Where Does It
All Begin?
Genesis
1:1-Revelation 21:22
Jim Davis
Have you ever
walked into a church and ask yourself, “Where
are these people coming from?” Or, “What’s
at the center of what they are doing?” This is
not unusual. We need a reference point so we can
put it all into perspective. It may be hard to
engage, if I don’t really know the general scope
of all that is going on. I need a reference
point to begin the journey. This may be why
Bible study is so difficult for the beginner.
Church
doctrines seek to give points of reference, but
all too often a person starts trying to fit the
entire scope of biblical teaching into a few
steps of a predigested formula. All too often
the simple steps are followed without
understanding or even investigating the full
scope of what God desires to accomplish through
his relationship with those seeking him.
The history
revealed between Genesis chapter one and
Revelation chapter twenty-two manifest the full
scope of salvation’s history. The Bible reveals
the full historical scope of God’s activity
among human kind. The Scriptures reveal the
story about God creating the world and placing
his children in it. In the book of Genesis the
story begins with the creation and the fall of
humanity. Humanity is cut off from Eden’s
paradise and the tree of life. The first six
chapters of the Bible reveal the devastating
power of evil as the world is destroyed by a
flood. The very last chapters of the Bible, in
the closing of the book of Revelation, John’s
vision portrays a new Eden as God’s children
regain access to the tree of life. Salvation’s
historical story is unfolded before our eyes
from its conception to its culmination. The
beauty of it all is that God desires for us to
be included in his book of life.
The main
character throughout the Bible is God. The Bible
is a story about God’s work to reclaim our lives
to his original purpose—restoring what we lost
in Eden. The creator of life is working through
all the mess evil creates in our lives, to give
us back the life he intended for us to have
before creation. His work will culminate in
eternal life for those who listen to him. It
will be a life without evil, for evil will be
destroyed.
If we miss
heaven we will miss everything this life was
meant to be—much more than we can ever imagine.
Discovering God’s Mercy
You have seen
religious imagery in cathedrals of biblical
characters molded into beautiful stained glass
windows. It leaves the impression that the true
followers of God on earth live in a surreal
realm far removed from the temptations of
ordinary people. Contrary to the opinion of
many, none of God’s people of the past ever
lived in a stained glass world. God’s people
live under his rule, but they are not impervious
to the realities of living on planet earth.
What you
actually see throughout salvation history is God
working in the lives of murders, adulterers,
swindlers, thieves, homosexuals, drunkards,
slanderers, idolaters, etc., to salvage their
lives (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Many of the books
of the Bible are written by murders—Moses,
David, Paul. These men take innocent lives
deliberately. Moses writes the first five books
of the Bible. David is responsible for a major
portion of the Psalms. Paul writes at least
thirteen books of the New Testament. A nameless
thief is dying on a cross beside Jesus. He asks
to be remembered by Christ; Jesus simply says,
“Today you shall be with me in paradise” (Luke
23:43). Moments before he was cursing Christ as
they both hung on their crosses (Matthew 27:44)
These individuals are typical examples of God’s
willingness to salvage his creation.
It is
important that I strive to understand this basic
message as I begin Bible study. Bible study will
bring me face to face with the evil in my life.
God doesn’t want me to turn and run from him
every time I discover a new facet of evil in my
life that I’ve never seen before. He is simply
asking me to recognize it and turn from the evil
and run to him so he can redeem the situation in
which I find myself. God doesn’t want me sewing
fig leaves together to cover my nakedness; he
wants me to turn to him. God gave Adam and Eve
animal skins to cover their nakedness; today he
gives me his son, Jesus Christ, to cover my
nakedness.
The theme of
the Bible reveals that God doesn’t save us
because we are righteous, but because he is
merciful. In the story of Daniel we find Daniel
praying to God, not because Daniel is righteous,
but because God is merciful. He cries out in
prayer, “We do not make requests of you
because we are righteous, but because of your
great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O
Lord, hear and act!” (Daniel 9:18-19
NIV) A merciful God sent angels to answer
Daniel’s prayer. This is the major theme of
salvation history.
Studying the
Bible will allow me to see the entire scope of
God’s work in the lives of those who failed
miserably. I learn what God has done for others
he will do for me because he does not esteem one
person over another (Acts 10:34-35). God wants
me to know he has provided for the forgiveness
of every wrong that has ever been done or will
ever be done; if only we could accept his
forgiveness.
