Week 2
Monday 08/29/22
Genesis - Two Divisions; Two Stories
- Genesis 1-11 (God and the whole world)
- Genesis 12-50 (Hebrew Race
- Four main events:
- Creation
- Fall
- Flood
- Nations
- First 11 Chapters
- Four main people:
- Abraham
- Isaac
- Jacob (Israel)
- Joseph
- After Chapter 11
Genesis 1:1 - A declaration
- Basic Observations:
- Who: God
- When: In the beginning
- What: The heavens and the earth
- How: Created
- “At first, the one true eternal God, created from nothing, everything”
- Different views on Creation:
- Theology Affirmed:
- Literal Creation: Completed in 6 days
- Other views of Creation
- Evolution: THings developed on their own
- Theistic Evolution: God began the process
- Day-Age Theory: Days of Genesis are long ages of time
- Revelatory Day: What God revealed to Moses was actually millions of
years of time
- God created things, but it happened differently to what happened
in Genesis
- Progressive Creation: God intervened at all stages of creation
- What does Jesus say?
- John 5
- “For in SIX DAYS the Lord made the heavens and the earth…”
- Affirming Genesis’ account of creation
- We model our lives based off the creation week
- What does creation mean?
- God is always with us, he is always present
- We know what God has done
- God has the right of ownership as the Creator
Genesis 1:2-31
- Day 1, 2, 3
- Water/Atmosphere
- Light; Heaven and Earth
- Dry land and vegetation
- Forming and shaping
- Day 4, 5, 6
- Sun/Moon/Stars
- Birds and sea creatures
- Land animals and man
- Filled/Popullated
- Day 7
- Rest
- God did not make a hostile world towards humanity, he made a beneficial one
- Istantanious: Spoken into existence
- Appearance of Age: Looks older than it was
- Species Development: “after his kind”
Adam
- Spirit: “Breathed the breath of life”
- Body: “Formed a man from dust”
- God created humanity in a special way
- The things that make you different are an intentional act of creation
- Soul: “Became a living person”
- Separates us from the things around us
- Imago dei: “made in the image of God”
- Genesis 2:7
Eve
- Preparation
- Adam comes to the realization that he is alone as he is naming the animals
- Description
- “Suitable Helper”
- “Ezer:” Describes someone who comes to the aid of a person; used to describe
God’s interaction with man
- Not a servant’s status
- Created from Adam’s side; His equal
- Adam’s partner/counterpart
- Response
- “At last”
- “This one is like me” not “this one is mine
- God made Eve to be a suitable companion and friend
Genesis 1-2
- Things to observe:
- Good
- Beautiful
- Ideal
- Innocent
- All of creation is affected by our sin
Genesis 3
- One of the most important chapters
- Without this chapter, we cannot understand the darkness of our world
- We can catch a glimpse of salvation shining in the darkness
- Lost relational presence with their God
- The rest of the bible is an act to restore that presence
- “God and his city are coming down to the earth” is the full restoration of our
relationship with God
- Tabernacle
- Temple
- John 1
- Jesus tabernacled among us
- God’s relational presence with humanity
- A broken relationship with God that needs restoring
Satan’s Strategy
- Sin is always so beautiful
- Question the Word of God
- Genesis 3:1
- Question the Character of God
- Genesis 3:4-5
- Eve looks at the fruit, sees it as good, and shares it with Adam
- Proposed in a good light that challenges God’s word
Consequences of the Fall
- Immediate
- Damages relationship
- Guilt (v7)
- Shame (v7)
- Fear (v8)
- Broken communication (vs 12-13)
- Knowledge of evil by experience (vs 1-7)
- Ultimate
- Death (v9/22; Rom. 5:12)
- Pain (vs 16-19)
- Expulsion (v 23)
Genesis 3:15
- “I will put hostility between you and the woman… and you will strike his heel”
- The first gospel
- This verse tells about Jesus’ coming to earth and the war between himself
and Satan
- The idea that the antagonist will get what it deserves
Old Testament Quesitons
- Who is the one that will break the curse?
