Biblical Journey- Genesis 1

Genesis 1

And so, it begins, Tell City Nazarene Church's year-long reading challenge and my writing a commentary on every chapter in the Bible. The plan is to take three years to do the commentary, Why so long? It is a huge project and one that must be done at a steady pace. 

I could say it is what like  God is doing, taking his time to do the job right, especially since humanity is so difficult.  

So how does God begin, “In the beginning, God.” Yes, I have started my project like God started His work, saying here I am starting everything. By comparison, this four-year project is small.

This first chapter is done in a poetic style. Does this mean that the method of creation wasn’t completed in seven days? Not necessarily, what it does line out is that God created everything, it had an order and a purpose.

Scientists argue for and against young earth and old earth possibilities. Both sides have facts and statistics on their side. The old earth proponents many of which deny God’s existence are the loudest and carry the most votes. However, when you consider at the end of the ninetieth-century scientist mostly believed in spontaneous evolution (meaning gnats, flies, and rats sprang out of garbage without reproduction) a loud voice that holds the majority doesn’t mean it’s correct. Both sides yell and accuse the other of all kinds of nasty thing but that is not the focus of this chapter. This chapter isn’t about the science, it is about authorship and authority.

Looking at this chapter we see that God is the creator and author of all life. He made it and before it was messed up it was good. It also lays the ground for the facts that God has authority over all he made, and he gave some of that to authority

In another setting found later in scripture we know that something has happened in this chapter, Jesus was crucified. Revelation 13:8b says Jesus the Lamb was, “the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.” Here in the last book of the Bible, we are reminded that Jesus was not an afterthought but was the plan from the beginning. I could talk about the creation of the space-time continuum and how from God’s perspective everything was completed at the beginning, but this confuses some people and others may doubt it, but whichever you believe, we cannot deny Jesus was not just here, but God’s plan for himself was set from the first words. I might even say the possible first words in a chronological Bible might be, “In the beginning, Jesus was slain.”

So now it’s your turn. What does this chapter say to you about how you should live?