IN THE BEGINNING
We will begin a new series of messages today titled, “In The Beginning” from the Book of Genesis. The topics we will cover include:
I. What We All Need To Know About God (Genesis 1:1-31), (Part One)
II. What We All Need To Know About God (Genesis 1:1-31), (Part Two)
III. A Portrait Of Humanity (Genesis 1:26-31)
IV. The First Wedding (Genesis 2:18-25)
V. How Sin Entered The World (Genesis 3)
VI. Priorities That Please God (Genesis 4)
VII. Controlling The Fires Of Anger (Genesis 4)
VIII. Walking With God (Genesis 5)
IX. A Man Of Faith (Genesis 6-7)
X. A Formula For Failure (Genesis 11)
The Book of Genesis deals with beginnings. It sets forth the beginning of creation, the beginning of humanity, the beginning of family life, the beginning of sin and disobedience to God, the beginning of suffering, and the beginning of God’s effort to redeem and restore man to a relationship of love and a fellowship of faith. Due to this fact, the Book of Genesis is considered by some to be the most important book in the Bible. Warren Wiersbe said, “What the foundation is to the house, what the constitution is to the United States law, and what the periodic table of elements is to chemistry, the Book of Genesis is to the Bible.” (Be Basic-An Old Testament Study-Genesis 1-11, p143)
The Book of Genesis divides naturally into two parts. The first part, chapters 1-11, deals with the brief but comprehensive history of the world from creation to the confusion of tongues at Babel. This section is also called “the primeval history” because it deals with the beginning of the human race.
The second section of Genesis, chapters 12-50, narrates the history of Abraham and his family to the death of his great-grandson, Joseph. This section is also known as, “the beginning of the Hebrew race” or “the patriarchal history.”
The goal of this series of messages will be to deal with the first 11 chapters. An understanding of these chapters is important because the truth in these chapters is foundational to our Christian doctrine.
W. Graham Scroggie reveals the importance of the Book of Genesis with the following comments on Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” He wrote:
That one verse in Genesis (1:1) denies at least six false doctrines:
1. It denies the Eternity of Matter: “In the beginning.” There was then a commencement; the “heavens and the earth” had a “beginning”; they are not eternal. The antiquity of the universe is beyond human computation; but there was a time when it did not exist.
It denies Atheism. The atheist says there is no God, but the Bible begins by declaring His being. Geology and astronomy may claim a hundred million years for the existence of the universe, but whenever it began God was there; He did not begin, He eternally is. Atheism creates a crop of problems and solves none.
It denies Polytheism. If creation were the work of many gods, the unity of the universe would have been accounted for; and it can be accounted for only on the hypothesis that God, the One Eternal Mind, created all. “God created.”
Both of these words, standing as they do at the beginning of all history and revelation, are of profound importance.
“God” Elohim. This designation is plural. It occurs 35 times in chapters 1:1 to 2:3, and in the Old Testament 277 times. It does not mean gods and must be more than a plural of majesty. In light of the entire revelation in the Bible we must regard this designation of God to be a foregleam of the Divine Trinity. (See Genesis 1:26.)
“Created” in Genesis 1 and 2. Three words are used which must be distinguished. Bara, which occurs in 1:1, 21, 27 and 2:3, is used exclusively of God, and signifies a distinctively created act. “Made,” asah, and “formed,” yalzar, which occurs in 1:7, 16, 25, 31 and 2:2, 3, 7, 8, 19, signify to construct out of pre-existing materials. This distinction is of the upmost importance for an understanding of the first two chapters in the Bible. The idea of evolution can be in make and form, but not in create, so that the bringing into evidence of the universe, of animal life, and of human life, was by successive creative acts of God (1:1, 21, 27). By the word of His power, a cosmos was created of orders material, sentient, and moral.It denies Pantheism. This teaches that God and nature are the same, and so fails to distinguish between mind and matter, right and wrong, good and bad, and utterly confuses things which lie apart. But this pernicious error finds its answer here: “God created the heavens and the earth,” and as He could not create Himself, He, and “the heavens and the earth” cannot be the same.
It denies Agnosticism. This affirms that it cannot be known whether there is a God or not. But the universe is an effect and must have a sufficient cause; this building must have an Architect; this design must have a Designer; this kingdom must have a King; and this family must have a Father.
Legitimate inference challenges and discredits agnosticism.It denies Fatalism. Reason is against fate and chance. This wonderful universe could not just “happen.” God has acted in the freedom of His eternal being, and according to His infinite mind, and what He willed was and is, and can be nothing else, unless He should will it. (The Unfolding Drama of Redemption, W. Graham Scroggie, D.D., Volume 1 Old Testament, p49-51, London, Pickering & Inglis, LTD., 1953)
Title: What We Need to Know About God (Part 1)
Text: Genesis 1:1-31
Date: January 12, 2025
Introduction: When we say Genesis 1, what’s the first thought that comes to our minds? It should be God! This chapter describes the creation and the Creator. However, the focus is on the Creator. Moses the author of Genesis, wanted the whole world to know about God.
John Phillips wrote, “The first chapter of Genesis is one of the most God-centered chapters in the Bible. God is mentioned by name thirty-two times in thirty-one verses. Add to that the use of personal pronouns, and He is mentioned no less than forty-three times. Thus, on the very first page of Scripture, the Holy Spirit brings us into the presence of God and keeps us there. No wonder Satan hates that chapter! No wonder he had brought up his heavy artillery to discredit it in the minds of men.
Abandon Genesis 1 – as unfactual and unreliable, as mere mythology, as a doctored-up copy of the Babylonian creation epic, as totally unacceptable to modern science—and Satan has won. If the Holy Spirit cannot be trusted when He tells of creation, how can He be trusted when He tells of salvation? If what He says about earth in Genesis 1 can be questioned, then what He says about heaven in Revelation 22 can be questioned. If the Holy Spirit cannot be trusted in Genesis 1, how can He be trusted in John 3:16?” (Exploring Genesis, John Phillips, p.35, Moody Press, Chicago.)
Today, all of us need to accept Genesis 1. We can trust it fully. Also, the beginning place for a true understanding of God is found here. Perhaps we have been gathering and worshipping God, Sunday after Sunday without fully knowing who He is. These are numerous facts about God that can be stated. However, we will focus on six. Three today and three the following Sunday. What do we need to know about God?
I. We all need to know that God
II. We all need to know that God is
III. We all need to know that God is the
Larry Gipson
First Baptist Church, Oneonta