01 BERESHEET (Beginnings); Gen. 1:1-6:8, Mat. 1&2

[Bruce Bertram]

1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 NASB95)[/size]

A simple beginning statement for a stupendous undertaking from man’s perspective. In six literal days, according to the plain meaning of the Word, God created the earth and heavens and everything in them. This means He not only is the maker, but owner of it also.

14“Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. (Deuteronomy 10:14 NASB95)

What God starts off with is a blank, apparently.

2The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. (Genesis 1:2 NASB95)

First created is light, and this could be the light of God Himself or even the light of His Son. God separates light from darkness, there is evening and morning, one day. This is not a period of thousands of years as some want to make it. It is, reasonably and literally, the first day.

Next up is an “expanse in the midst of the waters” (NASB95) that separates the waters and which God calls the heavens. It is a little unclear sometimes what is meant by the word ‘heavens,’ because it can mean the air around the earth, or what we think of as outer space or the universe. It might be that is means both. Then God separates the land and the seas under the expanse, which is on the third day, and causes plants and trees to grow, each with seed so the process can keep going. On the fourth day, God populates the heavens with ‘lights,’ including the moon and sun, which will further separate the day from the night and mark “signs and seasons, days and years.” This is additional evidence that God intends for this project to keep going for a long time. On the fifth day God populates the seas and the air with living creatures who are given the command to be fruitful and multiply, going along with the idea of ‘seed’ and His obvious intent that His creation should be expand and continue. Day six is the day for the creatures of the land, including man (male and female), who is made in the image of God and given dominion over every creature of the earth, and who is also blessed and told to multiply. He also says that all the plants yielding seed and fruit trees are food for the creatures of the new creation. On the seventh day God rests from creating, blessing that day and sanctifying it or setting it apart.

The account in chapter two goes back to the sixth day and gives us more detail about what happened and a little more about how. Apparently there were bushes and trees and so on, but no crop-type plants yet (“bushes of the field”) because no one was there to cultivate them. God forms man out of the dust of the ground, breathes into him the breath of lives, and places him in a special Garden where He causes all kinds of trees to grow, including the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and out of which flow four rivers. God gives the man his first command, which is not to eat of the tree of knowledge even though he may eat of any other. Then God decides that man needs a helper, so He makes all of the creatures of the earth and brings them all to the man. The man names them all, but none are found suitable as a helper. So then God causes the man to sleep, takes a rib from him, and forms woman. The man calls her woman because she was taken from man. We are told in the text that this is the reason a man and woman leave their families and form a new union, “one flesh.” At this point in time nakedness was not a problem and neither were ashamed.

Trouble in paradise pops up when the serpent enters the picture. He introduces doubt about God to the woman by questioning what God really said about eating from trees.

1Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1 NASB95)

The woman corrects the serpent, sort of, by saying that there was only the fruit of one tree that they were not supposed to eat. But she adds a twist that doesn’t appear in the record anywhere else.

2The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” (Genesis 3:2-3 NASB95)

God never said, “don’t touch it,” He simply said not to eat it. In this first exchange lies the pattern for all future exchanges between man and man or between God and man concerning what God says and what He intends. There is ‘adding to’ His Word, and ‘taking from’ His Word, as well as casting doubt on God’s intentions. The serpent, being the craft being that he is, introduces doubt about God by implying that God is holding some good thing back, never mentioning all the other good things already given, including already being made ‘like God’ or in the ‘image of God.’

4The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5 NASB95)

The woman decides to eat, and gets her husband to eat also. Obviously, the serpent is seen to be a liar right away, because instead of the tree of knowledge making the man and woman smarter (“like God”), they seem to be a whole lot dumber. Though their eyes were opened, they try to hide from God who sees all things. Next, supposedly ‘knowing more,’ they lie to God, who knows all things. They make garments out of leaves, which not only will not last but do not properly cover them. When God catches up with them in the cool of the evening, He asks them a series of questions, not for His benefit but for theirs. “Who told you that you were naked?” The answer is no one; the ‘knowledge’ came because they had eaten of the wrong tree. The first blame-shifting goes into effect, also a by-product of their new-found knowledge. The man blames the woman, the woman blames the serpent, and the serpent has no excuse or no one to blame. God pronounces a series of curses making life harder for all three and their offspring. A curse is really the withdrawing of God, while a blessing is the presence of God. Yet in the midst of it is a very large and all-encompassing Promise – these conditions will not continue forever. There will come a ‘seed of the woman’ who will crush the head of the ‘seed of the serpent’ though that seed ‘bruise the heel’ in the crushing.

