Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Genesis 1 | Date: June 6, 2021 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

All right, if you do not have a handout, raise your hand, and someone will make sure you get one. Everyone have a handout? All right. Let’s begin with a word of prayer.

Our Father, we’re grateful for Your word, and we’re grateful for the opportunity we have now to begin the study of this very foundational, most foundational book of Genesis. We pray that You’d give us a clear understanding of what You have for us in it, what we should know, and what we should know about You. Give us a greater appreciation for the God that we serve. We pray that through it, You’ll make us better worshipers. We pray in Jesus’ name.

All right, today we begin our series of studies in Genesis. And I think I called it that—”Studies in Genesis”—rather than something like an exposition of Genesis or something, because I’m not sure how far I’m going to go in Genesis with it. We may go all the way through; we may stop in the early chapters. That’s my plan right now: to work through the earlier chapters of Genesis, but we’ll see.

Genesis: A First Glance

But this morning, what I want to do is give just, well, as it says on your handout, “Genesis: A First Glance.” By the way, any of you watching on Zoom—is Zoom on? Yeah, okay. Any of you watching on Zoom, I emailed the handout to everyone, so you should be able to get it. If you didn’t get it and you want it, let us know; we can email it to you later.

But I want to give a brief overview of the book to see what the book of Genesis is all about today. So we’re going to really be skating through the book quickly, but I want some broad perspective glance at the book. So that’s what we’ll do. Genesis: A First Glance.

The title of the book, in the Hebrew, the title is the first word: “beginning,” or “in the beginning.” In the Septuagint, the Greek translation translates—actually the word is “Genesis”—it means “origin.” So the book is a book of beginnings. So it starts with creation itself. We have the beginnings of humanity. We have the beginning of sin, the beginning of promise, the beginning of hope, the beginning of the nations, the beginning of the Israelite nations, and so on.

The Pentateuch has forever been recognized as foundational to the Bible. The Pentateuch—you know what I mean by that—the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. So the Pentateuch is foundational to the whole Bible. Genesis is foundational even to the Pentateuch because it takes us not only chronologically back to the beginning, but it sets the stage for everything. It gives us the worldview, the whole perspective that shapes and governs the outlook of the Bible throughout. So without Genesis, really, everything in the Bible would be hanging on air. Genesis provides the grounding and the foundation for understanding everything that follows. And I think you’ll see a little bit more of that as we go along; at least that’s the hope.

Two Major Divisions

By way of an overview, we have two major divisions of Genesis: chapters 1 to 11 and chapters 12 to 50.

In chapters 1 to 11, we have what we call primeval history. That’s basically a general history of mankind. At its beginning, we have in chapters 1 to 3: creation. We have paradise and then the fall. Creation, Chapter 1; Paradise, Chapter 2; Chapter 3, The Fall and Adam’s rebellion against God.

In Chapters 4 to 11, then, we have the beginnings of human history. We have the advance of sin that we’ll see in a minute. We also have the advance of humanity. In Chapter 4, we have beginnings of workings in metallurgy and things like that. So you have the advance of humanity, the advance of death, the advance of humanity traced through the genealogies (which become very important in the book, as we’ll see in a minute). We have the flood. Then we have the beginnings of the nations, chapters 10 and 11. And that sets the stage for the call of Abraham, the beginning of the Israelite nation. So chapters 1 to 11 set the stage for everything: primeval history.

Then chapters 12 through 50, we have patriarchal history: the history of the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and his brothers, and so on. The focus there especially is on Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph. So broadly, chapters 1 to 11, we have a general history of mankind at its beginnings. And then chapters 12 to 50, we have a special history of God’s chosen people, beginning with Abraham. Now that division becomes important to recognize at chapter 12 for reasons that we’ll see in a minute.

Storyline And Theme

Tracing the storyline and theme: In Genesis 1, we have a couple of words that are repeated over and over again, which I think set the stage for the theme of Genesis. The first word that’s repeated over and again is “good.” God saw that it was good. God saw that it was good. God saw that it was good. God saw that it was good.

