The Creation & Adam's Story

God created the world and all living things. Humans are special because we are made in His image, giving us worth and dignity. We should treat others well. Adam and Eve were first sinless, but they disobeyed God, showing how sin can bring serious consequences.

Happy New Year and welcome to The Glory Team Bible Reading plan. Today we reading Genesis Chapters 1-4 about The Creation Story and Adam's Story. These chapters cover the Creation, Adam and Eve’s disobedience, Cain and Abel’s story, and the lineage of Adam. They highlight God's creative power, humanity's fall into sin, and the consequences of disobedience.

Genesis Chapter 1: Narrates the creation story, describing how God created the universe and everything in it over the course of six days, starting with a formless void and culminating in the creation of humankind "in God's image," with God resting on the seventh day; the key point is that God spoke creation into existence by saying "Let there be..." and declaring each part of creation "good.".

Genesis Chapter 2: Focuses on the detailed creation of man, named Adam, from the dust of the ground, and places him in the Garden of Eden, a specially planted paradise where he is tasked with tending to the trees, including the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; God instructs Adam that he can eat from any tree except the latter, and later creates Eve, the first woman, from one of Adam's ribs. 

Genesis Chapter 3: Narrates the story of the "Fall of Man," where Adam and Eve, living in the Garden of Eden, disobey God's command by eating from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, leading to their expulsion from the Garden and the introduction of sin into the world; a serpent, often interpreted as Satan, tempts Eve, who then shares the fruit with Adam, causing them to become aware of their nakedness and experience shame, ultimately resulting in God's pronouncements of consequences for their disobedience, including pain in childbirth and the difficulty of working the land. 

Genesis Chapter 4: Details the story of Cain and Abel, the first two sons of Adam and Eve, where Cain, a farmer, offers God produce from the ground while Abel, a shepherd, presents the firstborn of his flock; God accepts Abel's offering but not Cain's, leading to Cain's jealousy and the murder of Abel in the field; God punishes Cain by making him a wanderer, marking him for protection, and Cain later settles in the land of Nod, while Adam and Eve have another son named Seth as a replacement for Abel.

The Creation & Adam's Story

The purpose of the book of Genesis are to record God's creation of the world and His desire to have a people set apart to worship Him. The author of the Book of Genesis is Moses. There is plenty of evidence that leads to this conclusion:

• The Talmud (The Hebrew Bible, the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law and Jewish theology.) attributes this book to Moses.

• Citations from Genesis show that the Old Testament is part of the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 1:8; 2 Kings 13:23; 1 Chronicles 1:1)

• Jesus and the New Testament writers attribute Moses as the author of as an essential part of Scripture (Matthew 19:8; Luke 16:29; 24:27)

The original audience of the book of Genesis are the people of Israel and it was written in the wilderness during Israel's wanderings. The setting is primarily the region presently known as the Middle East.

The Key People we will learn about are Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Joseph.

---

What is God's Name in these Chapters?

In this portion of our journey we want to dive deep into the character of God described in His name. By identifying who God is, we can further relate to Him personally and build a stronger relationship and connection with Our Father.

Names are important. They give significance to places, people, and things. We identify with so much based off what it's name is. This is considerably notable when it comes to the names of God.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God, including His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. 

Elohim - God (Genesis 1:1) The Strong Creator

Jehovah Elohim - Lord God (Genesis 2:4; 3:9)

God introduces Himself as Elohim to show that He is transcendent, basically saying that He is distinct from His creation. He is outside His creation, not apart of it. God also shows that He is outside of time by creating time. How He shows us that He is transcendent beyond His creation and time is settled in 5 words, "In the beginning God created..." Elohim doesn't just transcend time but also space because He predates His creation. Elohim created the Heavens and the Earth, but exist outside of it. At the same time, Elohim fills the Heavens and the Earth, and exist in it. Elohim is everywhere, He is omnipresent. Elohim is personal because He speaks, sees, sets apart, and called through these chapters of Genesis (See reference Genesis 1:3-5). He is personal because He interacts with His creation. Elohim is also plural. The word Elohim is the plural form of the word El, or Eloah. The plural word Elohim refers to a singular Godhead (Genesis 1:26-27). So basically, Elohim uses both plural and singular pronouns by construct but often a singular word by usage, showing the makeup of the Trinity. God identifies as Elohim 35 times from Genesis chapters 1-2.

