Genesis 1, Part I

3/7/2012
Jack Abeelen
In The Beginning (Part 1)
Genesis 1:1-13

Odds and Ends from this sermon on Genesis 1:1-13

6 billion copies, 2,300 dialects
31,000 verses
23,000 old
8,000 new

But I don’t really have a complete Bible - I’ve got one Bible where the book of James is falling out and the other one where Exodus only has eleven pages of it. But it’s God’s Word to you, it’s His eternal plans for you, it’s His eternal thoughts towards you. You should be marking it up. Don’t worry about how pretty it is. Look how pretty it is! Wreck it, man, learn it!
  • Eternity past and eternity present
  • God writes with an agenda--to focus your attention upon one person and two events:
  • Jesus Christ
  • His first and second coming
5 Parts
1. Preparation--OT
2. Manifestation-gospels
3. Propitiation--Acts
4. Information (Epistles)
5. Consummation (Revelation)

Briggs--pointed out rightly that 4 out of the 5 are NT even though the bulk in terms of volume is OT.

OT usually divided into four categories:
Law--Pentateuch, 5
Historical--Joshua to Esther, past events, focus mainly on events (PAST), 12
Poetic/Wisdom Books--Job through Solomon, present tense experiences, don't take history forward, just Personal daily relationship with God. (PRESENT) 5
Prophetic Books--deal with our expectation, our future. (FUTURE) 5 major prophets, 12 minor

Events--Experience--Expectations

35 authors at least: kings, shepherds, prophets, soldiers, fisherman and more
lived in different times, cover 16 centuries

Genesis--means "origins" or "source"
Chapters 1-11 Primeval
Chapters 12-50 Patriarchal

Progressive revelation of God--man's understanding of God became more complex as time passed.

God-centered  32 times referenced in 31 verses
The Holy Spirit wants to bring you before the Lord quickly and keep you there.

"In the beginning" is a time reference
The Lord had us in mind.
God created....

Many opinions on the age of the earth, 3 billion or more years, gap theory, my best answer to you "I don't know, I wasn't there." -JA

"But I want you to notice that the Bible begins with a declaration of the existence of God without any explanation at all, just it is a given that God exists." -JA

"We, in everything else without argument, agree that where there’s creation, there’s a creator. That thing didn’t just go up on its own. “Just give it some time. We’re going to get a skyscraper right out there in the parking lot.” No, you won’t. Never. Never. Evolution presumes that everything moves upward. Improves. Becomes more complex. When in reality, everything around us is devolving not evolving. Go look in the mirror. And that argument becomes more solid the older you get." -JA

"Why did people eliminate God at all when the argument is self-evident?"  Because it serves their selfish agenda.

"Imagine Darwin writing “man evolved through fortuitous occurrences of accidental circumstances” moving upward from the formation of the first simple cell. And yet, we have electron microscopes today, and the discovery of DNA within the cell. It is the opinion of most scientists today that the cell is anything but simple. It might be the most complex structure in the universe. So, he had it backwards coming and going, but I don’t understand the luck of the draw." -JA

Better to begin with God and work your way out from there...."In the beginning God..."

God's word is not just legislative, it's executive.

"Ten commandments of creation" God speaking the world into existence.

Day is used three different ways in the Bible:

Day as in 24 hour period in which light is/distinguished from night
Day as in...protected period of time in prophecy..."Day of the  Lord"
Day as in 24 hour period, as used here...with article always this meaning

He doesn't believe in theistic evolution for this reason---six specific 24 hour periods is how he sees it.

God initially put a large amount of water in the atmosphere...water canopy until flood...temperate climate, no polar caps, no storms, water element would filter out the cosmic radiation allowing longer life, the world used to be a kinder place

firmament---"heaven" used in three ways:
atmosphere--
outer atmosphere--planets, space
3rd heaven--Paul caught up

Things can only produce after their kind---horizontally micro-level.

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