Chapter
1
The Book of Beginnings
I want to take you through the entire
Volume of Holy Scripture, book by book, show you the message of each book and
its relation to the whole Word of God. That will be the easy part. Here’s the
tough part—I plan to cover one entire book in each of the succeeding chapters.
We will begin, of course, with Genesis, the book of beginnings.
What
I hope to do in these studies is to give you a zoom-lens view of Holy
Scripture. I trust the Lord will use them to help you see clearly that the
message of this Book, from beginning to end is Jesus Christ and him crucified,
and that you will be able to grasp more fully the whole truth of God, the whole
of Divine Revelation.
We read in Genesis 1:1-3—“In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form,
and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there
was light.”
Here is a picture of redemption. In chapter 50,
verses 24-26, we read—“And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God
will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he
sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the
children of
The Book of Genesis
opens with a picture of redemption; and it closes with a promise of redemption;
and everything between Genesis 1:1 and 50:26 shows either our desperate need of
redemption or God’s marvelous method of redemption and grace by Christ.
There is no greater wonder, no greater
miracle in the world than the Book you hold in your
hand. The Lord God, in great mercy and grace, has given us his Word in one
blessed, holy, inspired Volume, and has given it to us in our language, so that
we can read it, hear him speak, and learn of him. The Book of God is a great,
tremendous, miraculous Book. Let us honor it as God who gave us his Word honors
it (Ps. 138:2). Surely, we to whom it is given, we who are made to profit by
it, ought to honor it. Honor the Book of God by reading it, believing it,
seeking to understand it, and living by it. In doing so, we will honor our God.
Evidence of Inspiration
One of the most powerful and unanswerable
evidences of the inspiration of the Bible is its unity. One message runs
through its pages—Redemption. One Person is portrayed, prophesied, presented,
and proclaimed throughout the Book of God—The Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, the
Scriptures were written over a period of hundreds of years by numerous and
diverse men, most of whom never knew one another, written under extremely diverse
conditions, containing neither error nor contradiction of any kind. That fact
cannot be explained except by one thing—God did it. —“For the prophecy came
not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet.
The Word of God alone is authoritative as our rule, our
only rule of faith and practice. “All scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim.
Let us wisely use and appreciate the writings of
faithful men about the Scriptures. But we must always interpret the writings of
men by the Word of God, not the other way around. The Word of God, and the Word
of God alone, is profitable to teach us doctrine to believe and preach, to
reprove our errors, to correct our evils, and to instruct us in righteousness.
Only the Bible can, by the blessing of God’s Holy Spirit, make us complete “and
throughly furnished unto all good works.”
How Old?
We are so accustom to ed
and, I hope, to reading it and hearing it, that we seldom consider how old it
actually is. Herodotus is called “the father of history,” because he was the
first historian whose writings have been preserved for us. He was a Greek
philosopher and teacher who lived 300 years before the incarnation of our
Savior. But Moses, who wrote the first five books of the Bible, had finished
his work and was with Christ in Glory a thousand years before Herodotus was
born!
That's how old the Book of Genesis is. It
is the book of beginnings. It takes us back into the very dawn of human
history. Yet, as we read it, it is as up-to-date as this morning's newspaper.
As I read about Adam and Abel, Enoch and Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and
Joseph and his brothers, I tend to think of them as men I once knew. Their
lives seem to mingle with mine. Do you find that to be the case? The Scriptures
bring us close to them and bring them close to us
More Than
History
But the Book of Genesis is not merely a
history book. If that were the case, it would have little significance to us
and would have little influence over us. It would just be facts recorded on
paper. The Book of Genesis was written to give us a specific message from the
Lord our God. The message is as clear and simple as it is painful. It is as
obvious as it is humbling.—Man without Christ is utterly sinful, helpless,
inadequate, useless, insignificant, and vain.
As I said, Genesis is the Book of
beginnings. The word “genesis” means “beginning.” And every basic doctrine of
the Bible is found in the Book of Genesis. Here we see all the doctrines of
Holy Scripture in seed. The rest of the Sacred Volume expands and opens them.
But the seed is in this first Book.
The Word of God begins with this
message—Man without Christ is utterly sinful, helpless, inadequate, useless,
insignificant and vain. That is the message of Genesis. And, as the Book of
Beginnings, it sets the direction for all the subsequent revelation of our God.
Chapters 1 and 2—Creation
Our inadequacy and insignificance is seen
in the fact that we would have no existence at all without Christ. —He is our
Creator. This is what the Holy Spirit shows us in Genesis 1 and 2. “All
things were created by him and for him: and he is before all things, and by him
all things consist” (Col. 1:16-17).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All
things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made”
(John 1:1-3).
