Genesis 2:1-3
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of
them. (2) And on the seventh day God finished his work
that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he
had done. (3) So God blessed the seventh day and made it
holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
Genesis, it
is a much neglected book, yet it has so much to teach us. As was stated when we
first started to study it, Genesis is a book of foundations, so much so that
without Genesis in our Bibles, the Bible would be incredibly incomplete. We
would not know who God is, who we are and how this world and we came to be. We
would not know why we existed, what the point and purpose of our lives were, as
men, as women and as the human race. The desire of God for us at creation, the
perfection of the created Universe and the fall into sin would be unknown to us;
we would have had to assume that there always was sin, and creation would
remain a mystery. As for God’s plan of redemption, we would not know where it
all began, and why it was so necessary, for we would not know what we had lost
by virtue of our sin. The many ways and means of how that salvation would come,
they would have never been revealed to us. We would not know that the Saviour
would be the offspring of a woman, we would not know that he was the fulfilment
of a covenant God made with a man called Abram, we would not have seen that
first picture of Christ functioning as our substitute as so clearly
demonstrated by Abraham’s offering up of Isaac and God’s provision of a ram.
The origins and formation of the nation of Israel would be a complete mystery,
questions would go unanswered, why did they believe Canaan was their God-given
land, how did they end up in Egypt, who are these men they keep talking about,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph?
Think of all
that we have learnt about God, His character, attributes, works, will and ways.
They have been a constant source of encouragement to us, and they have set the
foundation for all that is to follow, how insufficient our knowledge of God
would be without Genesis! We have learnt much about how God deals with us from
Genesis, how God deals with sin, and rewards righteousness. We have come to see
that God is a God who is holy and powerful, but also a God who desires to draw
near and enter into relationship with us. Although Genesis has shown the
wretched state of man’s heart, that we are sinful to the very core, we have
also seen the immense grace God extends to man. God is patient and gentle; He
is faithful and good towards us, supplying our every need. He is our guide and
protector, going before us and leading us according to His will, He knows,
holds and controls the future and thus we need not fear.
Genesis has
taught us that we have a creator God, who is infinite, all powerful, all
knowing and all wise. He has created us in perfection, with the purpose of
knowing, of glorifying and enjoying Him forever1, to live in a
perfect relationship with Him, with each other and with creation. It is a God
and a perfection that we have spurned and rejected in our sin, God has
responded both in judgement and in grace. Sin has brought us under the curse
and into death, yet God promises to break that curse and bring us back into
life. That promise is not an empty one; He has worked through the lives of
Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph so as to bring it closer to fruition.
Genesis has also taught us that we did not have to wait for the salvation to be
accomplished in order to know God and to enter back into a right relationship with
Him. God has drawn near to sinful men, extending grace and entering into a
personal saving relationship with those who in faith believe in Him and trust
in His promises. The Gospel is evident on every page in the book of Genesis, as
God’s plan of redemption unfolds more and more.
It is a book
of foundations, a book of beginnings, but it is also a book that points us to
the end, the end of God’s plan of salvation, and the end of God’s desire for
mankind. God’s desire at the end is the same as it was at the beginning, and
that is for us to enter into the Sabbath rest of God, in the presence and
kingdom of God, glorifying and enjoying Him forever1. As we conclude
our time in Genesis and prepare to begin Exodus, let us thank God for the book
of Genesis and continue to reflect upon the many truths that it has taught.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the book
of Genesis. Thank You that it has been written down, preserved and handed down
through the generations so that we might read it and be instructed by it today.
As we leave this book and move to the next, we pray that You will help us not
to forget all that we have learnt from Genesis. We ask that Your Spirit will
keep these many truth deeply imbedded in our minds, so that they might
encourage, strengthen and teach us. We thank You again for this wonderful, God-given,
God-breathed, Gospel-centred book. Amen
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