15And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” (Genesis 3:15 NASB95)

This Promise is none other than ‘God with us,’ ‘Immanu-el,’ salvation from God, the Messiah Yeshua also called Jesus the Christ. For a while God will withdraw to a certain extent from His creation, but eventually He will reintroduce Himself in the form of the seed of the woman who will ‘die’ (get His heel bruised) but in doing so will crush the head of all rebellion and bring creation back into intimacy with Him. However, in the meantime God makes coverings of skin for Adam and Eve and banishes them from the Garden of Eden, posting a cherubim at the entrance with a flaming sword to keep anyone from eating of the tree of life in the condition they were in (alienated from God or ‘dead’) and living forever that way.

Cain and Abel are born to Adam and Eve, and it isn’t long before the outworking of the tree of knowledge becomes more apparent. Abel makes an offering of the best of his animals from his flock to God, while Cain brings some produce (probably the work of his own hands from crops). God looks with favor on the sacrifices of Abel but Cain’s don’t measure up. God warns Cain that doing good doesn’t make one angry, and that sin is crouching at his door. Sure enough, within a short time Cain erupts in anger at his brother Abel and kills him during the fight. Abel’s blood cries out to God from the ground, and God banishes Cain to wander the planet. After Cain complains that his sentence from God for this is too harsh and that any man will be able to take vengeance on him, God places a mark on him to prevent this from happening. Cain goes away from his parents and takes up residence in the land of Nod (means ‘wandering’). Cain marries and has children who become the forerunners of different types of people such as those who forge metal and livestock herders and musicians, and builds cities. Meanwhile, a another son is born to Adam and Eve who is called ‘Seth,’ he has a son, and about that time men begin to call on the name of the Lord, implying that for a long time people didn’t.

Genesis chapter five is an account of the descendants of Seth going all the way down to Noah. Some noteworthy births are outlined, including Enoch, who lived 365 years and then ‘walked with God and was not’ along with Methuselah who is recorded as living the longest. The combination of these life spans add up to about 1,636 years (try it yourself) before the flood. Noah was also apparently 500 years old before the flood, and probably knew Seth personally, at least for a little while, but at least knew his son Enosh and most of the other luminaries in that list. The first eight verses of chapter six give us a curious account of the ‘sons of God’ intermarrying with ‘daughters of men’ and giving birth to ‘men of renown,’ ‘mighty men of old.’ This could be angels mixing with humans, giving rise to such ideas as the Greek or Roman pantheon of gods (perhaps Hercules isn’t all that much of a stretch after all). Some people think it might be ‘sons of Seth’ intermarrying with ‘daughters of Cain,’ but this seems to be more of a stretch. Anyway, the thoughts (and presumably actions) of all mankind (except for the line of Seth perhaps) were “only evil continually” and God declares an end. He does this by apparently limiting the lifespan of people to 120 years (although some believe this was the time between Noah getting the Ark building order and the flood) and by setting a time of the destruction of everything that breathes.

In Matthew chapter one, we have another genealogy. This one only goes back to Abraham, and seems to center on the lineage of Joseph the father of Jesus in order to establish that Jesus is a son of David. Among the mentions here are Rahab (the prostitute of Jericho who hid the spies in Joshua 2) and Boaz and Ruth, spoken of in the book of Ruth. According to Matthew, Joseph is betrothed to Mary (like marriage but with no sex) and finds out she is with child, even though the child is from the Holy Spirit. In some ways Joseph would be within his rights to have Mary stoned as an adulteress, but he decides instead to send her away quietly. Before he can get the paperwork going, however, he gets a visit from an angel in a dream, who tells him to go ahead with the marriage and name the child Jesus (in Hebrew, Yeshua). Joseph obeyed and married Mary, and didn’t have relations with her until after Jesus was born. Matthew does a lot of quoting of the Tanakh (OT), apparently to show how all the events were foretold and fulfilled exactly as stated.

In chapter two Magi from the east arrive in Jerusalem looking for the new ‘king of the Jews,’ stopping in to visit with King Herod, who is alarmed at the news (and all Jerusalem with him). He asks his own wise men where the supposed king is supposed to be born, and they tell him ‘Bethlehem.’ Herod finds out from the Magi what time the star first appeared, then tells them to go and find the young king and return, so he can go pay his respects also. They follow the star until it comes to a stop directly over Bethlehem (Herod didn’t tell them he knew where the kid was supposed to be born), give Jesus gifts (at this time He would be around two years old), then leave without visiting Herod again after being warned by God in a dream. Joseph is warned, in another dream, to flee to Egypt because Herod wants the boy dead. After their departure Herod has all the boys two years old and younger killed. Joseph’s family is in Egypt only a few years (as little as a couple and as many as five or six) when Joseph was told the heat was off and to return to Israel. He thinks about settling back in Bethlehem, but because of Archaleus (son of Herod the Great who tried to have Jesus killed) took up residence in Galilee in a city called Nazareth (so He will be called a ‘nazarene’ according to Scripture) instead (Phillip ruled there, another son of Herod the Great, but he was ruling okay). This series of events is similar to those of Moses (the killing of babies, Moses saved and later coming out of Egypt).

