Genesis

     How did your Bible reading go this past week?  Did you read from God's word every day?  Were you able to complete Genesis in preparation for today's discussion?
     "In the beginning," Genesis 1:1 reveals, "God created the heavens and the earth."
     It is from this first phrase that the title of the book is taken.  The term "Genesis" comes from the first Hebrew word in the Bible. The word means "in the beginning."  The term in Greek and English translations means, "origin" or "beginning."
     Who is the author of the book?  The first five books of the Bible are grouped together in what is known as the "Pentateuch."  There are a number of passages in the Old Testament that attribute these first five books to Moses.
     "Write this in a book as a memorial," God instructs Moses in Exodus 17:14.
     But what is perhaps the strongest evidence for Moses as the author comes from the New Testament.
     "Have you not read in the book of Moses?" Jesus asks in Mark 12:26 as He quotes a passage from Exodus 3:6.  Paul claims in 2 Corinthians 3:15 that a statement in Exodus 34:34 was written by Moses.  Romans 10:19 and 1 Corinthians 9:9 both attribute quotes from Deuteronomy to Moses.
     But there are so many so-called "Bible scholars" who feel that their intelligence places them above simply accepting what the Bible says.  They have decided that Genesis had not one but rather at least three authors.  A few years ago a five-year research project was conducted in Israel.  The 20,000 words of the book of Genesis were subjected to rigorous analysis using 54 linguistic factors.  The result was that the book was written by a single author.  The German mathematician in the group made a computer analysis of the works of the German philosopher Kant and found a 9 percent probability that these works were by a single author.  By comparison, the study found a staggering 82 percent probability for a single author of Genesis.
     Are there any passages in the Bible that are attacked any more than the account given in the first few chapters of Genesis?  In our humanistic world, it has become popular to regard as myth the story of the creation.  But has science proved that the world that we know is the result of millions of years of evolution?  This is obviously too long a discussion for these few minutes, but let's just look at quotes from two sources.  The first is science, the second the Bible.
     "One morning I woke up and something had happened in the night," Dr. Colin Patterson, senior paleontologist for the British Museum of Natural History, said of evolution in an address at the American Museum of Natural History in 1981.  "It struck me that I had been working on this stuff for twenty years and there was not one thing I knew about it.  That's quite a shock to learn that one can be misled so long.  Either there was something wrong with me, or there was something wrong with evolutionary theory."
     "Then I woke up," Dr. Patterson continued, "and realized that all my life I had been duped into taking evolution as a revealed truth in some way."
     "By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God," we learn in Hebrews 11:3, "so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible."
     "For when they maintain this," 2 Peter 3:5 says of the claims of unbelievers, "it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water."
     Some claim that the Bible informs us of why things happened while evolution tells us how.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  The Bible explains precisely how the world was created.  It was created out of nothing by the word of God.  There is no way to compromise that with millions of years of evolution.
     One more thing should be pointed out before leaving the creation.  Notice in Genesis 1:26 the use of the plural by God when He says, "Let us make man in our image..."  The plural is used again in Genesis 3:22 and 11:7.  A number of New Testament passages explain that Jesus was involved in the creation.
     "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in many portions and in many ways," Hebrews 1:1-2 states, "in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He make the world."

     One part of the creation account that is often attacked is the story of Adam and Eve.  Some would like to believe that this is just a myth made up to explain the origin of sin.  In Matthew 19:4-6 Jesus refers to the story of Adam and Eve as an actual event.  And Jesus should know; He was there.  Paul, writing through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, does the same thing in passages such as Romans 5:12-21.  Notice in Genesis 1:2 that the Spirit was also present at the creation.
     In Genesis chapter five we find a number of generations that followed Adam.  Attempts to explain away the time-frame of this genealogy through jumps and gaps are not worth a second thought.  In all, the book of Genesis covers about 2300 years, which is a big piece of the earth's history.
     In the following chapters we learn about the destruction of the world by a global flood.  No, this was not a localized event.  It would be very difficult for a small-scale flood to cover the peak of Mt. Ararat.  Once again, an appeal to the words of Jesus clears up any possible disagreement.  In Luke 17:26-27 the Lord refers to Noah, the ark and the flood.  The Holy Spirit does the same thing through the Hebrew writer in Hebrews 11:7 and through Peter in 1 Peter 3:20.
     The next major character following Noah is Abraham.  This great patriarch is one of the important characters of the Bible, as we note from numerous New Testament references.  He is known especially as a symbol of great faith and obedience.
     "By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance;" Hebrews 11:8 recalls, "and he went out, not knowing where he was going."  Take a look also at James 2:21-23.
     By the way, the escape of Abraham's nephew Lot from the destruction of Sodom was an actual event, as we know from the words of Jesus in Luke 17:28-29.  We cannot deny Genesis without denying Jesus.  As much as some like compromise, we have no right to call ourselves "Christians" and at the same time deny the events of Genesis.  If the events did not happen then Jesus was either mistaken or a liar.
     Genesis continues with accounts of Abraham's son Isaac and his son Jacob.  Jacob's name was changed to "Israel" and he became the father of the Jewish nation.  Joseph was one of Jacob's twelve sons.  The book of Genesis devotes much more time to Joseph than to any other character.
     This is the Joseph who received a special coat from his father and who was later sold into slavery by his brothers.  God raised Joseph to the position of the number two ruler in Egypt, and Jacob's entire family was eventually taken to that country.  The story of Joseph is one of being repeatedly cut down through the evil of others, only to be raised by the hand of God.  Look at his story in Genesis chapter 37 and chapters 39-41.  Pay special attention to his actions in Genesis 39:7-23.  There is a lot we can learn from his integrity in his dealing with the wife of an Egyptian named Potiphar.
     But by focusing on the history of men such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph it is easy to miss the central figure of the book.  This figure is Jesus.
     As soon as mankind sins God offers a way of redemption.
     Genesis 3:15 makes reference to the seed of woman and how he would bruise the head of the serpent.  This seed is Christ.  In Romans 16:20 Paul writes about God crushing Satan under our feet.
     In Romans 5:12-19 as well as in 1 Corinthians 15:45-47 we find contrasts between Jesus and Adam.
     1 Peter 3:18-22 compares salvation through Christ with Noah and his family being saved in the flood.
     In Genesis 12:1-3 God makes two promises to Abraham.  The first is that his children would become a great nation.  This is fulfilled through the Jewish race.  The second is that through his seed all nations would be blessed.  This is fulfilled in Christ, as we know from Galatians 3:16.
     In Genesis 14:18-24 Abraham encounters a king and priest named "Melchizedek."  This man is compared to Jesus starting in Hebrews 6:20 and continuing through the following chapter.
     Jacob prophesies in Genesis 49:10 of a descendant of Judah who would rule.  This ruler is referred to as "Shiloh," a word that implies a "peacemaker."  The fulfillment of this prophecy is explained in Luke 1:33.  Jesus is our peace, as we know from Ephesians 2:14.
     What a wonderful book Genesis is!  In it we learn about the creation, and about the fall of man through sin.  But, most importantly, in it we learn about being set free from that sin.  We learn about Jesus.  He is the truth that sets us free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.lockman.org)