Genesis: Lesson 1

Overview

Genesis as Overture: The Songs That Begin in Eden

Genesis functions like the overture to a great musical—introducing themes that will play throughout the rest of Scripture. In its opening pages we are introduced to God, to His creation, to the people He forms, and to His response to human rebellion. The book teaches us that life has a starting point and that the starting point is God Himself. Genesis 1:1 is among the most important verses in all of Scripture because it refutes any claim that the universe is eternal or accidental. The intricate fine-tuning required for life testifies to a Creator; as one Oxford professor observed, the more we learn about the universe, the more credible the hypothesis of a Creator becomes.

The Triune God Who Creates by His Word

The God of Genesis is both powerful and personal. The Hebrew word Elohim is plural, hinting already at the Trinity. The Spirit of God hovers over the waters, and in Genesis 1:26 God says, "Let us make humankind in our image." John 1:1-3 identifies the Word—the Lord Jesus—as the One through whom all things were made. Unlike a human artist who needs paint, canvas, and brushes, God creates ex nihilo—out of nothing—simply by speaking. Colossians 1:17 and Psalm 90:2 confirm that God is before all things; nothing pre-existent was used in His creative act. Augustine called this "the divine imperative": God speaks, and it is.

The Image of God: Lost and Being Renewed

Among all that God made, only humankind bore His image. Genesis 2:7 shows the same powerful God now intimately forming Adam from dust and Eve from a rib. Our first parents were created with perfect bodies (with the potential for immortality through the tree of life), perfectly sound minds, and a blissful, righteous, and holy fellowship with God. The fall changed everything: through Adam's sin, death entered the world Romans 5:12, and humanity lost the image of God. Yet that image is being renewed in believers through Christ—described in Colossians 3:10 and Ephesians 4:24 as the new self being remade in true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. This renewal will never be complete this side of heaven because the old sinful nature lingers, but it will be perfected in glory.

Pastoral Application: You Are Not Here by Chance

The songs of Genesis confront every counterfeit story: that there are many gods rather than one, that matter is eternal, that creation is bad, that humans are merely "grown-up germs" or cosmic accidents. We are not here by chance. A coin toss is never truly random—force, wind, and surface determine the outcome. So it is with your life. God knew there would be a you long before you were knit together in your mother's womb, and He has a unique plan for your life that no one else can fulfill. You are a never-to-be-repeated miracle of His creative hand. Because God created us, we have purpose, and that purpose is to glorify Him. Your occupation is not your meaning; rather, you bring meaning to your work, your home, your neighborhood, and your relationships because you bear the Creator's stamp. There is no such thing as luck—only blessing—and the joy of the Christian life is to say, "Lord, wherever You have placed me, that is where I will delight to serve You."

Transcript

Well, good morning. 3s

What a joy it is on Rally Sunday to begin a whole new season of teaching here, a whole 4s

new season. 13s

That's going to extend all the way through May of 2023. 14s

And it's just great to be back together again as this fall comes and as we study together. 19s

Let's pray together, please. 27s

Holy and gracious God, it is indeed a joy to open up the pages of Holy Scripture. 30s

We praise you for their anerency. 36s

We praise you for their infallibility. 39s

We give you thanks, O Lord, that you come and you speak to us so that when we open up 42s

the pages of Scripture, the voice that we hear is your voice. 48s

And so as we study now in this week's, in the book of Genesis, we pray you're blessing 53s

upon this study that you will use it to your glory and your praise in Jesus' name, Amen. 60s

I am a lover of musicals. 69s

Absolutely love musicals. 73s

In fact, in our car radio, we have Sirius. 75s

Or is it Sirius? 80s

What is it? 82s

Sirius? 83s

Is it Sirius? 83s

Sirius? 85s

Okay. 86s

I guess it's not Sirius. 88s

It's Sirius. 90s

So, but I've got mine whenever I get in there and I just punch the button for the musicals. 91s