Shalom
Bruce

[Bruce Bertram]

Look up Scriptures for tree or trees, and you will find some fascinating associations stretching from the Garden to Revelation 22. The tree of knowledge doesn't show up again, but the fruit sure does. The tree of life shows up in some interesting places, especially Ezekiel, Psalms, Proverbs, and Revelation. Also see Scriptures relating to 'good fruit and good trees' along with 'bad fruit and bad trees.'

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

15And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” (Genesis 3:15 NASB95)

The scene is set. God has created abundant and perfect life on the earth, and placed the first man and woman in the most perfect and best part of it. There is no need to work the ground to eat; only to take care of the Garden. Food is plentiful and readily available, it doesn’t rain (or presumably snow) so no shelter (or clothing) is needed, and there isn’t anything harmful in all of creation. It isn’t long, though, before the serpent messes up perfection by convincing Adam and Eve to follow him instead of God. In keeping with their decision, God banishes them from intimacy with Him, and increases the difficulty of living without Him. From the first strife comes much labor (pun intended) violence and chaos, leading up to the wholesale destruction of almost everything living. War between the serpent and God has been formally declared, with the serpent winning the first round. The Deceiver wins a battle, but will not win the war.

Among the many wonderful things presented to us in this section of Scripture (and a few not so wonderful), the verse above is one of the most important, if not the only thing really important. Genesis 3:15 has been called the ‘proto-evangelum’ (meaning ‘first good news’) by scholars, because it is the very first evangelistic message in the Word. God promises that the state of war won’t last, because eventually the ‘seed of the woman’ will destroy the serpent and all his works. In the midst of tragedy and grief and banishment God gives us the good news that He will triumph and we will be with Him again. Someone who is born of a woman will come to restore perfection and bring creation, and those people willing to follow him, back to God.

This promise is renewed and refined over the centuries. Abraham is selected later and a form of the promise is given to him.

4Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:4-6 NASB95)

David is also singled out, and the promise is further refined.

12“When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13“He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. (2 Samuel 7:12-13 NASB95)

The serpent is determined to avoid his fate, which is probably one of the reasons why Cain kills Abel. Satan wants to block God’s plans by eliminating or corrupting either people in general or the line of the Messiah in particular. Much of the Word is concerned with showing how he fails on a regular basis. Satan cannot surprise God, because God knows everything including the twisted hearts of fallen angels or the men who are his willing dupes. After all, He made them and knows exactly how they will respond in any given set of circumstances. We need to remember that the war is not just physical, but spiritual also.

12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12 NASB95)

Each time there is an apparent setback for God’s plans He simply continues the plan He made in the beginning, without having to adjust anything. Abel is killed; Seth is born. Lamech son of Methushael boasts of murdering someone; Enoch son of Methuselah walks with God. Every intent of the thoughts of man’s heart becomes “only evil continually;” God cleans house with a flood and saves a godly remnant. As we read we will see many such events culminating in the crucifixion of the promised seed of the woman (another apparent victory for Satan); yet God will not allow Him to see corruption and raises Him from the dead in ultimate triumph.

15When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. (Colossians 2:15 NASB95)

One of the facts established during the time of creation is the law of reproduction. Everything reproduces ‘after its own kind’ (Genesis 1:11, 12, 21, 22, 25). So when Adam and Eve became disobedient and subject to death (because they separated themselves from the source of Life) their children were also affected.

14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. (Romans 5:14 NASB95)

Frequently the question is asked, “Why am I guilty of Adam’s sin when I wasn’t there and didn’t do what he did?” The answer seems to be that we were there, in Adam, and so we were damaged also when he became different. Adam and Eve were the only people to become sinners by sinning; everyone else is born with the same nature. Does this mean we have no choice? Absolutely not.

18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. (Romans 1:18-23 NASB95)

The tendency of people to reproduce after their own kind is probably one of the reasons Jesus was born of a virgin, which is why God said the Messiah would be from the “seed of the woman.”

18Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18 NASB95)

The Holy Spirit was the agent in creating a body for God to inhabit, much like at the beginning in Genesis.

2The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. (Genesis 1:2 NASB95)

Messiah (Immanuel or ‘God with us’) comes, just as promised by God. In spite of what looks like setbacks but are really not even speed bumps to God’s plan, God’s purposes are realized with the birth of a child and the resurrection of a crucified man. The first Adam caused death, but the last Adam restores the life of God to all who humble themselves and obey Him. Rejoice, rejoice, all the earth, and give Him thanks and praise unending.

