God just is
Genesis 1:1 doesn't follow an apologetic on the existence of God. God is just there. 'In the beginning God.' He is the One who was there before there was anything, He is the One who has always been there. There is no explanation for this at the start of the Bible, Genesis 1-3 just starts with God. And it has to, because if God wasn't there at the beginning then he's not God, but He was, so He is. I AM in fact!
And it was good
Can you read Genesis 1-2 and your heart not simply long to be back in the Garden? Or indeed, in the city that needs no lamp? It was good. So good. The Word though which God executes His will is good. Everything that proceeds from God's lips is good. There's no poison, no death, no sweat and toil. Only good, because God is good. And He's gracious, as we'll see.
The problem is within
I hate the prosperity 'Gospel' but the 'search for the hero inside yourself Gospel' is probably just as bad. But the Bible subverts this totally. The problem is not out there, the answer is not in us. It's exactly the opposite. Who falls? Man, not nature. Snakes speaks, Eve listens don't listen Eve. Snake lies, Eve believes. Bad. Adam, Eve, and all of us since have used our free will not to glorify God, but to rebel against Him. Did God really say? No!
Right away, there is Christ
Genesis 3:15 sets up the question for the rest of the Bible 'who is the seed'? In peril, in rebellion, in punishment, in despair, there is the Promise. And it's the Promise that echoes down the ages, it's the Promise that gives us hope today. The Serpent Crusher, the One who will crush the Devil under our feet. Jesus, the hope from the beginning, the hope today.
2 comments:
Genesis is great. Em and I are continuing through at the moment - chapters 17/18 today. I'll catch up my blogging on it next week.
"As David Wells said, to explain the Gospel anymore, we need to start in Genesis 1, not John 3:16."
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