I think there's something so glorious about a musical in that all of a sudden people 98s

are having dialogue and they burst into song and it's like it is just the most natural 105s

thing that could happen in the world. 111s

And all of a sudden, you know, you've got the whole line of dancers coming on in and 114s

a street will be transformed and it's just joyous. 119s

One of the things that I love about musicals is the overture to musicals because the 125s

overture, it plays a little bit of the songs that are about ready to come. 132s

And if you're familiar with the musical, you're already doing the whole story in your 139s

head, aren't you? 144s

Because you know what the songs are that's going to be coming and you know how it fits 146s

into the narrative and all of that. 151s

So, one of the things I love about musicals is the overture. 154s

The book of Genesis is very much like an overture because what you hear are various 160s

songs that continue to appear here and you hear those songs and it gives you a glimpse 168s

of what it is that is to come. 179s

And so as we start our study today for these eight weeks on the first 25 chapters of Genesis, 184s

and then we're going to get to in 2023 here as we turn the bend around the new year, we're 192s

going to get to the rest of the book of Genesis then. 197s

We're just going to focus on the first 25 here in these eight weeks. 200s

I hope that you will hear the various songs that emerge. 205s

We're going to be introduced in Genesis to God. 210s

We're going to be introduced to His creation, magnificent that He creates all that there is, 214s

and we're going to be introduced to God's people that He forms. 223s

And we're going to see His response to the rebellion of humankind. 229s

And so we're going to study about God who is both powerful and personal. 236s

His word is simply spoken and things come into being and yet God crafts out of clay, 240s

Adam, and forms Eve by a rib. 248s

We're going to study about how relationships can deteriorate quickly. 252s

We're going to take a look at two lines of people, one from Cain and one from Seth. 256s

We're going to study how God patiently protects His remnant. 263s

We're going to see how God called Abram from a world of proud pagans to carry on this line of promise. 269s

We're going to take a look at the life of Abraham, a life of faith that's punctuated with human doubt. 278s

We're going to take a look at the theme in Genesis of judgment and grace. 285s

And we're going to see how the promise to Abraham is carried out through His descendants. 291s

So may God bless our study together. 297s

Genesis underscores that life has a start. 305s

It has a beginning. 310s

Let's go to Genesis the first chapter. 312s

Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. 315s

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, 325s

some argue that this is the most important and also the most controversial of all of the verses in Holy Scripture. 335s

Because it underscores that life has a starting point. 344s

I think of the 19th century philosopher Nietzsche who posited that the universe is eternal. 349s

That there really is no beginning point of history. 359s

There's really no ending point of history, but that the universe is eternal. 362s

When you look at modern day theories of evolution, even modern day theories of evolution will talk about a beginning point. 370s

But that all that is is here because of a beginning point. 384s

Because God created because God said let there be. 390s

A few years ago, a member of the congregation passed along a really interesting article. 396s

I just want to quote a couple of sentences from it. 402s

Quote, today there are more than 200 known parameters necessary for a planet to support every single... 406s

I'll go back. 418s

Today there are more than 200 known parameters necessary for a planet to support life. 419s

Every single one of which must be perfectly met or the whole thing falls apart. 424s

Without a massive planet like Jupiter nearby whose gravity will draw away asteroids, 431s

a thousand times as many would hit Earth's surface. 439s

The odds against life in the universe are simply astonishing. 443s

It goes on to say, 452s

the odds against the universe existing are astronomical, 454s

that the notion that it all just happened defies common sense. 459s

It would be like tossing a coin and having it come up heads ten quintillion times in a row. 465s

Now quintillion is the number one with eighteen zeros next to it. 475s

And so the scientists have looked at this and said, 482s

so what are the odds here? 485s

That this is just all just going to happen here without God. 488s

And it's one or it's ten, it's... 495s

It comes up heads ten times... 502s

Well, I'm really messing this up. 508s

It would be like tossing a coin and having it come up heads ten quintillion times in a row. 511s

You got the point here through all that. 517s

The odds are absolutely overwhelming against all that is simply being an accident. 520s

