Special Insights No. 1
Fourth Quarter 2006
“Beginnings and Belongings”
(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)
“Foundations”
Welcome to a new three months of Sabbath School Bible study, this time in the book of Genesis.
According to the Lord’s apostle, Paul, Genesis is the “gospel book of the Bible”: “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed’” (Gal. 3:8). Genesis is the Romans of the Old Testament!
The star character of course is Abraham; so this insight from Paul is what alerts us to realize that the core subject we shall be studying in these new 13 weeks of lessons will be the gospel—the pure, true one that God Himself “preached” to Abraham. That’s going to be exciting! Haven’t you always wanted to hear God Himself “preach”? We have heard the gospel preached by so many of God’s servants through the ages, that to hear it “preached” now from the very lips of Himself is going to be a breath of fresh air.
As we begin our study journey through Genesis, we need to note a few helpful truths:
(1) Don’t let yourself get confused by wondering if the book of Genesis is true factual earth history, some kind of an allegory or symbolic myth. Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, quoted Genesis as though it is down to earth history; the fundamental issue in all the “evolution/creation” dialogues is the identity of Jesus Christ. Is He what the Bible says He is? Get that settled in your mind and heart for all time and eternity to come: He has told the truth about Genesis. It is the factual history of the beginnings of this earth’s history.
(2) In pondering evolution/creationism, we don’t start with Genesis; we start with Christ. We believe He is the Savior of the world (John 4:42), the divine Son of God (1:1-14), the world’s Messiah (1:41), the only “blessed hope” we have (Titus 2:13).
(3) Philosophical arguments can go on interminably and get nowhere. Paul tried to meet philosophy with philosophy when he preached in Athens, but the results were only a handful of conversions (Acts 17:15-34). He had learned his lesson, for when he next came to Corinth, he had “determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). World history has come way down in the great antitypical Day of Atonement so it is too late for us to digress into similar arguments based on so-called science in archaeology, paleontology, etc. The arguments are interesting and some startling conclusions are being formed by scientists, but let’s concentrate on the gospel.
(4) In seeking to know who is the Creator-God in Genesis 1, we are baffled until we discover 1 John 4:8—“God is love [agape].” To validate His existence and His character, He has implanted in each human being what Genesis 3:15 describes as an “enmity between [Satan]” and the people whose hearts believe in that divine love, which is a universal longing for truth and righteousness. The deep enmity is “between [Satan’s] seed and the woman’s ... seed” (humanity). All human hearts around the world, wicked and cruel as people may become, long for love (even jihadists? be careful—believe what Genesis says!). In our lessons this quarter, we shall delve into the very beginnings of the revelation of that divine love to the world.
(5) We shall trace the revelation of that love of God in the greatest catastrophe ever to strike this planet—the flood of Noah’s time. Having learned the secret of God’s love revealed even there, we shall understand His love revealed in the horrors of current history that reduplicate the world of Noah’s time (Matt. 24:37-39).
(6) We shall trace the same over-ruling divine love seen in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah—another object lesson of what current world history means around us today, and where God is.
(7) Our supreme interest will be the revelation of the New Covenant as God “preached” it directly to Abraham. We shall bypass what for many is the confusing story of the covenants in the second book of the Bible—Exodus. Mt. Sinai need not confuse us about God’s covenant; we shall drink of the pure water of life as it flows from this Genesis spring, in which sacred history will capture our hearts.
(8) The most blessed love story in history of a man and a woman discovering each other is that of Isaac and Rebekeh. That awaits us.
(9) A precious insight this quarter will be the story of Jacob and how his name was changed to Israel; and there each of us will find the true story of our own personal history. Not one of us was “born” “Israel” any more than Jacob was; we shall find ourselves this quarter!
(10) And no narrative in the Bible is more thrilling than the story of Joseph (“from the dungeon to the palace”); several lessons are devoted to his story. But it’s not his story so much as it is the story of Jesus; we shall meet Jesus revealed in him there.
(11) These lessons are not thirteen dry lectures; they are stories that are intensely interesting in themselves. And as we study them we shall find the miracle growing in our own human hearts—the miracle of heart-reconciliation (“atonement”) with God. We shall see Him disclosed in the stories, and to see Him is to be reconciled to Him.
(12) That in turn is the work of our great High Priest in His current task of cleansing the heavenly sanctuary in preparing a people for translation at the second coming of Christ.
(13) Seen in that light, we shall recognize in the worldwide study of the book of Genesis appointed by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists this quarter a fulfillment of God’s promise to send us “Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” who will “turn ... hearts” (Mal. 4:5, 6).
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(Note: A series of CDs on these lessons recorded by this author is available from the office of the 1888 Message Study Committee: 269-473-1888.)
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