The Most Astounding Truth Ever Made Known By Revelation

The Most Astounding truth ever made known by revelation

Genesis 1: 1

“Genesis” means “beginning” or “origin.” Thus, the book of Genesis is the book which tells about the beginning of all things. In Genesis we learn that God was “in the beginning” (1:1). He existed before all things for He is the Creator of all things.

Some of the “beginnings” recorded in Genesis are: (1) the heavens and the earth; (2) all plant, animal, and human life; (3) all races, nations, and languages; (4) agriculture, music, arts and crafts; (5) marriage and the family. The beginning of God’s plan to save man is also recorded in Genesis. This plan includes the beginning of (1) sin; (2) sacrifice; (3) prophecies of the coming Savior; (4) the nation through which the Savior would come; (5) the tribe from which the Savior would come.

Book of Genesis opens with the greatest material fact in our life today --Unbelievable and Amazing Facts about Space, Planets and Universe that we live in! We become aware of this when we step out under the stars at night and look up. Even the most ignorant of us ponders what the countless star out there --, these brilliant lights in the heavens. We wonder at the movement of the heavenly bodies. Man has stood and gazed in awe and wonderment at this sight for centuries. At last we have begun to probe out into the universe around us and have discovered that we live in a great galaxy, a diffuse body of stars and planets -- millions of them. Our own galaxy is three hundred thousand light years across and it's just the home base of us in the universe. First base is out yonder and center field is WAY out. In this great ball park, we know of over a million bases out there, galaxies like ours. Our minds begin to blow a fuse when we start thinking like that, yet Scripture opens with this -- right on that very note. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" -- and man. That is the story of the beginning -- of Genesis.

Genesis is not only a history. Obviously it would have little significance to us if it were only that. But the book of Genesis is one with a tremendous message which can be declared in one statement. It reveals to us the inadequacy of man without God. That is the whole purpose of the book, and, as such, it strikes the keynote of all subsequent revelation of God. It reveals that man can never be complete without God, that he can never discover or fulfill the true meaning of life without a genuine personal relationship with an indwelling God.

Now this inadequacy is revealed to us in three realms, realms in which each of us live. First it is revealed in the realm of natural relationships, through what we call the natural sciences: cosmology, the study of the universe, its origin and make-up; then geology, about the earth, all the manifold aspects of it that we think we know so much of today; and biology, the study of life itself in all its manifestations. These natural relationships circumscribe our contact with the physical world around us. The second area is the realm of human relationships. This takes in what we call sociology, psychology, psychiatry, along with all the other "psychs”. Finally, it is revealed in the realm of spiritual relationships, such as theology, soteriology and philosophy. In all three of these vital areas, including many of the particulars with which we are concerned, the book of Genesis reveals that man apart from God is totally inadequate. This one message echoes throughout the book like the sound of a bell.

Let us begin where the Bible begins, at the only place to begin, in order to understand the world in which we live and the life we live within it. The God of the Bible is the Creator of the universe -- a transcendent, all-knowing, all-powerful being who has always existed and is the sustainer of all things. He says, "It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens." "I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me." (Isaiah 45:12, 46:9) "I am...who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."Because God is infinite, He is also said to be transcendent, which simply means that God is exceedingly far above creation and is both greater than creation and independent of it. What this means is that God is so infinitely above and beyond us and our ability to fully comprehend that, had He not revealed Himself, we would not know or understand what He is like. But, thankfully, God has not left us ignorant about Himself. Instead, He has revealed Himself to us through both general revelation (creation and our conscience) and special revelation (the written Word of God, the Bible, and the living Word of God, and the incarnation of Jesus Christ). Therefore, we can know God, and we can know how to be reconciled to Him and how to live according to His will. Despite the fact that we are finite and God is infinite, we can know and understand God as He has revealed Himself to us.