Yesterday, I challenged the church to read thru the entire Bible in 2007. Hope you can join along and glean from comments given to bless your own study.
Just a couple of notes on Genesis as we begin a new year and a new journey thru the Word of God. This year I'll be using the reading guide in the Daily Bread. I"ll note the text to be read at the top of each daily blog and try to include a couple of devotional thoughts from my previous studies and present reading.
Genesis is the book upon which all subsequent revelation rests. It recalls the creation of the world, Adam and Eve's fall into sin and the resulting curse, and God's plan to bring redemption and blessing to the world through the descendants of one man, Abraham. It gives the story of beginnings - the beginnings of the world, the plague of sin, the nation of Israel, and the history of salvation.
Genesis shows us the origins of: the universe, order and complexity, the solar system, the atmosphere and hydrosphere, the origin of life, man, marriage, evil, language, government, culture, nations, religion.
Genesis is important to the New Testament. There are at least 165 passages in Genesis either directly quoted or clearly referred to in the New Testament; many of these are quoted more than once, so there are at least 200 quotations or allusions to Genesis in the New Testament.
8 Words can summarize the book: Creation, Fall, Flood, Nations, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
The first two chapters of Gen. tell us of the creation of the universe and of man.
1:1 -2:6 give us a general account of creation
2:7-25 give us a specific account of the creation of man
If you can accept verse 1 of Genesis, you won't have much trouble with the rest of the book or the rest of the Bible. If you can't accept it, I won't be able to convince you of the rest.
Knowing that God created the world around us, and ourselves as part of it, is basic to true religion. God is to be praised as Creator, by reason of the marvelous order, variety, and beauty of his works. Psalms such as Psalm 104 model this praise. God is to be trusted as the sovereign LORD, with an eternal plan covering all events and destinies without exception, and with power to redeem, re-create and renew; such trust becomes rational when we remember that it is the almighty Creator that we are trusting. Realizing our moment-by-moment dependence on God the Creator for our very existence makes it appropriate to live lives of devotion, commitment, gratitude, and loyalty toward him, and scandalous not to. Godliness starts here, with God the sovereign Creator as the first focus of our thoughts.
Genesis 2 answers a basic question. What is the origin and nature of human beings? The answer is that we human beings are the special creation of God, made in His image and likeness. Our special creation gives each human being individual worth and value. Because God made us, and made us like Himself, you and I are precious beings.
In Ch. 3 we see that for Adam to be a creature of free will, there had to be a choice - some opportunity to rebel against God. If there is never a command, never something
forbidden, then there can never be choice, and God wants our love and obedience to
Him to be the love and obedience of choice.
In the spiritual and moral realm, each one of us invariably finds it easier to do wrong than right, easier to drift downward than to struggle upward. We all have a sin nature and here in Ch. 3 we find its root.
And a couple of intoductory notes to Matthew:
Mark shows us the side of the suffering servant.
Luke shows us the humanity of Jesus.
John shows us that Christ is the Son of God.
Matthew was writing to the Jews, zeroing in on Jesus the Messiah, the king of the Jews.
In writing with the Jewish student in mind, Mt. was bridging the gap, explaining how the OT prophecies are fulfilled in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Mt. does this by quoting the OT constantly, much more than the other gospel writers. 129x
Matthew's approach to the way of salvation is a call to repentance for entry into the kingdom, to a committment of one's self to the King as His follower...he uses language that relates the rule of Christ to peoples lives. This means that the life of faith is to recognize Jesus as Lord and ourselves as His subjects. Faith is to confess Him as King of kings, and to commit ouselves to Him as the expression of our highest loyalty. Augsburger
Matt. introduces us to the King first with His genealogy, which, in Jewish history, was the most natural and essential way to begin the story of a man's life and to prove to Jewish readers - and skeptics of all nations that Jesus is the Messiah of Jewish hope - the promised Redeemer of all mankind.
Love to hear how God speaks to you thru your daily study of His Word! Pat
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