GENESIS 1-3
YEAR IN THE BIBLE, DAY 1: GENESIS 1-3 TAKEAWAYS AND NOTES
Today, we begin the book of Genesis. Genesis is derived from the word Geneseos in Greek, which means “birth,” “history of origin,” or “genealogy.” It is the first of the 5 books in what is called, the Pentateuch, which is the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. It was written approximately around 1445 BC if we go with internal evidence in 1 Kings 6:1 and Judges 11:26. The author of the book of Genesis is Moses.
The theme of this book is Beginnings. The beginnings of:
heavens and earth
sin and redemption
blessing and cursing
civilization
marriage and family
art and craft
industry
The book of Genesis begins with the phrase, “In the Beginning” which is the Hebrew title for the book: Bereshith.
In the first chapter we go over God’s creation. The universe as we know it was created in 7 days (3 days of forming, 3 days of filling, and 1 day of rest).
DAYS OF FORMING
LIGHT (Genesis 1:3-5)
SKY, EXPANSE, WATER SEPARATED, ATMOSPHERE (Gen 1:6-8)
DRY LAND (Gen 1:9-10) AND VEGETATION (Gen 1:11-13)
DAYS OF FILLING
LIGHTS: SUN, MOON, STARS (Gen 1:14-19)
FISH AND BIRDS (Gen 1:20-23)
a: LIVING CREATURES, LIVESTOCK, CREATURES THAT MOVE ALONG THE GROUND (v24-25) 6b: MANKIND (v26) 6c: EVERY GREEN PLANT (Gen 1:29-30)
DAY OF REST (Gen 2:2)
Notice that on day 1 God said, “let there be light,” but on day 4, it was as if it was before “a chaos of light, scattered, and confused: now it was collected and modeled, and made into several luminaries, and so rendered both more glorious and more serviceable. God is the God of order, not of confusion, and as He is light, He is the Father and former of lights” (Matthew Henry Commentary on the whole Bible).
In Chapter 2 we see the story of Adam and Eve, and at the mention of Adam being “formed” in verse 7, we recall the work of a potter as spoken in Isaiah 45:9, Jeremiah 18:6, and Job 33:6.
Psalm 139:14 also is a wonderful cross reference as we remember that “we are fearfully and wonderfully made” by our potter, our Lord & Saviour.
Note that Eden, also signified delight and pleasure, and that in verse 9 where it says,“In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” we can note that now Christ is our tree of life! (Deut 30:19)
[Tree of life CF: (Rev 2:7, Rev 22:2)]
In Genesis 1:18, The Lord said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” God knows our wants and needs before we do and supplies them. Remember Philippians 4:19. It goes on to say, “I will make a helper suitable for him.” This reminded me of Solomon’s wise words in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12.
In Chapter 3 we see the fall of mankind and we must take note that when tempted by the serpent in Genesis 1:1, Eve did not have a name yet. She was still called “woman.” She had yet to have an identity. This is sometimes what happens to us. When we aren’t walking with the Lord, we either have no identity, or our identities are in the world, and not in Christ. The serpent could have gone to tempt Adam, but he chose the woman. Why? Because she did not have an identity and was probably more easily swayed by temptation than Adam. When we don’t have our identities set in Christ, the enemy can easily tempt us with the things of the world. It is easier for us to fall. But, when we put our identity in Christ. We know who we are. We know that we are heirs to the one true God. We are not just like anybody else, we “are a chosen people, a royal, a holy nation, God’s special possession” (1 Peter 2:9) The devil has a harder time trying to bring us down.
At the end of chapter (Gen 3:24) we see the first mention of the Cherubim. The Cherubim are a class of angels mentioned in both Ezekiel 10:14 and Revelation 4:7. The Cherubim are angelic beings associated with the worship and praise of God. In Ezekiel's vision (Ezekiel 10:1-20), they appear as living creatures supporting the throne of God. In the Bible, the cherubim's central purpose is to sit near the throne and serve God.
There was a lot to take in and learn in just three small chapters of the Bible. But, how amazing was it to start our first day of the new year reading God’s word? Tomorrow, we dive into chapters 4-7. Get ready to learn even more about God’s sovereignty (supreme power and authority).
