Saturday, September 10, 2011

Genesis Really?

     A few months ago, I began a bible study on the book of Genesis. When the Lord put it into my heart to do this, I thought, "Genesis, Really?". Why would I being a seasoned Beth Moore bible study girl do a bible study on Genesis? What is there in that book that I as a woman could really use for my every day life. 
     Well God showed me! I have learned a lot and grown a lot. Who would have thought that there would be so much meat in Genesis to chew on. Well let me tell you, there is a lot and it can change your life if you let it. 
     So, I decided to start posting my lesson plans. Let me know what you think and please, feel free to study for yourself. Don't just take my word for it. I am human after all. 




     So here you go with the first lesson in Genesis. 


                                                        Genesis Study

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Who wrote the Book of Genesis? _______________________

Both the Jews and Christians alike attribute Moses as the author of Genesis. He is also attributed to have written 4 other books.
What are they?
  1. ______________________________________
  2. ______________________________________
  3. ______________________________________
    4._______________________________________

These 5 books are the first five in the bible which is called the Pentateuch or the Law of Moses written to keep a record or an account of God's creative work and the love of God by His protective boundaries for His people. It is thought and believed that Moses may have written the Pentateuch during the 40 years the Israelites' were wandering in the desert. We read in 2Tim. 3:16 that all scripture is God breathed so should we then understand that God Himself gave Moses the words to write the book of Beginnings?
What does “in the beginning” mean? ____________________________________________________
It means 1st or choice part. Please read Ps. 102:25.

Can we see the Trinity from the beginning? ___________________
God: The Father-John 6:46
Elohiym in Hebrew is a plural masculine noun meaning ruler, judge, divine ones,Majesty.

Jesus: The Son of God -John 1:1&2, Rev. 19:13, & John 17:5.

Spirit: The Holy Spirit, The Breath of life- Gen. 1:2, Gen. 2:7, Job 33:4.

So in the beginning God created. Was God created or was He just God? Ps. 90:1:2 ________________________________

God just was but everything else He created. The word used here in Hebrew is only used of divine creative never of human activity. Can you or I create anything out of nothing? Create is a verb which is action. It means- to create, shape, form. God is always the subject of this creation. So what did God create?






                           

















Above I gave you space to draw a circle that you can draw 7 lines in. It works trust me, I worked for a while on it. Draw one line down the middle and then two lines on the right side and 3 lines on the left. Fill in each space with each day and what God had created.

  • Day 1:
God or Elohiym created or commanded Heaven and Earth. The earth is formless, laying in waste, empty with nothingness, desolate and void, dark and obscure. God did not create it to remain empty Is. 45:18. He created it to have life and to be abundant much like us. We are created to have life and have it abundantly John 10:10. Heaven is the visible heavens. Is there more than one heaven? ___ A heaven for man and a heaven for God? What does Ps. 89:11, Neh. 9:6, Ps. 115:16 and Deut. 10:14 tell you about this thought? ______________________________________________________

God created Heaven and Earth out of nothing Heb. 11:3. The Spirit of God hovers over the face of the deep. This is the Holy Spirit. Can you picture Him flying over the formless, shapeless body of water like a bird flying over the land?
God then begins commanding the earth to start taking shape and forming. How many times in Chapter 1 has it said “God Said”? ___
God commanded “let there be light” and there was light. God saw that it was good, pleasant, agreeable, and He separated it from the darkness much like He gave us Christ to light our darkness to separate us from dark to light 2Cor. 4:6, Ps18:28. Night and day, evening and morning, now I understand why the Jews day begins at sundown and ends at sundown. The Jews go by the moon and we go by the sun.

  • Day 2
God commanded the expanse or firmament to stretch like a canopy between the waters Jer. 10:12. being solid and hard like a mirror Job 37:18. Separating the water above it from the water below it. The firmament is the sky or our atmosphere. God commanded and it was so.

