The Bible Revealed-A 365-Day Journey Through God’s Word

[Administrator]

Beginnings
DAY 1
Creation
Genesis 1:1–2:3


Read from Genesis 1:1 through Genesis 2:3. After reading the passage, proceed by reading the comments below. Follow this pattern each day.


Everything, truly everything, begins here. The story of the Bible—more, the history of the universe—starts with the simple statement “In the beginning God created,” and the rest of the chapter fills in what he created: stars, oceans, plants, birds, fish, mammals, and, finally, man and woman.

Genesis 1 says little about the processes God used in creation; you’ll find no explanations of DNA or the scientific principles behind creation. But the opening chapter of the Bible does insist on two facts:

Creation was God’s work. “And God said … And God said … And God said …”—the phrase beats in cadence all the way through the chapter, which mentions the word God thirty times. And in this first chapter, the very first glimpse we have of God is as an artist. Butterflies, waterfalls, bottlenose dolphins, praying mantises, kangaroos—they were all God’s idea. This entire magnificent world we live in is the product of God’s creative work. All that follows in the Bible reinforces the message of Genesis 1: Behind all of history, there is God.

Creation was good. Another sentence tolls softly, like a bell, throughout this chapter: “And God saw that it was good.” In our day, we hear alarming reports about nature: toxic plastics, polluted oceans, vanishing species, climate change, the destruction of rainforests. Much has changed, much has been spoiled since that first moment of creation. Genesis 1 describes the world as God wanted it, before any spoiling. Whatever beauty we sense in nature today is a faint echo of that pristine state.

Captain Frank Borman, one of America’s Apollo astronauts, read from this chapter of Genesis on a telecast from outer space on Christmas Eve 1968. As he gazed out of his window, he saw Earth as a brightly colored ball hanging alone in the darkness of space. It looked at once awesomely beautiful and terribly fragile. It looked like the view from Genesis 1.


Daily Contemplation
When was the last time you really noticed the beauty of the natural world? What do you notice today?

 

[Administrator]

Beginnings
DAY 2
Adam and Eve
Genesis 2:4–25

After presenting the cosmic view in chapter 1, Genesis repeats the story of creation, narrowing the focus to human beings. We alone, of all God’s works, are made “in God’s image.” Over the years people have disagreed on what, exactly, that phrase “image of God” means. Is it immortality? Intelligence? Creativity? Relationship? Perhaps the best way to understand is to think of “the image of God” as a mirror. God created us so that when he looked upon us, he would see reflected something of himself.
Nothing else God created reflects that same likeness to God. Alone of all creation, human beings received the very breath of life from God. Genesis declares that human beings, in God’s eyes, possess a value far beyond other living things. Similarly, humans have value that can never be equaled even by today’s increasingly powerful computers, no matter how intelligent and lifelike they may be.

Genesis 2 shows human history just getting underway. Marriage begins here: Even in a state of perfection, Adam feels loneliness and desire, and God provides woman. From then on, marriage takes priority over all other relationships. Work begins here too: Adam is given authority over the animals and plants. Ever since, humans have had a kind of mastery, or “stewardship,” over the rest of creation.

Only the slightest hint of foreboding clouds this blissful scene of Paradise. It appears in verse 17, in the form of a single negative command from God. Adam enjoys perfect freedom with one small exception—a test of obedience.

Throughout history, artists have tried to recreate in words and images what a perfect world would look like, a world of love and beauty, one without guilt or suffering or shame. Genesis 1–2 describes such a world. For a time in Genesis, peace reigns. When God looks at all he has created, he pays humanity its highest compliment. “Very good,” he pronounces. Creation is now complete.



Daily Contemplation
Think about a close friend or family member. In what way does this person reflect God? Does some quality or personality trait speak of what God must be like?