How It All Began–Introduction & Genesis

Route 66: Travel Through the Bible

How It All Began

Introduction & Genesis

-The word Bible (βίβλος) means book and is also called Scripture (writings).

-Because this Book is the words God spoke and commanded men to write down, it is called God’s Word.

-According to 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God…”

• The words in the Bible are from God. What was written down was precisely what God wanted to say.

-According to 2 Peter 1:16–21, God inspired “holy men of God…as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

*God empowered men through the Holy Spirit to speak and write His truth.

-Some of the people God used to write the Bible are unknown. (i.e. Job—1400BC and Hebrews AD 100).

-Some books like Joshua and the prophets would appear to be named after the authors, but we have no specific biblical evidence.

-Still, the Bible is one unit. All of the books fit together to tell one story. This harmony of writings by different authors who lived many years apart shows that one Mind guided them.

• God’s words are summarized in the Bible
• God’s actions are summarized in Jesus Christ.

Genesis

–Genesis means beginning. = Genesis is a book of beginnings.

• The beginning of earth (1:1–25)
• The beginning of man and woman (1:26–2:25)
• The beginning of sin in the world (3:1–7)
• The beginning of redemption and salvation (3:8–24)
• The beginning of family life (4:1–4)
• The beginning of civilizations, cities, and skills (4:17–22)
• The beginning of nations (10:1–32; 11:1–9)
• The beginning of the Hebrew race (12:2)

Interesting: God prepared Moses to write Genesis by having him trained to read and write in the palace of Pharoah of Egypt (Exo. 2:1–10). God spoke to him at Mount Horeb / Mount Sinai (Exo. 3:1) and also commanded him to write down the laws that are recorded in Exodus through Deuteronomy.

Key Idea: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (1:1)

• Why? “The heavens declare the glory of God…” (Psalm 19:1)

The Fall of Man

God gave Adam and Eve 3 commands (1:28; 2:15-17)

1. Multiply and fill the earth
2. Subdue the earth; rule over the animals and plants
3. Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

-8 results for Adam & Eve for disobeying God (Gen. 3):

1. Eyes opened to good and evil (7)
2. Became afraid of God (8-10)
3. Blamed others for their troubles (12-13)
4. Became enemies of the serpent and his seed (15)
5. Women were made to have increased pain in childbirth (16)
6. Wives were made submissive to their husbands (16)
7. Caring for the earth became hard work (17-19)
8. Death (19)

*This is called “the Fall” because Adam and Eve fell from their perfect relationship with God. They fell from His good pleasure. The world fell, too, because sin had arrived. But God had a perfect plan to save His creation from complete destruction by sin. It would take centuries to prepare for the main event in the plan; it would take the entire history of the earth to finish the plan. Nonetheless, from the very beginning God knew exactly what He intended do.

The Flood

• God decided to destroy the earth because everything man thought and did was evil. God felt grieved (6:6–7) that He had made man because the earth was full of violence (6:11).

• God saved Noah and his family from the Flood because Noah was a righteous/just man, and he walked with God (6:9).

6 Promises God Made:

• to send a flood 6:17
• to spare Noah’s family 6:18
• never to curse the earth or destroy all creatures again8:21–22
• to make man caretaker of the earth 9:2–3
• never to send another worldwide flood 9:9–11
• to set a rainbow in the sky to remind men of His promise 9:12–17

The Tower of Babel

In Genesis 11:1–9, God was displeased with the intentions of the people who built the Tower because they were trying to make a name for themselves instead of honoring His.

Abraham

Abram, whose name God later changed to Abraham, grew up in a city called Ur of the Chaldees. The Chaldees lived in the area of what is today Iraq and built magnificent cities. In Ur’s famous schools and libraries, students learned reading and writing. They wrote with sticks on clay tablets. Many of these tablets, or “books,” have been found at Ur and other ruined cities where the Chaldeans lived.

Promises God made to Abraham:

1. His children would become a great nation. 12:2a

2. God would bless those who blessed him. 12:3a

3. His descendants would own the land of Canaan. 12:7

4. He and Sarah would have a son. 18:9-15

5. All nations would be blessed by one of his descendants. 12:3c; 22:18

6. God would protect Abraham like a shield. 15:1

7. He would be a great man who would bless others. 12:2b

8. God would curse his enemies. 12:3b

*Gen. 15:16…And he believed in the Lord…Abraham believed what God told him, even though it sounded impossible.

-God rewards faith. Abraham believed, and so can we!

• Faith: BELIEVING the Word of God and ACTING upon It, even when I don’t FEEL like it, KNOWING that God promises a good result.

–Romans 3:22-24, Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

*Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

*Study from Route 66: Travel Through the Bible by Mark Reed, Positive Action for Christ, Inc.