A brief overview of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 1:1-5, 26-2:3, “The First Week,” for Sunday, December 3, 2023. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  ??? Share the most beautiful/most favorite place in nature (creation) that you have personally seen???

(Mine would have to be the Grand Canyon. It is literally beyond words, and no picture you take adequately conveys what you are are seeing there.)

You/your group can share your favorite places, and then you can say something like: today we are going to see how all these beautiful places were spoken into being by God. 

CONTEXT: 

We are starting a new book study this month, the Book of Genesis, which is the first book of the Bible. As the first book, it is a book of beginnings. (In fact, the word “Genesis” means “Beginning.”) As we get into this study we will look at the first week of creation, the first couple, the first sin, the first murder — so many firsts, which are foundational for so much of what we believe and practice as Christians. 

OUTLINE:

I. God Creates the Universe (1:1-5)

II. God Creates Mankind (:26-28)

III. God Completes Creation and Rests (1:29-2:3)

I. God’s Creation (1:1-5)

Verse 1 is one of the most important, and foundational statements in the whole Bible: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

There are basically two entirely different outlooks on the universe: “Naturalism,” that the universe is “self-existing,” or that there is a God who created it. 

World-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking wrote in one of his best-selling books, The Grand Design:  “The universe can and will create itself from nothing … Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.” 

But the Bible says here at its very beginning, that it was GOD who made the heavens and the earth. This is a fundamental truth, and it impacts everything else we think and do:

— If God made us, then we are accountable to Him. Then there is a meaning and purpose to life, that comes from Him. Then there are right and wrong things to do, which He has prescribed. 

— If there is no God, then we are NOT accountable to Him, or really anyone else. There is no right and wrong, and there IS no meaning to life. Even atheists admit this: the honest atheist says, the answer to the meaning of life is that there IS no meaning, because they believe there is no God.

Richard Dawkins, another famous atheist, wrote that there is “ … no design, no purpose, no evil, and no good. Nothing but blind pitiless indifference, DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is. And we dance to its music.” (Richard Dawkins quoted in Richard E. Simmons III, Reflections on the Existence of God, p. 59)

At least he’s honest: he says because there is no God, there is no purpose to life — and even no “right or wrong,” because who is there to say what is “right” or “wrong.” That IS the consistent philosophical end of atheism. 

But the Bible gives us another perspective “Creationism”: that there is a God who, in the beginning, made everything that exists. That is what Genesis 1:1 teaches here. “In the beginning, GOD created the heavens and the Earth.” 

This verse teaches us several things:

— “In the beginning, GOD …”. When everything came into being, God already was. Jesus references this in John 17:5, where He talks about “the glory which I shared with You before the world was.” God (and when we Christians say “God,” we mean the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) was already there before the world ever was. Jesus says at the end of John 17, :24, “You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” Before the world ever was, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit already shared perfect eternal love with each other. 

But God already was. Psalm 90:2 says “Before the mountains were born, or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting, to everlasting, You are God.” 

— Second, this God who existed before the world was, brought everything into being. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  The Hebrew word for “create” here, “bara”, means “to create from nothing.” This Hebrew word is never used of any subject other than God. Only God can create something from nothing; speak something into being. And that is what Genesis 1 says that He did. 

— The Bible also teaches us that all three Persons of the Trinity were involved in creation. John 1:2-3 says it was the Son of God, Jesus, who brought everything into being: “He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him, nothing came into being that has come into being.” So the Father created the world, through the Son. And Genesis 1:2 here says “and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” So all three Persons of the Triune God were involved in this Creation. The Trinity is a vital, but often neglected doctrine in churches today, so I think it’s important to point out that it is right here from the foundation in Genesis.

The doctrine of “creationism” we see here in Genesis 1 is the alternative to “naturalism,” that the universe just “naturally” existed, without any Creator. The Bible teaches there IS a God, who designed everything, and who has a plan and purpose for what He made. That is what we believe as Christians.