But then I think more in particular, we have the repeated word in day six of creation week: “blessed.” God blessed. So in chapter one, verse 22, He blessed the sea animals. He blessed the birds, and the idea is that He enabled them to do what He had created them to do so that they would function in a way that fulfilled His purpose. He blessed them. In chapter one, verse 28, He blessed Adam and Eve, the first man and first woman. He blessed them. He enabled them to do what He had created them to do and to fulfill His purpose. In chapter 5, we have an echo of the same: God created them male and female and blessed them. And then chapter 2, verse 3, God blessed the seventh day. The implication—we’ll see this in some weeks down the road—is that God intended to bring us into His rest. I think there’s even an echo of that in chapter 6 and verse 8: Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

So you quickly get the sense that God created with a gracious intent. He’s favoring His creatures with His kindness. He enables them to fulfill their created purpose. Chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis, He commands His image-bearers, Adam and Eve, to multiply, to rule the earth as His representatives, and He blesses them—enables them to do just that. They are His image-bearers. They are to extend His presence and His rule throughout the earth, and He blessed them to do that.

In Genesis 3, then, we have Adam, of course, surrendering his authority as God’s vice-regent over creation; surrendering his authority to Satan. God’s purpose in blessing Adam and Eve to fulfill their created purpose in extending God’s presence and rule over the earth—God’s purpose seems then at the fall in Genesis 3 to be threatened. What will happen to God’s purpose? And we have what we call the fall, sort of a de-creation. There’s judgment not only on the man and the woman, but there’s judgment on the created order itself. And there’s the resistance that’s built in between man and the created order. And everything falls into upheaval. We will see that in detail when we get to chapter 3.

So we have in chapter 3 then something of an uncreation or a decreation—the fall, we call it. But even there we find that God’s intent to bless the world remains. So in Genesis 3, verse 15, in His judgment on Satan, He pronounces a coming judgment and defeat of Satan: “I’ll put enmity between you and the woman, between her seed and your seed, and he will—you will bruise his heel, he will crush your head.” So, the ultimate defeat of the tempter, Satan. So, there’s a hint there already, a promise that’s made that God’s intent to bless remains even though man has sinned against God.

Then we get to Genesis 4 and following, and we have the progression of human sin. Chapter 4, we have Cain and Abel, the first murder—a fratricide, killing his brother. We have the judgment on Cain. Chapter 5, we have that repeated refrain—there’s much more in Chapter 5 to notice than just this, but this repeated refrain is there, I’m certain, to pick up on the judgment that has come as a result of sin. The repeated refrain is: “and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died.” Now, they lived amazingly long lives, and we’ll talk about that when we get there, too. “And he died, and he died, and he died.” And you get this repeated refrain throughout chapter 5 reminding us that something has happened to ruin humanity, and we all die. Now, there was one exception: Enoch. We’ll talk about that, too.

We can’t miss that in chapter 5, we have the progression of human sin and the advance of death. In chapter 6, humanity has become so sinful that God says—this is Genesis 6 and verse 5, a very important assessment of humanity—the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. We’ll take some time with that when we get to chapter six. If I get that far—I think we will. It’s an important summary of what God sees now in the progress of His created order. He’s created them, He’s blessed them, He’s enabled them, commanded them to do what they were created to do, enabled them to do it. They’ve rebelled, there’s been ruin, and yet God has made a promise; His intent to bless remains.

But now humanity has become so sinful that in chapter 6, verses 6 and 7, then, God says, “That’s it, I’m going to destroy the whole world, start all over again with Noah and his three sons and their wives.” So we have in chapters seven through eight, we have the Genesis flood. Then in chapters eight and nine, we have God’s promise, covenant promise to Noah and with his seed after him, his offspring. And then there’s particularly a promise to Shem. So again, we have this idea of God’s promise, still intent to create, to fulfill His created purpose in blessing His created order.

But then we get to chapters 10 and 11, we have more advance of sin. We have the Tower of Babel, man’s supreme self-assertion against God, still progressively more sinful. God disperses humanity and creates, as a result of it, the nations of the world. We have the Table of Nations there in Genesis 10 and 11 as well, which is a fascinating historical piece itself. But there we have, then, the initial stages of humanity that has brought us up to the existence of the nations of the world.

And with that in the background—the sinfulness of humanity, the promise of God to send a champion to defeat the tempter, the dispersing of humanity in all of its extended sin—in fact, I have one book at home where the author argues that the theme of Genesis is the advance of sin. I don’t think that’s right. I think it’s overstated. I think blessing is the overall theme of Genesis. But he does pick up on a very important point: that Genesis does track out for us the advance of human sin.