One Oxford professor put it this way. 530s

The more we get to know about our universe, 533s

the more that the hypothesis that there is a creator gains in credibility of why we're here. 537s

So who is this God who created? 551s

Let's go back to Genesis 1, verse 1. 553s

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 558s

the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, 565s

well a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 569s

The word therefor God is Elohim. 575s

That is in its plural form. 579s

It's not singular. That would be Eloha. 580s

It's Elohim that communicates here of the Trinity. 583s

Look at verse 2 again. 588s

The earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep 589s

while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters 593s

or it could be translated the Spirit of God. 599s

So there's the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, involved in creation. 602s

Let's go over to the Gospel of John, please. 607s

John chapter 1, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then John, 610s

John chapter 1, verse 1. 615s

And there are the scripture reads, in the beginning was the word, 630s

and the word was with God, and the word was God. 634s

Notice that that's capitalized there, that word, that's referring to the Lord Jesus, of course. 639s

He was in the beginning with God. 645s

All things came into being through Him and without Him, 647s

not one thing came into being. 651s

Notice how the second member of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, is described as the word there, the word. 657s

You see, God speaks through the Lord Jesus Christ. 664s

We understand who God is as we see and we listen to the Lord Jesus. 668s

He is the word of God for us. 674s

So in creation, then, you have all three members of the Trinity. 678s

You have the Father, you have the Son, and you have the Holy Spirit. 683s

Let's go back to Genesis chapter 1, verse 26. 687s

Genesis 1, 26. 694s

Then God said, let us make humankind in our image according to our likeness. 702s

Notice the word that is used there, let us make. 713s

So who is the God that created, it is the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 718s

There is a fundamental difference, isn't there, between the creative action of God and our creative action. 725s

An artist that creates has paints, has canvas here, has brushes. 732s

They have something to which they utilize and then there is the creation then that appears. 737s

God simply creates by His word. 745s

God simply says, let there be and it is. 748s

The Gustin, early church, Father, called it the divine imperative. 756s

That God speaks to let there be and it comes into existence. 763s

There was no existing paint, there was no existing brushes for Him to use. 769s

God created out of nothing. 776s

There is no pre-existent matter. 780s

Scripture underscores that. 783s

Let's go to Colossians chapter 1. 785s

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and then Colossians. 789s

Colossians chapter 1, verse 17. 801s

Colossians 1, 17. 808s

He Himself is before all things and in Him all things, hold together. 816s

There was nothing then that God used here to create. 826s

Why? Because God is before everything. 830s

Or Psalm 90, a good way to find the book of Psalms is just to close your Bible and then open it and open it to the middle and you're going to land on one of them. 834s

Psalm 90, verse 2. 846s

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. 860s

So there's a beginning point to all of this and the beginning point is God. 872s

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. 880s

God created then everything. He created the animals and the birds and the vegetations, etc. 889s

But nothing bore his image. Nothing bore his image. 894s

Let's go back to Genesis chapter 1, verse 26. 899s

Then God said, 912s

Let us make humankind in our image according to our likeness. 915s

Let us make humankind in our image according to our likeness. 924s

Jump over, please, to Genesis chapter 2, verse 7. 930s

Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being. 940s

And then verse 18 of chapter 2. 952s

Then the Lord God said, 956s

It is not good that man should be alone. 957s

I will make him a helper as his partner. 960s

Here we have the God of all power, now so incredibly personal, forming our first parents, forming Adam out of the clay and Eve from a rib. 965s

When one looks then at the primeval state of humankind, Adam and Eve's physical condition was perfect. 982s

The body was perfect. 995s

In fact, there was the potentiality for immortality. 999s

Let's go to Genesis chapter 2 again, verse 17. 1004s

But if the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die. 1010s

They could eat of every tree, including the tree of life. 1018s

It's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in other words God is saying, 1022s

When you determine for yourself what's right and wrong you die. 1025s

But the potential there for Adam and Eve to be immortal existed in the garden, right? 1030s

