Genesis 1:14-31 Creation Account

Welcome
Prayer
Song
Silence

So on to verse 14 of the creative period and the fourth day where Moses writes

4. Genesis 1:14–31
   February 27th 2022

Genesis 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

Unlike some commentators who suggest that these lights were now able to be seen in the skies because the firmament has been cleared and separated and so when God here says let there be lights in the firmament he is describing clearing away all atmospheric obstructions, I think this is the day that the sun moon and stars were formed. Could be wrong of course.

The Creation of the Lights

Verse 15-16

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

The two great lights are spoken of comparatively – as Danny pointed out last week – imagine Moses trying to describe the creation from his position?

We know today the light of these “bodies of great light” is all relative to distance, size and composition – that the sun is the greatest and the moon is second due to those factors and more and that the stars are lesser because they are further away. But again, when it comes to our governing bodies of light, one that greets us at night and the other at sunrise, there are none greater.

The Psalmist said (in Palm 8:3)

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained,

The word, ordained means set in place, fixed, put in that order. The very placement of these great lights is a grand display of His existence as science confirms that if our proximity to the sun was 10% closer we would burn and 10% further away we would freeze.

Debates on Creation Interpretation

Of course, to many this does not prove a creator but random chance, but I would like to dispel the myth that today tells us if the earth as one inch, one foot or ten feet closer or further we would experience the same – not so.

One more thing here – and it is something I held off on mentioning last week. In Genesis one we read: “In the beginning God created”

And here in verse 15 we read: “and God made two great lights.”

Now, as some of you pointed out, there are lots of views on all of this – and one of the more debated is the difference in words used here in Hebrew between bara (translated created) and made (translated asah)

Numerous attempts have been made by people to create a significant distinction between two Hebrew words. Groups like Theistic evolutionists (TEs) and old-earth creationists (OECs) both accept what the scientific establishment claims which is millions of years are represented here (although old-earth creationists do not accept neo-Darwinian evolution while Theistic Evolutionist do).

But . . . and only as a means to try and defend the acceptance of millions of years by saying that bara refers to supernatural “creation ex nihilo” (Latin for “out of nothing”) but that asah means to make “out of pre-existing material” I want to talk about these two words.

So what is said is that the only supernatural creation events were in relation to the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1), sea creatures and birds (1:21), and Adam and Eve (1:27) because bara is used in these places and since asah is used for all other creative acts in Genesis 1, those acts are said to have possibly been subject to creative processes over the course of millions of years.

Remaining Faithful

Now, listen – I want to help you remain healthy followers of God. And from what I can tell, the healthiest believers are pathetically indifferent to things we do not really understand or zealously interested in all takes available.

If we really understand something in the faith, go at it with all you’ve got. Prove it. But if there are nuances to arguments that cannot be explained away, be careful toward dogmatic immovable positions.

Why? Because such things can be proven wrong and that shakes faith. So, I suggest that when it comes to the creation, days, times, spans, creation ex nihilo or pre-existing matter

Faith and Creation

– all believers step way back and say: “I don’t care.” Or, “I can go either way!” Or “I walk by faith that Jesus lived, died and resurrected for the world. Period.”

Now, if you want to take a stand on something you are free – love you always. But be really cautious on what those things are and very well read if you make that choice. Okay, with that being said:

The Bara and Asah Argument

The bara and asah argument used to support Old Earthers and Theistic Evolutionists do not stand if we look carefully at the use of these words in Genesis and in other biblical passages related to creation.

So let’s take a quick look at the white board:

Creation in Genesis

ON BOARD
Bara: to shape or create                                                                                                                                    Asah: to do or make
Gen. 1:1                           created the heavens and earth                                                                Gen. 1:7                                                                                                            made the expanse between the waters above and below
Gen. 1:21                created the sea creatures and birds                                                       Gen. 1:16 * made the sun, moon and stars
Gen. 1:27 * created man (both Adam and Eve)                                                              Gen. 1:25                                                                      made all land creatures
Gen. 2:3 * created and made all His works                                                                      Gen. 1:31 * all that He made
Gen. 2:4                           created heavens and earth                                                Gen. 2:3 * all His works which God created and made
Gen. 5:1                           created man (both Adam and Eve, cf. 5:2)                                     Gen. 2:4 * made heaven and earth
Gen. 5:2                                                                      created male and female                                                           Gen. 3:1                                                                       made the beasts of the field
Ps. 89:47                                                            created all the sons of men                                                                                                     Gen 3:7