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face
of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Gen.
1:1-2).
In these
opening verses of Genesis the great need of redemption is typically set forth. “In
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Like everything else
that comes from the hand of God, the original creation of the world was
perfect, beautiful, and glorious. That was the original condition of man. Adam
was made in the image of God. He was endowed with life by the breath of the
Almighty. God said, concerning him, he was “very good.”
Then something
happened. In verse 2 we read, “And the earth was (became) without
form and void.” The earth became a ruin. Between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 some
terrible thing happened which resulted in the ruin of the earth. This is not a
matter of theory or speculation. The word translated “was” in verse two
should have been translated “became.”
“This globe, at
some undescribed period, having been convulsed and broken up, was a dark and
watery waste for ages perhaps, till out of this chaotic state, the present
fabric of the world was made to arise.” (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown
Commentary).
No one can say
with certainty, because it is not revealed, but perhaps this was the time of
Satan’s fall, the time when sin first entered God’s universe.
This much is
certain: Satan, the mightiest and most excellent of God’s creatures, was filled
with pride. Lucifer dared to oppose the will of his Creator. “The anointed
cherub that covereth” dared to defy God’s right to be God. As the result of
his sin, Satan was cast out of heaven, cast down to the earth. This fall of
Satan had far reaching consequences. The earth, originally created by God fair
and beautiful, became “without form and void,” a desolate place of ruin.
“And darkness was upon the face of the deep.”
This is a
tremendous picture of what happened in the garden. Man, who was created in the
image and likeness of God, fell into sin; and his fall had far reaching
consequences. The effects of Adam’s sin reached all his posterity. Humanity
became a ruin. All future generations were cursed, spiritually dead, incapable
of bringing forth life, as the result of Adam’s fall. “By
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, for all have sinned” (Rom.
“And darkness was upon the face of the
deep.” Darkness is the
opposite of light. God is light. Satan is darkness. And man under sin, being
void of all light, is engulfed in total, spiritual darkness. Separated from
God, morally blind, spiritually dead, darkness is the condition of all
unregenerate men and women. This is the black background upon which the holy
Lord God chose to display the glory of his grace in redemption by Christ. “Where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom.
Experimentally this restoration begins
with the work of God the Holy Spirit in effectual grace. The work of redemption
and justification was done when Christ died as our Substitute upon
Chapters 3-6:8—Ruin
The inadequacy and insignificance of our
race is displayed in the fact that we are a fallen, ruined, sinful and cursed
race whose only hope of eternal life is the free grace of God in Christ.
That is the message of Genesis 3:1-6:8.
During those days, from Adam to Noah, men lived for hundreds of years. What
opportunities for advancement they had! I am certain that we have no idea how
brilliant and advanced the people who walked on the earth in those days had
become, in the knowledge of all things earthly. But, when we read what God has
to say about the human race, it is obvious that they had only become more and
more corrupt through the ages of time.
“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great
in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth,
and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I
have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping
thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them”
(Gen. 6:5-7).
Few believed God. Few followed the
example of Abel. Few, very few, knew the grace of God. Indeed, when human
civilization had reached its highest achievements and greatest potential, the
whole race was a mass of iniquity, a running sore of corruption, with its
vileness covering the earth. The slime of the serpent’s trail was found
wherever man breathed God’s air. There was not a single exception, except one;
and that one exception was an exception that God himself made by the special,
supernatural intervention of his sovereign grace. “But Noah found grace in
the eyes of the LORD” (Gen. 6:8).
Chapters 6-50—Redemption and Restoration
We are inadequate, insignificant,
meaningless vanity. But, blessed be his holy name, he who is our God is
infinitely adequate! As the Apostle Paul put it, when he was explaining the
meaning of this Book, “Where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound!” That is the message of the rest of the Book of
Genesis (6:8-50:26).
Man chose sin; but long before that God
chose to save sinful men. Man broke God’s covenant in the Garden; but before
ever man rebelled, the Lord God had made a covenant on behalf of chosen sinners
that can never be broken. It was typified in his covenants with Noah and
Abraham. Man is filled with, inspired, and motivated (in every thought of his
mind, desire of his heart, decision in life, and deed
he performs) by his hatred of God. But God is filled with, inspired and
motivated (in every thought of his mind, desire of his heart, determination of
his being, and deed of his hand) by his mercy, love, and grace to fallen men!