  • Day 3
God commands the waters under heaven to gather together, to collect or bind in one standing place and dry land appears. The waters He called or named seas and the dry land He named land or earth. God saw it was good, pleasing, and admirable.
God commands the earth to sprout or grow grass, herbs, and fruit trees. The herbs and fruit trees bear fruit with seed in it so that they can bear more fruit and herbs and the earth obeys and sprouts or grows grass, herbs, and fruit trees and it was so and God saw that it was good.

  • Day 4
God commanded lights to be illuminating the firmament of heaven dividing again night and day for them to be signs for seasons, days and years. Not like astrology like we know it today but a banner to share the gospel. It was also to give light on the earth and it was so.
God commanded 2 great lights. A greater to rule the day Ps. 136:1-8 and a lesser light to rule the night Jer. 31:35. He made the stars as well to help the mood govern the night Ps. 136:9. I wonder if this is when God created the universe around us. The sun, moon and stars are light givers to be appreciated not worshiped. To worship the sun, moon and stars is a false religion. The sun to rule over the day and the moon to rule over the night and God saw that it was good.
  • Day 5
God commands the waters to bring forth abundantly swarming things and fowl that fly above the face of the firmament. God also commands the great whales, leviathan, dragons, dinosaurs, sea monsters and living creatures that breath and move Job 41:1, Ps. 104:26 and Is. 27:1. The waters brought them forth abundantly each after its kind and God saw that it was good. He blessed them and said to them to be fruitful and multiply the earth.
  • Day 6
God commands the earth to bring forth living creatures after his kind, cattle after their kind and creeping things after their kind, beasts of the earth after his kind and it was. God saw that it was good. God commanded “let us” make man in our own image after our likeness. Who here is the us that He is talking about? ____________________. God commands us to have dominion over the fish of the sea, fowl of the air, cattle and all the earth. He created us in His image Ps. 100:3, Ps. 8, 1Cor. 11:7. Male and female He created us Gen. 5:2. He blessed them and told them to be fruitful, branch off, multiply, become many and replenish or fill the earth and subdue it, force or keep under us, have dominion and rule over the fish, fowl and every living thing. He gave us herbs and trees for meat. But for us today is it just herbs and trees Gen. 9:3? Meat now supplements our diet. We are over the beasts of the earth, the fowl of the air and all the creeping things. It was so and God saw all that he had made and it was abundantly, very good.
  • Day 7
When heaven and earth were finished or complete God rested Ex. 20:11, Heb. 4:4 and blessed it and sanctified it, set it apart, made it holy Is. 58:13. The Jews 1st say starts on Sunday- Yom Reshom and ends on the 7th day – Shabat. Reshon comes from the root word rosh which means head and Shabat comes from the root word Lashavat which means to sit, rest. Did God rest because He was tired or weary? ________Why did He rest? ______________________
Did God say or command at this time for them to rest? _________
When did God command us to keep the Sabbath? When did it become a covenant? It was first recorded to be obligatory or observed when the Isrealites were wandering through the desert Ex. 16:22 but in Neh. 9:13-14 and Ex. 20:8 it became law. This is why even to this day the Orthodox Jews observe and keep this command on the Sabbath which is sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night. Why is it different for us today_______________________?
Because in 325 A.D. man decided to make Resurrection Day the day of rest. Here is a link for more information on this. http://www.mayimhayim.org/Rabbi%20Mike/Sabbath%20article.htm


So to recap:
God commanded:
  • Day 1- heaven and earth, light over dark making night and day 1 day.
  • Day 2- an expanse called sky separating water from water
  • Day 3- water is gathered to one place and dry ground appears naming them sea and land. Grass, herbs and fruit trees are also made.
  • Day 4- sun, moon, and stars are created for light on the earth
  • Day 5- birds and creatures of the sea are created
  • Day 6- living creatures of the land, cattle, wild animals and man-male and female are created
  • Day 7- God rests making this day Holy
So has the study of Creation added to your belief or changed anything you used to believe? What did you see that you had never seen before? Do you have any questions?
For this weeks homework I am not going to break it down by days but please read and study chapter 2:4-25 the story of Adam and Eve.




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