The Concept of Creation in Scripture

made loin clothes from fig leaves
Ps. 104:30 created sea creatures
Gen. 3:21 made garments from animal skins
Ps. 148:5 * created heavens, heights, angels, hosts
Gen. 5:1 * made man (referring to both male and female)
Is. 40:26 * created stars
Gen. 6:6 * made man
Is. 40:26 created trees, rivers
Gen. 7:4 * destroy every living thing that I have made
Is. 54:16 created the blacksmith and the destroyer
Gen. 9:6 * man made in the image of God

Scriptural References to God's Works

Ps. 121:2 * made the heavens and the earth
Ps. 104:24 * made the sea, sea creatures, and land animals
Is. 41:20 * done this, made the trees and rivers
Is. 43:7 * made, created, and formed man
Is. 45:18 * made, formed, established, and created the earth

Questioning Creation and Making

The question posed to us by this comparison is whether God’s “creating activities” and “making activities” in Genesis.

The Concepts of "Create" and "Make" in Genesis

From these verses above we can note the following:

The * after the verses above indicates those things that God is said to have both “created” and “made.” This proves that Bara (create) and asah (make) are used interchangeably in the Bible with reference to the creation of the following: the sun, the moon, the stars, sea creatures, trees, rivers, man, the heavens, and the earth. In several verses, they are even used together to describe the same event.

The plants were neither “created” nor “made,” according to the words used in Genesis 1:11-13. But clearly (from passages such as Gen. 2:1-3, Ps. 33:6-9, Ps. 148, Heb. 11:3, etc.) they were created and made by God’s Word on the third day, even though God did not use these particular words to describe His actions. There is no basis in science or Scripture for saying that vegetation came into existence by purely natural processes but that everything else was created supernaturally. Also note that in the formation of the first plants, there is a clearly supernatural hand for they were made as mature plants with “fruit already on them.”

Understanding Bara and Asah

The point is, bara does not always mean to create out of nothing. God created the first male and female humans (Gen. 5:2). But we know from Genesis 2:7 that God formed (?????, yatsar) Adam from the dust of the earth and in Genesis 2:22 we are told that God fashioned (??????, banah) Eve from the rib of Adam. So, making a strong distinction between bara and asah in Genesis 1–2 is as unjustified as making a distinction between “create” and “make” in English!

What is true, however, is that in Scripture only God is the subject of the verb bara; in other words, men clearly make (asah) things, but only God creates (bara) in that sense of the word. But God also makes (asah) things. The verbs alone cannot tell us how God created or how long He took to create, so to use these terms as supports for one pet position or another is really improper.

In summary, there is no basis for saying that bara only means an instantaneous, out-of-nothing, supernatural creative action and that asah only means a slow, out-of-existing-material, natural process of making (under God’s providence, of course). In the creation account (Genesis 1:1-2:3), both words are used in reference to what appear to be ex nihilo creation events, and both are also used in reference to things God made from previously created material.

Contextual Interpretation

The lesson? Context in which the words are used can give us the more precise meaning, if there is a distinction to be made. Whether God created something out of nothing or created something from material that He had just made, or something from materials made eons earlier, the force of the words in context is that both kinds of activities were instantaneous and supernatural after God said, “Let there be . . . .”

Perhaps the rule of thumb, failing as it might be, is to assume that in Genesis 1 and 2, ex nihilo creation is described unless the text clearly indicates otherwise.

Okay, so back to our creation week.

Genesis 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

Verse 17

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Now, because we try and cover everything applicable to our modern lives, I have to mention something that most of you are going to fall off your chairs over – and that is a growing belief that many Christians are adopting called, Flat Earth. I mention this not as an endorsement of any kind and admittedly in the face of the zeal of some flat earthers all I can say is???

I have faith that Jesus Christ lived, died and rose the third day.

