Genesis 1-11

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

1 Corinthians 15:12–20 KJV 1900

12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

1 Corinthians 15:21–22 KJV 1900

21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:42–47 KJV 1900

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Body

Preface

Ever since man was upon the face of the earth, we look up at the stars and wonder; we observe the unfolding of a flower, and marvel; we witness the birth of a child, and we’re simply overcome.

What is it about these things, and other things, that seem to affect the very best parts of us?

How does that stuff happen? Where did they originate from? And why does it matter?

We know Jesus suffered on a cross and died for our sins, but why? What caused Him to need to do that?

Does it matter how we believe everything came into existence?

“It doesn’t matter what we believe about the Old Testament, as long as we believe in Jesus!”

“We don’t need to believe in a literal Genesis to be saved, we just need to believe in Jesus!”

When people say ‘they don’t need to know or understand the Old Testament’, they’re saying it’s not important

More specifically, they’re typically saying that what we believe about Genesis isn’t important

Why Genesis 1-11

Why Genesis to begin with?

Book of beginnings

We find a lot of our doctrines established here in Genesis

We need to understand the events surrounding Adam to understand N.T. Salvation

Okay so why this portion of Genesis?

Most disputed and argued portion of scripture

Little to no historical or archeological evidence

When people struggle to accept the validity of the first verse of Genesis, you’ll have very serious problems with the rest of scripture

It’s fascinating!

Culturally, the most effective argument against Christianity is by showing people that science has disproven this portion of scripture

It’s not trinity vs. one God

It’s not baptism in the titles vs. baptism in Jesus’ Name

Did God create everything or did it create itself?

Humanism has set up a very effective discipleship course for their worldview

Worldviews

What we filter evidence and data through

How we interpret that evidence and data

How do we determine a worldview? Why do we have the one we do?

Parents and upbringing

Culture and experiences

Education

Friends and peers

Our Scripture Text

The Gospel is extremely important, but it’s built upon something

We can see from the writings of the Apostle Paul that understanding what happened in the Garden of Eden is integral to our understanding of the Cross.

We won’t understand what sin is

We won’t understand God’s response to sin in our lives

Moving on from there, we see the concept of a covenant relationship first introduced in the book of Genesis and what that entails.

If we don’t possess this understanding, we won’t see our relationship with Jesus Christ properly

We won’t be able to trust God sufficiently in times of trial, or times where we’re tempted to doubt, because we’ll think He’s established a contract with us

We won’t understand who God is or why He gets to make all the rules

Because of that, we won’t understand the significance of Jesus being the God of the O.T. manifest in the flesh

Genesis

First book of the Bible, also the first book of Moses, the Pentateuch, or the Torah

It is foundational and necessary for understanding the Bible at large, both O.T. and N.T.

The Book of Genesis is in many respects the most important book in the Bible. It is of the first importance because it answers, not exhaustively, but sufficiently, the fundamental questions of the human mind. It contains the first authoritative information given to the race concerning these questions of everlasting interest: the Being of God; the origin of the universe; the creation of man; the origin of the soul; the fact of revelation; the introduction of sin; the promise of salvation; the primitive division of the human race; the purpose of the elected people; the preliminary part in the program of Christianity. In one word, in this inspired volume of beginnings, we have the satisfactory explanation of all the sin and misery and contradiction now in this world, and the reason of the scheme of redemption.

Or, to put it in another way. The Book of Genesis is the seed in which the plant of God's Word is enfolded. It is the starting point of God's gradually unfolded plan of the ages. Genesis is the plinth of the pillar of the Divine revelation. It is the root of the tree of the inspired Scriptures. It is the source of the stream of the holy writings of the Bible. If the base of the pillar is removed, the pillar falls. If the root of the tree is cut out, the tree will wither and die. If the fountain head of the stream is cut off, the stream will dry up. The Bible as a whole is like a chain hanging upon two staples. The Book of Genesis is the one staple; the Book of Revelation is the other. Take away either staple, the chain falls in confusion. If the first chapters of Genesis are unreliable, the revelation of the beginning of the universe, the origin of the race, and the reason of its redemption are gone. If the last chapters of Revelation are displaced the consummation of all things is unknown. If you take away Genesis, you have lost the explanation of the first heaven, the first earth, the first Adam, and the fall. If you take away Revelation you have lost the completed truth of the new heaven, and the new earth, man redeemed, and the second Adam in Paradise regained.

Further: in the first chapters of the Book of Genesis, you have the strong and sufficient foundation of the subsequent developments of the kingdom of God; the root-germ of all Anthropology, Soteriology, Christology, Satanology, to say nothing of the ancient and modern problems of the mystery and culpability of sin, the Divine ordinance of the Lord's Day, the unity of the race, and God's establishment of matrimony and the family life. —Dyson Hague, M. A.Professor of Liturgics, Wycliffe College, Toronto, Ontario

So we see the beginning of a very many things in Genesis - Our introduction to God, the creation of the universe, the earth, plants, animals, mankind. We see the beginnings of human institutions, professions, and crafts. We see the origin of sin and death, and illustrates the devious working of Satan in human life. Most of all though, we see the beginning of the history of God’s redemptive story of man. Genesis lists the names of the early ancestors in the lineage of the Messiah and the beginning of the Hebrew people through whom the Bible and the Savior came.

The authorship of the book of Genesis, along with the other four books of the Torah, are attributed to Moses

Exodus 17:14 “14 And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”

Exodus 34:27 “27 And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.”

Exodus 24:4 “4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Numbers 33:2 “2 And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord: and these are their journeys according to their goings out.”

Date of authorship

Based on the biblical data, Moses must be placed in the 15th century B.C.

Judges 11:26 “26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that time?”

Jephthah was letting the king of the Ammonites know that Israel possessed Heshbon of Sihon, king of the Amorites three hundred years ago from their time.

I Kings 6:1 “1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.”

The fourth year of Solomon’s reign ran from September 968 B.C. to September 967 B.C., putting the Exodus at April 1446-1447 B.C., (depending on if you’re calculating from the beginning of the year or the end). or the 15th century B.C.

Genesis 1:1 - The Absolute Beginning

Genesis 1:1 “1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

God creates and builds into His creation something called ‘time’ [expound]

God is mentioned as being already present BEFORE the creation event [expound]

God creates space [expound]

God creates matter [expound]

God creates all of this out of literally nothing

In secular apologetics, this event would be known as the ‘Big Bang’

Couldn’t God have used the big bang and evolution to create everything?

The time period needed for the big bang to get to what we see today is problematic from a Biblical perspective