1st January 2017 Morning
GENESIS 1-2
The first and the most important verse in understanding the Bible is Genesis 1:1 and it says: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. This is the base of one’s understanding of what the Bible is about, and not doing proof-texting. It makes sense if read in light of Revelation 1:1. The first verse in the Bible starts by establishing that God was before everything and created everything. Now the beginning is not time as many of us have been taught, but rather a locale which locale is God Himself. God was and when he created, he never created anything above him or beside him but in him. God was the beginning in which he created the world. Verse one should encourage all of us that we worship a mighty God whom cannot be explained in our words and who cannot be contained in our boxes we always pack him into. He is sovereign, immutable, transcendent and immanent. He is not contained in nature but rather he contains and sustains nature.
If you understand the first verse of the Bible four things will happen:
- You will change the image of God you always had in your head and therefore repent for violating the second law in Exodus 20:1-3.
- You will appreciate the need for continuous study of the word of God since such a being cannot be comprehended in a decade of study but from birth to death, he will not be revealed to the utmost but enough will be revealed for your consumption.
- You will realize the magnitude of sin and its power that moved this God from his nature to the condescension of becoming a creature just to solve the sin problem.
- You will appreciate your salvation more and recognize that to God you are worthy his life even though, you do not see any value in your life. IN THE BEGINNING, GOD CREATED THE HEAVENS AND EARTH. If you have always believed that God is contained in heavens then you are face to face with the question implied in Genesis 1:1: WHERE WAS GOD WHEN HE CREATED THE HEAVENS? Listen, brother, Genesis 1:1 tells us that GOD WAS THAT BEGINNING. All the things that you see created have their origin in God and not in any other thing.
God is the Alpha and the Omega Rev.22:13, 1:8. I do not know what you are going through…but Genesis one emphasizes to you that, nothing is beyond the reach of God, and trust, whether you are hurting or rejoicing, you are in the BEGINNING. This where Theology begins and ends.
While chapter 1 is fundamentally about God, chapter two is about Man. First and foremost Man, unlike God, was a created being. You did not evolve, or come from the combination of the sperm and the egg as science would want you to believe, but you were created. And the sperm and the egg are just but a stage in your being. Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Man is made of dust, his skeleton, body, and internal organs are just but dust. Man is only a human being due to the breathe of life in his nostrils by God his creator. Without this, man is but dust.
Secondly, man is designed for reproduction; he is to participate through his pleasure in the creation of his kind Genesis 1:31. Man is a social being, and his survival is ecologically tied to other lives in his environment. Genesis 2:18-25. Man is also designed for production Genesis 2:9-15. Man is to work and effect production, out of the resources in his environment. Finally, man has a natural responsibility to worship and worship the right deity. He must not misuse his natural worship instinct and worship nature or listen to it instead of its creator Genesis 2:16-17.
1st January Evening
Genesis 3-4
Genesis 3 opens up by telling us that man did not fail in reproduction, he had already filled the earth. Neither had man failed in production, he had already tilled the land and made many innovations and developments. Man failed in one thing: WORSHIP. He obeyed and worshiped nature instead of its Creator. Genesis 3:1-7. Man had done almost everything and achieved all sorts of greatness. And most of all man experienced Joy and fulfillment in the time he did all he did and achieved all he did in the worship of God. However, when he messed up the worship, man felt the nakedness and emptiness even though he had everything. He still felt naked. Verse 7 summarizes the book of Ecclesiastes – vanity of all vanities.
Modern life does not find joy and fulfillment in knowledge or material wealth but in one’s spiritual connections and to which particular deity. Adam got lost in nature, and what we see next, is a seeking God, looking for a hiding empty and naked Adam. Like the shepherd in Luke 15, he left the 99 and came looking for one that was lost – that is you and I. With all our education, civilization, political power, beauty, talent and all the wealth but without the true God, our lives are empty, naked and unfulfilled. That is why the human unfortunate syndrome is that what matters most is what it does not have. Money has value and looks like a solution to those who do not have it, but as for the wealthy, money is not close to the solution. You and I need to connect to our creator, not to the hopeless and helpless nature in all its forms.
Chapter 4 begins to tell a particular history for a particular people later known as Jews/Israelites. And because this nation is going to be representative of the church and surrogate mother of the incarnate God, it is important that a distinction is made between the one universal ecclesiology of Christ that is founded on the Gospel of Righteousness by Faith through Grace in the blood shed sacrifices (Abel) and the other universal cultic religion based on Righteousness by Works through man-made items and symbols (Cain).
What was important in the sacrifice of Abel was blood and what was profane in the offering of Cain was the lack of blood. The Bible points out this truth in Hebrews 9:22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Cain did not sacrifice but he instead offered fruits of his works. Notice the difference: Abel Sacrificed but Cain offered. This still the distinguishing element between the church of God and religion. Christianity is founded on the death and the shedding of the blood of Christ, while religion is founded on the offerings of its man-made dead saints. The only reason as to why God rejected the offering of Cain and accepted the sacrifice was due to the PROBLEM both gestures intended to solve.
To understand the PROBLEM at stake you need to re-read Genesis 2:17. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die.” We all know that Adam did not die in the literal day he sinned. However, when you read, Genesis 3;21 and the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them. Now we all know God never created these skins but an animal died in place of this sinful couple. We, therefore, gather from this that the issue at stake was one of LIFE and DEATH. And we all know we cannot solve the death problem using watermelons and cucumbers like Cain attempted but rather with blood.
But why the BLOOD? The reason is simple, Life is in the blood. Death takes and demands nothing but life. So you cannot satisfy death with good fruits, or good morals, it can only be satisfied by BLOOD, because BLOOD has life in it. Follow up these texts up: Genesis 9:4 “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof…” Leviticus 17:11, 14 (Deuteronomy 12:23) “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul…. For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof …John 6:53, 54 “… Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life…” God agreed with Cain on the problem aka DEATH but God disagreed with Cain on the SOLUTION – good fruits. If your religion is not focused on Christ as the only solution, then run for your life.
You are about to start persecuting those who argue that it is the Sacrifice and blood of Jesus Christ alone and nothing more. You will kill those who tell you that your doctrines and hard-earned religious works are useless and do not save just as Cain did to his brother. Let me ask you, is your Church a blood-oriented church or an agricultural one?
God bless you. I invoke TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, and FAITH.
Am Pr. I.T.White. THE GOSPEL HAWKER
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