The
book of Genesis was written by Moses. It begins, “In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth“.
That is the most important verse in all the Bible. If you can
believe that, the rest of the scriptures are a piece of cake. 2
Timothy 3:16 says, “All
scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may
be thoroughly equipped for every good work“.
It is with that understanding that we read the Bible, believing it
is both literal and inspired by God Himself working through the
individual talents of men. The word translated as God is the Hebrew
word Elohim
which is a plural word that is used as if it were singular, all of
the verbs and pronouns are in the singular form. We speak of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit not as three God’s, but as one
God in different forms. The word translated created is the Hebrew
word bara,
meaning creating something out of nothing. That is a unique
characteristic of God. Every other thing is created, except God, He
is eternal. This foundational belief that we are created beings by a
personal God for companionship with Him is critical. Those that
reject God must also reject creation and they are left with the
belief that we are just a random accident- what a sad way to view the
world.
We
read, God said, “let
there be light, and there was light“.
God spoke and it happened. Through the first chapter phrases are
repeated. “God
saw that it was good“,
is used after every act of creation. God created everything in an
uncorrupted form, we have a difficult time understanding this because
we live in a corrupted world. The other phrase we read is “each
after it’s own kind“,
that is, an apple tree produces apple seeds, a pig produces piglets.
Genesis is clear we were created as humans, in fact God says, “Let
us make man in our own image“.
God also give a command to man and women, “Be
fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule
over …every living creature“.
We are also told that man was originally created to be vegetarians
because there was no death (until after the fall of Adam). God says,
“I
give you every green plant for food“.
The
chapter concludes, “God
saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was
evening, and there was morning- the sixth day“.
We will read later man was created for a purpose and that purpose
was fellowship with God. We all have a natural yearning to seek to
know God. I pray that each of us would have a new awareness of the
awesome God that created the entire universe, yet calls each of us by
name.