February 14, 2024
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Genesis? Here’s today’s reading:
Genesis 1 (NIV)
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.……Continue Reading
The tree of good and evil, not clear to me why God would place it anywhere near Adam or Eve, it seems similar to explaining to a child “do not touch the handgun, it’s not a toy” , like a handgun, not dangerous until the unsuspecting innocent picks it up and Boom!
It was God showing Himself to be just and offering man a free will. He wanted people to have a choice whether they would follow Him. We also could not be a test case in satan’s accusation against God if we couldn’t choose against Him. But what a reflection of God’s care for us that He only wanted us to have a knowledge of the good…not good and evil. Oh, to be able to go back to that decision and say “Stop, don’t do it!!!!”
Now the serpent in the garden, the devil, the fallen angel…when did the serpent become the serpent, that is to ask, did he fall from grace before the creation of the earth?
Yes, satan fell before the creation of the earth and humanity would be the test case as to wether his accusation against God was correct. And although satan is associated with being a serpent in the way he deceives, here satan embodies a serpent and both he and the animal are cursed for the role they play in the deception of man. We could presume from the text that a snake/serpent walked upright or had legs before it was cursed…
Wow! The test case to prove the accuser wrong
The test case to prove satan wrong , who is running the test case? If God, why does He need to test something He made?
Satan’s original accusation against God was that He shouldn’t be God. God pronounces judgement at that time, but then carries it out in the end. What lies in the middle is human history. So yes, we will judge angels as the wonderful grace of God is shown through us and we believe without seeing, when some of them disbelieved while seeing. And God doesn’t need to do that but He also isn’t afraid, in the just way that He is, to put His person and plan to the test. So as His justice is challenged by satan, He displays His justice by creating a lower class of being to prove His point. We get a little picture of that in Job as satan comes before God again and challenges His justice and God says, look at Job.
The tree of knowledge of good and evil is similar to the internet/ social media, aka, the destroyer of innocents
I apologize for jumping ahead in Genesis, Leviticus was slow going for me, I find Genesis refreshing, chapter 4:7 “sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you, but you must Rule over it” I love that verse! I added this to my memory verse, I know…this statement should be common knowledge to all.
Genesis 1 and continued along Acts 9.
Genesis 1
What an amazing God we have. I never tire of reading about creation!
31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.
”And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.“
Genesis 1:11 KJV
I hadn’t really noticed this before, but the wording “whose seed is in itself” struck me. God created from the beginning a self-sustaining creation. A creating creation.
And I have spring planting and seed catalogs in my mind. 😁
I love that the first thing God created was Light, on Day 1…before He created the sun and moon on Day 4.
1 John 1:5 “This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”
It is God’s light that we are called to walk in…for “if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us all from sin.”
Sin dies in the light of God. We are only as sick as the secrets we keep. Thank you, God, for your Light!!
When God makes all things new God himself will provide the light again.
That second verse is also from 1 John…and I love that God’s Word tells us that we have fellowship with one another when we walk in the light…as He is in the light. This is the point I was making in my last sentence. True fellowship is found in the light of God…that light can be blinding and scary to us sinful humans who are ashamed of our sin and desperate to protect our images…but when we protect ourselves, we worship our pride, and we prevent true fellowship. God calls us to true fellowship, to build one another up, to exhort one another, and to seek Him first in all things. He gives us the church for this purpose, and equips us with His Spirit to worship in Spirit and Truth!
Thank you, God, for your church!
Genesis 1 god created the universe. No other than a divine God could do this. All the matter, all the molecules all came together and worked together perfectly. Nothing other than a supreme GOD COULD DO THIS. GOD IS GOOD, God is great.
