Behold Your God (Genesis 1-11 Overview)

Welcome to you if you are new here in town or visiting from the weekend.

We are starting a new series today in the book of Genesis.

And this morning we'll be taking an overview of the first 11 chapters that we'll be covering over the next three months.

One of the things that we are trying out this fall is we have bought a bunch of these scripture journals.

So this has the text of Genesis on one side and a blank page on the other side.

So if you would find this helpful over the next few months, you can take your sermon notes in it.

You can take personal notes if you're reading through Genesis on your own.

There's some copies on the back table and there's some down on the bookstall.

They're four bucks each.

Just bring the money next week and put it in the offering next week if you don't have that today.

So feel free to take one if this would be helpful to you and feel free to use them if that would be something you'd like.

So 20 years ago this weekend, I arrived in New Haven.

Moved for the first time since I was three and I didn't remember that.

For me, settling into New Haven was both exhilarating and disorienting.

I was a first year college student.

At first, it seemed like I had huge amounts of free time.

And I was living in a city.

I'd grown up in a small town.

It was all very exciting.

But at other times, it also felt disorienting and overwhelming.

I remember my first night at college around 11 p.m.

I walked over to the Dwight Hall Chapel and sat in a dimly lit corner of the room.

My head was throbbing.

I felt like I must have introduced myself to 500 people.

On that long, hot, sweaty day.

How would I find my place among all these people?

Let alone in this fairly unfamiliar city.

I would drive around downtown.

I'd end up going around in circles because there's all the one-way streets.

And I couldn't figure out which ones went which way.

One morning, I decided I'd go for a run.

I thought I'd explore some other parts of the city on foot.

I got completely lost.

It started pouring rain.

I knew I wouldn't make it back in time for class.

I thought I was heading back to campus.

I was actually getting close to West Haven.

Thankfully, a merciful shuttle driver pointed me back where I needed to go.

Well, whether you've just moved to New Haven or whether you've spent your whole life here,

isn't this part of what it means to be a human being on this planet?

We find ourselves in a world that is both exhilarating and disorienting.

Amazingly beautiful and deeply problematic.

And we can ask ourselves, what does all this mean?

How do I make sense of it?

Where did this all come from?

Where do I fit within it?

Where is my life going?

You know, these kinds of questions set human beings apart from every other species that we know of.

Human beings long for meaning, identity, and purpose, and we don't flourish apart from those things.

Over the years, writers and artists and philosophers and poets have wrestled with these big questions of life.

But one of the texts that has been around the longest and that has consistently shaped cultures and societies, families, and individuals ever since it was first written is the book of Genesis.

For thousands of years, Genesis has not only told a story about our origins, that is where we came from,

but it also speaks to our identity, who we are today, and it even hints at our ultimate destiny, where we're headed in the future.

This fall, we'll be looking at the first 11 chapters of Genesis.

And week by week, we'll walk through these chapters and consider what they have to say to us today.

There's a blue card in the pew in front of you that has a schedule.

So feel free to take one home with you if you'd like, if you'd like to sort of read ahead and prepare for, meditate on the text that we're going to be looking at each Sunday.

But what I want to do today, today's going to be a bit unusual.

Usually we'll be staying close to a particular chapter or section of the text.

But today we're going to do an overview of the terrain.

So today we'll feel a little bit like going up to the top of East Rock or West Rock and looking at New Haven as a whole.

If you're new in town, it's worth sort of driving or hiking up to one of these outlooks at some point because you can see the contours of the land.

You can see the Long Island Sound on the south and the Quinnipiac River on the east and some smaller rivers on the west.

You can see the familiar landmarks, the tall buildings downtown, the tree-lined streets, the Yale campus, Southern Connecticut State, Wilber Cross High School.

You can begin to grasp how the city fits together as a whole.

Like the city of New Haven, the opening chapters of Genesis can be both exhilarating and disorienting.

On the one hand, these chapters are endlessly fascinating.

They've inspired countless works of art and literature over the centuries.

