Fall Bible Study Kick Off

The Beginning—HisStory in Genesis 1-11

Lesson 1: The Creator of the Story

“The Bible is the saga of Yahweh and Adam, the prodigal son and his ever gracious heavenly father; humanity in their rebellion and God in His grace. This narrative begins with Eden and does not conclude until the New Jerusalem is firmly in place. It is all one story, and if you are a believer, it is all your story” (Sandra L. Richter, The Epic of Eden, p. 15).

I. God, the Father – “In the beginning, God” – Elohim (Genesis 1:1)

If there is a beginning, that means there will be an end.
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John 17:24 –

“’The beginning’ is the beginning of man and time and space, not the beginning of God. That is, before ‘in the beginning’ the personal was already there. Love and thought and communication existed prior to the creation of the heavens and the earth” (Francis Schaeffer, Genesis in Space and Time, p. 21).

You read this week in our lesson the very real possibility that Moses “saw” the creation of the beginning just as John “saw” the ending recorded in Revelation.

A. Created – “Bara”

“Bara is used exclusively of God. Though not necessarily involved in its significance, the idea of creation ex nihilo is acknowledged by the best expositors to be here intended” (Genesis, H. D. M. Spence, Logos).

“By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3).

II. The Spirit – (Genesis 1:2)

The Spirit “hovers” over the deep.

“The verb reappears in Deuteronomy 32:11 to describe the eagle’s movements in stirring its young into flight; this aspect of intimate contact must be kept in mind throughout” (Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary, Derek Kidner, Logos).

III. The Son – “Then God said...” (Genesis 1:3)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:1-5).

“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2).

IV. The Trinity

A Trichotomy – Father, Son, Holy Spirit

A. The Garden – The Garden as a Temple – The Presence of God

B. The Tabernacle/Temple

Trichotomy – Outer Court, Holy Place, Holy of Holies

C. Man

Trichotomy – Spirit, Soul and Body

V. The New Heavens and the New Earth – New Jerusalem

“I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:22-27).

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