John Barletta, a former Secret Service agent who was assigned to President Ronald Reagan, wrote in his book, Riding With Reagan: “At the ranch, more than anywhere else, the President could enjoy all of God’s marvelous creation. He would say, “Only God could put this together. Man cannot do this. Every leaf, every tree, that sky, those mountains, that ocean.” He would thoughtfully point to each thing while he was talking. Standing under the huge sky, he felt as if he had everything he needed right there. He saw a natural order to things, an order designed by the Creator. “This is God’s plan,” he would say about the rhythm of nature. “It’s not man’s plan.”  (p. 55)

That is what the Bible teaches, that this is not just “nature,” that came into being by itself; but it is “Creation,” that came into being by the word of God: “In the beginning, GOD created the heavens and the earth.”

Then :2 says “And darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.”

As we have seen, the Spirit of God is referenced here, the 3rd member of the Trinity. 

But there are a number of ideas about what is going on here; that God had brought all the general elements of creation together, but they were not formed, as the later verses indicate. Others believe there was a kind of “catastrophe” that occurred between :1 and :2, which is called the “Gap Theory.” My personal view is that it somehow refers to the general elements of creation which God has just spoken into being, which are then formed into the final creation in the next verses.  

:3 then begins the next steps God took in creation, and says: “Then God said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light.’ And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light, day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.”

So first the Bible says God created light and darkness, and concluded the first day. Now, a number of people question, how could there be “light,” when the SUN was not even created until :14? What “light” could there be? I am not a scientist, but: 

“Dr. John Lennox … relates a fascinating story about a brilliant scientist in England … Andrew Parker, who is the director of research at the Natural History Museum in London. … One day, Parker was giving a lecture on the subject of bioluminescence and a reporter in the back of the room raised his hand and said, ‘Sir, you sound like Genesis.’

Parker asked, ‘What do you mean? Genesis what?’

“The reporter answered, You sound like Genesis in the Bible … let there be light.’

(He) had never read the Bible but bought one and started to read it. And he couldn’t let go of it. It astounded him. 

Night after night Parker would read the first chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1. Dr. Lennox said that Parker finally contacted him because he knew that Lennox was a Christian and would therefore be interested in these things. …

The net results? Parker published a book called The Genesis Enigma: Why The First Book of the Bible is Scientifically Accurate. Parker leads off with a caveat and then continues with his argument:

‘I am not a religious man, and I do not want religion particularly at this time in my life. But what I have discovered is the most remarkable coordination between the order of events as I see them in the history of life and what Genesis says. There’s no way the Hebrew writer of Genesis would have known that light was important, that marine life was important … the writer of Genesis has it all in the right order. Could this be the evidence of God?’”

(Richard E. Simmons III, Reflections on the Existence of God, pp,. 174-175)

I don’t know all the scientific considerations that are involved in that statement; all the reasons why that renowned scientist believes that Genesis 1 is so accurate — but that he does, not even being a believer, has to be significant. You don’t have to be a fool to believe what the Bible says. Don’t ever let you, or your class members feel that way. Renowned scientists look at Genesis 1 and marvel at it! We all should!  

But the point here is that on the first day, God created light, and He separated the light from the darkness, and made the first day. 

THEN from :6-25, we see day by day how God made the heavens, the ocean, the dry land, plants, then on the 4th day the sun, moon, and stars.

In fact, although it’s not in our “focus passage” I just have to point this out, because I think it’s just amazing: 

:16 says “God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night. He made the stars also.”

To me that is the most amazing thing: “He made the stars also.”

It’s almost an afterthought: “Oh and He also made the stars.”

But do you realize what it involves, that “He made the stars”?

It is hard to measure the number of stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, because we are in it. But Scientists now believe there are probably 100 BILLION stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is 100,000 light years across (which means that IF we could travel at the speed of light (186,282 miles a second!) IF we could do that — it would take 100,000 traveling at that speed to cross our universe! It is immense beyond our imagination. 

BUT even beyond that, they tell us that they now believe there may be 200-300 BILLION MORE GALAXIES like ours in the universe!  200 billion galaxies, of 200 billion stars, taking millions upon millions of light years to cross — and the Bible says it was NOTHING to God: “Oh, by the way, He made the stars also!” 

