Key Texts: Gen. 1:3–5, John 1:1–3, Exod. 20:8–11, Rev. 14:7, Matt. 19:3–6, Rom. 5:12.
Part I: Overview
Jesus once said, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock” (Matt. 7:24, 25, NKJV). If Christ’s revelation to us, His Word the Bible, is to be the foundation of our lives, what is the foundation on which all Scripture builds? The answer lies in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, in which the major teachings or doctrines have their source.
There we find the foundational teaching of Creation and of God the Creator. Given the importance of this foundation, should we think it is a coincidence, then, that there has been an unprecedented assault in modern times against the biblical teaching of Creation? Is it by chance that the end-time church is commissioned to proclaim Jesus as Creator, who emphasizes this one characteristic of Himself? In the introduction to the church of Laodicea (the last of the seven churches in Revelation 2, 3), Jesus refers to Himself as “the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14, NKJV). The three angels’ messages begin with the proclamation of the first angel: “ ‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water’ ” (Rev. 14:7, NKJV). During the next two weeks, we will study why the teaching of Creation is foundational to the message and mission of God’s end-time people and how the Creation account should be interpreted.
Part II: Commentary
Scripture
Have you ever wondered about your existence? Where did I come from? Why am I here? What meaning is there to life? Who am I? The great philosophers have pondered over these questions for millennia. These fundamental questions are at the core of the Creation account and are, in fact, answered in the first two chapters of Genesis. Over the course of history, these chapters have provided humanity with dignity, meaning, and purpose. They have inspired the greatest minds to explore the world around them and discover the wonders of God’s creation.
In the simple opening sentence of the Bible, Genesis 1:1 addresses the deepest of human questions. Before we were created, in the beginning there was God. He designed an ecosystem for us, creating the habitation of earth perfectly for His new creatures in order to sustain life. Our earth is located at a precise distance from the sun—not too far, and not too close. The sun is perfectly sized so as not to produce too much energy to destroy life. There is abundant water on earth and a breathable atmosphere. The moon is just the right size to control the tides. The magnetic field is fine-tuned to keep us from getting fried by the sun. No wonder that after every stage of Creation, God concludes that it is good (ṭôv; Gen. 1:4, 10, 18, 21, 25), and when it was completed, ṭôv mě’ōd, “very good” (Gen. 1:31). The designation “good” in Hebrew can include both aesthetic beauty and ethical aspects because the creation originated from God, who is love (1 John 4:8).
Illustration
In Psalm 139:14, David recognizes the complexities of the body when he says, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (NKJV). Today we know so much more than those in David’s day did about the intricacies of the smallest element of the human body—the cell. The human cell is made up of the tiniest of machines that, in order to function, must have all their parts. Like a mousetrap, you take one part away, and the devices cease to function. Each cell contains a person’s DNA. A computer is based on binary code of 0s and 1s. DNA is made up of a quaternary code (A, C, G, and T), which is far more complex than a binary code. An entire language with grammar and syntax is associated with DNA, with 3 billion bases. Moreover, this DNA can replicate itself, and it does so within nearly 40 trillion cells in the human body. Each of the 200 types of the cells in the human body has a different function. These are the core building blocks of life, and they work in harmony to carry out the basic functions for a human being to survive. Certainly, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. This complexity and the commonality among all human beings and living creatures point to a single Creator who designed life. But we are not simply machines. We have been given a creative mind, a conscience, and an ability to experience love, hope, and happiness. The conscience of the human mind and the freedom we have to choose and to create are impossible to explain from an evolutionary perspective. How much easier to believe in a Creator who created us in His image and in His likeness (Gen. 1:27).
Scripture
After creating the ecosystem for life and filling it with fish, birds, and land animals, the communal Godhead designed humanity as the apex of Creation also to exist in community. “ ‘Let Us make man in Our image.’ . . . So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:26, 27, NKJV). Humanity was to live in communion with God and with each other. God designed that both male and female were to be biologically, physically, and emotionally the counterpart to each other. They were created to complement each other. They were the “perfect fit” for each other, so that Adam could exclaim when Eve was later designed from His rib, “ ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh’ ” (Gen. 2:23, NKJV). Thus, Adam names her “woman.” Marriage requires that “a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24, NKJV).
The basis for culture and civilization on earth was the husband-and-wife unit and the children that were born from this relationship through procreation. That is why the Bible places so much emphasis on the family unit. This emphasis on the family unit is also highlighted in the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments describe humanity’s relationship to God, culminating in the seventh-day Sabbath, which solidifies the obedience and honor given to God by means of a special relationship from week to week. Notice that after the Sabbath precept the transition to the fifth commandment focuses first and foremost on the family, for here is where God’s character was to be transmitted for future generations: “ ‘Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you’ ” (Exod. 20:12, NKJV). A world filled with loving families who regard God supremely and uphold His character in their lives, and raise their children in humble obedience was the original purpose in God’s creation.