With all of that in the background now—chapters 1 to 11, and the dispersing of the nations, creating of the nations—we come to chapter 12. And this is the turning point in the book of Genesis. Chapter 12, if you’d like to look, chapter 12, verses 1 through 3. Now the Lord—I’ll wait for you to get there, you’re turning. Genesis 12, verses one to three:

“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.'”

Now, notice here the promises that God makes. Essentially, there are four. There’s the land. “I’ll make you a great nation”—there’s number two. Number three, “I will bless you”—a blessing to Abraham—”so that you will be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse.” And four, “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

So we have a promise of land, a promise of a great nation coming from Abraham. We have a promise of blessing to Abraham. And then through the blessing to Abraham, blessing to all the families of the world. So the purpose of blessing Abraham is to bless the world. It’s important to see that now if we’re going to track the storyline of Genesis and really of the rest of the Bible. And so these first three of these promises—the land, the great nation, the blessing to Abraham—the first three are really steps to number four, and that’s the goal: to bless the world through Abraham. So He blesses Abraham so that through him all of the families of the world will be blessed.

So God chooses Abraham, He blesses him, He makes a promise to bless him. He makes a promise to bless his posterity. Then as we go through Genesis, He blesses Isaac. He blesses Jacob. He blesses Joseph. So we have this blessing theme now picking up at chapter 12 and verses 1 and following.

Now with that, something we’ll see in a little bit, but I’ll just mention it here quickly, and that is this seed theme or offspring theme in chapter 3 and verse 15. God pronounces judgment on Satan as He puts enmity between his seed (that is, Satan’s seed) and the woman’s seed (that is, her offspring). And that theme of the woman’s offspring, or the woman’s seed, or what we call usually the “promised seed,” is picked up now in chapter 12. It’s picked up actually before that in chapter 9 with Noah; it’s picked up with Shem; then it’s picked up with Abraham; and then it’s picked up with the nation of Israel itself. God is determined to fulfill His created purpose, to bless His creation. And now that’s picked up in the wake of a worldwide rebellion creating and dispersing the nations in their sin. God promises that His intent to bless remains, and He will do it through Abraham to all the families of the world.

So it’s important for understanding Genesis to recognize that chapter 12 is the turning point. In fact, it’s the great turning point of all of redemptive history, not just the turning point, literarily, in Genesis. So in chapters 1 to 11, we have the narration of creation, the fall, and its consequences. It establishes the problem. It asks the question: how can fallen man be restored to its offended Creator? That’s the problem now, chapters one to 11. The problem of sin has been established. Now, how’s it going to be resolved? Answer: chapter 12, verses one and following, through Abraham. And Genesis 12, all the way through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy—all the way through now—Moses is sketching out for us the answer, and it’s an answer that’s rooted in God’s promise to Abraham. God will bless Abraham, and through him, He’ll bless all the families of the world.

So then after chapter 12, we have not just the call of Abraham. We have the patriarchal narratives, as we call them. We have the beginning of the nation. And then in Exodus, we have the giving of the law, the creating of the people as a nation. And then it moves on, finally, to Christ and the church and the eschaton, finally. So the Abrahamic covenant—chapter 12, verses 1 and following, and then again chapter 15, chapter 17, again chapter 22—that sets the agenda for the rest of redemptive history. It’s the turning point, the focal point of the rest of redemptive history. God is going to fix this problem of sin, and He’s going to do it through Abraham, and so He blesses him accordingly.

All right. Just by way of review there, the content outline: chapters 1 to 11, we have the background, the setup, the blessing that is given and blessing that is lost, but yet there’s blessing promised early on in a cryptic way in Genesis 3, verse 15. But then Genesis 12 to 50, we have the blessing promised explicitly, and it will be restored through the woman’s seed, through Abraham’s seed, and so on.

The Literary Outline

All right, now, I have another section on your handout called the “Literary Outline.” And if you do any reading at all on a survey of Genesis, introduction to Genesis or whatever, you’ll come across this. So I thought I’d spend a few minutes with it. I even gave you the Hebrew word, toledoth.

Look at chapter 2 and verse 4. Someone read that for us.

“These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made them, made the earth and the heavens.”

Okay, right at the beginning there, notice: “These are the generations of,” and here it says, “these are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.” Now notice again in chapter five in verse one. Someone read that.

