The Next Chapter - God's Big Picture, Intro & Chapter 1

Introduction

One attention-getter we all know but seldom think about is that the Bible is a collection of 66 books, written by about 40 authors over a time span of nearly 2,000 years. 

Understanding that, we also should remember that it really has only one author telling one story. There’s one main subject that underlies every book, every chapter and every verse of the Bible: Jesus Christ and the salvation God offers through Him alone. The entire Bible points to Jesus, from Genesis to Revelation and everything in between, telling one primary story throughout.

As such, it should be read as a book, not a series of excerpts. We would never dream of watching a movie in small segments, out of order, or picking up a great book and only reading some of the chapters. The Bible must be approached as a whole book if we are to get the full impact of what it teachers.

Let’s say I want to read “Gone With the Wind” but decide that I like Rhett better than the other characters. So, I read only the parts he’s in. I tell my friends I’ve read it and they want to know what I think about it. What am I going to tell them? “Well, I only know about Rhett Butler.” Worse yet, I may fool myself into thinking Rhett’s story is the entire story, the rest being unimportant.

I’m afraid a lot of folks approach their Bible reading like that. As people who believe the Bible is the word of God, we should want to know all of it.  It’s all part of the story, every chapter, every verse.

Chapter One (Gen 1:1-2:25)

God made everything! He made it all, spiritual and physical, by speaking it into existence. The spiritual did not have precedence over the physical nor the physical over the spiritual. God made it all and proclaimed it all to be “good”. The story of the Bible leads us down a path starting at creation and ending at the new creation. God made it all in the beginning and will redeem it in the end. The original design was “good”, it became tainted (later), God will return His creation to its original state, “good”.

God is King over His creation. It was created by Him and belongs to Him. He is Lord over it all, distinct from it all and in sovereign control of it all. 

One of the first lessons we learn is that the goal of creation is rest. Rest comes at the end of the creative act. Right here in the beginning, God begins to reveal His nature and the patterns of how He relates to His creation. Later, we will find that rest is at the end of the story, as well

Man is the epitome of creation, the only element made in God’s image and the only thing on earth God has a personal relationship with. God gives the man responsibility over creation but the man is still accountable to God. God sets the rules and provides the guidelines. The guidelines are there for the benefit, protection and blessing of the man and then the woman, who is created to be the man’s helper.

The man and the woman live in close relationship with God, are under His protection, enjoy His provision and blessing. This is the natural order of things, the demonstration of how good things can be when we are in complete harmony with God. The man and woman are at peace and at rest. Their communion with each other is sweet because their communion with God is sweet. The snapshot we see of the garden will become the promise of what is in store for those who will be redeemed. 

What things jumped out at you while reading ch 1? 

Is there anything in this chapter that you haven’t considered before? Anything that might impact your perception of God? Creation? The Bible?

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