What is the name of the very first book in the Bible? __________________ What does this name mean? The word Genesis comes from a Greek verb which means "to be born" or "to give birth." Thus this word refers to the origin, the coming into being of, or the beginning of something. (Note: The word GENESIS also is related to the word "generations" which we find throughout the book of Genesis--see Genesis 2:4; 5:1; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12; etc.)
How did everything come into being? How did everything get started? How did everything originate? How did everything begin? The book of Genesis answers these questions. The book of Genesis is the book of beginnings.
How can we remember that Genesis is the book of beginnings? All we need to do is remember the very first verse found in Genesis 1:1: "In the ________________________ God created the heaven and the earth." In the very beginning GOD was already there! The Bible begins with God!
The Bible begins with GOD and the first book of the Bible tells us who this God is! Consider the following outline:
He is the GOD OF CREATION (Genesis 1-2)!
He is the GOD OF SALVATION (Genesis 3:15,21)!
He is the GOD OF JUDGMENT (Genesis 6-8)!
He is the GOD OF THE NATIONS (Genesis 9-11)!
He is the GOD OF ISRAEL (Genesis 12-50)!
We also learn about God from the names He is called in Genesis. He is the ____________ ____________ God (Genesis 14:18). There is no one who is greater or higher than He! He is the _________________ God (Genesis 17:1). Is anything too hard for the Lord (see Genesis 18:14)? ______ He is the _________________________________ God (see Genesis 21:33) who has no beginning and no end. In the very first book of the Bible God introduces us to Himself!
The book of Genesis is God’s Word. What man did God use to write this part of His Word? The first five books of the Bible were all written by Moses. These five books are called "the books of Moses," "the law," or "the Pentateuch (penta means "five" and Pentateuch means "five volumes" or "fivefold book"). Jesus referred to the books that Moses wrote in John 5:46 and Luke 24:27,44.
Why should people get married? Why do people die? Why are there so many languages in the world today? Where did all the nations and races of people come from? No one can answer these questions in the right way unless they understand the book of Genesis. Please MATCH the following subjects with the correct verse(s):
| 1._________ | The beginning of the
Universe (the heavens and the earth). |
A. Genesis 1:1 |
| 2._________ | The beginning of man | B. Genesis 2:7 |
| 3._________ | The beginning of woman | C. Genesis 2:17; 3:19; 5:5 |
| 4._________ | The beginning of marriage | D. Genesis 2:18-23 |
| 5._________ | The beginning of children | E. Genesis 2:23-24 |
| 6._________ | The beginning of sin | F. Genesis 3:6 |
| 7._________ | The beginning of death | G. Genesis 3:21; 4:4; 8:20 |
| 8._________ | The beginning of animal sacrifices | H. Genesis 4:1-2 |
| 9._________ | The beginning of murder | I. Genesis 4:17 |
| 10._________ | The beginning of cities | J. Genesis 10:5; 20,31,32 |
| 11._________ | The beginning of nations | K. Genesis 11:1-9 |
| 12._________ | The beginning of languages | L. Genesis 12:1-3 |
| 13._________ | The beginning of the great nation Israel | M. Genesis 4:8 |
A good story must have a beginning and an ending. Suppose you find a story book with the first ten pages missing. It would be hard to understand this story without knowing how it all started! Without the book of Genesis the Bible would be very incomplete and would have no beginning. The book of Genesis provides the foundation for every other book in the Bible, and without Genesis it would be very difficult to understand all the other books.