Genesis is one of the most important books in the Bible for much of what we learn about God and teachings are first taught from this book. Things like creation, man`s sin , first marriage, the Trinity, reference to Christ on the cross, virgin birth { genealogy of Christ }, many languages, and probably so much more that I might be leaving out. Here is an interesting statement when I was researching by The Teacher`s Commentary by Lawrence O. Richards. { Genesis 1-11 affirms that you and I live in a personal universe. The material and moral world were designed by a Person, who made mankind distinct from the rest of Creation. —–Genesis sets forth a personal God as the ultimate reality. He is the root and source of all that exists.} Also this same reference says: { The New Testament teaches that Jesus was the active Agent in Creation{ John 1:1-5; Col. 1: 15-20} Read Genesis 1, substituting Jesus for God. Does this help you sense Creation as a personal and loving act? } Yet from the time in the Garden of Eden where Satan deceived Adam and Eve saying did God really say until now Satan and his other deceivers are attacking God`s Holy Word. Even those who might think they are doing right but are either taking away or adding to God`s Word. The Bible clearly gives many warnings about people who do this. So we must be very diligent in understanding in reading and studying the Word of God. Don`t just believe something without checking it out and how does other scripture answer it. Thank God that we have a Pastor that studies the whole of all scripture to grow in his own walk with Jesus and I am sure that if he doesn`t perhaps know the answer he will pray and search the scriptures. And then he will gently teach and correct anything that needs to be. May God continue to always bless our leadership and our church. [ Body of believers}
How amazing to read again how God created everything. Although at every step He says He said this or that would happen, and then after that it says He created the various aspects of creation. One wonders what it took to do the creating. Certainly God is able to speak everything into creation like He does the light, but it is also amazing to think of Him fashioning atoms, compounds, laws of physics and chemistry that make it all work. There is so much complexity in every step in what God made it is really silly to think that it would all come about by chance and happenstance. How comforting to know that God is that powerful, that intelligent, that creative and that caring in how He creates and what He creates. All praise is due His name for the wonderful work He has done!
There is also logical order to creation. Water, light, atmosphere, land, plants, sun and moon fish and birds, land animals and man. (6) 24hr days of creation. Shame they dont teach this in school.
Genesis 1
Then God said, “Let US make mankind in our image, in OUR likeness…” Jesus was present in the beginning when man was created. He was the Word, he was with God, in fact, he was God. This is a great testament to the fact that Jesus was God. He is the light that shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:1-5 This is a truth that we can be joyful for, and a great verse to start our day on!
Genesis 1 when you read this chapter it’s just amazing how God did it in such an order, first with the light and he separated light from darkness, and
He went on from there. He gave us everything we needed. Only God could do what he did, all we have to do is look around us, look up to the sky see the stars at night, the moon, the oceans with the tide changes, the Sun and clouds, the seasons change, how can anyone deny that there’s no God. He is a supreme creator.
What a mighty God we serve! He spoke into existence the world and every one of it’s intricacies and details they still baffle and confusion the best of scienctists today. Trying to come up with fancy answers to a simple concept of God spoke and it was there!
God is an awesome God. With just His words He spoke everything into existence. There is no question that He did this in 6 days and rested on the 7th day. These were 24 hour days. God states that there was an evening and a day after each day of creation. God says it and He doesn`t lie. Some try to say that God couldn`t possibly do this in 6 days but needed millions of years for creation to come about. How foolish is that, God could have done it in minutes. God gave us this example for our 7 day week. Work on 6 days and rest on the 7th. Foolish man thinks that this all came about by chance over millions of years. The science doesn`t support this but science does confirm the Bible. But I think that if mankind acknowledged that God is the Creator then they would have to acknowledge their own sins. Basically when it comes down to it there is man’s word {humanism} or God`s Word. God was there when He created ; we weren`t and didn`t observe it. I also find it interesting that the Earth was created before the Sun and Moon, and the stars. They were made to give light to the Earth. v17 Another thing to remember is that God made the great sea creatures, fish, etc. and the birds, etc. on the 5th day. But on the 6th day God made every living creature that lived on the land including Adam and Eve. The birds came before the land animals. The land animals would include dinosaurs. Remember in our schools, in general they are teaching that dinosaurs became birds. There is no proof of that and it is contrary to God`s Word. They keep making up assumptions and stories to fit their narrative of teaching Evolution which isn`t based on science. This false teaching leads to other things which are attacking God`s Word. A great deception by Satan and those that blindly follow him that are leading many astray from the truth of the gospel. God gives us as believers spiritual eyes to see this. May we ever draw closer to the ONE who reveals these things to us. Peace to you all.