In the second chapter of Genesis God introduces us to another name, Jehovah, and begins interacting with His creation is a more personal way. Jehovah is a name for God in the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament that means "I am that I am" or "I am the one who is". It comes from the Hebrew word YHWH, or Yahweh, which is the name of the God of Israel in the Jewish scriptures and Old Testament. The name Jehovah is an English translation of the Tetragrammaton, the Hebrew name for God. The name Jehovah is combined as Jehovah Elohim in Genesis as both the great and powerful Creator and Lord, master, and self-existent one. In chapter 3, Satan deceives by only calling God by removing Jehovah and calling God Elohim. Our enemy only describes God as the Creator, but not our Lord and Master (Genesis 3:1) and by doing this he takes away the most important aspect. To have God as our Lord or Master means to acknowledge that God is the ruler, boss, or master of our lives. It also means that we commit to obeying God and submitting to God's authority. This is so significant because this leads to the fall of Adam and Eve. Not acknowledging God as Lord and Master is the whole concept of why sin happens because it places God as only who made us. This allows room for us to grow into a place separate from God. We were created to worship and serve God alone, but the intention of Satan is to replace God. In chapter 4, we see the results of not allowing serving ourselves instead of God.

---

Christ in Every Book of the Bible

Christ is the theme throughout the Bible. From Genesis to Revelation, God reveals His Son, Jesus Christ.

Christ is the Seed of the woman Genesis 3:14 , He is the Passover Lamb Exodus 12:3, The Atoning Sacrifice Leviticus 17:11, The Smitten Rock Numbers 20:8, 11, The Faithful Prophet Deuteronomy 18:18, Christ is the Captain of the Lord's Host Joshua 5:15, The Divine Deliverer Judges 2:18, The Kinsman Redeemer Ruth 3:12, Christ is the anticipated as the Anointed One,1 Samuel 2:10, The Son of David 2 Samuel 7:14, The Coming King 1 & 2 Kings, Builder of the Temple 1 & 2 Chronicles (1 Chronicles 28:20), Ezra represents Christ as the Restorer of the Nation Ezra 6:14, 15, Nehemiah shows Him as the Restorer of the Temple Nehemiah 6:15, and Esther portrays Him as the Preserver of the Nation Ester 4:14, Christ is seen as the Living Redeemer Job 19:25, The Praise of Israel Psalm 150:6, The Wisdom of God Proverbs 8:22, 23, The Great Teacher Ecclesiastics 12:11, The Fairest of Ten Thousand Song of Solomon 5:10. Christ is the Suffering Servant Isaiah 53:11, The Maker of the New Covenant Jeremiah 31:31, The Man of Sorrows Lamentations 3:28-30, The Glory of God Ezekiel 43:2, The coming Messiah Daniel 9:25, The Lover of the Unfaithful Hosea 3:1, The Hope of Israel Joel 3:16, The Husbandman Amos 9:13, the Savior Obadiah 21, the Resurrected One Jonah 2:10, the Ruler in Israel Micah 5:2, the Avenger Nahum 2:1, the Holy God Habakkuk 1:13, the King of Israel Zephaniah 3:15, the Desire of Nations Haggai 2:7, the Righteous Branch Zechariah 3:8, and the Sun of Righteousness Malachi 4:2.

The King of the Jews Matthew 2:2, the Servant of the Lord Mark 10:45, the Son of Man Luke 19:10, and the Son of God John 1:1. Christ is the Ascended Lord Acts 1:10, the believer's Righteousness Romans 1:17, Sanctification 1 Corinthians 1:30, Sufficiency 2 Corinthians 12:9, and Liberty Galatians 2:4. He is the Exalted Head of the church Ephesians 1:22, the Christian's Joy Philippians 1:26, and the Fullness of Deity Colossians 2:9. In the Thessalonian epistles Christ is the believer's Comfort 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17 and Glory 2 Thessalonians 1:12. The Christian's Preserver 1 Timothy 4:10, Rewarder 2 Timothy 4:8, Blessed Hope Titus 2:13, and Substitute Philemon 17. He is the High Priest Hebrews 4:15, the Giver of Wisdom James 1:5, the Rock 1 Peter 2:6, and Precious Promise 2 Peter 1:4. John represents Christ as the Life 1 John, the Truth 2 John, and the Way 3 John, Jude portrays Christ as the Advocate and Revelation shows Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords Revelation 19:16. The whole Bible is literally all about Christ!

---

Questions: Let's expand how these chapters expanded your faith and your relationship with God.

What is the overall message of Genesis 1-4 about God's character and relationship with humanity?

How does the story of creation shape your understanding of God’s character and purpose for humanity?

What are the key themes of human responsibility, choice, and consequences presented in these chapters? 

How does the story of Cain and Abel foreshadow later conflicts in the Bible?

What does the story of Cain and Abel teach us about the nature of sin and its consequences?

Reference Guides:

Life Application Study Guide

A Popular Survey of the Old Testament by Norman L. Geisler

The Power of God's Names by Tony Evans