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Over the last few weeks we have been attempting to take a high level fly over of the entire Bible. I’m calling this series: From Garden to Glory.

We’re probably ready for a little review:

So far we’ve seen that the Bible is made up of 66 different books. Together they are a unit forming our “Canon” of Holy Scripture or ‘rule of faith.’ The Old Testament isn’t obsolete and replaced by the New Testament. Instead the New Testament completes the Older testament. It has been said, “The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed; The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.

The “Older Testament is made up of 39 books written by 28 different authors over a period of about 1000 years. The Newer Testament is made up of 27 books, written by 9 authors over about 60 years.

The Older Testament is made up of 3 types of literature: Historical, Poetical, Prophetical.

Last week we saw that the flow of Israel’s history can be visualized around 7 bodies of water (can you list them?) and 7 key locations and movements. We saw last week that Israel’s history can be summarized in 9 peak movements or eras: Creation, Patriarch, Exodus, Conquest, Judges, Kingdoms, Exile, Return, Silence.

This week I want us to press the + button on the map and zoom in a bit closer to take a look at Genesis 1-11. As we saw last week in our chart of the Nine Eras of Israel’s History there are four major movements in these opening eleven chapters of Genesis: Creation, Fall, Flood, Tower of Babel (Nations).

Open to Genesis one. And let’s get a glimpse of the general sequence. You can see that:

Chapters 1-2 cover the creation account. The Genesis 2 account of creation is not contradictory to the Genesis 1 account. Gen. 1 describes the creation of the universe chronologically and culminates in the making of man and woman in the divine image. The 2nd Chapter, however differs from the first in emphasis and

Genesis 1-11 “The beginning of it all”Pastor Brian Long : February 16th 12th, 2014Big Idea: Everything starts in Genesis

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order. Anticipating the account of the Fall in chapter 2, it begins with man, sets man at the center of things, and relates all else to the man and woman.

Chapter 3 describes the fall of mankind in sin. God creates humankind giving him free choice to eat from any tree in the Garden except one. God set a clear limit, a clear “no.” They were not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Their free will insured that any love they demonstrated toward God was volitional. Satan, who had already rebelled from God, comes to them in the form of a serpent and tempts them by twisting God’s truth and lying to them and they fall for it. Chapter 4 describes another fall out from that fall with the story of Cain killing Abel out of sinful pride and jealously; then chapter 5 shares a genealogy.

Chapters 6-10 describe the evil that increased prompting God to bring a purifying flood also subsequent post flood genealogies.

Finally chapter 11 covers the Tower of Babel incident.

Genesis is a book of beginnings. So much begins right here in these early chapters. Some have even suggested that the whole Bible is contained in the book of Genesis. To be sure, much is foreshadowing and subtle, but the book of Genesis remarkably foreshadows the scope of Scripture. The seeds of major facets of our faith are planted here. We begin to observe some important things about God. We learn foundational pieces about humankind. And we begin to see how the two relate.

Since this is an overview of the Bible we cannot get to specific into each of these stories, instead, let me point out 7 Key themes that emerge in these 11 chapters and that we’ll see throughout scripture.

Key Themes Introduced in Genesis 1-11

1. God— God is the Creator of everything we see and everything we can’t see. He and he alone initiates all this and he alone is worthy of our worship.

2. Humankind—Humankind is unique among the creation, created in God’s image, uniquely spiritual, and responsible to steward creation (1:27; 2:7; 4:26; 5:1).

3. Sin and guilt—Morality is objectively real, rooted in God’s holy character (not a matter of one’s opinion), and rebellion from that moral code is sin and it is at the root of our brokenness and problems.

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4. Grace—God is not only willing to give us a fresh start, he initiates it and makes it possible. We see this occur four times in these first 11 chapters.

When Adam and Eve fall, God provides a covering for them (3:21). This is a foreshadowing of the ultimate covering for sin, the blood of Jesus the Christ.

After the murder of Abel, God graciously spares Cain, making provision for him and giving him a fresh start (Gen. 4:9-16).

God spares Noah and his family out of the sea of evil and wickedness around them, giving humankind another chance to thrive by offering to make a covenant with them—an unconditional divine promise or pledge (6:18). This was the first of the covenants God initiates and graciously extends to humankind. And in these Covenants God is virtually 100 percent the benefactor, and we are 100 percent the beneficiaries.

Finally, at Babel, God again protects man from his own self-destructive pride and his disobedience to the post-flood command to spread out and populate the whole earth. Instead humankind chooses to build a monument to himself.

5. Giving to God—The roots of giving first-fruits as a response of gratitude to God from the heart is present long before the Mosaic Law of God calls for it.