Satan’s attempt to destroy God’s purpose at the Fall drove a wedge between God and humanity and then between Adam and Eve. The separation of Eve from Adam provided Satan an opening. In an unguarded moment, Eve curiously approached the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan, by insinuating doubt upon the Word of God, succeeded in distorting and disrupting God’s plan of protection. The immediate results were devastating. After Eve and then Adam ate from the tree, their sense of separation and guilt tore the first couple from their relationship with God. They now sensed their own nakedness. After God in His love pursues them, they blame each other and God, furthering the division that has now occurred. In the very next chapter, Genesis 4, we see the full result of sin in the murder of a son and brother. Disobedience to God’s Word bore its ultimate fruit in the destruction of God’s creation.
The insinuating doubt of Satan at the beginning, “ ‘Did God really say . . . ?’ ” (Gen. 3:1, NIV) is still with us today through the theory of evolution. God’s Word plainly testifies that He spoke the heavens and the earth into existence and that “all things were made through Him [Christ], and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3, NKJV). If we doubt God’s Word concerning His Creatorship, are we not as surely following a lie as did our first parents in the beginning of earth’s history?
Christ came to restore the world and His creation to Himself and to His Father. In declaring that “ ‘before Abraham was, I AM’ ” (John 8:58, NKJV), Jesus declared that He was the self-existent God of the universe. The wind and seas obeyed Him because He created them. He raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead, because “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4, NKJV). The final re-creation that Christ promises at the Second Coming is possible only if He was truly our Creator at the beginning.
Part III: Life Application
God had intended for the family to be the foundational unit of human life. What, then, are the results when the foundation in a building is eroded? How does an erosion of a belief in Creation contribute to the rest of the structure in society? What difference does the theory of evolution make for the meaning of our existence? This week what testifies of God’s purpose in your life?
“Jesus pointed His hearers back to the marriage institution as ordained at creation. . . . Then marriage and the Sabbath had their origin, twin institutions for the glory of God in the benefit of humanity. Then, as the Creator joined the hands of the holy pair in wedlock, saying, A man shall ‘leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one’ (Genesis 2:24), He enunciated the law of marriage for all the children of Adam to the close of time. That which the eternal Father Himself had pronounced good was the law of highest blessing and development for man.”—Ellen G. White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, pp. 63, 64.
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Key Texts: Gen. 1:3–5, John 1:1–3, Exod. 20:8–11, Rev. 14:7, Matt. 19:3–6, Rom. 5:12.
Part I: Overview
Jesus once said, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock” (Matt. 7:24, 25, NKJV). If Christ’s revelation to us, His Word the Bible, is to be the foundation of our lives, what is the foundation on which all Scripture builds? The answer lies in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, in which the major teachings or doctrines have their source.
There we find the foundational teaching of Creation and of God the Creator. Given the importance of this foundation, should we think it is a coincidence, then, that there has been an unprecedented assault in modern times against the biblical teaching of Creation? Is it by chance that the end-time church is commissioned to proclaim Jesus as Creator, who emphasizes this one characteristic of Himself? In the introduction to the church of Laodicea (the last of the seven churches in Revelation 2, 3), Jesus refers to Himself as “the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14, NKJV). The three angels’ messages begin with the proclamation of the first angel: “ ‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water’ ” (Rev. 14:7, NKJV). During the next two weeks, we will study why the teaching of Creation is foundational to the message and mission of God’s end-time people and how the Creation account should be interpreted.
Part II: Commentary
Scripture
Have you ever wondered about your existence? Where did I come from? Why am I here? What meaning is there to life? Who am I? The great philosophers have pondered over these questions for millennia. These fundamental questions are at the core of the Creation account and are, in fact, answered in the first two chapters of Genesis. Over the course of history, these chapters have provided humanity with dignity, meaning, and purpose. They have inspired the greatest minds to explore the world around them and discover the wonders of God’s creation.
In the simple opening sentence of the Bible, Genesis 1:1 addresses the deepest of human questions. Before we were created, in the beginning there was God. He designed an ecosystem for us, creating the habitation of earth perfectly for His new creatures in order to sustain life. Our earth is located at a precise distance from the sun—not too far, and not too close. The sun is perfectly sized so as not to produce too much energy to destroy life. There is abundant water on earth and a breathable atmosphere. The moon is just the right size to control the tides. The magnetic field is fine-tuned to keep us from getting fried by the sun. No wonder that after every stage of Creation, God concludes that it is good (ṭôv; Gen. 1:4, 10, 18, 21, 25), and when it was completed, ṭôv mě’ōd, “very good” (Gen. 1:31). The designation “good” in Hebrew can include both aesthetic beauty and ethical aspects because the creation originated from God, who is love (1 John 4:8).
