Genesis: Gospel foundations

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In the year 2021, Lord willing, we will have the opportunity to study the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis.  Genesis is vital for our Christian faith and practice.  I would argue that Genesis lays the foundation for what we believe as a people.  In fact, if you believe that the Westminster Confession of Faith is true when it says in Chapter one paragraph six, “The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, mans salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture”, then you will see why the first book in the Old Testament must be a necessary part of our scriptural diet.  Let’s take just a second and consider the first four words of this beautiful book to see exactly why this is so. 

            “In the beginning, God …”. These four words mark the beginning of our Bibles and in this simple statement we find two vital truths for our faith and for our lives.  First, there is a God.  This God predates the beginning.  This is not some trivial statement.  The reality that there is a God should force us to want to know Him.  It should cause us to seek out this God.  It reveals to us there is something greater than our own lives.  The second truth we find is that there was a beginning.  God was present at this beginning.  In fact, if we continued in this verse we would see that God predates the beginning since He is the creator of all things.  Therefore, everything around us, the plants, animals, trees, oxygen, and humanity was created and was done so by God.  This causes us to ask other important questions.  Why?  For what purpose?  By realizing this, we reject the idea that there is no purpose.  For if there is a creator, then there must be a purpose for the created. 

            It is with these seeking questions that we turn to God’s word to find the answers.  Maybe you find yourself wondering what purpose you fill in this life.  Maybe you look at this created world and ask, why?  If that is the case, then I invite you to come with us on a journey through this beautiful book in a series I have titled “Gospel Foundations: A Study of Genesis 1-11”.  Let’s take the word of God together and discover who we are and why we were created.  And by doing so, let us learn about our creator who after he created all things, including mankind, looked down upon it and called it “very good.” 

  

In Christ,
Pastor Aaron Suber