Stories that might be familiar to you like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Cain killing his brother Abel, Noah and the flood, the Tower of Babel.

But at the same time, reading these chapters can also feel disorienting.

Now, in part, this is because these chapters have become the source or subject, I don't think they're the source, but they are the subject of numerous controversies and questions.

So let me just acknowledge some of the questions that are out there, some of the questions that you may be bringing with you as we approach Genesis.

So you may have questions about science.

How does Genesis relate to modern scientific theories like the Big Bang and evolution?

Now, this is a big topic, so we're going to take two weeks at the end of September in Adult Sunday School to address it.

So I'll teach one session from my perspective as a pastor.

Danielle Speller, who's a physicist, is going to teach another session from her perspective as a physicist.

We'll be talking about science and faith.

So that's one question.

A more scholarly question is a question about authorship.

Who wrote Genesis?

Now, the traditional answer is Moses.

And I think there is a very good case to be made for Moses playing a primary role.

However, many scholars completely dismiss that idea and don't even take it seriously.

Now, I won't try to resolve that question here and now, but I've written a handout, and it's on the back table, and you can take it, entitled,

Who Wrote the Pentateuch?

Just sort of overviewing some of the reasons why people think certain things.

And if that's of interest to you, I'm happy to discuss that at another time.

Here are some other questions.

What about cavemen, Neanderthals, and other early hominids?

How do they fit in with the story of Adam and Eve?

Where did Cain's wife come from?

If you know this, Cain's the son of Adam and Eve, and then Cain's wife is mentioned in the text.

Well, where did his wife come from if he was the son of Adam and Eve and there weren't any other people around?

Or does that mean there were other people around?

Did the flood really happen?

Like Genesis says it did.

If so, where's the lost ark?

More seriously, that was supposed to be a joke, the lost ark.

More seriously, what does it mean that God made human beings in his own image?

And then why did God want to wipe out the entire world that he had created in the flood?

So many questions, and all of these are legitimate, some more important than others.

Many we will address over the next three months.

But you know, if we immediately focus on all the questions that we bring with us as modern people,

many of which reflect our own cultural assumptions,

it's possible to miss the point of Genesis itself.

So I want to acknowledge these questions, but I also want to put them to the side for right now,

and begin by dealing with Genesis on its own terms.

So open your Bible to the book of Genesis.

This morning, I want to focus on three things.

Number one is the structure of Genesis.

How is the book organized?

Second is the audience of Genesis.

Who is the book written to?

And third, the main character of Genesis.

So first, the structure of Genesis.

Now, when Genesis was first written down,

there were no chapter and verse markers like we see in our modern Bibles.

The chapter numbers were added in the 13th century,

and the verse numbers were added in the 16th century,

simply so that it would be easier to explain to somebody else which part you were referring to.

But we do see in the text of Genesis a very clear and orderly structure.

Now, if you look in your bulletin,

in one of the middle pages in your bulletin,

I've outlined the important parts of this structure, the relevant verses.

But if you're looking at a Bible,

Genesis begins by saying,

in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And in fact, in Hebrew Bibles,

Genesis is known by that first Hebrew word,

Bereshith, or beginning.

It's the book of beginnings.

And Genesis describes two beginnings.

So chapters 1 to 11, which we'll be looking at this fall,

describe the beginning of the world.

And these chapters have sort of a wide-angle, global view.

The rest of the book, chapters 12 through 50,

describes the beginning of God's people Israel.

Starting in chapter 12,

the focus narrows way into Abraham and his family and his descendants.

And you can see that these are the two major parts of Genesis

because each of the parts has five sections

that all begin with the same heading.

If you look at chapter 2, verse 4,

the first heading in the first part of Genesis,

it says,

these are the generations of the heavens and the earth

when they were created.

Then if you go to chapter 5, verse 1,

it says this same similar phrase,

this is the book of the generations of Adam.

Chapter 6, verse 9,

these are the generations of Noah.

Chapter 10, verse 1,

these are the generations of the sons of Noah.

And chapter 11, verse 10,

these are the generations of Shem.

