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INTRODUCTION

A. Content :

In the early chapters of Genesis we will see:

 

  - God creating the earth and man and woman

  - Him giving them a perfect environment to live in

  - Their rebellion and being put out of His presence

  - The subsequent decline of mankind

 

B. Problems of Genesis :

 

1. Who Wrote it?

  

      This isn't known for sure but it is thought that Moses was the author of Genesis. This means he would have brought together all of the accounts handed down by word of mouth through the ages.

   

2. What about the "days" of Creation?

  

      Various possibilities arise:

a) Each day is a literal 24 hour period

b) Each day refers to an historical age

c) Each day was the day in which God revealed part of what he had done to

     the author.

  

     Many arguments have been put forward for each possibility. We will never know until we see the Lord in heaven! Genesis 1 does not seek to be a scientific account but much can be gleaned from it that challenges "evolutionary chance theory" .

The key facts to be observed are:

  1. God brought the world into being.

  2. He did it in an orderly purposeful way.

  3. It was planned and was no accident.

  4. He produced a world that was perfect.

  5. He produced it to be a blessing to man.

  6. It has subsequently been spoilt by sin.

     The question that challenges man is NOT "Do you believe the incomplete details of Genesis?" but "Do you believe in, love and serve the One Almighty God who made this world and whose world this is?"

 

  

PART 1 : "Creation"

 

    In this first Part watch for the power of God as He speaks and it is done, the order of God as He brings the world into being and the variety that He has provided for our pleasure. 

Study No.1 : First 3 Days : Genesis 1:1-13

A. Find Out:

        

1. What was the state of the earth when God first made it? v.2

2. What was the first thing He "added"? v.3-5

3. Then what did He insert? v.6,8

4. What was His next stage of change? v.9,10

5. What did He then put on it? v.11

6. How would this keep on reproducing? v.11,12

   

B. Think :

 

1. How is the coming into being of our world shown to be the purposeful act

    of God?

2. God could have spoken and a completed world came into being instantly.

    Why do you think He didn't?

3. How many times does "And God saw that it was good" come up? What

     do you think that says?

 

C. Comment :

   

      In these opening verses of the Bible we are confronted with the awesome power of God. Whatever else, the Bible doesn't allow room for evolution by chance. Behind the coming into being of the world is the purposeful, creative hand of God. The picture we are given is of God taking a solid mass surrounded by water in space, shedding light on it, then putting an atmosphere around it and then bringing up land masses in the water to form what we know as the earth. On the land masses He brings vegetation that is to be self sowing.

  

      No explanation is given as to the "how" of all these things. God can just speak and the thing happens. There may have been scientific activity that orders it all but that is not the main point. The main point is that GOD orders it all. Again the fact that there is no mention of the source of the light first of all, is of no consequence. GOD can make light without source. He is God Almighty!

 

D. Application?

1. Is the God YOU worship, God ALMIGHTY who is sovereign over all

    things?  

2. Is the God YOU know, a creative God who works stage by stage at

    bringing things into being?

 

Study No.2 : The Earth Populated : Genesis 1:14-25

A. Find Out:    

        

1. What was the 1st purpose of the sun and moon? v.14,

2. What was the 2nd purpose of them? v.15

3. What creatures were created on the fifth day? v.20

4. What did God tell them to do? v.22

5. What 3 sorts were created on the sixth day? v.24

6. How many times does "according to their kinds" occur? v.21-25

    

B. Think :

 

1. How does the product of each day show that God is a God of variety?

2. Why do you think He should make such variety?

3. What did God feel about each thing He made?

 

C. Comment :

 

     Having already established the earth, the Lord now establishes variety of light sources to both light the earth and form days and seasons. We may take seasons for granted but the positioning of the sun determines our seasons and what happens in them. Then He populates the seas and the air that He has already formed, with a tremendous variety of creatures. Then finally on the sixth day he populates the land masses with a tremendous variety of land creatures.

