The importance of the Book of Genesis cannot be overestimated. It literally means, “Origins,” or “Beginnings,” and it contains the only infallibly correct record of creation and primitive history. On top of that, it is vital in terms of understanding what happened…why Jesus came…and why we, mankind, are lost without Him. It is the beginning of the Gospel itself and in explaining Himself to the two on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, where did Jesus begin? Genesis…

All of the essential doctrines of Christianity are found in the Book of Genesis. Sin, atonement, grace, redemption, faith, justification, salvation…it’s all there. It’s an entertaining and immersive narrative as well…it’s just a good story with all kinds of heroes, conflict, difficulty and victory. It’s packed with practical truths and wisdom and is drawn from heavily in the New Testament. The New Testament contains at least two hundred direct quotations or clear references to events given to us in Genesis – more than any other book in the Old Testament.

The writer of this book, as well as the next four books, (or the first five books of the Bible), was Moses. How do we know this? There are at least 12 clear references in the Old Testament (Exodus 17:14, Numbers 33:2, Joshua 1:7-8, Joshua 8:31, Joshua 23:6, 1 Kings 2:3, 2 Kings 14:6, 1 Chronicles 22:13, Ezra 6:8, Nehemiah 13:1, Daniel 9:11 and Malachi 4:4) and at least 14 references in the New Testament (Matthew 8:4, Mark 12:26, Luke 16:29, Luke 24:27, Luke 24:44, John 5:46, John 7:22, Acts 3:22, Acts 15:1, Acts 28:23, Romans 10:5, Romans 10:19, 1 Corinthians 9:9, and 2 Corinthians 3:15) that call this book and the entire Pentateuch, the Books of Moses, the Law of Moses or the Books of the Laws of Moses. And so there is abundant biblical evidence that Moses is the penman, even validated by Jesus Himself, but you might be wondering, how did he know all this since he was born some 2,800 years after Adam?

Well, the obvious answer is that he learned these truths from his fathers and his fathers fathers. But how accurate can Moses’ account be then? Is this just a big game of telephone? Was Adam’s real name madam!? HA! Well hang on there before getting all messed up. How long did Adam live? 930 years! How long did Noah live? 950 years! Remember, they lived a lot longer than us…In fact, you could look at it this way…

Adam lived 930 years. Methuselah was born before Adam turned 700. He had a couple hundred years with that guy...Now, Noah was born when Methuselah was only a ripe 369 years old. How long did Methuselah live? 969 years! So Noah had a good 600 years with that guy. Fast way forward…Abraham was born when Noah was still alive. And then you have Issac, Jacob, Levi, Kohath, Amram and finally Moses. So if you consider the length of life here, that Noah heard the story second hand from Methuselah and Methuselah heard the facts first hand from Adam…both having hundreds of years to perfect the details and you’re just a few more folks to get to Moses…

Was it written in some form before Moses? The account of Genesis, specifically the earliest details…in my mind, I have to say “Of course!” This was what tucked kids into bed at night. This was what they celebrated…there was no Christmas, no Thanksgiving and so what did their years look like? Remembering and recounting what God had done! But it was Moses whom God chose to capture it in its complete and perfect form for us even today…and it all began, everything that was ever anything, the concept of “thing,” take any and every out and just consider the origin…it all began, in the beginning…there was God…

Genesis Chapter 1 Verse 1

• These first four words are where the entire earth divides. Where the entire earth will divide. Why? Because if you can get past the first four words, if you can fold that into your heart by faith and believe…then God will reveal not only Himself to you but the rest of this book. But there are some that want to stop at the third word and reject the fourth. They simply believe in a beginning but even that, at its core, points to God…
• Some believe that a massive explosion of pent up energy in the form of some sort of gas mixture set into motion what we know today as reality…but amongst all of the other problems with that theory is this, where did the energy come from? Where did the gas originate? No matter how you come at the “beginning,” you have an issue, who began it?

• And then you consider the intense order and beauty of nature and creation today and man it takes just so much more faith to place your trust in random spontaneous reality than it does intelligent design! Consider the earth for just one moment. The perfect distance from the sun…I mean a mile or two off and poof, too cold, or too hot…but year in and year out we go from -130 degrees (Soviet Vostok Station in Antarctica) to 130 degrees (El Azizia Libya) in it’s most extreme. (Sometimes that happens in one day in Colorado! HA!)

• The earth’s position in space? Perfect for life…oh man and we could talk about space, we could talk about dust, where did all of this order come from? Random? Boy you are faithful…The simple truth is this, in the beginning God created! Well who created God? Welcome to infinite. We can’t grasp that…He always was. He was not created, He just was…He just exists. How? No clue! Well isn’t that the same answer for the other side too? No, because you’re describing something finite…yet God is infinite…something else…

Genesis Chapter 1 Verses 2 - 3

• Interesting argument for Gap Theory here when compared against Isaiah 45:18. Hebrew word tohuw…it’s interesting but I don’t personally lean that way…Gap Theory allows for an indefinite amount of time between verse 1 and verse 2 which could give credence to Theistic Evolution or the theory of an old earth, possibly billions of years old…also can give time for the events of heaven in which Lucifer rebelled (which I don’t think we need time for since heaven is outside of time)…I think it’s all a stretch and not mentioned in other places of scripture…to say the least, all perspectives have their challenges…
• But check this! In the first two verses of the Bible, God reveals Himself to us. First, the word for God in verse 1 is not El. It is Elohim. El is God in the singular. Elohim is God in the plural. And what’s cool is that the verbs and pronouns used around this word are all in the singular! And so we have God the Creator in verse 1 and we have God the Spirit in verse 2 and next in verse 3 we will encounter God the Commander or God the Father. The Triune God, the doctrine of the Trinity, right out of the gates!!
• And so God created…bara in the Hebrew…meaning something new, something where before there was nothing…God has this kind of power…power not found in any aspect of man…and this is cool, somewhat mysterious because He creates the light, He brings forth light, but the sun is not created until the fourth day…

Genesis Chapter 1 Verses 4 – 5

• And so there was light and yet no sun…and folks get confused here but I think this is awesome. God created the light, the power, the warmth, the energy and it just was, it just came forth…and it was contained, controlled, guided and commanded by God to remove the darkness. And it wasn’t until the fourth day that He created the sun and assigned the light there…I just dig that…why? Because here’s the truth that we’ll end on tonight…God brings light from nothing…He alone creates the light, the warmth, the energy, the power…and He needs nothing in nature, nothing of finite reason to contain or control it…He is the source and the superintendent…and it’s the same in your heart and in mine…and so my prayer even for you tonight…in the beginning, God created!!