“This is the written account of Adam’s family line.”

Okay, notice—is that an NIV that you have? Yeah, the NIV translates it, “this is a written account of.” You’ll see it as, “this is the history of,” “this is the family of,” “these are the generations of”—translated various ways, but it’s the same expression in the Hebrew. And these—we find this expression periodically through the book, tracking the story of Genesis.

So, have I given you the… yeah, I’ve given them to you there. You have chapter 2 and verse 4: “These are the generations of the heaven and the earth.” Chapter 5: “These are the generations of Adam.” Chapter 6: “These are the generations of Noah.” Chapter 10: “These are the generations of Noah’s sons.” These are the generations of Shem. And then you have in chapter 11, Terah. And of course, it brings us to Abraham. Then you have Ishmael, Isaac, Esau, and Jacob.

So you have this expression, “These are the generations of,” or “This is the generation,” “This is a written account of”—these subdivisions throughout the book of Genesis where Moses is pretty obviously tracking his story through the seed line, the Genesis, the toledoth, the generations of these various individuals. Now there’s some confusion sometime—we’ll see this when we get to chapter two, probably—but chapter two in verse four, why is this after chapter one? “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth”—it could seem like that should be before Genesis chapter 1. But in fact, the word, “these are the generations of,” this toledoth word—the root is “to bear” or “to beget.” So these are the things produced by. So chapter 2, verse 4: “these are the things produced by the heavens and the earth” that He has just given an account for in chapter 1, verse 1 through chapter 2 and verse 3. So this “these are the generations of” is a superscription. It’s a heading for what follows. So “these are the things produced by the heavens and the earth,” and He gives us the description of paradise, chapter 2 and so on.

So with all of these subheadings, these toledoth passages that mark and really outline the book of Genesis for us, there are some different ways that we could outline Genesis to keep in mind, to keep track of the story. On one level, we could track it in just two parts: chapter 1 and verse 1 through chapter 2 and verse 3, and then chapter 2, verse 4, “these are the generations of the heavens and the earth,” through the rest of the book is the second part. Or I think a little bit better: chapter 1, verse 1, through chapter 2, verse 3, we have the prologue. And then chapters 2 to 11, we have the origins of humanity, the origins of the nations, and the advance of sin. And then chapters 12 to 50, the advance of God’s promise of grace.

But the point here is to notice these subdivisions marked by this “these are the generations of” or “this is the written account of.” Each of these passages is a narrowing of the theme. It’s clearly focused on following the chosen line that began with Genesis 3, verse 15, the seed of the woman. And so we have here the subdivisions. First of all, broadly, the heavens and the earth, and then you’ll see it there as I have them marked out: Chapter 5, Adam. Chapter 6, Noah. Chapter 10, Noah’s sons. Chapter 11, Shem, and so on. So all of these begin to track out God’s purpose following the chosen family line. Now there are two exceptions to that, and that is Chapter 25, Ishmael, and Chapter 36, Esau, which seem to be a bit of an aside to give account of them and their posterity as well.

But here we have then the tracking out of Moses’ theme in the book of Genesis. And I think through that, we see that Moses’ purpose here is not just to provide an introduction to world history as such, so much as it is to give an introduction to God’s purpose to glorify Himself in human redemption through the promised seed.

The Developing Seed Theme

And so that brings us then to this next section on your outline, the developing seed theme. The word is “seed,” and it’s translated that way in the King James Version. Our contemporary versions tend to translate it “offspring,” or “descendants,” or “children,” or “family,” something like that. The word seed is given in both the singular and the plural. When it’s singular, it’s often a collective singular. Speaking of the coming posterity, for instance, in chapter 28, verse 14, we’re told that the descendants of Jacob—the seed of Jacob, singular—the seed of Jacob will be like the dust of the earth. So it’s translated in, I think, the ESV, “the descendants of Jacob.”

The reference to the seed is to the immediate descendant. The son is always the male who is traced, not the females. Sorry, ladies. It’s just the way it is. In chapter 4, verse 25, Eve says of her newborn son, Seth, “God has granted me another seed in the place of Abel.” And often this word seed refers not to the immediate child/son, but often it’s to a distant descendant. So for example, in chapter 3, verse 15: “I’ll put enmity between you and the woman, between her seed and your seed. He will crush your head and you will bruise his heel.” “He will crush your head.” Who is this “he”? “I’ll put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed and he.” Well, “he” is a singular male descendant of the woman who will defeat the tempter. Now, if you have any acquaintance with the Bible at all, you know somehow that points to Jesus. So we have a distant reference to a singular seed of the woman.