Illustration
In Psalm 139:14, David recognizes the complexities of the body when he says, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (NKJV). Today we know so much more than those in David’s day did about the intricacies of the smallest element of the human body—the cell. The human cell is made up of the tiniest of machines that, in order to function, must have all their parts. Like a mousetrap, you take one part away, and the devices cease to function. Each cell contains a person’s DNA. A computer is based on binary code of 0s and 1s. DNA is made up of a quaternary code (A, C, G, and T), which is far more complex than a binary code. An entire language with grammar and syntax is associated with DNA, with 3 billion bases. Moreover, this DNA can replicate itself, and it does so within nearly 40 trillion cells in the human body. Each of the 200 types of the cells in the human body has a different function. These are the core building blocks of life, and they work in harmony to carry out the basic functions for a human being to survive. Certainly, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. This complexity and the commonality among all human beings and living creatures point to a single Creator who designed life. But we are not simply machines. We have been given a creative mind, a conscience, and an ability to experience love, hope, and happiness. The conscience of the human mind and the freedom we have to choose and to create are impossible to explain from an evolutionary perspective. How much easier to believe in a Creator who created us in His image and in His likeness (Gen. 1:27).
Scripture
After creating the ecosystem for life and filling it with fish, birds, and land animals, the communal Godhead designed humanity as the apex of Creation also to exist in community. “ ‘Let Us make man in Our image.’ . . . So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:26, 27, NKJV). Humanity was to live in communion with God and with each other. God designed that both male and female were to be biologically, physically, and emotionally the counterpart to each other. They were created to complement each other. They were the “perfect fit” for each other, so that Adam could exclaim when Eve was later designed from His rib, “ ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh’ ” (Gen. 2:23, NKJV). Thus, Adam names her “woman.” Marriage requires that “a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24, NKJV).
The basis for culture and civilization on earth was the husband-and-wife unit and the children that were born from this relationship through procreation. That is why the Bible places so much emphasis on the family unit. This emphasis on the family unit is also highlighted in the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments describe humanity’s relationship to God, culminating in the seventh-day Sabbath, which solidifies the obedience and honor given to God by means of a special relationship from week to week. Notice that after the Sabbath precept the transition to the fifth commandment focuses first and foremost on the family, for here is where God’s character was to be transmitted for future generations: “ ‘Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you’ ” (Exod. 20:12, NKJV). A world filled with loving families who regard God supremely and uphold His character in their lives, and raise their children in humble obedience was the original purpose in God’s creation.
Satan’s attempt to destroy God’s purpose at the Fall drove a wedge between God and humanity and then between Adam and Eve. The separation of Eve from Adam provided Satan an opening. In an unguarded moment, Eve curiously approached the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan, by insinuating doubt upon the Word of God, succeeded in distorting and disrupting God’s plan of protection. The immediate results were devastating. After Eve and then Adam ate from the tree, their sense of separation and guilt tore the first couple from their relationship with God. They now sensed their own nakedness. After God in His love pursues them, they blame each other and God, furthering the division that has now occurred. In the very next chapter, Genesis 4, we see the full result of sin in the murder of a son and brother. Disobedience to God’s Word bore its ultimate fruit in the destruction of God’s creation.
The insinuating doubt of Satan at the beginning, “ ‘Did God really say . . . ?’ ” (Gen. 3:1, NIV) is still with us today through the theory of evolution. God’s Word plainly testifies that He spoke the heavens and the earth into existence and that “all things were made through Him [Christ], and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3, NKJV). If we doubt God’s Word concerning His Creatorship, are we not as surely following a lie as did our first parents in the beginning of earth’s history?
Christ came to restore the world and His creation to Himself and to His Father. In declaring that “ ‘before Abraham was, I AM’ ” (John 8:58, NKJV), Jesus declared that He was the self-existent God of the universe. The wind and seas obeyed Him because He created them. He raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead, because “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4, NKJV). The final re-creation that Christ promises at the Second Coming is possible only if He was truly our Creator at the beginning.
Part III: Life Application
God had intended for the family to be the foundational unit of human life. What, then, are the results when the foundation in a building is eroded? How does an erosion of a belief in Creation contribute to the rest of the structure in society? What difference does the theory of evolution make for the meaning of our existence? This week what testifies of God’s purpose in your life?
“Jesus pointed His hearers back to the marriage institution as ordained at creation. . . . Then marriage and the Sabbath had their origin, twin institutions for the glory of God in the benefit of humanity. Then, as the Creator joined the hands of the holy pair in wedlock, saying, A man shall ‘leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one’ (Genesis 2:24), He enunciated the law of marriage for all the children of Adam to the close of time. That which the eternal Father Himself had pronounced good was the law of highest blessing and development for man.”—Ellen G. White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, pp. 63, 64.