The Bible starts with Genesis and it ends with Revelation. That which begins in Genesis is finished in Revelation. Genesis tells us how everything began; Revelation tells us how everything will end. Genesis is the foundation upon which the other books stand; Revelation is the roof which finishes the building. The following chart brings this out:
| GENESIS | REVELATION |
| First Book | Last Book |
| Answers the question, WHERE DID I COME FROM? (man’s origin) |
Answers the question, WHERE AM I GOING? (man’s destiny) |
| Paradise lost (Genesis 3) | Paradise Regained (Revelation chapters 21-22) |
| The original heaven and earth
(UNIVERSE) (Genesis 1:1) |
The new heaven and
new earth
(UNIVERSE) (Revelation 21:1) |
| Curse pronounced (Genesis 3:14,17) | No more curse (Revelation 22:3) |
| Death entered (Genesis 2:17; 3:19) | No more death (Revelation 21:4) |
| Man kept from the tree of life (Genesis 3:24) | Man given a right to the tree of
life (Revelation 22:14) |
| Sorrow (Genesis 3:17) | No more sorrow (Revelation 21:4) |
| "In the beginning" (Genesis 1:1) | "Finished" (Revelation 10:7) |
The book of Genesis tells us about many great and important events which have happened in the history of our world. Complete the following list by writing down what chapter in the book of Genesis tells about each event.
Choose from the following chapters: Genesis 1, Genesis 3, Genesis 4, Genesis 6-8, Genesis 11, Genesis 12.
|
What Chapter(s) in Genesis? |
The Great Event |
|
_______________ |
The flood that destroyed the world |
|
_______________ |
The tower of Babel |
|
_______________ |
The first murder |
|
_______________ |
The fall of man into sin |
|
_______________ |
The six days of Creation |
|
_______________ |
God calls Abram and tells him to get out of his country |
Only the book of Genesis can answer difficult questions about origins. Only Genesis can tell us how life began and when life began. Science does not have these kinds of answers, but God does. Let’s go to the very first chapter in the Bible and see how it answers many of our questions:
According to what God has said in Genesis chapter one:
The book of Genesis is like the seed plot of the Bible. The seeds are planted in the book of Genesis and then in the other books of the Bible these "seeds" grow into big plants and trees. In the other books we can learn about these plants and trees (such as sin, Satan, the nation Israel, the promise of the Saviour), but we should never forget that the seeds of those plants and trees are found in the book of Genesis. In the other books we watch them grow, but in Genesis we see them planted!
The book of Genesis tells us about the families of the earth. First we learn about Adam’s family and how wicked they became. God finally sent the great flood. Then we learn about Noah’s family. Noah had three sons and out of these three sons came all the nations of the world (Genesis 9:19; 10:32). Finally in chapter 12 and in the following chapters we learn about the family of Abraham. The great nation of Israel came out of Abraham (Genesis 12:2).
The first promise of a Saviour is found in Genesis 3:15. This verse is saying that the Saviour (Messiah) will come from the seed of the woman (Eve) and He will defeat the serpent who is Satan. In the book of Genesis we can begin to see the line of the Saviour, that is, those people who were the ancestors of Christ the Messiah. In Luke 3:33-38 we see that Christ’s ancestors were Seth, Noah, Shem (Sem), Terah (Thara), Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah. We read about these people in the book of Genesis.
Where did I come from? Did I evolve from ape-like animals? Was I created by an Almighty God? The book of Genesis answers these important questions. Those people who do not know where they have come from usually do not know why they are here or where they are going! Life has no meaning for them. The book of Genesis helps us to see true meaning in the world around us. Those who ignore the book of Genesis are in the dark about the world they live in and where they have come from.
As you think about the world you live in, try doing this: Think about each of the
following concepts and tell how the book of Genesis helps you to understand each of these things:
| weddings | wars | jails |
| cemeteries | the nation Israel | missionaries |
| Christmas | policemen | French or Spanish classes |
| funeral home | bank robberies | United Nations |
| stamp collections | disobedient children | New York City |
Genesis is the book of Beginnings. What about my beginning? When I think about my physical life I realize that God created me! I’m no accident! God created Adam and Eve long ago and even then God had me in mind. God knew that someday I would be born. This was all in God’s perfect plan!
I’ve been created by an all-wise and powerful God and I was born (how many?) ______ years ago. What about my spiritual life? Have I been born again (John 3:1-7)? _____ Am I a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)? _____ Have I been saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9)? _______ Have I been created in Christ Jesus (Eph.2:10)? ______ A person can look back to the time when he received Christ as His Saviour and say, "This was my spiritual beginning! God made me a new creature in Christ! The God who created the heavens and the earth is the God who saved my soul! Because of what God has done I have eternal life right now!"