  

      From verse 11 on variety has been the name of the game! Variety in vegetation, plants and trees, variety in time and light, variety in creatures of the earth.

     Two possible reasons that God made such variety (did you know there are over a thousand different types of edible bean on the earth!) are:

    1) He ENJOYED making it so and

    2) He did it for OUR ENJOYMENT.

  

      Perhaps we take for granted the great variety of "Creation" so next time you are watching a TV nature programme or are out in the country, take note of the variety and praise and thank the Lord for it.

    

D. Application?

 

1. Stop and think about the variety of different trees, plants and animals

    you know about and the different seasons and climates.

2. Thank & Praise the Lord for the wonder of this world that He has

     given us for our enjoyment

Study No.3 : The Peak of Creation : Genesis 1:26-31

A. Find Out:

          

1. On what basis was God making man? v.26a

2. With what purpose in mind? v.26b

3. What threefold instruction did He give them? v.28

4. What were they to eat? v.29

5. What were all the land creatures to eat? v.30

6. What was God's assessment of what He had made? v.31

    

B. Think :  

 

1. What, in this passage, in the making of man, makes him special?

2. What in his purpose makes man special, above all other creatures?

3. How was Creation at the beginning different from what it is now?

   

C. Comment :   

 

      Whatever else it means, "in God's likeness" means that in some way we are similar to God and different from all other creatures. Man is an active, thinking, rationalising, planning, designing, creating being who has the capability of making moral judgements and who is to rule over all other creatures. In this sense he is quite distinct from all other creatures on earth. It is BECAUSE God has made man like this that He gave man the mandate to rule (v.26,28) and subdue (v.28). That clearly, is to be a wise "looking after" and "bringing order" type of ruling and subduing. Man is to look after God's creation and use it wisely.

  

      It is interesting to note that at the very beginning both men and creatures were entirely vegetarian. The clear indication is that at the beginning God made it so that animals could live alongside animals. That was not to last very long and the later sacrificial system for Israel prevents us from deriving any sort of "vegetarian only" theology. The picture of God's creation at the beginning is of complete peace with man being appointed to maintain that order.

 

D. Application?

 

1. Thank the Lord for the sort of being He has made you to be, capable of

     being thoughtful, caring , creative and decision making. Pray for His

     wisdom.

2. Thank Him again for the variety of His provision.

  

Study No.4 : Man's True Origin : Genesis 2:1-7

A. Find Out:

         

1. What did God do on the seventh day? v.2

2. How did He view that day? v.3

3. What sort of plants had not yet been grown? v.5a

4. What had not yet happened? v.5b

5. Why had they not yet grown? 5c

6. From what was man formed? v.7

   

B. Think :

 

1. What was the world like at this time before man was made?

2. How is the world very different now?

3. What does this origin of man say about him?

   

C. Comment :

 

       First of all we see the origins of a day of rest every seventh day. Later in the Bible the Lord refers to this, wanting us to rest up in reverence for Him, and because He designed us to need that rest. We disregard this to our own peril.

      Second, we move from the general description of creation to specific description of the making of man. We see the state of the earth in its earliest days - uncultivated. Man has not been made and "fields" have not been formed as the sign of his activity. Cultivated plant life is not yet seen. Interestingly the rain cycle has not yet started. Rain has not yet occurred; water only came from underground streams.

  

    Finally we see the making of man. If man is elevated by being made in God's image, he is humbled in that he came from dust. God takes the impersonal and inert and breathes life into it to make it "Man". Whatever else we may see in this we see that man was NOT a follow on from monkeys but was a specific act of creation by God. God may have made monkeys in the same way but man is special and distinct from all other creatures on earth.

 

D. Application?

 

1. Thank the Lord that YOU are the peak of God 's creation, that you have

     a destiny far higher than that of the animals of the earth.

2. Observe the fields today and note that man has done what God

    instructed and subdued the earth. Thank Him for our food.