We ought to just fall down in reverence and awe and worship Him!  He is the God who made it all.

II. God Created Mankind  (:26-31)

So after the five days of creation of the universe and all that is in it, :26 says: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (:27) God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

These verses are packed with truth for us today, that apply to issues we face today. 

— First of all, this tells us that GOD created man. He made us; and we are accountable to Him. This goes against the grain of the “naturalistic” viewpoint, which believes that we just “happened” to evolve from nothing, and are accountable to no one. These people have slogans like “my body, my choice,” which according to the Bible is all based on a lie. NO; it is not “my body.” GOD made this body. It is HIS. He is the potter; we are the clay. We were designed by Him, and we are accountable to Him. 

— Also: that God created us “in His image” has tremendous consequences. Every human soul has been made in the image of God, and is therefore of great worth. There is no warrant for us to look down upon any individual, or race of people. There should be no place for racial prejudice in the church of the God who created all men.  

— It teaches us that God put MAN in charge of creation: “Let them rule …” over all these creatures. We aren’t just “one of” the creatures; we are over them. We are to rule over creation — and this also does imply our responsibility to take CARE of creation, which has implications for the way we deal with our environment. That does not mean that everything that every “environmentalist” says is right — but it DOES mean that we need to be responsible with the creation God has entrusted into our care. There is a Biblical responsibility there! 

— :27 also teaches us that God specifically created us “male and female.” So this has important implications regarding gender issues. Gender is not a matter of choice; it is a matter of CREATION! To reject one’s gender is to reject the Creator who designed it and assigned it to you. 

The creation of Mankind by God is SO fundamental, and it relates to SO many contemporary issues that are right out of today’s headlines.  Make sure you apply this word to some of these issues this weekend. 

ONE EXERCISE you could use to do that would be to print :27-29 out on a large poster/piece of paper and have your class study it together, and call out: 

??? What all truths/issues/applications do you see from these verses???

Some would include:

(— if we are made by God, then we are accountable to Him.

— it is NOT “our body our choice,” but our bodies are HIS!

— “the gift of gender” is God’s plan. We don’t get to choose our gender; GOD has assigned it. To reject one’s gender is to reject the plan of God. This is becoming controversial to many in today’s society, but it is the clear teaching of the Bible here! “Male and female He created them.” 

— also that we are made in the image of God means that every human soul is worthy of respect: that person was made in the image of God! EVERY one!

C.S. Lewis has a great statement of the value of every soul in his amazing sermon, “The Weight of Glory.” Near the end of the message he writes:

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another …”. 

Lewis is right! Because GOD made us, and He made us in His image, with an eternal soul, every person we ever see, will either be as glorious as a God forever — or as horrific as your worst nightmare. And like he says, we need to remember that we are helping every person we meet towards one of these fates or the other! That’s sobering! We need to treat every person with dignity; GOD created them as an eternal soul! 

— I think there is also application for the issue of abortion here. GOD gives life; we ought not take that life from the womb of a its mother. 

Another way to apply these scriptures would be to look at “The Baptist Faith & Message, 2000 ed.”, our Southern Baptist statement of faith, applies much of what we read here in Genesis 1 in its article on Man:

III. MAN

“Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.”

BFM statement online:   https://bfm.sbc.net/bfm2000/

There are SO many applications we can make from these verses.

But make sure you do APPLY these truths. Don’t just do a study on the 6 days of creation. Make sure your group sees how these vital truths apply to our lives, beliefs, and practices today.  

III. God Completes Creation and Rests (1:29-2:3)

— Chapter 1 concludes with :29-30, on how God gave the plants for man and animals to eat. It is notable that it doesn’t say here that He gave animals for us to eat — thus some speculate that we were originally designed to be vegetarians — but I don’t know that there is any other Biblical authority for that. Jesus Himself ate fish, as we saw at His resurrection, so it is certainly not sinful to eat meat. The most important point I would make here is that God provided nutrition for us in His creation.  Many of us just finished a week of Thanksgiving; we should rightly thank God for our food, for it is a gift from Him to us. 

— :31 then says “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was VERY good. And there was evening and there was morning, the 6th day.” 

