An Introduction To Genesis

by McCormick, F. | Category: For Young Believers | Jul 1955

In coming to the Scriptures let us remember it is the very work of God Himself. Read and handle it reverently. If we are to hear its message, and know its power, we must read it as though in the very presence chamber of God, with sanctified lives and ears. Read it carefully, read it prayerfully. Among the millions of books in the libraries of the world this is the conspicuous one among the myriads.

The Book is one, and has but one Author though many writers have been used. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, and the Lord Jesus said, "He wrote of Me" (John 5.46), 50 in your reading you may find the greatest attraction of all to your heart, your Redeemer and Saviour. Moses also wrote Psalm 90.

In coming to the books of the Bible read through the whole, get a general view of the contents of each book and the setting of the various subjects and stories. Then, having the whole picture in mind, come back and read the portion or chapter more intently. Break it up still smaller, and ponder well the meaning of the particular verses, and the application and use made of them by the Lord Jesus, and others. Seek to memorize, and taste the sweetness of the word, and you will grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In coming to the Book of Genesis we are coming to a vast mine of untold wealth with varying strata of divine truth revealed the deeper you dig.

I must warn you against wasting your time reading religious books. Nothing can satisfy the spiritual appetite but the word of God in the power of the Spirit of God; you must make it your own. Concordances and dictionaries are useful as helps, but read yourself, dig yourself, and you will find blessing to your soul. The first words of Genesis are at once simple and sublime, a child may grasp the facts, but the greatest intellects cannot plumb their depth.

"In the beginning God." I would like you at the very door of the Book to get a grip of these words. He that cometh to God must believe that He is (Hebrews 11.6), that God exists, and is self existent, independent of, and prior to, the existence of any created thing or being. He is the Great I AM, inhabiting ETERNITY; Omnipotent, possessing all power, to whom nothing is impossible of accomplishment ; Omniscient, possessing all knowledge of all things, and events, and persons throughout all ages; Omnipresent, everywhere.

The first few words in Genesis 1. are the key to the Bible. Get a grip of the fact of the Being of God, to whom there are no impossibilities, and the problems and difficulties which reason would produce must vanish. With God everything is possible. We must enter here by faith, for who by searching can find out God? "Great and marvellous are Thy works.... Thou King of the ages" (Revelation 15.8). This is true in creation and redemption, and "by faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God" (Hebrews 11.3).

There is nothing theoretical or speculative in the narrative of Genesis 1, but plain statements of historical fact. " God created," "the Spirit of God moved," "God said," "God made," "God called," ".God saw," "God set," " God blessed," " God said, Let us make man," and note the words nine times used, "after its kind," which together refute the theory of evolution. The Lord Jesus accepted the narrative of Genesis as being true, and so should we.

Genesis, as the name implies, is a book of origins or beginnings, and in it we have authentic accounts of the origin of creation, life, the human race, sin, death; those things belonging to the mortality of the race, pain, sorrow, sickness, disease, decay; the origin of the earth's limited productivity under the curse, the dividing of the earth, the confounding of language, the origin of sacrifice, of marriage, of commerce, music and metal work; I would ask you to take your Bible and search out these - perhaps you will find more.

Then we have the Origin of what was to be afterwards the great nation of Israel. God looked down the line of time to the moment when the sinless Sin-Bearer would come forth, and He called Abraham when he was but one (Isaiah 51.2), for the promised One is to be the Seed of the woman, of the seed of Abraham, of David, and of Israel as concerning the flesh (Romans 9.5). From this trickle of chosen and separated humanity the stream broadens, and the history of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and his sons is vividly portrayed. About 2,000 years of history is passed over in 11 chapters. The achievements of that age, buying, selling, building, planting and much else counts for little in the estimation of heaven. But 38 chapters are taken up recording the intimate details of the lives of those men of faith, dwelling in tents, pilgrims and strangers on the earth, of whom God is not ashamed to be called their God. "I am the God ... of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob " (Exodus 3.6). There were of course other men of faith prior to the call of Abraham.

It is interesting to note that we find the Melchizedek priesthood, and circumcision, justification by faith, and by works, in the seed plot of Genesis.

Now I must briefly point to some of the rich veins in this mine of wealth, and leave you to search them out. The names of persons and places quoted in the New Testament; how many do you think there are?

Then there are the types of Genesis so rich in spiritual teaching for us today, touching the innermost cords of our being in the unfolding a divine love and grace. If we wish to dig deeper, then let us apply ourselves to the prophecies of Genesis. You will find them here and there from beginning to end, remarkable in their fulfilment in history, and some yet pointing us forward to a glorious future, when our Lord Jesus in majesty and power will have the obedience of all peoples. These prophecies are worthy of your careful search and attention.

Then a very rich vein of the finest gold is found in a study of the names of God in Genesis, and by meditating on these we shall be enriched in our knowledge of God, and our faith will grow as we come to know His intimate interest and care, and purpose for us.

Then there arc those wonderful appearings of the Angel of the LORD, found, I think, six times in Genesis: thrilling, entrancing stories of God's revelations to men. These give much food for thought and well repay reading, and re-reading.

We have covered a large canvas in this introduction to Genesis, and we note that here God is dealing with individual men with the purpose of bringing into being a nation under His law. This we think might answer to the gospels, where individuals were called and prepared with a view to establishing a holy nation which comes into existence under divine authority and rule on the day of Pentecost.

McCormick, F. | Jul 1955
For Young Believers