Because God commanded to eat of every tree, including the tree of life. 1036s

Let's go over to Romans chapter 5. 1041s

Matthew Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and then Romans, Romans 5, verse 12. 1045s

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin. 1063s

And so death spread to all, because all have sinned. 1070s

How did death enter into the picture? 1077s

Death entered into the picture because of the fall. 1078s

But our first parents, perfect physical condition with the potentiality for immortality. 1082s

The rational powers were also perfect. 1092s

They were perfectly healthy in body. 1097s

They were perfectly sane in their minds. 1099s

The spiritual relationship was absolutely perfect. 1104s

Both men and woman were created in the image of God, Genesis 1, 27. 1111s

Take a look please at Colossians, the third chapter. 1119s

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Romans, first and second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and then Colossians. 1123s

Colossians chapter 3, verse 10. 1132s

And here we get a picture here of the perfection here, of which humankind experienced in our first parents prior to the fall. 1139s

Colossians chapter 3, verse 10. 1152s

It's mid-sentence, but we'll get the gist here. 1155s

And have clothed yourselves with a new self which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 1159s

So they had then a blissful knowledge of God. 1170s

A blissful, perfect knowledge of God. 1181s

Let's go over to Ephesians chapter 4. 1185s

Ephesians chapter 4. 1189s

So turn backwards there, crossover, Philippians, and you're going to land on Ephesians 4, 24. 1191s

And clothe yourselves with the new self created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 1201s

So not only were our first parents Adam and Eve not only did they have the blissful, perfect knowledge of God, they were also righteous, they were also holy, in other words, they knew the will of God and they were fully able to conform to it in thought and in word and indeed. 1222s

Perfection, perfection. 1247s

God speaks, God creates, and it is. 1250s

Nothing pre-existent that God is utilizing. God simply speaks, and it is, and it is a perfect scene. 1255s

Adam and Eve with blissful knowledge of God, sinless, righteous, and holy. 1265s

Now just a little aside here. 1275s

When it's talking about the new self here in these passages that I'm pulling to show what it means to be created in the image of God with this knowledge and righteousness and holiness. 1278s

That is being renewed in us as God brings us to faith. 1294s

As God brings someone to faith, the image of God is being renewed in us. 1300s

That is never fully perfect this side of heaven. Why? 1307s

Because the old Adam and the old Eve, the sinner, right? Linger's around. 1312s

So that restoration is never perfect. The restoration will be perfect in heaven itself. 1319s

So that's why it is absolutely correct to say, as a critique to those that say, you are born in the image of God. 1326s

Let's get technical. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God and they what? 1337s

They lost the image of God. 1346s

But that image is being renewed in us as God brings us to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 1351s

And is it work to renew that will never be perfect this side of heaven because of the old Adam and the old Eve in us? 1361s

The immediate result then of Adam and Eve's fall into sin was the loss of the image of God. 1371s

That meant then that having sinned they were no longer holy, they were guilty, they were no longer innocent. 1384s

They had exchanged fellowship with God, with fellowship, with the devil. 1397s

But God was not done with His creation. 1406s

The overture of Genesis sounds and the songs begin to emerge. 1414s

The songs that begin to emerge is that we have one God, not many, that God created out of nothing. 1423s

He simply spoke and it was that nature is linked to God's command, that history has a beginning and an end. 1448s

That all that is this side of heaven will one day be rolled up. 1478s

It all comes to an end. 1484s

That creation is good, that the creative high point was humankind. 1489s

That God is a God of order and that we belly in against Him. 1511s

It brings chaos. 1521s

It brings chaos. 1524s

That God desires the worship of Him as maker and owner of all. 1527s

You see, when you look then at humankind's perversion of the songs where Scripture points out that we have one God, the perversion of that is polytheism, many gods. 1539s

It is the creation of idols there, born from human hands. 1555s

When we understand that God created out of nothing, it is a perversion of that to say that there was pre-existent matter to which God then created. 1563s