In other translations,

these verses might be translated,

this is the family line of so-and-so,

or this is the account of so-and-so.

But in Hebrew, it's always the same word,

regardless of how it's translated.

And you might notice a couple of things from this structure.

First, the sections alternate between narratives, or stories,

and genealogies, or lists.

And this was very common in many ancient writings.

Story, list, story, list.

The other thing you might notice is that the first chapter of Genesis,

through to chapter 2, verse 3,

stands apart from the rest of the book.

So it's not just another section.

It's more like a prologue or a prelude.

As we'll see next week, it's full of poetic patterns.

It's sort of like a movie trailer that sets the stage for what is to come.

So Genesis is very intentionally ordered,

has a very clear and orderly structure.

It's thoughtfully arranged, not randomly thrown together.

And it highlights these two major movements,

the beginning of the world,

and then the beginning of God's people Israel,

through whom he would renew the whole world, ultimately.

So that's how Genesis is structured.

Second, let me speak a bit to the audience of Genesis.

In other words, who was the book of Genesis originally written for?

Well, I think we can definitely say two things here.

First, Genesis was written for the people of Israel.

In other words, Genesis was written for people who had already experienced

God's mighty power and rescuing grace,

and it was written for them so they would come to know their God better.

You might say, well, how do we know this?

Because Genesis is connected to the four books that follow it.

And it's always been connected to Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

These are the first five books of the Bible.

That's why they're sometimes called the Pentateuch five books.

They contain the early history of the people of Israel.

They contain the laws that the people of Israel were to live by.

And these books were written down and read aloud over the centuries

among the people of Israel.

So Genesis was written to help people who were already believers

in the God of the Bible to get to know their God better

and to find their place in the world that he had made.

So if you're a Christian believer today, Genesis is for you.

And Genesis is an invitation to behold your God.

To get to know this God whom you have begun to experience

and already have come to believe,

to get to know him better and to find your place

in the world that he has made.

But second, I'd also argue that Genesis is also written

for people who don't or don't yet believe in the God of the Bible.

If you don't believe in the God of the Bible,

I think that Genesis is an appeal.

Consider this God.

Now, why would I say that?

Well, the chapters we're looking at this fall,

in particular, are written in a way

that would have introduced the God of Israel

clearly and powerfully to anyone from the surrounding nations

who had different religious and philosophical and moral beliefs.

You see, the people of Israel never lived on an island.

They were never completely isolated from the rest of the world.

They always had neighbors.

The Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Canaanites.

Now, sometimes they're fighting them.

Sometimes they're coexisting with them.

Sometimes they're conquered by them.

But they're always interacting with them

in one way or another.

And each of these surrounding nations

also had their own stories

of how the world came to be

and how their nation came to be.

Now, there are three major stories

that we'll see in the course of Genesis 1 through 11.

First, the creation.

And that's really chapters 1 through 4,

how the world began,

and then how it all went wrong.

Then there's the flood,

which is really chapters 5 through 9.

How everything got washed away

and then made new again.

And then there's the Tower of Babel.

That word Babel is referring to the ancient city of Babylon.

Now, every one of these topics,

the creation, the flood, the Tower of Babel,

would have been familiar to people

from the nations that surrounded Israel.

So, for example, the Babylonians had a poem

entitled Enuma Elish,

which begins with a story of how the world was created

from unformed waters,

and it concludes with the building of a tower

in Babylon as a temple

to the Babylonian god Marduk.

Other nations also told stories about a great flood.

The Epic of Gilgamesh,

the Sumerian flood story,

the Atrahasis epic,

all speak about a great flood

sent by the gods as a judgment

on the human race.

So, you see, if you were living in the ancient world,

the topics that Genesis covers

and the questions that Genesis addresses

would have seemed very normal.

We might read Genesis and think

that some parts are unusual or strange,

but they wouldn't have seemed unusual or strange

in the topics that it is addressing.

So, Genesis was addressing common questions

that people had back then.

And I think if we can hear and interpret Genesis rightly,

we'll see that it also speaks

to many of the questions that people have today.