6. Marriage and Family—God affirms marriage as between a man and a woman, and he affirms family. Marriage is the first institution God starts (Gen. 2:24), the only other institution God starts is the Church.

7. Work—The calling to productive work was present in the conditions of the Garden, predating the fall. The fact that work can be frustrating and toilsome is due to the fall, but not the fundamental calling to productive work.

Of all these key themes, perhaps one of the most hotly debated within the church is the subject of the creation account. To be sure there is an ongoing debate between creationists—those who believe God created the world and evolutionists—who believe it all happened by chance and natural selection.

But, the debate I’m referring to is among creationists. Similar to the debate over what the Bible teaches about when the rapture is going to occur, solid, faithful, God loving, Christ following people take differing interpretive views on the Creation account in Genesis.

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Most of the debate centers around the length of time reflected in the creation account in Genesis 1. This is debated because where you land on the duration of the creation has implications for how old you believe the earth and humankind might be and that of course, has implications in the conversation regarding the discoveries of science on the question of the origin of things.

Now, I am not an apologist, nor am I thoroughly immersed in the all the various arguments in this debate. I am a pastor, and we’re traversing an overview of the Bible. {Read a bit of the account}

Now, let me attempt to briefly describe the three primary positions.

Main Christian Views of the Creation account:

1. The 24-hour day View – this view prides itself on taking a strict literal interpretation of the Genesis account. The six creative “days” were literally 24- hour days.

Here are their reasons…

In the Hebrew, when the word for “day” is used with a numeral it typically refers to a literal twenty-four hour period or day.

The Sabbath command based on the six days of creation seems to imply literal days (Exodus 20:11).

The use of the phrase “there was evening and there was morning” indicates that a 24-hour day as we know it was in view.

In addition, the genealogies given in Genesis 5 and 10 indicate a more recent creation by giving a reference point to the beginning of humankind.

Adam and Eve were created in their adult form as was the entire world created as an aged creation. This, they argue, explains the fossil record and the appearance of an older earth.

The second main position is the Day-Age View.

2. The Day Age View – “Day” refers to Six creative periods that were indeterminable lengths of time.

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The Hebrew word for “day” does not always designate 24-hours. It frequently denotes an extended period of time (Gen. 2:4; Joel 1:15; Zech. 12:3). It is used to mean (1) a period of light in contrast with darkness, (2) a period of 24-hours, (3) a single point in time, (4) a year, or (5) a long “time” (Gen 2:4; Job 20:28; Amos 9:11; 2 Thess. 2:3). Hebrew is a unique language and often the meaning of a word morphs depending on the context it’s used in. “Turning biblical Hebrew into English prose and poetry presents some enormous difficulties. Whereas biblical Hebrew has a vocabulary of under 3, 100 words (no including proper nouns), English words number over 4 million. The disparity is ever greater for nouns. Therefore, we should not be surprised that Hebrew nouns have multiple literal definitions. Carl Henry observes, “the term day in Genesis has no consistent chronological value.”

In the context of Genesis 1 the solar system was not arranged to regulate days and nights until the 4th day and then the day was not necessarily 24-hours, but the period of light in contrast to the darkness of the night (Gen. 1:18). Because of this, the most literal use of day as we commonly use it was not possible until after the 4th creative period (day). Only after God appointed the sun to mark the days and nights could there have been literal days.

The meaning of the phrase “evening and morning” varies in its meaning the Old Testament even after the 4th “day.” In Esther 4:16 and Daniel 8:14 refers to the evening, but in Deut. 28:66-67 it refers to the morning. And it is use often in the figurative sense to refer to much longer periods of time. Ps. 90:5-6 speaks about the brevity of human life by comparing it to grass, “in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dray and withered.”

In terms of the 7th day being the Sabbath day, in the Genesis account there is no end to the 7th day, interpreted to mean that the Sabbath of the Lord continues to the consummation of the age. (See Psalm 95:7-11, Hebrews 4:4-11, John 5:16-18).

Other references in the Genesis account suggest a period of time involved between the successive creative acts:

“Let the land produce vegetation” (11)

“Let the water teem with living creatures” (20)

A period of time longer than twenty-four hours is indicated between the creation of Adam and of Eve. Both Adam and Eve were created on the 6th “day” (27), but enough time had to pass for Adam to name all the animals and then to grow lonely (2:15-23).

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Scofield, “The use of evening’ and ‘morning’ may be held to limit ‘day’ to the solar day; but the frequent parabolic use of natural phenomena may warrant the conclusion that each creative ‘day’ was a period of time marked off by a beginning and ending.”

