In this lesson, remember that Genesis 1 was not written to us to answer our twenty-first century questions. It was written to the earliest Jewish people to address some basic realities. They knew the world existed. They knew life existed. They knew hundreds of years earlier God spoke to their ancestor Abraham and made him promises. They knew they were slaves in Egypt for generations. Was there a connection between the world, life, and the God Who spoke to Abraham? If God promised Abraham that his descendants would be a great nation, how did they become slaves in Egypt? Why should they follow God if His promises to Abraham failed? They were not a nation with a country of their own. They were freed slaves in the wilderness with no country. Who is this God Who freed them from slavery?
The first Hebrew words in Genesis mean "in the beginning." In English, the first book of the Bible is about "beginnings." Its original recipients were the earliest Jewish people. Its objective was to provide them answers to several basic questions. These answers gave these people a sense of identity and connected them with God.
Help your students understand how essential it was for these freed slaves to (a) have a sense of identity and (b) derive that sense of identity from a valid connection to God. Commonly slavery destroys a person's or a people's sense of identity. Slavery declares slaves are to see themselves disconnected from everything, to see themselves as impersonal beings existing as property to be used by others.
What were the questions this book of "beginnings" answered for those Jewish people? Question one: how did this world "begin"? Question two: how did evil "begin" exerting influence in God's creation? Question three: how did the people of Israel "begin"? Question four: how did the people of Israel "begin" living in Egypt?
Connect these questions with Israel's circumstances when they received Genesis' message.
As this book of "beginnings" addressed each question, it emphasized this fundamental truth: God is the origin of the world, the origin of life, and the origin of Israel. Obviously, Genesis was vital to Israel. Genesis is also vital to Christians. God Who "began" this world and "began" Israel sent Jesus Christ through Israel to recreate all of us. Every person on earth can "begin" again because God Who created humanity can recreate us. We who rejected God's sovereignty can become people who honor God's sovereignty.
Israel understood who they were in this world only if they understood their connection to God and the "beginnings" revealed in Genesis' message. Also, Christians understand who we are in this world only if we understand our connection to God and the "beginnings" revealed in Genesis' message.
God originally created from total disorder. God through creation brought order and life from chaos. God took utter confusion and disorder and produced orderliness and life. The confusion and disorder of chaos is the opposite of orderliness and life. What God brought into being was the opposite of what was.
Help your class see vividly the contrast between the disorder and lifelessness prior to God's creative acts and the order and life after God's creative acts.
For order and life to exist, chaos had to cease to exist. A biblical question: why did chaos not defy God when He brought order and life into existence? A biblical answer: chaos did not resist God because He is sovereign. God rules!
Help your class accept these basic truths. (1) God and the state of chaos are not compatible. (2) God produces order and life, not chaos. (3) Where God produces order and life, chaos ends.
One of the greatest events [creation] to occur is declared briefly, simply, and without much commentary. What would take us volumes to chronicle, Genesis declared in one chapter composed of only thirty-one verses, and most of those verses are quite brief.
The brevity of Genesis' creation account suggests these two insights. This account (1) had the objective of asserting that God is the source or beginning of beneficial human experiences and (2) did not have the objective of answering all questions we have concerning the events of creation. Often people focus too much on demanding that Genesis answer our twenty-first century questions concerning creation and too little on hearing Genesis' message affirming God is the source.
God considered the formless void covered with darkness. He ordered light to appear and to be separated from the darkness. The darkness did not defy God. God is sovereign.
In each of God's creative acts, stress the fact that nothing defied God. Even though chaos had to yield to order, nothing defied God. Even though lifelessness had to yield to life, nothing defied God. Stress the reason: God was and is sovereign.
God separated the waters into two parts. The expanse that occurred between the waters was the heavens. The waters did not defy God in the separation and the formation of the expanse. God is sovereign.
God ordered dry land to appear. It was separated from the waters below the heavens. The dry land was called earth, and the waters below were called seas. Neither the waters nor the dry land defied God. It happened because God is sovereign.
God ordered the earth to be filled with vegetation. It happened. Nothing defied God. God is sovereign.
God ordered the heavens to be filled with "lights." Among them was sun and moon, the source of light for the earth. It happened. These light sources produced signs, seasons, and measurements for time. Nothing defied God. God is sovereign.
God ordered the seas and the skies to be filled with living creatures. It happened. Nothing defied God. God is sovereign.
God ordered the earth filled with living creatures. Among them were to be humans made in God's image and likeness. Humans were to exercise dominion over God's creation. It happened. Nothing defied God. God is sovereign.
God's evaluation of what He made: "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31).
Stress this fact: the world God originally produced was "very good" by God's own standards.
God used chaos to bring order and life into existence. Chaos gave way to order and life by God's order and design. In the process, nothing defied God. Why? God is sovereign. God rules. God has the right to rule. God is supreme.
The objective: to begin opening people's insight into the significance and meaning of God's sovereignty.
Chaos was not good. The formless void covered with darkness was not good. What God created was good. In God's Own assessment, it was "very good." The sovereign God from the beginning took a formless void covered in darkness that was not good and created something good.
Stress the fact that the good replaced the useless.
Light is compatible with God. Darkness is compatible with evil. Order is compatible with God. Disorder is compatible with evil. Life is compatible with God. Lifelessness is compatible with evil. God took things not compatible with Him [darkness, disorder, and lifelessness] and created things compatible with Him [light, order, and life]. How could God do that? Why would darkness, disorder, and lifelessness yield to Him? God is sovereign. He rules. He is supreme.
Note and stress the fact that this happened because God is sovereign.
The first concept of the Bible is God's sovereignty. Nothing is superior to God. Nothing is equal to God. Nothing can rightfully rival God. Nothing can rightfully defy God.
Call attention to the fact that the Bible's first message, first concept, is God's sovereignty.
The sovereign God is the God of good. He is the source of life and order. He is constructive, not destructive. Not only is He good, but He rejoices in producing good. Recognizing His sovereignty is a good thing that results in good things happening. The final result of yielding to God's sovereignty is "very good."
Help your class see the intentional association between "God" and "good" in the creation account.
Question: Humanity is the "crowning touch" of a "very good" creation. Why do humans commonly conclude that yielding to God's sovereignty is bad, not good?
Two factors should be included in this discussion. Human arrogance arises from (1) a failure to understand the significance of God's sovereignty and (2) a failure to understand the significance of God's devotion to good.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 1