Decoding Genesis: Essential Tips for Understanding

Introduction

Genesis serves as a preview of the entire Bible. If you understand Genesis, the other books will be easier to comprehend.

The book can be divided into three simple parts to convey the overall message God wants to communicate to us.

1. Creation

The first part of Genesis, covering chapters 1 and 2, shows that God existed before everything and created everything. He made everything good for His pleasure. Psalm 24 declares that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”

To understand Genesis and the rest of the Bible, note that the main teaching is God’s creation of everything. He is sovereign over all things, seen and unseen. All power, dominion, and authority belong to Him alone. This means that God determines what must happen on earth for His will to be done.

2. Fall

The second part of Genesis, spanning chapters 3 to 11, deals with the fall of man and its effects. Here, we see that Eve was deceived by Satan, leading to man’s fall from the glory of God and separation from abiding communion with Him. Man’s living conditions deteriorated as he struggled to manage relationships and nature.

With the fall of man comes God’s judgement of sin and His way of dealing with it. A holy God does not condone sin. He hates it and addresses it decisively, as seen in the cases of Adam and Eve, Noah, and the Tower of Babel. To understand Genesis, you must grasp God’s nature in relation to sin and the depravity of man. While sin will ultimately be dealt with, for now, we have power in Christ to have dominion over it.

3. Redemption

The final part of Genesis, from chapters 12 to 50, reveals God’s plan for redeeming man and creation. After the fall, man cannot save himself from total depravity; it takes God Himself to descend and save man from lostness. This section discusses God choosing Abraham to redeem all people and bless them. He promised Abraham land, descendants, and an inheritance.

To understand Genesis, you must realise that God is for us, not against us, and He aims to redeem us from sin. From Abraham’s descendants came Christ Jesus, the Saviour of God’s lost flock. Abraham’s people were not perfect; only God is. He uses the weak and unwise to confound the strong and mighty. Ultimately, Christ will come again and take all who trust in Him to be with Him forever.

Conclusion

Genesis is not difficult to understand. God did not write a book to confuse us. He has revealed Himself through Genesis to tell us about His nature, man, sin, judgement, and redemption.

May the Lord open your mind to behold wonderful truths from this book of beginnings.

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