So, Genesis speaks to believers,

and it invites us to behold our God,

and Genesis speaks to skeptics

and appeals and says,

consider this God.

That brings us to the third point,

the main character of Genesis.

Genesis.

The main character of Genesis is not Adam,

or Eve,

or Noah,

or Abraham.

The main character in Genesis is God.

In the first chapter alone,

God's name is mentioned more than 30 times.

And so, before we jump into

any of our other questions about Genesis,

the first question we need to ask is this,

what is Genesis telling us about God?

God.

You see, what would have been striking

and distinctive to everyone else

in the ancient world

is not the topics that Genesis addresses,

but it's the God who Genesis describes,

who's unique and distinct.

As we look through these 11 chapters,

we're going to see three things

about the God whom Genesis describes,

and for the rest of our time this morning,

I want to focus on these three things.

First, in the first two chapters,

Genesis 1 and 2,

we see that God is the good creator

of everything and everyone.

You know, if you read these other creation stories

from the ancient Near East,

every one of them describes

the creation of the world as a fight,

a violent struggle between rival gods

or a manipulative ploy

by one deity trying to undermine another.

But in the biblical account of creation,

there's only one God

who is not full of internal conflict,

but rather who creates all things purposefully

through his word.

If you look at chapter one,

there's a repeated refrain,

and God said,

and then God saw that it was good.

In the other ancient creation stories,

the gods create human beings

to be their slaves,

to do their work

so that the gods can sit back and relax.

Mankind shall be charged

with the service of the gods

that they might be at ease,

says the Atrahasis epic Babylonian story.

But in Genesis, it's different.

First, we see that God works.

God is portrayed as an architect

building the universe,

and then as an artist,

creating it, filling it,

and then as a gardener, cultivating it.

There's a dignity to human work,

and God is not trying to stop working

by making human beings

to do his undignified work.

Rather, God works,

and so do his people,

and also God rests.

How does the creation story end?

Chapter two, verse one,

thus the heavens and the earth

were finished,

and all the host of them.

And on the seventh day,

God finished his work that he had done,

and he rested on the seventh day

from all his work that he had done.

So God blessed the seventh day

and made it holy.

You see, God rests.

In other words,

God has joyful delight

in the world that he has made,

and God shares that joyful delight

with his image-bearing creatures.

You see, the Sabbath is not just something

that only God can practice,

but as we go on in the Old Testament,

God gives it as a gift to his people.

He says,

I want you to experience the joyful delight

that I have in looking at the world

that I have made,

and even joyful delight

in the work that I'm doing in you.

You see, the biblical God,

unlike the other gods

of the ancient Near East,

the biblical God is not simply

a projection of greedy, fickle, selfish,

conflict-prone humanity.

The biblical God is not just a reflection

of the ancient cultures

in which these books originated.

The biblical God is distinct and unique.

He is the good creator of everything

and everyone.

You know, not many people today still read

the ancient Babylonian and Egyptian

and Canaanite creation myths.

Right?

Not many people,

pretty much only scholars read

the Atrahas' epic,

some of the other Sumerian

and Egyptian creation stories,

but billions of people

still read Genesis.

It's never gone out of print.

Around the world,

in different periods of history

and vastly different cultures

from where it is written,

people have found

that Genesis has a message

that is still worth considering,

still thought-provoking.

One scholar who wrote a commentary

on the book of Genesis

is Leon Cass.

He was a professor

at the University of Chicago.

He may still be there.

But he wrote this

in his introduction

to his commentary.

He did not identify himself

as a religious believer,

but he wrote this

in his introduction.

He said,

More and more Americans

are owning up to the fact

that something is missing

in their lives.

More and more of us

are looking for spiritual direction

and guidance.

It seemed like only yesterday

that the Enlightenment

overthrew the rule

of religious orthodoxy

and promised an earthly paradise

of human fulfillment

based only on scientific reason.

