Schoolmaster to Christ
GENESIS INTRODUCTION
Schoolmaster to Christ
GENESIS INTRODUCTION
This book is called “Genesis” because it records the beginning or generation of things. It sets forth several beginnings: that of the world, of life, of domestic relations, of institutions, of the moral order, of sin and its consequences, of the scheme of redemption, of nations and of the Messianic nation.
In some respects this is the most remarkable book in the Bible. The first announcement is the greatest that can be uttered – the face of the being and creative power of God. The Bible begins with the truth of God, that God is, that there is one God and that He is not self-existent. The same is true of man. He was not only made by God, but in the image of God, the supreme creative act of God.
Its next remarkable feature is the revelation of the Divine plan in the fulfillment of the promise of redemption by the selection of the historical line by which the Redeemer should come to bruise the serpent’s head and restore the lost race to God. This line is carried forward by this book from Seth, away back in the ages, to Judah the tribe of the Messiah. It brings us a long way in the unfolding of this Messianic idea.
This brief statement makes clear two things: (1) the design of the Bible is to reveal the Divine plan of redemption in Jesus Christ. (2) Understanding the Bible requires knowledge of the book of Genesis. To trace the marvelous unfolding of God’s redemptive processes in Christ – the central fact of the Bible – we must begin where the Bible begins.