   

ADDITONAL NOTE : EVOLUTIONARY QUESTIONS

Modern Beliefs that become Facts

  

     Because of the period of history we live in, in some circles there are certain “facts” which are now taught as such in schools. We refer, of course to the ‘theory' of evolution. We have already commented once in these notes on this, but the core question is so important that we devote this special note to it.

 

  

Impossibility of Proof

 

      Because evolution refers to a process that has apparently happened over millions and millions of years (don't those words role off the tongue so easily without any sense of their enormity!), it is IMPOSSIBLE to PROVE that it was like this. We can only use current measuring systems and produce a theory that seems to fit our present system. Yet it is a system that assumes uniformity of change. The measuring technology itself has only been in use for such a relatively short period of time that it leaves questions

 

  

Gigantic Questions

 

      There are still questions that hang over evolution, massive questions that are quietly ignored. We are led to believe that all living species have developed from one central, original species of ‘thing', living matter. If that were so then the fossil record would show gradual changes that would clearly link every species. That is not so. Perhaps one of the biggest questions is that of gender, male and female physical characteristics. Really think about this one! By the use of the phrase “millions and millions of years”, we are asked to believe that somehow species running back from humans somehow took on outward AND inward characteristics that enable us to operate in the way we do to reproduce. No, come on, seriously, think about that, really think about it!

 

 

God is the central Issue

 

      You can still believe in evolution if you like, it's easier to go with the crowd, but that's not the central issue. Whether you believe in evolutionary process or a God brought about shorter creation, the issue is, is God in it? You will start from there and finish there. If you want to go for evolution, then you can have either a godless evolution (which means simply time plus chance plus accidental change, at least to start with, and therefore NO meaning or purpose to life – come on, it's an accident!), or godly evolution, with God being the driving and directing force behind it all. Those are your only two options, and they don't depend on science!

Study No.5 : First Warning  : Genesis 2:8-17

A. Find Out:

     

1. What had the Lord formed for the man? v.8

2. How were the trees there described? v.9

3. What two special trees were there? v.9c

4. What 4 rivers spread from the river in Eden ? v.11-

5. Why did the Lord put man in the garden? v.16

6. What instruction did He give the man? v.16,17

    

B. Think :

 

1. What impression are you given of Eden from this passage?

2. How many trees could the man eat from?

3. How many was he told not to eat from?

   

C. Comment :

 

      After telling us how God made man, this passage now shows us the environment that God made for man to live in. It tells us that God planted a garden as man's habitation, that had many trees providing fruit, and was watered by a river flowing through it. Two particular trees are mentioned and one of them is forbidden to the man. Man is given the choice of obedience.

  

     The picture of a "garden" indicates a cultivated place for enjoyment. Plenty of trees to eat from indicates plentiful provision. One forbidden tree indicates the requirement of the man to exercise moral judgement. The man's sole task is to care for the garden and work it, presumably to keep it under control and harvest it. That this "garden" was a real geographical location is clearly indicated by the names of the rivers. Tigris and Euphrates are two large well known rivers in the area where historians pinpoint the beginning of civilisation in the area called Mesopotamia , which today is Iraq . This is therefore, no made up fable. It fits history & geography as we know it.

   

D. Application?

 

1. Are we aware of:

a) God's provision for US today?

b) the need for us to exercise moral judgement?

c) the need to care for God's world?

2. Thank the Lord for His provision and help as you live in His world.

 

Study No.6 : A Helper   : Genesis 2:18-25

A. Find Out:

          

1. What was not quite right at first? v.18

2. Why were the creatures brought to the man? v.19

3. But what problem still existed? v.20

4. From what did God make the woman? v.22

5. Why did the man identify with her? v.23

6. What two things are we told about them? v.25.   

    

B. Think :

 

1. What does this passage say about people living in isolation?

2. What does it show us about the divine order in respect of male and

     female roles?

