Going Deeper
Genesis 1-5 (9-9-17)
The Trinity Creates
As we open our Bibles to begin our new Bible Reading Plan, we are immediately introduced to the Triune God and His unmatched power and will.
There is only one true God. God exists eternally as one God, three persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. God is eternal, self-existent, and self-sufficient. He is the almighty Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler of everything.
Look with me and see the Triune Godhead at work in the beginning of all that He ordained to create:
Genesis 1:1-3 (NIV) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
The very first three verses of Genesis reveal something far greater to us than the simple fact that God created the heavens and the earth. They reveal to us that God is a community of three persons in one being!
Genesis 1:1 (NIV) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Here we are introduced to God as the grand designer of all creation.
God’s creative hand swings out and drips all the integral parts of the universe into being. The backdrop is set, and creation has its stage. God is the Father of all creation, and all things find their origin and definition in Him.
Genesis 1:2 (NIV) Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
The Holy Spirit is also in play. Now, this is still God, but a distinction is made here that is different than the action of the Father in the previous verse. The Spirit does not imagine or construct the created world, but instead He is described as “hovering over it” after the universe hung in place. This is the first insight we have into the personality or role of the Holy Spirit as one of protector or overseer.
Genesis 1:3 (NIV) And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
In verse 3, we see the Word of God. The Word is found in His verbal command of “Let there be,” and whatever He commands comes into existence through the power of that WORD. The active agent of God’s will, the Word, we know to be the Son of God, Jesus!
So, we only need to go three verses deep into the divine revelation of God to discover what is abundantly taught in the rest of the Scriptures:
God is one God as a Tri-Unity of divine persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). This is the eternal community from whom all other communities derive life and meaning and purpose for life!
We see this later in chapter 2 as God creates man:
Genesis 2:18-20 (NIV) The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
Adam was sharing and loving and enjoying God and His creation, but the animals, mountains, waves, and sky were not suitable for Adam to understand and experience what real deep community is.
We are not meant to do life alone!
See that God is communal in the eternal relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and He ordained that we would be communal, too. In that it was not good for man to be alone.
Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
The community that is the Godhead created the community of mankind. We are not meant to do this life alone but in community. It is only when sin came into play that mankind separated from God and each other. Let’s see that unfold.
Sin Equals Death and Separation
Genesis 3 & 4
In Genesis 2:16-17, we read that God was clear about what would bring death and separation:
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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 surely die.”
Then in Genesis 3, we read that man sinfully disobeyed God and was rightly cursed for it.
Genesis 3:6-13 says the following:
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
They gave into temptation and chose sin over God. They chose to betray the glory and honor due God and to serve their own desires and glory. See the immediate consequences of their sin. They are caught up in judgment of each other and themselves, and they cover themselves. They separated themselves. They hid themselves.
See the consequences of our sin that breaks down community and causes fear, judgment, and hate for each other. It separates us. This is in full opposition to the beautiful community God created us to have and to enjoy.
Then Adam and Eve hid from God in shame and fear. God goes on to make it clear that they will reap real consequences for their sin. We see the fallout of their sin in chapter 4 as one of their sons murders the other. But the worst of their consequences is their separation from God.
It says in Genesis 3:24, “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”
This was the symbolism of being separated from God in His holiness and from the tree of life.
A Redeemer Is Promised
If we would ever be restored to God and to each other apart from our sin, we would need someone to go through the sword to make a way for us. Not just anyone, but someone perfect and eternal. Someone who could represent mankind and redeem us from all unrighteousness.
That royal redeemer is promised by God in Genesis 3:15:
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Here, God declared war and victory on Satan, sin, and death with what is known as the proto-evangelium–the first gospel pronouncement–in Genesis 3:15. God proclaims that He will bring forth a man (a royal Redeemer) who would come from the line of the woman, and this Redeemer would crush and defeat sin and death.
This is Jesus. The rest of the Old Testament points us to Jesus–the promised Redeemer. He is the only hope for mankind.
The Gospels are the story of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection.
This is our only hope for true restoration into lasting and life-giving community with God and each other.
Jesus came, lived perfectly, died in the place of undeserving sinners, and rose to conquer death as the forerunner of a chosen people’s redemption.
The Bible is clear that there is not greater news or hope mankind has.
Each person is utterly desperate for Jesus alone.
Confess your sin, turn from it, and trust your life completely to Jesus as Savior and Lord.
Die to yourself and your sin, and live to Christ and for His glory and the making much of His name.
Praise God He created us, but praise Him all the more that He chose in His grace to save an undeserving people to be restored into the beautiful community of the Triune Godhead and His redeemed family.
By His grace and for His glory,
-Shepherd
Soldiers for Jesus MC