Yet today,

the enlightened children

of skeptics,

and he includes himself

as a child of skeptics,

he says,

We are discovering for ourselves

that man does not live

or live well

by bread alone,

nor by bread and circuses,

and that science's account

of human life and the world

is neither adequate

to the subject

nor satisfying

to the longings

of the soul.

So he says,

We need to reconsider

our present beliefs

and reexamine

seemingly rejected

or abandoned alternatives.

This includes,

he goes on,

a serious reexamination

of the Bible.

And he says,

The best place to start

is at the beginning

with a book known

as Genesis.

You see,

Genesis continues

continues to speak

to people

who are looking

for these answers

to these big questions

of meaning

and identity

and purpose.

You know,

maybe you've,

maybe you have come

to believe

in the God of the Bible.

Maybe you've had

an experience

of God's goodness

that has drawn you

to him.

Maybe there's been

an answered prayer

or a merciful intervention

or an undeserved gift

or just an unexplainable

but undeniable sense

that God is there

and God is real.

And Genesis is saying

that the God

you've begun to experience

is even greater

than you can imagine.

The whole universe

is a theater

of his glory.

Abraham Kuyper once said,

There is not a square inch

in the whole domain

of our human existence

over which Jesus Christ,

who is sovereign over all,

does not cry,

Mine.

Genesis says,

God made it all

and he is present

in it all.

You know,

imagine Moses.

Imagine Moses

standing in the wilderness.

He's led the people,

he's led the children

of Israel

out of slavery in Egypt.

They've experienced

God's miraculous power.

They've experienced

this dramatic deliverance.

They were once slaves

and now they're free.

And imagine Moses

reading the first chapter

of Genesis to them

in the beginning.

God created

the heavens

and the earth.

What's he saying?

He's saying,

The God who you've begun

to experience

who has,

in a personal way,

is the one who spoke

the entire world

into existence

and rules over everything,

who formed

and filled the earth

and rules over the nations.

Behold your God.

He's not just the God

of your little life

or your little community.

He's the God

of everything.

He's the one

who created all nations.

The good creator

of everything

and everyone.

That's the first thing

we see about God.

The second thing

we see about God

in Genesis

is that God's not only

the good creator

of everything

and everyone,

but he's also

the judge

of all.

And his judgments

are altogether righteous.

And we'll see this

throughout chapters

three through eleven.

You see,

Genesis isn't just

the story

of how God's good

and beautiful world

began to be.

It's also a story

of how human beings

mess things up

over and over again.

Of course,

it all starts

in the garden.

Chapter three

tells the story

of when Adam and Eve

ate of the forbidden tree.

And in doing so,

they were deciding

that the God

who had planted

the garden

and placed them

in it

and installed them

as king and queen

over it,

they were deciding

that that God

is actually not

very good after all.

And instead,

they decide

that a serpent

and intruder

on the scene

is far more trustworthy.

And then they decide

that they should have

the right

to draw their own boundaries

and be accountable

only to themselves

and that the world

would be better

that way.

But have we not seen

over and over

in history

that when every individual

insists on being

their own ruler

and judge,

drawing their own

moral boundaries

and being accountable

only to themselves,

social harmony

and mutual trust

quickly vanish.

Of course,

that's what we see

in the aftermath

of Genesis 3.

We see alienation

from God

resulting in shame

and distrust

within marriage.

Genesis 3, 16.

We see frustration

and futility

and work.

Verse 17 through 19.

We see pain

and agony

and childbearing

and continuing

the human race.

Chapter 4 begins

with a brother

killing a brother

and it ends

with a husband

threatening his wives.

Yes, wives, plural.

By the time we get

to chapter 6,

the verdict is

that the whole world

is full of violence

and exploitation

and every intention

of the thoughts

of the human heart

is only evil

continually.

Chapter 6, verse 5.

And there is no remedy

in sight.

And so God sends

a flood

to judge the wickedness

of the world.

Now as I said,

every other,

almost every other

ancient culture

at the time

had a story

of a flood

sent by the gods

to judge the human race

at some time

or another.

That by itself

would not have seemed

at all unusual

or controversial

to any of Israel's neighbors.

