Lesson 1 Review: The Creation

 

Introduction

Memory Text: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1, NKJV).

Genesis' creation story is the beginning of everything that exists on earth, this story does not contradict other human and biblical histories. It is profound that creation and redemption both exist in the Seventh-Day Sabbath Commandment and it is evidence of the existence of grace.

What are the two ways the book of Genesis presents God?

The first creation account presents God as infinitely far from humans, the transcendent God. The second creation account presents God as up close and personal.

What is the human response to the God of creation?

Our response should be appreciation for His grace and enjoy in trembling, His wonderful presence in our lives.

What is the significance of the refrain “it was good” in the first creation account?

“It was good” denotes that God’s work of creation was successful and that God’s observation that “it was good” means, “it worked”.

What is the implied lesson contained in the conclusion of the creation?

God intentionally and suddenly created the world, there was nothing happenstance or chancy about any of it. This description of the creation completely contradicts the theories of evolution, which dogmatically declare that the world came into existence by accident

What points does the Sabbath constantly reminds us of?

It reminds us that God created heaven and the earth in six days and rested the seventh day.

The Sabbath also reminds us of the end of suffering for humankind just as it was the end of the week of creation.

What did Genesis mean by the creation of man “in His [God’s] own image”?

"In God’s image" is not limited to the spirituality of God or the physical, it simply means that we were created in wholistic sense in the image of God. The breath (Spiritual), the life (physical) all account for the full image of God in us. The woman too was created in the image of God because it was from the rib of the man that a woman was formed.

What are man’s duties toward the creation and towards God at the beginning?

Man’s first duty was to tend and keep the natural environment they were put in. The second duty concerns His food; He was allowed to enjoy the eating of every fruit from every tree in the garden except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The third duty was concerning the woman, “A man shall leave His father and mother and cling to His wife and they shall become one flesh”.

In Conclusion,

The creation story declares God as the creator and sustainer of everything, everything we see today did not happen to exist by chance. The Sabbath also reminds us of the fact that God ended His six-day work on the seventh day. However, it is disappointing to know that some of us doubt the creating power of God, thereby giving glory to the creation rather than the creator. I pray that God opens our eyes to the truth and the hope we have as Christians in Jesus’ name.