The Impact
of One Life
The Bible
opens with the story of Adam and Eve in Eden. We
see them banished from Eden because of one wrong
choice—to eat or not to eat. It may seem like a
trivial choice until we follow the consequence
of that one choice through the first six
chapters of Genesis. There we see God salvaging
humanity through the life of one man seeking to
make the right choice—to build an ark for the
benefit of God’s creation. The destruction
begins with Eve’s choice, it led to Cain killing
Abel, and ends in the destruction of the entire
human race—except for God’s mercy.
Throughout
salvation history we see the impact one person
has on the entire human race. Adam and Eve had
another son, Seth, who began calling on the name
of the Lord. Seth’s decision to call upon the
name of the Lord impacted the salvation of
humanity through his descendant Noah. Seth’s
choice influenced Noah to the saving of
humanity. As we follow the historical
progression we learn that Abraham’s decision in
Genesis twelve is influencing a lost world
today. The apostle Paul says it this way:
Galatians
3:26-29
26 You are
all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,
27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is
neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's
seed, and heirs according to the promise. NIV
God promised
he would bless all nations through Abraham’s
decision to follow him (Genesis 12:1-3).
Salvation history traces Abraham’s descendants
to me through Jesus Christ. I am an heir of the
promise God made to Abraham for his
faithfulness. Abraham’s decision is having a
direct impact on my life as I write this
message. God’s faithfulness in fulfilling his
promise to Abraham assures me as God offers the
same promise to me through Jesus Christ.
Abraham’s
decision reveals how my decision to accept God’s
promise will impact future generations. We know
our environmental decisions are having a
devastating impact upon our planet. The question
is, “Will the earth survive?” Transfer this same
concern to all of our moral decisions looking
beyond this world into eternity. Will we survive
eternally?
The Bible
gives us the historical scope of God’s work as
he seeks to reveal himself to a lost world
through one life at a time. Genealogies of the
Bible are filled with unpronounceable names, but
they are there for a purpose. God’s historical
record traces his steps through the lives and
hearts of those he created. He doesn’t blush to
trace his work through the life of a murderer or
a harlot. This convinces me that I am blessed
to be able to call upon a merciful God. He
desires to salvage my life from the devastating
choices others have made for me. He will even
salvage me from those I have made for myself;
and those I continue to make through my own
weakness and ignorance.
Where to
Begin
Why not begin
Bible study in the book of Genesis and trace the
scope of God’s work through the history of
humankind? Observe God at work through lives of
real people, in real places as they live under
the devastating consequences of their wrong
choices and the wrong choices of others. Observe
how God seeks to turn them to himself in order
to redeem his creation for his own sake. Be led
to dwell upon what this same sovereign God
desires to do through your life to salvage you
personally—to salvage generations yet unborn.
I must
remember no one is so good so as to not need
God’s salvaging work—not even Jesus. God is the
only one who is good. Jesus doesn’t claim
goodness for himself.
Mark 10:17-18
17 As Jesus
started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell
on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he
asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
18 "Why do
you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is
good — except God alone. NIV
Salvation
history is little concerned about the timeline,
the culture, or the scientific achievements or
lack of them or even the sinfulness of those
being called. God is concerned about a person’s
decision to allow him to establish his rule in
his/her heart.
Salvation
history traces the lineage of faithful humankind
to the birth of Christ. In Luke the third
chapter, Luke turns it all around as he traces
Christ’s birth backwards through David, Abraham,
Noah, Seth and Adam (Luke 3:23-38). I like where
he says, “. . . the son of Seth, the son of
Adam, the son of God.” Imagine, ADAM THE SON OF
GOD—this is his relationship with God in Eden.
This makes every person on earth a child of God
by right of creation. If Adam was a son of God
so am I, so are you.
Think of the
kind of relationship a concerned parent wants
with his/her children. Is it any wonder why God
wants to salvage the lives of all of his
suffering sons and daughters? What kind of God
would he be if he didn’t want to bring his
children back to himself?
Conclusion:
There is only
one genealogy found in the New Testament. It is
Christ’s genealogy which is traced backward
through the hearts of those who followed God.
The apostle Paul tells us when we allow God to
clothe us in Christ’s righteous we become the
offspring of Abraham and heirs with him of the
promises of God.
Galatians
3:26-29
26 You are
all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,
27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is
neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's
seed, and heirs according to the promise. NIV
God has
purposed that our relationship with him be
restored in Christ who has atoned for our wrong
doing with his personal sacrifice.
This is the
scope of salvation history in a nutshell. What
will you decide—remember the future of the
world—eternity—hangs on your decision?