3. What does it show us about sexual union?

    

C. Comment :

  

     This remarkable passage so early in the Bible gives us lots of answers to modern questions. First it shows us that God's order (and God isn't caught out, and doesn't make mistakes) was clearly to make FIRST a man, but man was insufficient to do the job of ruling over the earth on his own. That puts men in their place! But then woman came out of man SECOND, to be a helper to the man. That puts women in their place! For the job God has given them, they both need the other. Man is to take the lead. Woman is to help him. That is the divine order from the very beginning.

  

     Next we see male and female who are made to be one. Oneness here means both physically as well as in their intentions in fulfilling God's purposes for them; the united man and woman become one in far more than just the physical sense. It is God's desire that they become one in intention, in thinking, in emotions, in spirit. Sex was God's idea. The Bible shows here that it is a man with his wife that is the context for sexual union. Within marriage and only within marriage. That comes out again and again in the Bible.

 

D. Application?

 

1. Thank the Lord for the differences (more than physical) between male

     and female that he has given us to enjoy!

2. Thank him for the divine order he has established.

  

ADDITIONAL NOTE : MALE AND FEMALE

       Because we live in an age where, in the Western world at least, there is much controversy as to male-female differences, we would do well to consider further some of the things seen here in chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis. Please ponder on these things.

 

  

1. Alike but Different 1:26 ,27

  

- “man” = mankind (also 5:2)

 

- “in our image” i.e. in the image of the Godhead, distinct from and higher than the animals, having some of the same characteristics as God: capable of self awareness, creativity, planning, complex language, abstract thought etc. Both male & female are like this

 

- “let them rule” - it is something they are to do jointly , neither one dominating

 

- “male and female” - distinctly different, having different capabilities and thus different roles

 

- the primary physical differences are that he is able to plant human seed, she to receive it; she is able to bear children and he isn't. It can be suggested that all other physical, emotional and mental differences can be linked to these primary differences and such differences are essential in order to ensure that the proper rule of the world is achieved

  

- that Sin came into the world and the two have never fully harmonised after that is not to deny the Creator's original design, and one which we should seek for by His grace.

  

- that we may see gender confusion in the present age, may say more about the sinfulness of “the last days” than it does about “evolution of gender”.

 

  

2. Inadequate alone 2:18

 

- note that God never makes mistakes, so why this order?

  

- it is obviously for our benefit

 

- neither is superior, both need each other if they are to rule 

 

- “a helper suitable for him” - obviously he was inadequate in some ways and she would make up that inadequacy; this is not to say she duplicated what he had but she complimented what he had, so that both had differences that together would enable them to rule over the earth as decreed by God.

RECAP No.1  "Spirit Life & Conquerors"  Romans 8

SUMMARY :  

         

In these first six studies we have seen the Lord:

- bringing the world into being from nothing?

- separating light from darkness, sky from earth, land from sea

- bringing trees & vegetation onto the land

- creating sun, moon & stars, living creatures on the earth, man to rule the 

   earth

- putting man in a garden in Mesopotamia to care for it

- instructing man not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil

- creating woman as a helper for man

 

  

COMMENT :

 

      The Bible shows us the sovereign Lord God creating this world in an orderly and purposeful way. The order is clearly given but not the "how". God speaks and it comes into being, that is the important thing to notice. He is all-powerful and creates as He wishes. There is nothing accidental or random about the world on which we live. It is given to us by God, to enjoy.

 

  

LESSONS?

 

1. The earth "belongs" to the Lord for He made it

2. The Lord is creative & provides variety

3. The variety is very good and for our blessing

4. Man is a special distinct part of God's creation

5. Man is a moral being, made to rule with God's help.

6. God designed sex for enjoyment between a committed couple and for

    procreation.

 

  

PRAY :

  

      Thank the Lord afresh for the wonder of the world He has given us to enjoy.

 

 

PART 2 : "The Fall"

  

      In this next Part we will see the reason the world is as it is today, very different from the place of peace and order that God originally made. Observe the Fall and find answers to today's problems.