TEACHING NOTES ‌ Introduction When Jesus was asked about controversial issues of His time, He answered by going back to the beginning of the Bible. For Jesus, the beginning of the Bible tells us more than we may realize. In so many modern issues we face, we can find answers when we go back to the start. ‌ Matthew 19:3-8 ESV 3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. ‌ Jesus believed that the beginning of the Bible tells us what God wants, how we reject God to pursue what we want, and how God continues to pursue us. ‌ Genesis 1-11 should be read as the introduction to the rest of the Bible. In those chapters we see what God wanted, how humanity left God’s will to pursue what they wanted, and how God pursues humanity to bring them back to Himself. ‌ If we misunderstand Genesis, our understanding of the rest of the Bible will be misguided at best. ‌ Genesis 1:1–2 ESV 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. ‌ In the beginning = Heb. b reshit - what comes first, starting point. It’s important to understand that Genesis begins with a Hebrew phrase that essentially means “way back when” without any indication of how long ago. ‌ God created = The main point of the creation story is NOT how the earth was created or how long ago. The main point is WHO created everything. ‌ The heavens and the earth = This is not heaven as in where God dwells, but plural “heavens”—meaning the skies or outer space. The “earth” refers to the land, not the globe. So, another way to translate this would be “the skies and the land” or “what’s up there and what’s down here.” ‌ Without form and void = In the beginning, the earth was not habitable. In Hebrew, the phrase is tohu va vohu - meaning wild and waste or empty and uninhabitable. The rest of the creation story describes God bringing order to a chaotic wasteland. ‌ The face of the deep = The entire earth was covered in deep waters. ‌ The Spirit of God = The Hebrew word for Spirit is ruach, which is also the word for breath or wind. There are three characters at work in the creation story: God, the Spirit of God, and the Word of God. John 1:1-3 indicates that Jesus is the Word who was doing the work of creation. ‌ The “Days” of Creation: While the “days” of creation are often interpreted as six 24-hour days, Gen. 1:1-2:4 uses “day” (Heb. yom) in three different ways: (1) the daylight hours—Gen. 1:5, 16 (2) a numbered day—Gen. 1:5,8,13,19,23,31 (3) the entire creation process—Gen. 2:4. This means that the “days” of creation could be six literal days or more likely six undefined periods of time. There is nothing in the creation story that gives us certainty about the length of time of the creation days. ‌1 — Light (separation of light & darkness) ‌2 — Expanse (separation of waters above/below) ‌3 — Seas, Land, Plants (separation of water/land) ‌4 — Sun, Moon, Stars (creation of time) ‌5 — Fish, Birds (creation of sea/air creatures) ‌6 — Land Creatures (creation of animals/humans) ‌7 — God Rests/Stops this Stage of Creation ‌ Note: Some Bible teachers claim that the phrase “evening and morning” prove that each creation day is a literal, 24-hour day. However, we should understand the phrase “evening and morning” as simply a statement that each period of time had a beginning and ending. The creation “days” could be six 24-hour days or six long periods of time. ‌ Genesis 1:26 ESV 26 Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ‌ Who is God talking to? The most popular view is that “us” and “our” refers to the Trinity. However, the biblical evidence indicates that God is talking to the heavenly host or spiritual beings that God created before He made the world. Job 38:4-7 calls these beings the “sons of God” and says that they rejoiced as they watched God create the world. ‌ It also important to understand that when God creates man the language changes from plural to singular. So, God says “let us make man” but in the next first it says “God [singular] created man.” God involves the heavenly host in the conversation, but God alone creates. ‌ Genesis 1:27 ESV 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. ‌ In his own image = While many people view the image of God as attributes (consciousness, creativity, spiritual, etc.), it is more accurate to understand the image of God as a role or purpose. It’s best to see imaging God as a verb. ‌ Male and female = Humanity is identified as one with two categories. The two genders are diverse but unified under one species. The modern problems of gender debates are solved by the first chapter of the Bible. Humanity exists in two genders. Any attempt to change that truth is a deviation from God’s design. ‌ Humanity’s purpose is to image God as His representatives on earth. ‌What God wants is a human family who reflects His goodness. ‌ Genesis 1:28 ESV 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ‌ God blessed them = While our modern idea of blessing is usually focused on material increase, the biblical concept is all about purpose. Notice that God’s blessing is a command to reproduce and rule the earth. The blessing is God’s stated purpose for humanity. ‌ Be fruitful, multiply, have dominion = The purpose of humanity is to reproduce, fill the earth (spread out), and rule the earth. Humans were created to represent (image) God as the rulers of earth. Sin has not changed the fact that we are the rulers of the earth. Sin makes us bad rulers, but sin did not change God’s purpose for humanity. ‌ Humanity’s purpose is to rule the earth on God’s behalf. ‌What God wants is a human family who partners with Him to rule creation. ‌ Genesis 2:15 ESV 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ‌ Garden of Eden = In Hebrew, “Eden” means delight or paradise. Because Adam and Eve are with God in His garden, it is a place of delight. It’s important to realize that all the earth was not Eden. Eden was a region of land with the garden in the center of that region and the tree of life was in the center of the garden. ‌ Work it and keep it = In Hebrew, these words can be translated “to serve and protect.” Later in the Bible, this exact phrase is used to describe what the priests do in the tabernacle and temple—which was modeled after the Garden of Eden. Therefore, “work and keep” should be understood as worship. ‌ Humanity’s purpose is to worship God by serving Him in everyday life. What God wants is you. ‌ Conclusion ‌As we celebrate a new year we should also celebrate the fact that God loves us and wants to be with us in our everyday lives. Today, we recommit ourselves to serving God and bringing others to Him. ‌