To say then that nature is linked to the command of God, it is a perversion then to say that somehow the gods, small letter G, would have to be appeased so that the rain would come, etc. 1579s

To say that history has a beginning and an end, it is perverted to say that the universe was simply that which has always been and that the universe is God. 1599s

To say that creation is good, that is perverted when you hear some that will say, no creation is bad. 1616s

To say that the high point of God's creative act was humans, it is a perversion then to say that humans are on the same plane as a fly. 1624s

No, humans are a unique creation of God, it is the human that is created in the image of God. 1644s

To maintain that somehow this order is good, goes against a God who is very much delighted in order. 1655s

And to say then that worship belongs in other avenues or when worship of false gods take the place of God that it doesn't matter is a perversion then of the song of Genesis that says, no God is to be worshiped. 1671s

The song goes forth and the songs emerge and we hear them in Genesis and we hear them then played out. 1695s

We are not here by chance, we are here because of God. 1709s

You will hear the phrase, flip a coin and it is a 50-50 chance it will land on heads or a 50-50 chance it will land on tails. 1724s

But chance is not the force that flips the coin. 1738s

There are a lot of things that go into whether it is going to land heads or tails. 1742s

It depends, we will use the imagery here of the football season kicking off. 1746s

It depends on how much force the referee flips that coin into the air. 1752s

It depends on the wind currents, it depends on how hard the ground is. 1759s

That which occurs is determined by something. 1766s

What appears to be random is caused by something. 1772s

We are not here by chance, we are here because of God. 1778s

God knew that there was going to be a you long before you were created in your mother's womb. 1787s

And God has a unique plan for your life. 1798s

And the joy, one of the joys of life is saying, 1805s

Lord, I want to glorify you and whatever your plan is for me, that is which I will delight in. 1811s

Instead of kind of looking over the shoulder and being envious of somebody else's life or how God is using them. 1821s

But to say, where is it that you've placed me? 1833s

What is it that you've called me to do? 1837s

Because each of us are born of the creative hand of God. 1840s

We are never to be repeated miracles of God. 1845s

God broke the mold when He made you. 1850s

There is no one who has ever been or ever will be exactly like you. 1856s

And there is no one that has ever been or ever will be have the plan of life for your life that God has given to you. 1862s

We are not here by chance. 1878s

We are not, as some say, quote, grown up germs. 1882s

No, we're not grown up germs. 1889s

We're not some type of cosmic accident that has occurred. 1891s

We're not some kind of unfolding here of something that just happened by chance. 1896s

And we'll know when behold, aren't we lucky? 1904s

Remember, I've mentioned this over the years, there is no such thing as luck. 1909s

There is blessing. 1914s

But to say, aren't we lucky to be here? 1917s

No, no, no, no. 1921s

We're blessed to be here and blessed to have the unique calling that God has placed upon our lives. 1922s

The unique situation where God says, you may not understand and you probably don't, the puzzle of how all this fits together, but I do. 1932s

And so that means He calls us to places and to situations, et cetera, whereby He puts us to be able to minister to others, where He says, I've called you to do that. 1945s

Because this is part of my unique plan for you. 1958s

Because God created us, we have purpose, and our purpose is to glorify Him. 1964s

Your purpose is not your occupation. 1974s

Your occupation is a vehicle through which you serve Him. 1980s

We don't get our meaning from our work. 1991s

We bring our meaning to our work because then we see this is where, this situation, this neighborhood, these relationships, this church, 1997s

whether you're working outside of the home or inside of the home, whatever it is, we bring meaning to everything. 2015s

And the meaning that we bring is not born out of a belief that says, we're just a bunch of accidents. 2024s

Lucky to be here. 2035s

No. 2038s

That God has called us His own, named us new, there would be an us, and we bear His creative stamp. 2039s

The overture begins. 2053s

The songs begin to emerge. 2056s

We're introduced to God, His plan for creation, His plan for people, and the song of His response to our rebellion, it's about to be played. 2059s

We will continue next week. 2078s