Unity in Faith

For the world. But to them, the creation of a round or sort of egg-shaped earth orbiting around a sun is contrary to the biblical narrative and to some of them, an abundance of evidences around us on earth. To summarize their claim, they believe that we are not on a heliocentric planet but we are thriving on an immense span of land and sea which the sun and moon rotate over like hovering lights.

I have no interest in trying to represent such any more than I am interested in trying to represent modern science as true. Here is the point I would like to make about the topic:

(long beat)

If we are going to have unity of the faith on earth we have to be mature enough to let people be and believe what they want – all people – no matter what their beliefs might be. To a scientist, the flat earth notion is preposterous. To a flat earther, science is tricking us. What can we do?

I suggest when it comes to the FAITH – the FAITH (you know, one faith, one Lord, one baptism) we refuse to divide over anything because everything will serve to divide us – if we let it. I personally know and love Christians who are convinced of our modern models of the cosmos, and I personally know and love Christians who are utterly convinced of flat earth.

To both sides – I love you as believers – leave me alone from your opinions. I want to focus on Him, and eternal truths, and things that aide us in spiritual maturation. I want to focus on love.

The Fifth Day of Creation

Okay . . . whew . . . verse 20 – 23 the Fifth day where the creatures of the water and the air were created.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Understanding Creation of Water and Air Animals

This part of creation seems to be focused on creatures that possess fins and wings – along with the fact that fish and birds rapidly reproduce. When Moses mentions whales, the Hebrew word is used to describe large creatures of the water (crocodiles too) and because there is a differentiation from them and every living creature that moveth it seems that whale represent all the large water animals of the sea. Here we see order, we see command to replicate according to kind and the Godly command to fill up the measure of their creation.

Nothing exhaustive, I mean could you imagine what it would require of God to explain to us how he created a barracuda alone? So, by faith, we accept the narrative as on point without the specifics. Having populated the sea and skies we come to the sixth day at verse 24 – 25.

The Sixth Day of Creation

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, “cattle,” and “creeping thing,” and “beast of the earth” after his kind: and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

There appears to be three general classes of terra-firma life depicted here. What are called “cattle” in English, what are described as “beasts of the earth,” and what are described as “creeping things.” From my limited point of view we have God working up toward the creation of Man here – could obviously be wrong but some land mammals appear to have far more in common with human beings (like horses, pigs and monkeys) than most sea creatures or birds. Not in every case but generally speaking. The Hebrew word translated cattle is behawmaw (where we get behemouth) and means a large dumb animal. Nephesh is translated beasts of the earth and probably represents the more exotic creatures not subject to domestication (like Giraffes and such) and Ramesh is a word that appears to represent reptiles with belly’s close to the ground and are

The Creation Narrative in Genesis

And that summarizes the whole creation of earthly animals. Were these the first types or models and others evolved after them? No idea. Don’t care. Did he create every type of dog and cat and fish and bird to ever exist? Why not? But maybe not. Can’t truly say. I just stand on the general idea that God created living things originally and if there is a living thing on earth today it is an expression or an extension of this creative period.

The Creation of Human Beings

And now, here in the first chapter of Genesis, we come to the creation of human beings. Thirty one short verses and Moses in this first recounting of the Creation, takes us from, In the Beginning to all things being made that were made. I love that. And now to day six – which is considered in scripture “the number of man.” SIX. First, let’s read the Genesis 1 account which is located in verse 26 and we will read to the end of the chapter.

26 And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Now, next week we will thresh through these specific verses again and talk about them. But, I think we ought to bring forth an issue that in my estimation is similar to the issue we face when we read the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke. What issue is that? In chapter 2 we have another rendition of the creation that is different than in chapter 1. And so, before moving forward let’s address this elephant in the room.

Creation Story in Genesis Chapter 2

And we will start by reading the text of chapter two where it begins to represent a creation story. And it begins at verse 4, saying:

Genesis 2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. 6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. 7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. 11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx

The Second Creation Account

13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. 14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. 15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

18 ¶ And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

The Creation of Woman

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. {Woman: Heb. Isha} {Man: Heb. Ish} 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Context for Creation Narratives

Now recall that Moses wrote this account of creation for the Nation of Israel while they were in the wilderness looking to enter the promised land. They had just come out from bondage to Egypt and he was giving them a reference point of where they came from—going all the way back to the beginning—and in the next chapters he spans out through every generation. This is important to remember and we will come back to it in a minute.