17The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. (Revelation 22:17 NASB95)

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

Genesis 1:1 - 6:8; Isaiah 42:1 – 43:13; Matthew 1 and 2; Mat. 1:1-17; 19:3-9; Luke 3:23-38; 10:1-12; John 1:1-18; 1 Cor. 6:15-20; 15:35-58; Rom. 5:12-21; Eph. 5:21-33; Col. 1:14-17; 1 Tim. 2:11-15; Hebrews 1:1-3; 3:7- 4:11; 11:1-7; 2 Peter 3:3-14; Rev. 21:1-5; 22:1-5

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1, ESV)

Simple, elegant, and powerful. The first sentence of Genesis in English describes a God who is present before creation and is the one who acts to bring it into existence. It tells us that He has the power and wisdom to create what we see. And it tells us that He created everything. Not bad for one sentence of 10 English words.

The second sentence is equally loaded. The earth was without form and void, darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Unbelievers (those who weave biblical things with evolution) try to use this verse to say that the earth existed for a long time before things actually got going. They accept the lies of so-called scientists whose only purpose is to destroy the message of God, by telling us the earth is older than the Bible says.

The simple truth is as God has stated. He created everything, and then proceeds to ‘form’ what He created. He turns on the lights and makes day and night. Then He makes a protective expanse of water around the earth, dries off some land, creates plants, sets up the stars and the sun and moon, populates the land and the air and the sea with various animals, and caps His efforts off with the creation of man. It’s not that hard to understand. It is only hard to acknowledge what God has done when you don’t want to acknowledge God in the first place.

There are those who want to pick nits about the sun being created after the plants, but the light of God would be more than enough to sustain the plants anyway. In fact, according to Revelation 21, the city of God has no need for sun or moon because the glory of God is enough.

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. (Revelation 21:23, ESV)

The “glory of God” is none other than the seed of the woman (foretold in Genesis 3:15), Lamb of God, Jesus the Christ, Messiah and Lord and Savior.

The days and nights of Genesis 1 are actual 24 hour days and nights. It says so right there in the text. We don’t need to stretch them into thousands of years in order to satisfy some brainless non-believer, who wants to read in to the text an older earth so he can accommodate his lack of faith. Faith is trust and obedience. Believers trust that God says what He means and means what He says. Obedience naturally comes on the heels of trust. If we trust that what God says is true, we must adjust ourselves to it.

Chapter one of Genesis has a number of principles or rules or laws that are still in effect today. Many of these drive non-believers nuts. Animals still reproduce ‘after their own kinds.’ Everything is supposed to be “fruitful” and “multiply.” Man is supposed to fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion over it.

Whether it’s a Chihuahua or a wolf, it’s still a dog and still reproduces after its own kind. Lizards beget lizards, birds of a feather make more of the same, and fish make baby fish. The natural order was designed and created by God to be perfect and continue to function as it was designed. It is only man that perverts the natural order with relationships that go against that design.

We can see even today, after the world was wrecked by the events of the flood, the meaning of ‘fruit filled’ and how life continues to multiply. Doomsayers try to create fear that somehow we are going to wipe out certain strains of animals which will never return. And there is a certain amount of responsible stewardship humans should exercise in their dominion. But the incredible fruitfulness of the earth comes from the life of God, and we need not fear that He will ever run out of that life.

There is also no fear that we will ‘overpopulate’ the earth or deplete its resources. If God says to fill the earth, then it’s a cinch He provided the wherewithal to support that plan. I’m not saying that we are able to build whatever we want, because the original lifestyle seems to be agrarian without walled cities. He didn’t set it up so we would build jet airliners, huge skyscrapers, paved roads and automobiles. Still, there is no evidence anything is being depleted that cannot be replaced with better ideas. Who would’ve thought we’d make computers and glass out of sand? Who is better at bringing out something from nothing as our God and Father?

Other things were established in these first chapters that are still in effect today. Marriage is a fruitful relationship between one man and one woman. The choice of fruit from the tree of knowledge continues to bear fruit in us, though that fruit is frequently in the same vein of disobedience initiated by the first parents. Death still affects everything, and its close cousin entropy is how we describe things just falling apart over time, because God does not try to keep a system marred by sin going indefinitely. The seed of the woman has borne fruit in the person of our God and savior Jesus the Christ, and His death has rescued us from continued separation from the Father. The promise given in Genesis 3:15 has been partially fulfilled, and more fulfillment is on the horizon. The hope given to us by God is that creation will not continue to be subject to death, and what was damaged in the Garden will be restored.

“Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. (Isaiah 46:8–11, ESV)

From the beginning, God tells us the end. It is a story that starts with perfection which is damaged but not destroyed, and ends with new heavens and new earth suffused with renewed perfection, crowned with a holy city, and lit by holy light coming from the source of life and light and love.
Shalom
Bruce