
The B-I-B-L-E
Week two - The Beginning
Genesis 1 and Genesis 3:21
Roots - we all came from somewhere, but roots aren’t interesting until there is more to the story
Last week - “The Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus.”
or as Tim Keller put it, ““The Bible isn’t a bunch of stories about how we get to God. It’s one big story about God coming after us.”
As followers of Jesus, we read the Bible through the lens of Jesus - meaning it’s about Him.
Not only do we read the Bible that way as followers of Jesus, we arrived at having a “The Bible” because of Jesus -
It started with Luke giving an account of this extraordinary thing that happened with a Jew from Nazareth who rose from the dead. His account led to other accounts and eventually to a period of time in the fourth century when it was no longer illegal to be a follower of Jesus and a group of people began to put together all of the pieces…
Jesus’ death and resurrection made his teaching suddenly more interesting. His teaching made the Jewish scriptures more interesting, which is how we ended up at the beginning in a book about Jesus…
“Genesis” - Greek word for ‘origin’ - or in other words, we’re going back to the roots
In the beginning, we think about creation, but through the lens of Jesus, the story of the beginning is about the roots of both
Creation as a distinct worldview:
(this part will sound familiar if you were around for the series we did a few years ago on “The Bible for Grown-Ups”)
Since the time of Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC), the assumption was that the universe always existed - that assumption lasted a long, long time…until 1927 when a Belgian priest suggested a theory called The Big Bang Theory. It was rejected by most people at the time because it was crazy to most scientists to think that the universe had a cause, or a beginning.
But then in 1964 scientists discovered cosmic microwave background radiation, and with that discovery, they abandoned the assumption that the universe always existed.
There was a beginning…
Everything that has a beginning has a cause. The debate today is whether it was a personal, purposeful, and intentional cause. —Andy Stanley
Suddenly Genesis is more interesting again - in light of Jesus, and in light of the understanding that it all started somewhere.
And while Genesis is not the only origin story out there (the Canaanites and the Babylonians and the Egyptians all have creations stories we’ve discovered in recent centuries) - it stands in stark contrast to every other worldview.
Moses (commonly understood to have written the first five books of the Bible) wasn’t trying to explain how God created the heavens and the earth, but that God created the heavens and the earth, not the gods.
Contrasts:
One God, not many
a. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
b. Other accounts all involved battles between multiple gods that led to creation as a byproduct of conflictPurpose of humanity - to partner with God and live with God, not to serve the gods so they can be lazy settle into a life of ease
a. Let us make mankind in our image so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals (1:26)
b. Babylonian story - after Marduk becomes chief among the gods, he says, “I will establish a savage, man shall be his name. Savage man I will create. He shall be charged with the service of the gods. That they might be at ease.”Value of humanity - intrinsic dignity, not an afterthought meant to lighten the load of the gods with no rights, no hope, and no intrinsic value
a. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (1:27)
b. ***this is a bananas worldview in its time, but we overlook it because of our time - extraordinary value was given to humanity in the beginning
(Then) Babylonians, Egyptians, Canaanites - You were born a slave to serve the gods. There is no redeemer or afterlife.
(Now) The New Atheists - You were born a slave to your DNA with no free will, redeemer, or afterlife
Genesis - You were born on purpose with free will, value and dignity ascribed to you by God himself. We were given freedom to choose and a God who honors our choices, and ultimately, a God who would work on our behalf to reverse the consequences of mankind’s decision to choose against Him.
The roots for redemption were in place before the Fall:
- God is a loving Creator, not forceful and vengeful
- By not forcing relationships, God invited relationship, and didn’t demand, but made provision for where we would run
- With everything we know about who Jesus was and what Jesus did, it’s no surprise in Genesis 3:21 when God clothed Adam and Eve. God sent them from the Garden for their own protection, but He was already pursuing them and building a path to bring them back.
Without Jesus, the Fall feels final.
With Jesus, the Fall feels like an understanding of why Jesus had to die.
With Jesus, we can see that even in the moments we feel far from God or even pushed away from God, God is already making a way and coming after us.
Creation, redemption - both set in motion “in the beginning.”
So, what does that mean for you and me?
It means that God is doing more right now in your life than you can see or comprehend. It means that some of the things that right now feel hard or even final, are not outside the bounds of redemption. God has already put into motion the way for you to come back to Him, to find your way home. Or to put it more accurately, to be led home by the One who came from heaven to earth to get you
We believe circles are better than rows and that the Bible is best understood in community conversations. If you would like to join or form a small group, please go to our website and click the button that best suits your next step. www.ashleyridgechurch.org/groups