his wrath, the soft shower of his grace. He gave a promise. "Here I am thou didst call me."
In verse 21 God removed the same of humankind. Their dishonour before God and each other was completed removed. Nakedness was far more humiliating than anything we might feel and it was exchanged for clothing. Striving was replaced by sacrifice. Shame was replaced by shelter. Disgrace was replaced by grace.
Notice in verse 1 - the enemy = the serpent Satan.
In verses 1 to 5 the strategy:
- Satan disguised himself.
- Satan questioned God's word.
- Satan derided God's word.
- Satan substituted his own lie.
In verses 6 and 7 the tragedy:
- disobedience vs 6
- knowledge vs 7
- shame vs 7
- fear vs 8
In verses 9 to 13 the discovery:
- seeking vs 8
- speaking vs 9 to 13
In verses 14 to 19 the penalty:
- for the serpent vs 14 and 15
- for the woman vs 16
- for the man vs 17 to 19
In verses 20 to 24 the recovery:
- a new name vs 20
- new clothing vs 21
- new home vs 22 to 24
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"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel."
God is in control. Genesis 3 reminds us that history is His Story, God`s story. God is speaking directly to the devil and he is outlining his future.
God of compassion. 1 John 1 "if we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins ... these things have I written unto you that ye sin not." Jesus has paid the price of sin for us but that is not a licence to sin, to go out and live as we please. Jesus is our advocate today. God had mercy and compassion on the first parents - they had to leave his presence but he made preparation on that day. God did not turn his back on Adam and Eve nor will be turn his back on us. Remember the story of the prodigal son. His father was waiting on him, he loved him and had compassion on him, took him back into the home again as his own son.
An ongoing conflict. There are 2 families, 2 seeds - the woman`s and the devil`s. God still sees those 2 families today. Those who are saved by the race of God and those unsaved and going to a Christless hell.
There is a victory that is certain - "he shall bruise thy head." It will be the church that will destroy Satan. The seed of the woman is the Lord himself. He will eventually have victory over Satan himself. One day God is coming back because he is in control. That day is marked out.
Verse 15 is the first gospel - protoevangelim - notice it is to the devil and not man that this promise was given - a Redeemer.
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