- A huge question in the minds of Adam and Eve
- This drives the story of the old testament
Cain and Abel
- Cain
- Farmer
- Abel
- Shepherd
- Means “breath” or “vapor”
- Cain’s sacrifices are rejected by the Lord because of his hesitation
- Abel sacrifices his lamb happily
- More meaning behind Abel’s sacrifice
- Cain becomes envious and kills his brother
- God responds:
- The crops will no longer grow for Cain
- He will live his life as a wanderer
- Key issue:
- VIolence, inhumanity
- The inability to see those around yourself as being made in the image of
God
Application
- Be mindful of how you are tempted
- We are not in control of the situations around us
- A lot of our issues come from doubt in God
- Our first response should be an appropriate application of God’s word
- Phillipians 4:8
- Attributes that the Christian should be thinking of
- Things to think through
- Correct your thinking
- “Whatever is honorable, true, etc”
- We cannot make up for the sinful actions we commit on our own
- God alone
- Gives them proper clothing
- Atones the situation
- Even at our worst, God’s mercy will still prevail. It is ever present
- Sometimes the things we think of as saviors are actually killers
- Cannot support you
- Jesus is faithful to forgive
- Our impulse is to make it better on our own, but we usually make it worse
- God is the only one who has the power to fix it
- Wrong attitudes towards others originate from a wrong attitude towards God
- Love your neighbor as yourself
- Sin is not only an action or deed, it is a condition that we have from the heart. It is
internal
Wednesday 08/31/22
Genesis - Trending Down (Genesis 5-11)
Timeline of the Old Testament
- Creation; Adam and Eve (Genesis 2&3)
- The Fall (Genesis 3)
- The effects of sin are pain
- The Flood
- Babel
Genesis 4:17-11:9
- Humanity does worse and worse things
- God demonstrates justice and mercy
- The Spiral:
- Adam and Eve
- Cain
- Lamech
- Enoch
- Noah
- Flood
- Tower of Babel
- Abraham
- Glimpses of hope and goodness, but humanity is not doing great
Lamech
- Accumulates wives
- Violence
- Arrogance
- Vengeance
- Believed he was “Bigger and badder” than Cain
Enoch
- Father of methusala
- Lived inclose fellowship with god
- Lived 365 years with God before being taken to Heaven
- Enoch walkedw with God:
- He was going in the direction of God
- Staying in step with God
Noah
- Related to the word “rest, relief,” and “comfort”
- Noah’s father was looking for someone who will deliver them from the curse of the fall
- “This one will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands caused by the ground
the Lord has cursed”
Noah and His World
- The world was so bad it affected God’s heart
- God is an active God in relation to his people
- Noah found favor with God, walking in fellowship with him
- He was just, righteous, blameless, and raised a Godly family
- He did not earn God’s favor
A Contrast
- Man was corrupt
- Man filled the earth with violence
- Man’s actions were seen by God. Nothing escapes his view
- Man had corrupted his way upon earth
What Did Noah Believe?
- God’s word
- God’s command
- God’s means of destruction
- God’s salvation
- God’s commission
- God’s way of salvation
The Flood
- Noah spent 120 years building the ark
- God waited 7 days to close the door
- Rain fell for 40 days and 40 nights
- Water covered the highest mountain
The Extent of the Flood
- Universal Terms (“all” and “every”)
- Unique term of Hebrew mabbul (“Degluge”)
- Size of the ark
- Nature of the flood
- Flood’s duration was one year
- God’s covenant promise: “Never again”
- View of biblical writers
- Unique New Testament term (“kataklusmos”)
- The view of Jesus
God Establishes a Covenant
- Covenant:
- Demonstrates God’s blessings on man
- States the mission of mankind/Noah
- Identifies the supremacy of man and the provision of food for man
- Establishes gov’t/protection of life
- Sing of the covenant was a rainbow
- God is saying “I am hanging up my bow”