The genealogies used to try and pinpoint the beginning of humankind contain gaps. Biblical scholars agree that these genealogies were not intended to be complete. They are selective not exhaustive; not every link in the family chain is given. The purpose of the listing is more theological tan exhaustively chronological; it affirms the continuance of Adam’s line to the time of the Flood.

“In a word, the scriptural data leave us wholly without guidance in estimating the time which elapsed between the creation of the world and the deluge, and between the deluge and the call of Abraham.” –B. B. Warfield, Studies in Theology.

Granted Adam and Eve were created in their adult form, but hardly justifiable to take this conclusion and extrapolate it into a warrant for compressing billions of years into six thousand years.

Attempts to discredit the results of several scientific methods of dating are insufficient to discount these methods entirely. “The data for scientific dating are drawn from many different sources and show a significant degree of agreement” (Demarest, Lewis, Integrative Theology. 46). The evidence for an older earth is vast and varied and not easily refuted.

The Framework View – regards the seven-day scheme in Genesis 1 as a figurative framework.

Though the six days of creation are presented as normal solar days as we know them (Genesis 1:1-2:3), the Genesis account of creation is not to be taken literally. The “day framework” is used as a literary tool to communicate broader, important theological truths, not necessarily the chronological or duration of creation.

The days are like picture frames. Within each day-frame, Moses gives a snapshot of divine creative activity that is factual, but not necessarily sequential.

Proponents of this view argue that this view most accurately accounts for the curious apparent contradictions in the order of some of the things created.

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And, since the creation accounts intent is more theological verses scientific, chronological, or sequential history, it leaves room for scientific discovery and data regarding the age of the earth and humankind, and eliminates the conflict that occurs in the creation debate.

The Framework View argues that the creation narrative is really trying to communicate key theological themes or truth similar to the one’s I suggested earlier.

Rather than focus exclusively on the differences between these three views, I think it is important to focus on the common ground each of them share.

Common Ground among the views:

• Genesis provides an accurate account of origins of life.

• God created something out of nothing (ex-nihilo) not (forming out of existing material).

• The length time in which the earth was formless and empty before God’s creative acts is indeterminable. No time stamp between verse 1 and 2.

• God created everything in a series of subsequent creative acts producing distinct kinds of things that can reproduce themselves.

• All the “Kinds” God created experience development or adaptations within their kind but do not develop into other “kinds.” The theory of evolution has not been proven and is not scientific fact.

• The world is governed by natural laws but miracles and catastrophic judgments can interrupt them.

For a church like ours, here’s the most important thing to keep in mind about all this. Those who agree that God created the world and everything in it should avoid making a debatable date of the origin of the earth or of humankind as test of faith or of fellowship. The fact of the matter is, the Bible does not explicitly teach dates for the origin of the earth or humankind. Certainly God is powerful enough to do whatever he wants. He could have created everything in one literal week of seven 24-hour days, or of twelve-hour days, or of one-second days. Differences on the length of creation “days” must not become tests for dividing personal, church, or other Christian fellowships.

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It is possible to make a case for the use of “day” as 24-hour period and as an “age” or other creative time period so those who hold to a “Day-Age” interpretation must respect those who consider a day to have been a twenty-four hour period. IN OTHER WORDS, THIS SUBJECT IS WORTHY DISCUSSING AND DEBATING IN A HEALTHY WAY, BUT IT MUST NOT DIVIDE. No disrespectful mocking, no judging, and no anger. Otherwise, unity among the body, which is paramount for Paul, is compromised. This debate clearly falls into the area of our theology where we are to exercise charity…just like the debate on the timing of the rapture.

After all, the Bible doesn’t say that “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and that “day” in Genesis means_____, you shall be saved!”

Contrary to some opinion, these early chapters of Genesis are not outdated, crusty history. Instead they truly are a cause to rejoice!! They cause us to look to God as more than simply our Creator. He also is our loving redeemer.

The first Adam blew right past God’s “no,” plunging himself and all his ancestors into sin and misery. BUT, at that horrific moment of darkness and despair, the Creator bowed low, sought him out, and kissed His fallen heart. He provided a covering for him and graciously promised a risen Son who would crush the evil one’s head. In the fullness of time the Creator became that risen Son, our Redeemer—Jesus the Christ. Indeed, Christ is our Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.

The opening of Genesis points us to the eschatology of Revelation. The one who created the heavens and the earth will one day unveil a new heavens and a new earth. Once again the tree of life will be planted in our midst, and this time, the Light that shines will never be eclipsed.

In that day, there will be no more debates. We will fall at His feet to render the only thing a fallen yet redeemed humanity can offer its Creator and Redeemer—true worship. We will join the heavenly chorus and eternally sing, “You are worthy, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for you created all things, and by your will they were created, and have their being” (Rev. 4:11).

© Church of the Foothills 2014