The Book of Genesis
The scroll of the Torah is the oldest and most sacred of all Israel’s Scriptures. It contains five books. The Hebrew name for the first one is B’reisheet. It is also the first word of the book in the Hebrew text, as well as the name for the first parashah (the first Torah portion). B’reisheet means “in the beginning.”
In the beginning means that everything we know as reality around us, above us, and below us began when God started creating things. Everything we know and experience is defined in terms of length, width, height, and time. God was before there was length, width, height, or time. He is eternal because He is timeless. He is transcendent because He is not part of creation. He is all powerful because He is the power that created all.
Try to imagine something that had no width, length, breadth, or place in time. Of course you cannot. So we should not try to imagine God as if He were a creature with a certain width, length, breadth, or confined to a certain moment in time.
Immediately in Genesis 1 we are given some fundamentals. 1) Who God is. We know God in two primary ways: by His name and by His characteristics.
What can we learn about God from Genesis 1:1? ______________________________________
Yet, through the Holy Spirit we can know God in another way, which is only available to believers.
In what ways do you think you can know God through the Holy Spirit? __________________
God is eternal, transcendent, and all powerful, yet He concerns Himself with us. What does this teach us about how we should conduct ourselves with others whom we consider to be below our station (Isaiah 57:15)? ____________________________________________________
The Torah was written by Hebrews, given to Hebrews, and is a significant part of Hebrew culture. If we ignore that part of it, we don’t really get a full understanding of what God said.
Why is the Jewishness of the Torah important? ________________________________________
Word Study: Look up the verse Genesis 1:1 at www.blueletterbible.org. Click on the “Tools” button to find the Hebrew word for God? ____________________
Looking at the Strong’s Concordance number of H430, what does Elohim mean?
Is the word singular or plural? ___singular ___plural
Elohim is NOT God’s name. It is a title. God is one, but He is also many. Elohim is used in the Bible to refer to the one true God, and His majesty. This leads us to the concept of the Trinity. Can you name the three parts?
- ________________________
- ________________________
- ________________________
“God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” Genesis 1:5
There is an ongoing debate on what is meant by the word day. There is no reason to defend the use of the word day. Some people read it as a 24 hour period and some say that a day is 1,000 years. (That simply means that God lives in a place without time. It is not proof of the earth’s first days of existence.)
The Hebrews (as well as modern Jews) consisted a day to begin at sunset and end at the next sunset. A new day begins in the evening. This is different from our modern calendar, where we set 12:00:01 AM at the start of a new day, and midnight at the end.
With God, each day begins at sunset. There is evening and then morning. It goes from night to day, from darkness to light. The world lives from day to night, but God’s children live from night to day. They are born again in the darkness and move to the day.
In the world, everything gets darker. We from day to night, youth to aging, strength to weakness, life to death. It’s the way of the world, but not the way of God.
As a child of God our lives go from darkness to light, weakness to strength, despair to hope, from guilt to innocence, from tears to joy, and from death to life. Every night in your life will lead to the dawn. So live according to God’s sacred order of time!
What darkness is in your life, the darkness of fear, of sin, of problems, of gloom? Today, turn away from it and into the Son’s light!
Read 1 Peter 2:9 and 2 Peter 1:19. What is God saying to you? __________________________
Fundamental #3: Reality of Duality: in the Scriptures the physical is often a shadow of something spiritual that already exists.
On the first day, God created light. But it was on the fourth day that He created the sun. Does that seem strange? How was there light without the sun? Is this the first inconsistency in the Scriptures?
Word Study: Look up the word light at www.blueletterbible.org in Genesis 1:3 and 4. What is the Hebrew word for “light”? ________________________________________________
Click on the Tools menu. What does the word owr mean? _______________________________
This word, owr, does not mean an object that emits light, like the sun, stars, or a lamp. It means “illumination, enlightenment…in every sense, including happiness” When the Bible says “God is light” is is saying He is associated with life and joy and goodness. In fact when we read on, it says God created the light and saw that it was good. Only light is called good, the darkness is not. God is the source of this light.
When God creates the sun and moon a different word for “light” is used (Genesis 1:14). Using www.blueletterbible.org, what is the word for “light” in verse 14? _________________
Using Strong Concordance number H3974, what does it mean? _________________________
Maor means “an object that emits light”; maorot is plural, meaning “lights.” The luminaries (sun, stars, lamps, meteors, etc. is the intent of this word.)
Darkness was an unsatisfactory state, or God would not have created light. Darkness is not capable of supporting life. As we will see in Exodus and Leviticus, things that go against, inhibit, or terminate light are considered to be “against God.” So when God created light (owr), He created illumination and enlightenment, a basic requirement for life. When God created the lights (maorot) He created objects that emitted light waves that allowed humans and animals to use their light sensors (their eyes) and allowed plants to engage in their method of sustaining life: photosynthesis.
What does Revelation 22:5 say about the light of the sun? ______________________________
Will there still be light? ________________ How will we see? ____________________________
God will be our light. This light, is to enlighten, illuminate, bring to light, render evident, and give understanding to, make to see. God will be our light!
Word Study: Let’s look at one more thing before we go. In Genesis 1:1, what is the Hebrew word for darkness? _________________
What does it mean? ________________________________________________________________
This word does not mean the opposite of day (which would be neutral). It carries with it a spiritual meaning (darkness: blindness, falsehood, misery, destruction, sorrow, wickedness). Read Rev. 21:23-24. What is God saying? _____________________________________________
The spiritual counterpart of light (owr), which is darkness (hosek) will be absent in the new creation. There will only be goodness, wickedness will no longer exist. There will be only light.