Genesis - Introduction

INTRODUCTION

The word “genesis” means “origin” or “beginning.” The book of Genesis gives an account of the origin of the earth and the human race (Chapters 1–11), and also the beginning of the nation of ISRAEL, God’s chosen people (Chapters 12–50). Genesis provides the foundation on which the entire Bible rests. Genesis not only reveals the sovereign working of God in creation and in the election of Israel,¹ but it also prefigures God’s work of REDEMPTION described in the New Testament, a redemption made possible through the ministry and sacrifice of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.²

Christ is foreshadowed in Genesis. Christ is the eternal Word (John 1:1–3), through whom all things were created (Genesis 1:1–26). Christ is the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), who took away mankind’s condemnation caused by the sin of the first Adam (Genesis 3:1–7; Romans 6:12–19). Christ is the lamb God provided for an offering (Genesis 22:7–8), the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). And finally, Christ is prefigured in the life of Joseph (Genesis Chapters 37–50): Christ was rejected by His brothers, loved by His Father, made to suffer unjustly, but was later raised to power and authority. In Genesis, and throughout the Old Testament, we see the beginning, the fore-shadowing of God’s plan of redemption for mankind; in Christ we see its fulfillment.

The first five books of the Old Testament are called the “Pentateuch,” which means “five scrolls.” Traditionally MOSES has been thought to be the author of the Pentateuch, and most conservative Bible scholars agree with that traditional view. Jesus Himself attributed the Bible’s earliest writings to Moses (John 5:45–47), and He referred to the Pentateuch by its traditional title, the Law of Moses (Luke 24:44). If Jesus attributed the Pentateuch to Moses, so can we.³ This means that the Pentateuch is a very ancient document. Moses was born around 1500 B.C., and therefore the Pentateuch must have been written in about 1400 B.C. Moses was the greatest leader of the ISRAELITES. He led them out of bondage in EGYPT and transmitted to them God’s LAW. For further information about Moses life, see the books of Exodus and Numbers.

One of the most important concepts introduced in Genesis is that of the COVENANT (Genesis 12:1–3; 17:1–8). The theme of the covenant appears in almost every book of the Old Testament, reaching its fulfillment in the New Testament (Jeremiah 31:31–34; Hebrews 8:7–13). God established His covenant with ABRAHAM in order to restore to the human race the blessings it lost through the original sin of Adam.

Genesis reveals a single all-powerful, all-knowing Creator God, who speaks and acts in history and in everyday life and who controls everything on earth and in the universe. Christians are not surprised when they read about this God in Genesis; but when people from animistic and polytheistic backgrounds learn about this God they are astonished. They have never known of a God like this. It is fitting, then, that with the book of Genesis we begin our journey through the Old Testament, the story of God, which will culminate in the arrival of God’s one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.