Just like the start of a modern adventure story, Genesis is an attention grabber. It’s an exciting beginning for the Bible and serves as a foundation for all that follows. Only this story is real; we’re living out its continuation.
Most scholars attribute Genesis to Moses. It was written for the newly emerging nation of Israel to explain who they were as a people, who God is, and what their relationship with Him should look like.
From the beginning, Genesis shows God as the just and loving Creator. In chapters 1 and 2, God creates a beautiful, perfect world with humans and every kind of animal, giving humans the special job of being the caretakers of creation, serving as an image of their Creator (Genesis 1:26-30).
But, by the end of chapter 3, humans, tempted by the serpent, have already messed it up by rebelling against God, the true king and the source of goodness and life. This rebellion is called sin. After this tragedy, God shares a series of heartbreaking curses that sin has justly brought about. Sadly, death and brokenness will now be the norm for all of creation.
But, in the midst of this sorrow, we find some very important foreshadowing. God promised He wouldn’t leave the world in its broken state. In the same chapter when everything falls apart, God promises a Savior will be born who will destroy the serpent and all the sin and death he represents (Genesis 3:14-21). Then, in chapter 12, God promises Abraham (Abram) He will bless the world through his offspring. The remainder of Genesis shows that promise in action through the first four generations of Abraham’s descendants, but it ends on a cliff-hanger. God’s plan wasn’t yet complete.
Today, we can read ahead to Jesus’ death and resurrection, through which God did forgive the sins of the world. Jesus is the fulfilment of the promise in Genesis 3 and onward. But only by starting at the beginning can we put all the pieces together and see a complete picture of God’s gracious provision and plan for humans. • Michelle Isenhoff
• What does Genesis reveal about God? How are we still living out the story begun in Genesis?
• What questions do you have about the book of Genesis? Who are pastors, youth leaders, parents, or other trusted Christians you can go to with those questions?
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 (NLT)
Read Verses:
Exodus 12:31-42; 20:1-17; Matthew 5:17-18
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