But in many

of the other flood stories,

the gods send the flood

for rather petty reasons.

So in the Atrahasis epic,

Babylonian story,

the gods get annoyed

with people

because they're having

too many children

and the world

is getting too noisy.

And so the gods

decide to wipe out

the world

so they can have

peace and quiet again.

Yeah,

that's what the story says.

But the god of the Bible

is not petty

or cranky

or immature.

Psalm 19, verse 9 says,

Psalms 19:9

the judgments

of the Lord

are true

and altogether

righteous.

You see,

if you look

at God's judgments,

God's judgments

are always based

on reality.

Now,

Abraham Lincoln

quoted that verse,

the judgments

of the Lord

are true

and altogether

righteous,

in his second

inaugural address.

as he looked

upon a nation

nearly destroyed

not by a watery

flood,

but by a bloody

civil war.

He said,

this horrible war

that we have endured

could very well

have been

God's righteous

judgment on our nation

for 250 years

of slavery.

Now,

some of us

hesitate

to even suggest

something like that,

that God's

righteous judgment

could be manifested

in human history.

I think

many of us

want to be clear,

rightly,

that not every

natural disaster

is an expression

of God's moral

disapproval

directed at

particular individuals

or cultures

or movements.

We want to be careful

not to blame

victims,

and those are

important concerns.

The doctrine

of God's judgment

can be misused

in harmful ways.

But in Romans 1,

the apostle Paul

says that God's

judgment against

human wickedness

is manifested

in the present day

in part

by God giving

people over

to their own

unrestrained

desires,

by letting

sin take its

own inherently

destructive course.

God is still

the judge of all,

and his judgments

are still

altogether

righteous.

And when we see

that,

we might ask,

if human beings

continue to mess

things up,

like Genesis

shows us over

and over again,

if we continue

to spoil God's

good world,

and if God's

judgments are true

and altogether

righteous,

does Genesis

and the Bible

offer any hope

to people like us?

God's good

God's good

and the Bible

is not

God's good

because the third

thing that Genesis

shows us about God

is that God

is a merciful Savior

who offers

new beginnings.

see,

there are three times

that we'll see

in the opening

chapters of Genesis

where things go

way south.

First,

in the garden

with the treachery

of Adam and Eve.

God entrusts them

with such a wonderful

gift,

and they

betray God.

Second,

things go way

downhill leading up

to the flood

in the spreading

violence

and exploitation.

And then third,

in the ungodly

ambitions of

the Tower of Babel.

We'll get to that

in time.

And each time

God brings judgment,

Adam and Eve

get exiled

from the garden

because they've

spoiled it.

They've put the

wrong person

in charge.

The wicked world

gets destroyed

in the flood

so that the cycle

of violence

doesn't just

continually

perpetuate itself

over and over

again.

The people

at Babel

end up confused

with their

ambitions

frustrated.

But every time

that God

brings judgment,

God also

shows mercy.

Look at chapter

three

and verse

15.

God is speaking

after

what's gone

wrong in the

garden.

The Lord God

said to the serpent,

verse 15,

I will put enmity

between you

and the woman

and between your

offspring

and her

offspring.

He shall

bruise your

head

and you

shall bruise

his heel.

Now this is

sort of an

verse that's

hard to

understand.

It's a bit

enigmatic,

but it's

basically talking

about an

ongoing

conflict

between

the deceitful

serpent

and the

offspring

of Eve.

But it

says,

he shall

bruise

your head.

In other

words,

a child

of Eve

would one

day

crush

the head

of the

deceitful

serpent.

See,

everybody knows

you kill a

snake by

crushing its

head.

And of

course,

the New

Testament

says that

Jesus Christ

is that

one who

has defeated,

trampled

down death

by death,

who has

killed sin

or overcome

sin.

And the New

Testament

says that

the deceiver

and liar

and enemy

of our

souls will

not ultimately

have the

last word

because Jesus

Christ has

come.

See,

one more

sign of

mercy in

chapter 3,

verse 21,

as God

prepares to

send Adam

and Eve

away from

the garden.