What does the word Exodus mean? When you are in a public building, you will see signs which say EXIT. What do these signs mean? _______________________ The word Exodus means the same thing: the way out, a going out, exit, departure. When we think of the word Exodus we should think of the time when God brought His people Israel out of slavery.
The Greek word Exodus is found in Hebrews 11:22: "By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the _______________________ (this English word is translated from the Greek word Exodus) of the children of Israel." In the days of Joseph the children of Israel were in Egypt, but Joseph knew that someday God would bring them out and they would depart from that land of slavery! This is what the book of Exodus is all about: "In the third month, when the children of Israel were _____________ _________________ (EXODUS) out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 19:1). God delivered his people from slavery and brought them out of Egypt. This happened in the days of Moses and we read about this in the book of Exodus.
In the book of Exodus we learn about five great events. Let us consider each of these events briefly.
When the children of Israel first came down to Egypt in the days of Joseph, how many souls (people) were there (Exodus 1:5)? ______________ This was not a very large nation! But long ago God had promised Abraham that He would multiply this nation and make its people like the sand of the seashore and the stars of the heaven (Genesis 22:17). Did God keep this promise (Exodus 1:7)?_________ The children of Israel became so numerous that the Egyptians became afraid (see Exodus 1:9-10). The king of Egypt tried everything he could think of to stop this nation from growing and multiplying, but did he succeed (Exodus 1:12,16-17)? _____
Finally in the days of Moses it was time for the children of Israel to leave the land of Egypt, but Pharaoh the king would not let them go. At this time God sent plague after plague upon the land of Egypt (frogs, water turned to blood, lice, flies, boils, hail, etc.). We can read about these plagues in Exodus chapters 7-12.
The last plague God sent was the worst of all. Every firstborn son in every Egyptian family died. After this happened Pharaoh decided to let the children of Israel go. Later Pharaoh changed his mind and chased after the children of Israel with his armies. Miraculously God brought His people through the Red Sea and God buried the Egyptians under the Red Sea. We read about this exciting deliverance in Exodus chapters 12-15.
After crossing the Red Sea the children of Israel found themselves in the desert wilderness. There, at Mt. Sinai, God gave the children of Israel His law and His commandments. We read about the giving of the law in Exodus chapters 19-23.
Exodus chapter 25 and the chapters which follow are all about the building of the tabernacle. God wanted to dwell in the midst of His people and therefore He told Moses to build the tabernacle. The tabernacle was a large tent and in the book of Exodus we learn about this tent and about the articles of furniture which were in this tent. The children of Israel did not have a Bible like we do today. But they did have the tabernacle, and this special tent helped them to understand certain things about the Lord Jesus Christ and what He would do for them. They could not read the Bible, but they could look at the tabernacle and learn much about God and how to come to God.
The key chapter in the book of Exodus is chapter 20. It is in this chapter that we find the Ten Commandments. Can you find all ten of them?
In this same chapter we also find the key verse in the book of Exodus. Look at Exodus 20:2: "I am the LORD thy God which have _____________________ thee _____________ of the land of Egypt, __________ of the house of ________________ (slavery)."
The key idea in the book of Exodus is deliverance. God delivered His people out of Egypt and out of slavery. Long ago God told Abraham that the children of Israel would be slaves in another country for ___________ years (see Genesis 15:13). But after these years shall they COME ___________ (Genesis 15:14). God would deliver them and bring them out of this slavery!
Has God delivered you out of anything? Has God brought you out of anything? Have you ever been a slave (John 8:34)? If you are saved, what has God rescued and delivered you from? What has God brought you out of?
Acts 26:18
____________________________________________________________
John 5:24
____________________________________________________________
Colossians 1:13
____________________________________________________________
Psalm 40:2
____________________________________________________________
1 Peter 2:9
____________________________________________________________
Has the Great Deliverer delivered you? Has the Great Saviour saved you?
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