But it’s not always—through Genesis, it’s tracing the male line of descendants through the promised family, but it’s not always the firstborn. Seth, as we read in Chapter 4, is the third-born because Cain killed Abel. Then we have Isaac instead of Ishmael. We have Jacob instead of Esau. Of Jacob’s 12 sons, the fourth born—Joseph receives the blessing of Joseph’s two, Manasseh and Ephraim; it’s Ephraim who receives the blessing. And though Joseph receives the blessing of the firstborn, it’s actually Judah who will be blessed with the kingly line. We see that in chapter 49, verse 10, the famous prophecy of Judah’s kingship.

Then we come to chapter 9 and verse 9, God says to Noah, “I will establish my covenant with you and your offspring forever.” And then we come to chapter 12, which we’ve already seen, the promise to Abraham’s seed. The word seed is not used in verse 3 of chapter 12, but it’s implied there: “in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Chapter 12, verse 7: “the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘to your seed I will give this land.'” Chapter 13 and verse 15: “all the land that you see I will give to you and to your seed forever.” Chapter 13, verse 16: “I will make your seed as the dust of the earth.” Chapter 15 and verse 5: He brought him outside and said, “Look toward the heavens and number the stars if you’re able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your seed be.” Chapter 15, verse 18: “To your seed I will give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river of Euphrates.” And chapter 17, verses 7 and following: “I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your seed after you.”

And we have the same in chapter 21, chapter 22, chapter 24. We have it again in chapter 26 with reference now to Isaac. And then chapter 28 with Jacob, again chapter 32 with Jacob, “bless your seed.” Chapter 35 again to Jacob, “I’ll bless your seed.” So we have this blessing to Abraham’s seed that’s promised up front and then tracks, repeated and tracked through the patriarchal narratives.

Special attention is given to the royal line, and I have those verses listed for you there, where it promises kings from Abraham’s seed. Chapter 17, verse 6: “kings will come from you.” Chapter 17, verse 16, He says of Sarah: “kings of peoples will come from her.” Chapter 35, verse 11, it says there to Jacob: “kings will come from your body.” Chapter 49, verse 10, the famous Judah prophecy that I mentioned: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him and to him shall be the obedience of the people.” So he will rule over all. So there’s special attention given to the royal line in Abraham’s seed. That, of course, comes into narrower focus when we get to David. But that’s not in Genesis, so we won’t take any more time with that.

Now with all of this promise to bless, and the promise to bless this family line, this promise to bless this seed of Abraham, the patriarchal narratives, chapter 12 to 50, are marked by repeated challenges to the promise. And we have this repeated tension throughout Genesis. How in the world will this promise be fulfilled? And so Sarah can’t conceive, and yet she’s been promised that she will have a child. And then after that, Rebecca with Isaac cannot conceive. How will this promise be fulfilled? After that, Rachel with Jacob cannot conceive. How will this promise be fulfilled?

And then the real twist: when we come to chapter 22, God commands Abraham to kill Isaac, and he hasn’t had a son yet. He hasn’t had any seed after him yet. So how’s this promise going to be fulfilled if I kill Isaac? And then we get to the later chapters and we have the plot to kill Joseph. Joseph is sent off to Egypt. There’s famine. And one challenge after another to this promise theme and to this promised seed theme arises throughout the book of Genesis. And we have then throughout that this repeated reminder with the challenges that God is a God who keeps His promises. Chapter 14, verse 18: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” And in a sense, that captures so much of the patriarchal narratives. These challenges arise, but God made a promise. He’s going to bless the world through the family of Abraham. He’ll do it. Nothing will interfere.

So it’s not difficult, I think, to see that Genesis is driven by this family line. Chapters 1 to 11, we have the background, the setup, the blessing being given, the blessing being lost. But then chapters 12 to 50, the blessing is promised. It’s restored. The blessing is promised to the woman’s seed—is restored through Abraham and his descendants, and no challenge is too much for God to overcome it. And so I think the purpose of the patriarchal narratives is to demonstrate God’s faithful preservation of the Abrahamic family; that His covenant with Abraham is still intact.