We deserved God’s wrath; but God promised all the blessedness of his covenant
to the chosen seed. And he found a way to give us that blessedness and still
maintain his own holiness, justice, and truth (Job 33:24; Isa. 45:20). The way
is substitution, as typified throughout the Book of Genesis, and clearly stated
by Abraham in his response to Isaac on the mountain of sacrifice (Gen. 22). —“My
son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering!” Little wonder
that he called the name of that place, “Jehovah-jireh!”
He who is our God always accomplishes his
great purpose of grace! Nothing can hinder it. Nothing can prevent it. Indeed,
all things are instruments in the hands of our God by which he performs it.
Adam’s fall did not take God by surprise. Rather, it provided the background
and opened the way for Christ’s redemption.
Six Men
Really, the whole history of the Book of
Genesis (a period of 4000 years) revolves around six men. There is a reason for
the prominence of these six men. They are representative of the whole
experience of grace.
If you remember the lives of these six
men and what they mean, you will have the Book of Genesis at your fingertips.
They are Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
Adam displays our ruin, our depravity,
our sin, and our need of grace. He was also a type of our Savior in his federal
headship (Rom.
Noah portrays our redemption by Christ.
As Noah built an ark to the saving of his house, so the Lord Jesus obtained
eternal redemption for his house. As Noah suffered all the fury of God’s wrath
in the ark and was never touched by it, so all God’s elect suffered all the
fury of God’s holy wrath in Christ to the full satisfaction of divine justice,
but are never touched or harmed in any way by it.
Abraham is the eminent example in the
Bible of justification by faith. Here was a man who lived by faith. Everything
that he had was given to him by God, —not by any merit in him, not by any
effort on his part, but by God’s free and sovereign grace. God chose Abraham.
God revealed himself to Abraham. God called Abraham. God gave Abraham faith in
Christ. And God ordered every step of his life. Eight times Abraham’s faith was
dramatically tried. When God tries your faith, read the life
of Abraham. You will find your own experiences in his. Abraham shows us
what it is to live by faith, what it is to live in this world as the friend of
God.
Isaac exemplifies sonship, our
relationship to our God as his own dear children. If there ever was a boy that
was spoiled, pampered, and petted by his father, it was Isaac. He was Abraham’s
son, pre-eminently so. Abraham did everything for Isaac. He sacrificed
everything for Isaac. In the glimpses this book gives us of Isaac we see what
it means to be the darling of our heavenly Father’s heart. What a blessed
message this is! Our great God looks upon us as the darlings of his heart (1
John 3:1-2).
Jacob shows us how God’s sanctifying
grace keeps us and causes us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ, even as we live in this body of flesh. Jacob was a scoundrel, a
schemer, a man who thought he could live on his own, by his own wits, and get
anything he desired by his own efforts. He deceived almost everyone who had any
dealings with him; but he ended up being deceived. (But Jacob was in the grip
of grace!) What a picture he is of the indestructibility of God purpose and
grace!
He clearly shows us that sanctification
is altogether the work of God. Anyone who is made holy in justification is made
holy because the righteousness of Christ is imputed to him. And any who are made
holy in sanctification are made holy because the righteousness of Christ is
imparted to him in divine regeneration. We, in our folly, try to live by our
own wits and steal God’s blessing by the efforts of our flesh. But God uses the
very things which ought to forever bar us from his grace to corner us, hedge us
about, and drive us into utter desperation and hopelessness, as he did Jacob.
At last, as the angel of the Lord wrestled with Jacob until he conquered him,
the Lord God graciously forces the chosen object of his love to surrender to
Christ as Lord, and forces us to surrender willingly! Then, when we give up,
when we surrender our lives to the dominion of King Jesus, we begin to live.
That is what Jacob did when he gave up at Peniel (Gen 32:22-32). There God
broke him. And as a broken man, limping the rest of
his life, he became
Joseph represents our ultimate
glorification. Without question, Joseph is typical of our Lord Jesus Christ
throughout the closing chapters of Genesis. But he is also typical of every
believer. This man, beloved of his father and mistreated by his brethren,
living through constant conflicts, trials and heartaches, opposed on every
hand, was suddenly lifted from the darkness of a prison house into the glory of
Pharaoh's throne to reign and rule as the second person in the kingdom. So it
shall be with us! When we are at last in the place our God has prepared for us,
we will look upon all hell and say exactly what Joseph said to his brethren. “I
am in the place of God. But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God
meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people
alive.”
This is the message of the Book of
Genesis.— Man without Christ is utterly sinful,
helpless, inadequate, useless and vain. But, blessed be God, there is in Christ
our God and Savior an infinite, superlative adequacy of mercy, love and grace
for our immortal souls!