Genesis 1:1-25
The Beginning
Suggest: Henry M. Morris, A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Book of Beginnings:
Genesis = Beginnings
Most importantly the beginning of God’s redemptive plan
Author: Moses
1. Talmud identifies him 2. Early Church fathers identify Moses 3. Josh 8:31 He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses-an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. 4. Jesus often refers to the writings of Moses Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
If Adam didn't exist then neither did Abel.
Matt 23:35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
Moses relied upon oral tradition or writings that God preserved.
See Genesis 2:4, 5:1, 6:9, 10:1, 11:10, 11:27, 25:12, 25:19, 36:1, 36:9, 37:2.
Henry M. Morris, A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Book of Beginnings: “Thus it is probable that the Book of Genesis was written originally by actual eyewitnesses of the events reported therein. Probably the original narratives were recorded on tables of stone or clay, in common practice of early times, and then handed down from father to son, finally coming into the possession of Moses. Moses perhaps selected the appropriate sections for compilation, inserted his own editorial additions and comments, and provided smooth transitions from one document to the next, with the final result being the Book of Genesis as we have received it.”
V.1"In the beginning God...”
A step of faith
Heb 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
What’s the alternative?
1.Something came from nothing.
Francis Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004), Ph.D., was a British molecular biologist, physicist, and neuroscientist, and most noted for being one of the co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953. As a result, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology of Medicine. “...life developed on a far away planet and arrived on earth aboard a spaceship.
Ps 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. 3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
Rom 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Any closer and we’d fry any further away and we’d freeze.
Psalms 14:1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
“Why are we here?”
Philosopher Jean-Paul Sarte, “If everything around us, including ourselves, is the result of random, meaningless occurrences apart from the work of a creating God, then it says something about who I am, and where I, and the whole universe, are going. Then the only dignity or honor we bestow upon men is pure sentimentality, because I don’t have any more significance than an amoebae; then there is no greater law in the universe than survival of the fittest.”
V.1 Some believe that a “gap” of an indeterminate time exists between V.1 and 2
It’s possible that the earth has an older appearance because God created it that way
Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned-
"A typical galaxy contains billions of individual stars; our galaxy alone (the Milky Way) contains 200 billion stars. Our galaxy is shaped like a giant spiral, rotating in space, with arms reaching out like a pinwheel, and our sun is one star on one arm of the pinwheel. It would take 250 million years for the pinwheel to make one full rotation. But this is only our galaxy; there are many other galaxies with many other shapes, including spirals, spherical clusters, and flat pancakes. The average distance between one galaxy and another is about 20 million trillion miles. Our closest galaxy is the Andromeda Galaxy, about 12 million trillion miles away."
God, “Big deal”
Isa 40:12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?
What’s up with the light?
1.Either there was some other kind of physical light source or
2.Light may be more than a physical substance; it also has a supernatural aspect.
Rev 22:5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.
“And there was evening and morning the first day.”
24 hours or an age?
**The main things are the plain things. The plain things are the main things.
V.6-8 An expanse
Henry Morris
1 It would serve as a global greenhouse, maintaining an essentially uniformly pleasant temperature all over the world.
2. Without great temperature variations, there would be no significant winds, and the water-rain cycle could not form. There would be no rain as we know it today.
3. There would be lush, tropical-like vegetation, all over the world, fed not by rain, but by a rich evaporation and condensation cycle, resulting in heavy dew or ground-fog.
4. The vapor blanket would filter out ultraviolet radiation, cosmic rays, and other destructive energies bombarding the planet. These are known to be the cause of mutations, which decrease human longevity. Human and animal life spans would be greatly increased.
5. A vapor blanket would provide the necessary reservoir for a potential worldwide flood.
V.9-13 Day 3
"Kinds" 10 x’s - God allows variation within a kind, but something of one kind will never develop into something of another kind.
V.14-19 Day 4 Moon, stars and sun
Purpose:
1.V.15 Provide light
2. V.18 To separate light from darkness
3. V.14 “serve as signs”
4. The end (Matthew and Revelation)
V.20-23
Common descent or common design?
Collin Patterson, Senior Paleontologist at the prestigious British Museum of Natural History, “If I knew of any evolutionary transitions, fossil or living, I would certainly have included them in my book Evolution.”
V.24
David Guzig,” When we look at the infinite variety of the animal kingdom (both living and extinct), we must be impressed with God’s creative power, as well as His sense of humor. Any Being who makes the giraffe, the platypus, and the peacock is a God of joy and humor.”
“According to its kind”- God allows tremendous variation within a kind, but one “kind” will never become another “kind.”
Summing it up
Jeremiah to Israel
Jer 10:11 "Tell them this: 'These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.'" 12 But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
Remember God in His creative power
Jer 32:17 "Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.
Acts 4:23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.
The next time things get a little crazy go look into the sky and ask yourself this question,
“Is anything too hard for the LORD?”