But there are significant differences between the creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2. Did you catch some of them?

First let’s define the text. The Genesis 1 account goes from Genesis 1:1 through Genesis 2:3 (which we did not yet read) and describes God resting on the seventh day. Therefore, the Genesis 2 account really begins at verse 4 and continues on through Genesis 3:24. And to echo our teaching two weeks ago we note that there are different Names for God used. We explained that but let me just touch on this again.

The first account uses the generic term ’elohîm (Hebrew for “God”) right up to Genesis 2:3 (or the end of the first chapter) and the second account uses the compound name YHWH ’elohîm, starting in Genesis 2:4 and continues until Genesis 3:24, which is the formal end of the Garden narrative about human creation and the origin of sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace.).

Genesis 1:1–2:3 introduces the Creator-God) and the second narrative predominantly uses YHWH, the unique covenant name for the God of Israel). Is there meaning in that relative to the differences in the accounts. Could be as the first account has a distant all powerful elohim acting but the second account introducing a more intimate and personal God.

We also note that the two creation accounts also have different literary styles, scope, and organizational principles. Genesis 1 describes the creation of the entire cosmos (heaven and earth) over six days, with repetition and patterning, that climaxing with God’s rest on the seventh day. In contrast, Genesis 2 (the first chapter of the Garden story) is more straightforwardly a narrative in the formal sense, with what we might see as a “series of tensions and resolutions” depicted.

Literary and Thematic Differences

In contrast to the wide-angle view of Genesis 1, which surveys the cosmos as a whole, Genesis 2 zooms in telescopically and seems to focus on humans on.

Exploring Divergences in Genesis Creation Accounts

The two accounts also have differing evaluations of the various stages of creation. For instance, Genesis 1 is peppered with statements at multiple stages of the creative process that “God saw that it was good” (including Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25) and it is ultimately announced that it was “very good” (in Genesis 1:31). But did you catch that in the Genesis 2 account YHWH God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18) Hmmmmmmm. This creates one of the tensions which are resolved by the subsequent creation of the woman (in Genesis 2:21–22).

Differing Orders of Creation

It also presents a very different take in the two accounts. Perhaps most significantly (especially to those attempting to harmonize Genesis with science) there is a different order of creative events in each chapter. This difference is really hard to explain. To begin with, the two creation accounts open with different (indeed, opposite) descriptions of the initial state of the world. Genesis 1 starts with the earth inundated with water (Genesis 1:2), so that God has to separate the waters for the dry land to emerge (Genesis 1:9) but the Genesis 2 account begins with the earth as a dry wilderness (Genesis 2:5), until a stream or mist emerges to provide water (Genesis 2:6).

Then, looking at just these creative events mentioned in both chapters, the following differences emerge. Genesis 1 has water first, then land, followed by plants, animals, and finally humans (called “adam,” consisting in male and female together). But Genesis 2 begins with the existence of land, then comes water, followed by a human (’adam, later specified as a man, who in Hebrew is called ’iš), then plants, animals, and finally a woman (who is called ’iššâ).

Then to a really unique question – but I think we need to ask ourselves the radical question, “How Many Humans Did God Create initially?” We often think of the first humans as a primordial couple but we might need to balance the picture (provided in Genesis 2) with what Genesis 1 presents first, which is that God creates not individual items, but population of various creations —including flying populations of creatures in the sky, swimming populations things in the water, and then on the land both populations of animals and could it be humans? (which are designated by the collective noun “Adam” and which merely means red).

Interpretations of Human Creation

Listen again to the first creative account:

26 And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

We cannot be sure that this first description was literal and specific to Adam and Eve or if it was just an overall depiction of what God was generally doing. Many Christians tend (myself included) to read this account of human creation as a single original couple because we read the specific account in Genesis 2 and use it to understand Genesis 1. But we may not find ourselves respecting these different portrayals of creation by doing this.

And then we have to wonder, “Which Creation account is Scientifically (or “Literally”) True? The divergences between the creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2 suggest that these texts are not teaching science; for then we would need to ask which account is scientifically true (because at a scientific level BOTH cannot be literally true, right?)