This is an important statement: when God had finished the creation, He said it was all VERY good. It was perfect; just as He intended it. Now, something happened that messed all this up — and that “something” is our sin — which we’ll get to in Chapter 3. 

— Then 2:2-3 say “By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. (:3) Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

(Honestly with all that’s in Chapter 1, I don’t know if I will even get to chapter 2 in our class’ lesson, and remember, don’t feel pressure to cover every verse in the focus passage, especially if you are having good input/discussion in the preceding verses) but if I do there’s a couple of truths here I would address:

— One, this shows God “resting.” God didn’t need to “rest.” He just spoke and all these things came into being. He rested as an example for US.

— Which brings us to the next application, the sabbath. 

This is of course the origin of the Sabbath Day, which would be the 4th of the 10 Commandments. That 4th Commandment, found in Exodus 20:8-11 is based on the Creation account here: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”

The Sabbath gives us an important principle: the principle of REST. God created us to need rest. And so He gives us the example of rest here (even though He did not need it Himself; kind of like when Jesus was baptized; He didn’t “need” it Himself, He did it as an example for US). And He also codified it in the 10 Commandments for Israel.

Now, some may ask, why do we not observe the Sabbath on the 7th day NOW? We’ve covered this in some previous lessons, but let me briefly recap in case you weren’t with us:

— The creation story and the Sabbath command give us an important principle, that God designed us with a need to rest.

— However, many of the Jews took the Sabbath command too far, refusing even to do good things on the Sabbath, and were critical of Jesus for what they saw as breaking the Sabbath.

— It is of note that of all the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath command is the only one that is not specifically repeated or reiterated in the New Testament. 

There are several beliefs concerning the Sabbath today:

— Some believe we should still be observing the Sabbath as it was originally given, on the 7th day. There are whole denominations that practice this: Seventh Day Adventists, and there are “7th Day Baptists” as well.

— Others believe the Sabbath was moved to Sunday in the New Testament, and that Sunday is now the “Christian Sabbath.” There is, however, no New Testament command to do this. The closest anyone comes to addressing it is when the Apostle Paul says: “One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.” (Romans 14:15). I think this shows us that there is no certain “Christian sabbath.”  Thus I like the Baptist Faith & Message statement on the Lord’s Day:   

VII. THE LORD’S DAY

“The first day of the week is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord’s Day should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.”

https://bfm.sbc.net/bfm2000/

I think this is a great statement. It basically says, you do as God leads you to do on the Lord’s Day; but this is not a “first tier” issue that good Christians need to fight and argue about — and that is basically what Paul said in Romans as well.

But it would also add this: if you do not believe that Saturday or Sunday is “the sabbath,” that is a legitimate view. BUT DO NOT NEGLECT THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLE HERE: THAT GOD CREATED US TO NEED REST!  Whether you practice it on Saturday or Sunday is not as important as the fact that God designed us all to need rest, and if you do not get it, you are going to suffer physically for it. 

(If you want to spend more time on this, I have a whole message on rest that I preached at our church, you can find it on my blog at:     

“Come Away & Rest” (Mark 6:30-31 sermon)

I also have another message on Genesis 1 on my blog, “In The Beginning God”:

“In The Beginning, God” (Genesis 1:1 sermon)

This message has a number of further scripture cross-references, stories, illustrations, and applications from Genesis 1:1. I hope and something else from the overview will be helpful to you as you prepare this week. This is indeed a VERY important lesson; it is foundational for so much of what we believe and practice as Christians, so I am thankful that you are taking it seriously and working hard to prepare for this week’s lesson. I will be praying for you! 

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— Remember if you’d like to read/print a text version of this overview, to print out the lesson, or use one of the quotes or stories or anything else, that is available on my blog at http://www.shawnethomas.com (I’ll post that address in the comments section below).

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Per my licensing agreement with Lifeway:

— These weekly lessons are based on content from Explore the Bible Adult Resources. The presentation is my own and has not been reviewed by Lifeway.

— Lifeway resources are available at: goExploretheBible.com  and: goexplorethebible.com/adults-training

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