Some students approach a math class with so much dread and fear, that it is impossible for them to engage even in a simple lesson. For me, it was a French class – it seemed smarter to drop the class before it affected my permanent record. 🤨 Whether that was a good decision or not, who knows, but 40 years later, I’ve never returned to any French studies. Christianity, Bible Study, and Knowing God, is not something to walk away from – there are unavoidable consequences.
Remember, Christianity is not popular, it never has been. It is always a message that is counter-cultural. As culture changes, Christianity will always call the people with power, popularity, possessions, and a bent towards immoral behavior, to a life that is different… and that hurts our pride. It is meant to. There are two consistent attributes of God that are revealed in the Bible – God is love and God is just. There is an inherent tension between these two, yet they are inseparable. The Bible shows us that we are, and always have been, incapable of resolving this tension. The Bible shows us also, that it has always been God’s plan to do this on our behalf, but with our cooperation. God loves His creation, He is angry and hates the evil that is destroying His creation – He promises to avenge evil – He will exact justice against the evil that ruins His good creation. We are not along for the ride, we are asked to pledge allegiance to God.
Genesis – In the beginning… don’t get lost in the timing factor! Especially since ‘Day 1’ when we get light, we also get day and night – i.e. time! Thousands of years after Genesis was written, science tells us that the light we see has actually been generated over 170 thousand years ago because of the sun’s distance from the earth. 🤔 Reading scripture will confront you with ideas you never considered right from page one! A posture of submission is required if you are intending to embrace God’s wisdom. A constant reminder of ‘He is God and I am not’ is necessary. Helpful Hint: Consider that in many business meetings, conflicting opinions and issues may be raised that are often ‘out-of-scope’ as attendees entertain all the what-ifs that cross their mind. A good facilitator will have a ‘parking lot’ where such issues are acknowledged and captured to review at a later time. Such a concept is necessary for reading and studying The Bible. So either keep a journal or have a mental image of where to post your questions and concerns and ask God to help you resolve these, when you are ready. Then, pray that He opens your heart and mind to become ready.
Genesis is a whirlwind of story telling. First we have an amazing picture of walking in the cool of the garden in God’s presence with all the hope and promise of a peaceful, good, life without end. (Hold that thought, because that’s the conclusion of this Biblical story as well!) 💕 That promise is put on hold when Adam and Eve choose to take the knowledge of good and evil on their own terms instead of trusting God’s command that such knowledge would kill them. Is it their fault that they ate that forbidden fruit? After all, the serpent deceived them. Satan promised them there would be no death, he told them that God’s Word was not to be trusted, that God was holding out on them – and we know what happened. Satan lied and as a result, their own desires grew and they ate. This new knowledge ruined their relationship – with each other and with God. Suddenly, there is no peace – there is guilt, fear, shame, and accusations. But God doesn’t allow these evil attitudes in His presence forever, so in a love that is hard for us to understand, He casts them out of the garden promising hardship for Adam and Eve as their consequence. But God also promises to destroy Satan and those who choose to follow him by the seed of the woman. (Adam means ‘humanity’ and Eve means ‘living’.) This is the first foreshadowing of Jesus – the seed of a woman. It is here in Genesis 3:15 that Jesus is promised.
The post-Eden stories of humanity are wild!!! The chaos that ensues would make an incredible novel or action movie, if it weren’t such a sorrowful commentary on humanity. It is hard to read, when the first two children, Cain and Abel, result in the death of one by the other. Unlike his parents, there is no direct interference by Satan necessary to influence Cain towards evil. And there is no intervention by God to prevent this evil, although he does provide Cain with a warning. (Genesis 4:6-7)This is an important lesson that is made in the first story outside of the garden. The spirit of evil is already present expressing itself in Cain’s anger against his brother Abel. We are not in a cosmic battle between good and evil, we are on the journey to discovering that we all have the capacity for evil.
Here we see by the actions of Cain – the first offspring of Satan. 😥 Chaos continues – we see the generations of Cain leading to Lamech, marrying two women and boasting of his own evil actions. Adam and Eve have a third son Seth, from whom Noah is born. At this point, humanity is wicked and violent. (Genesis 6:5) God destroys it all with a flood. (Genesis 6:13) Noah’s family is saved to reboot humanity, but it doesn’t take long before evil resurfaces. We see at the Tower of Babel, people uniting, without God, trying to exalt and make a name for themselves – God scatters them and confuses their language.
In chapter 12, we see God directly intervening in the path of humanity by selecting Abram and calling him to leave his country, his people, and his family with a promise to make him into a great nation with a great name. (Similar words that the people at the Tower of Babel tried to do on their own.) There’s a promise of God’s blessing, not just to Abram, but through Abram to others… all the people of the earth will be blessed. (Genesis 12:2-3)
It is at this point at the beginning of the story that we can already see that God’s plan for humanity is a rescue story. The paradise experienced in the garden with God was short lived, and the inherent evil nature we all have must be dealt with and we must choose to deal with it.
If it’s a rescue story, then we have to ask, ‘What is God rescuing us from?’ And suddenly you have to wrestle with the concept of sin. 😔 God has already promised a savior; reading the stories in scripture allows us to see reflections of ourselves – they are not always comfortable. That’s ok – park the issues, pray for help – keep on reading.
Humans are not animals – they are created in the image of a triune, living, and loving God (Genesis 1: 26-28 and Psalm 8) . This first section of Genesis shows us that on our own, without God, we become like animals – survival of the fittest. Eating and devouring each other, taking advantage of each other, forming packs or tribes of like-minded individuals for strength and security. Not much has changed. We would like to believe that in time, future advances of our human systems, i.e., political, scientific, educational, communication… will result in some sort of greater humanity. History tells us this is not true. Current headlines cause us to question this assumption. The Bible tells us that what we deeply desire and long for… peace, security, a sense of belonging and acceptance… is only found in the unconditional love of God and for true life, we must go to Him and trust Him. Like Jesus taught us, we must submit to Him and say, ‘Not my will, but Thy will be done.’
THANK YOU Elisa! Where did you get that picture you shared at the top of the post? I can’t remember seeing anything like that before.
I made it. I sketched it out as a reminder of Scripture’s overall plotline.
The X is St. Andrew’s cross, the flag of Scotland, and it struck me how it reflected the ‘remnant’ concept of the old testament to the growing , open invitation for all humanity… at the center of course, is Jesus.