Balancing Different Depictions

But even beyond the question of science, I think it’s important that we are careful not to take these accounts as “literal” in how they relate to the realities in the external world. Some may be literal, maybe even all. But it is tough to say in the face of the account differences. How are we to approach the fact that the accounts do contain different orders of information?

One approach is to think of these two differing depictions of creation as perhaps “balancing” each other out. Where the first account depicts God as more transcendent and speaking creation into existence by his Word, but the second account (Gen 2) might then portray God as more immanent, forming the first human from the dust of the ground (like a potter working with clay), and actually conversing with humans intimately.

The Structure of Genesis

To think of Genesis 2 as an expansion of the account of human creation on Day 6 in Genesis 1. While plausible, we still have to deal with the apparent contradictions in the order of creation events (in both accounts) (especially the creation of the man in Genesis 2 before plants, animals, and the woman). Finally, there is something called the “toe-le-dah” Structure of the Book of Genesis set forward by some scholars.

This refers to Moses structuring the entire book of Genesis with the phrase: “These are the tôledôt of this or that.” This phrase is found at Genesis 2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12; 25:19; 36:1 & 9; 37:2) and in each case this phrase functions as a heading for what follows.

The Meaning of Tôledôt

Skipping the linguistics, TOELEDAH means birthings but the King James Version translates the word to generations. But tôledôt can introduce either a narrative or a genealogy (or some combination of both), so perhaps the best sense of tôledôt can be seen in the word, “developments.” In other words, “this is what developed out of the person named in the heading” (either their descendants in a genealogy or a particular descendent who is the prime character in the narrative that ensues).

We find in Genesis 11:27 that Moses writes, “These are the tôledôt of Terah” and then moves into telling the story of Abraham, Terah’s son who developed out of Terah.

Specific Birthings in Genesis

Genesis lists nine specific toe-le-da’s, birthings, or developments, including: ?
The FIRST of Creation which is used in Genesis 2:4
Then of Adam used in Genesis 5:1
– Noah and his sons – Genesis 6:9; 10:1, 32
– Shem – Genesis 11:10
– Terah – 11:27
– Ishmael – Genesis 25:12-13; 1 Chronicles 1:29
– Isaac – Genesis 25:19
– Esau – Genesis 36:1, 9
– Jacob – Genesis 37:2

In the case of the term in Genesis 2:4, it could be that what we are witnessing is what proceeded forth, developed, or was birthed from the creation of heaven and earth and all that in them is – human beings. Remembering that Moses wrote the book of Genesis while the Israelites were wandering in the desert, the stories gave the Israelites a place in history—an identity—which was important for a people coming out of four hundred years of slavery in a foreign country.

Knowing the toledot they came from gave the Israelites context for what God was asking of them when they entered the Promised Land and it linked later Israelites to the great men and the mighty deeds of long before. Most of all, the toledot showed them how God had worked in the past and how He was sure to work in their present and future.

In this way, we might then see the Genesis 1:1–2:3 account as a Prologue to the Book of Genesis and then at the first toeledah of chapter 2 verse 4 telling them what the creation birthed – the history of humankind.

Do not lose the significance of the fact that while God sets up the initial conditions for the world in the Genesis 1 account, separating realms and calling creatures into existence, we read of no created thing (with the exception of the earth itself in verse 12) actually being described as doing anything. Even humans, to whom God has entrusted dominion, do not actually govern the animals, or multiply and fill the earth in the parameters of the first creation story.

So in Genesis 1, we find God calling the cosmos (heaven and earth, and all that is in them) into existence. Then in the rest of Genesis (beginning in Genesis 2:4) we have the account of what came of (or developed out of) God’s initial creation, how humans responded to God’s call to be his image in the world. We will soon see that the human response to being made in God’s image was rebellion and from here we will sojourn out to his loving response to such. In the end, we will come to understand that God has never given up on his creation, but has been working from the start to bring redemption, especially through the call of Abraham and his family to be a blessing to all the peoples of the earth which will ultimately arrive at the birth, deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God., and resurrection of His Son.

Questions/Comments
Prayer

The Sarah’s, those in our online group, those of the faith, those in the world.

Light and Love