So we have the promise in Genesis 3:15, the woman’s seed. We have the promise to Noah and Shem in Genesis chapter 9. It’s picked up with Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. And all through the patriarchal narratives, God demonstrates again His faithfulness to His promise that He will keep—He will bless as He has promised to bless. And late in Genesis, we have the growth of the Abrahamic family. They’re in Egypt. Joseph is there. And because he is there through God’s providence now, the Abrahamic family—now the family of Jacob—is well provided for, and they’re prospering because of God keeping His promise.

And with that promised seed theme, that drives us not only now through Genesis, that takes us through the rest of the Bible, and it comes to a marvelous, marvelous climax when we get to the New Testament. The New Testament opens up with the words: “Book of the Generations of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham.” Here he is. We have it in John chapter 12, verse 31: “Now is the prince of this world cast out.” Jesus speaking of His coming death the next day: “Now is the prince of this world cast out.” Satan will be defeated at the cross of Christ. Paul picks up on it in Galatians chapter three, where he identifies specifically that Abraham’s promised seed is Jesus. And in Jesus, all the families of the world are blessed.

The Role Of Genesis In The Canon

All right then, so much for our survey. What’s the role of Genesis in the canon of scripture? How do we see this in light of the big picture, the whole Bible and—let’s just say it—the whole of human history? What is the role of Genesis in all of that?

And again, the idea is it’s just foundational. It’s not just the beginning of time and the beginning of creation, but it sets the stage. It provides the worldview, the frame of reference that we have going through all of the Bible and through all of history. It establishes the themes by which we interpret the story as we go along through the Bible. It provides the themes by which we understand where history is going and how we should understand the biblical narrative on a broad metanarrative perspective. All of that is established for us in Genesis 1 to 11, and then the turning point, Genesis chapter 12, in the patriarchal promise.

So we ask the questions: Where did the universe come from? What is the significance of this creation? Why is it here? What’s the purpose of humanity? Why is it here? What’s its significance? What are our responsibilities as human beings? How did we get to where we are? Where are we going individually, collectively as nations? Where are we going? What is the human problem? How is that human problem going to be resolved? Where is history going?

Without Genesis, we’d be clueless. All of that is set up for us in the book of Genesis. The problem is established, chapters 1 to 11. The promise is given in chapter 12 and the rest of it unfolds from there throughout Genesis, through the Pentateuch, and through the rest of the Bible. So Genesis is important in the sense that it’s foundational. It establishes the direction of history for us. God’s purpose in history is to bless. He promised that again in chapter 3, verse 15. He promised it to Noah. He promised it to Shem. He promised it to Abraham. And He promised that through Abraham’s seed, all the nations, all the families of the world would be blessed. That takes us then through the nation of Israel, it takes us to David, it takes us to Jesus—the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham—and through him the nations will be blessed.

Martin Luther said, and a thousand people since have said the same, that Genesis is certainly the foundation of the whole scriptures. It lays the groundwork for the display of God’s glory in the salvation of humanity. And it gives us creation. It gives us the fall. It gives us the promise that points us toward the restoration that will come. So Genesis then is foundational. Genesis 1 to 3 is foundational to Genesis. It gives us God, the Creator, establishing humanity, establishing its purpose, and then we have the rebellion against God, and then God’s promise to fix the mess that we have made.

And then throughout Genesis, not only from Genesis 3:15, but all through the book of Genesis then, we have various glimpses of the end that climaxes in Jesus. Genesis 3:15, the first proclamation of the gospel with the champion who will defeat the tempter. We have it with the promise to Noah, the promise to Shem, the promise of course with Abraham. We find foreshadowings of it in various places—in a big way in chapter 49 and verse 10 with the promise to Judah who will be the king. His line will have the king who will rule over all the peoples and so on.

So here we have Genesis in sort of a broad perspective. The next time we’ll begin working through chapter 1, and actually we’ll spend a few weeks in chapter one. I do not want to get bogged down forever in creation versus evolution. We will take a couple of weeks with that at the most, but I want to see what Moses has in store for us there, what he has intended for us theologically to understand with regard to ourselves, with regards to God’s purpose in history, and ultimately to understand better our salvation in Christ.

All right, any questions? I made it with a few minutes to spare.