It says,

the Lord

God made

for Adam

and his

wife garments

of skins

and clothed

them.

Adam and

Eve are

sent away

from God's

presence and

they're ashamed

and vulnerable

in their

nakedness and

in his

mercy God

clothed

them.

Of course,

an animal

would have

had to die

for those

clothes to

be made

and eventually

God's son

himself would

have to die

but God

would take it

upon himself

to restore

the honor

of his own

image-bearing

creatures and

to clothe us

in his

righteousness

and to

call us

once more

his children.

So God

shows mercy

to Adam

and Eve

in chapter 3

and then God

shows mercy

to Noah

and his

family after

the flood.

You read

the story

of the flood

and everything

is getting

destroyed

and then you

get to chapter

8 verse 1

which is the

center of the

flood story

and it says

but God

remembered

Noah.

God makes

a wind blow

and the

waters subside

and then chapter

9 verse 1

it says God

blessed Noah.

You see on the

other side of the

flood there's

hope of a new

beginning.

brothers and

sisters Jesus

Christ is even

better than

Noah because

he brings us

through the

flood of God's

judgment into

his promise

his covenant

of grace.

And Jesus

God remembers

us in his

mercy and he

blesses us with

his favor.

And then we

might get to the

third failure of

humanity chapter 11

the tower of

Babel and you

might think man

three strikes

what happens

when you get

three strikes

you're out.

Right?

Okay God gave

Adam and Eve

another chance.

Okay God gave

Noah another

chance.

Tower of Babel

forget it.

Wipe them out

and done.

Maybe make

another universe

millions of

years later.

But no.

Once again

God chose

mercy.

Out of the

blue God

makes a promise

to Abraham in

chapter 12 and

says I'll bless

you and make

you a great

nation and

through you all

the families of

the earth will be

blessed one day.

I will take

your family and

your descendants

and I will work

through them to

renew the whole

world.

You see the God

who made the

world and called

it good has not

abandoned his

creation.

God hasn't given

up on us.

Genesis isn't

just about

what God did

long ago to

get everything

started.

No.

Genesis shows

us that the God

of the Bible is a

God of new

beginnings.

It's not just

that God can start

with nothing.

With a

formless and

empty template

and build it up

and fill it up

and make it

into everything

that we see

today.

It's that God

can start with

broken people

who have been

twisted by sin

and hurt

and who have

hurt others

and God can

renew us

through his

son Jesus

Christ.

He can make

us even

better than

new.

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 4:6

4 verse 6

said God

who said

let light

shine out

of darkness

has made

his light

shine in

our hearts

to give

us the

light of

the knowledge

of the

glory of

God

in the

face of

Jesus

Christ.

See we

see that

God is the

good creator

of everyone

and everything

we see that

God is the

judge and

his judgments

are altogether

righteous but

we also see

that he is a

merciful savior

who offers a

new beginning.

What's your

anchor in

this world

in this

exhilarating

and disorienting

world?

Where are you

looking to find

meaning and

identity and

purpose that

lasts?

I pray that you

would find your

anchor in the

character of

this God.

Let's pray.

God we

praise you

that you

are the

good God

whose mercy

is over all

that you

have made.

We praise

you that you

are a just

God.

Your

judgments are

true and

altogether

righteous.

We thank you

for the mercy

and grace that

you've shown us

in sending your

son Jesus

Christ.

We thank you

Lord for those

words that if

anyone is in

Christ there is

a new creation.

The old has

gone and the

new has come.

Lord we pray

today.

We pray that as

we look into the

book of Genesis

this fall we

pray as we go

throughout this

week ahead of

us that we

would be anchored

in these truths

about who you

are.

We pray Lord

that where we

need your mercy

and grace for a

new beginning

would you pour

that into our

hearts and

lives and

relationships.

Lord would we

know that the

same power that

spoke the world

into existence

and the same

power that raised

Jesus Christ from

the dead is at

work in all who

believe in Christ.

Lord would you

strengthen and

renew us for the

sake of your son

Jesus Christ we

pray.

Amen.