| CREATION |

Welcome! I’m so glad that you have decided to join us. It is like the first day of school and I couldn’t be more excited to be here with you! If you haven’t already, please head over to the History of Redemption Reading Plan to discover more about how we will be reading through Bible for the next few months.

Genesis 1 | Creation

Genesis 1 is the beginning of the story. The first four words of Genesis 1 couldn’t be more important.

In the beginning God …

Just God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Perfect. Sufficient.

The next word sets the context for the rest of the story.

… created …

In the beginning, God … and then, by his own sovereign will and design … everything else. The fact that everything but God is created is the context of every other story in all of history. God is Creator. Everything else is created.

In the creation account, it is easy to become distracted by questions about the relationship between science and faith. No matter your position on these things, I would encourage you to allow the Bible to speak on its own authority. Do not get distracted just yet. Instead, let us continue to hear the Bible out as it tells its story. For now, let us see that if Genesis 1:1 is taken at face value and God is truly the Creator, then everything that we come to understand through scientific investigation finds its source and meaning not in itself but in God.

If we look again at the story the Bible tells, there are a few key words and phrases that tell us both about God and about what He was doing in creation.

  1. “And God said …”: This shows us something of the power of God.
  2. “it was good”: Just like a work of art tells us something about the artist, the fact that creation according to God’s design was good tells us something about who God is. We will see soon what happens when rebels begin to mess with God’s perfect design.
  3. Notice the order of the words. God said … it was so … it was good. This should show us something about God’s word. His word is both true and good. This also will be important to remember later when we see God’s word questioned in Genesis 3:1.
  4. The words “I have given” in Genesis 1:29-30 show us the generosity of God.

Genesis 2 | God Creates Man and Woman

Chapter 2 retells the account of God’s special creation of man and woman. In Genesis 1:27, God uniquely made man and woman together in his image. In Genesis 2, we see how man and woman are both equally human and yet distinctly created.

Genesis 2:16-17 | God’s Good Command

In verse 16-17, God commands Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Given what we have already seen from chapter 1, we know that God has the authority to command because He is Creator and that his command is good because what He speaks is good. In the next chapter, we will see how God’s new creation, Adam and Eve, responds to his good command.

Genesis 2:18-25 | Beautiful Wedding Vows

The chapter closes with some of the most beautiful, grateful, loving words ever spoken by a man to his wife. Imagine what their relationship would be like if they would have continued to walk in faith according to God’s good command in his perfect creation.

Day One Done!

Congratulations on completing your first day here at BibleTogether!