This week our church comes to the final section in Genesis 11. I think this is a good time to just take a moment to look back and see where we've been and what we have learned as we reach the end of this first big section.
Genesis really is a foundational book for providing historical basis for understanding the rest of the bible and even for understanding the world we live in. It really does provide the first big step in developing a Christian and biblical worldview. Notice that I didn't say that it provides a full comprehensive worldview. The Christian worldview is understood by seeing God's big plan in history from creation all the way through to our anticipation of the new creation. We understand this world not just from its beginnings but also through the redeeming work of Christ and the hope of the reconciliation of all things.
Even so, the first chapters of Genesis have laid a solid foundation for us to build our worldview house. Let's think about where we have been so far.
- Genesis 1-2 - The special creation of everything in six days including the special creation of humanity in God's image. God rests in his glorious rule over creation. It is in this section we also witnessed God's covenant with his creation through Adam. God is the Creator of all things, and his plan is for his glory to be spread through his image bearers across the earth.
- Genesis 3. - Mankind sinned and brought separation between us and God and a corruption of the entire creation. With our sin came God's merciful promise to bring the Seed of the woman to crush the serpent's head. God also made provision for the covering of our sin through substitutionary atoning sacrifice.
- Genesis 4-5 - From the outworking of mankind's sin and God's promise, we found the first examples of the division of humanity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. The picture of God's grace is evident in the sight of a corrupt humanity.
- Genesis 6-9 - In the sight of the comprehensive corruption of sin, God brings comprehensive judgment. From that judgment God also continues his covenant with creation through Noah. God protects his promise and his plan.
- Genesis 10-11 - Mankind's continual decline into sinfulness and self-centered glory seeking will not thwart God's plan for his glory to be spread across the earth. Through the confusion of language, God spreads a rebellious humanity and then gives us a glimpse of his plan to bring about his seed of promise through the line of Shem.
As we think through those important sub-sections of Genesis 1-11, we can also realize why it is so important to study them. Just imagine if we had a bible that did not include Genesis 1-11.
We would have no sense of glory, authority, sinfulness, judgment and wrath.
We would have no sense of God's merciful response and grace in his promise.
We would have no sense of God's faithfulness to his creation.
We would have no sense of our own human nature or existence. - we wouldn't even understand what a human is.
We would have no sense of hope. We would have no understanding of the nature of salvation - that it cannot come from us.
We would have no basis for understanding a full and final judgment to come.
We would have no understanding of major doctrines - Trinity, The Word of God, Sin, Salvation, atonement, sovereignty and election,
We would have no historical basis for understand the origins of creation nor in understanding the unity and diversity in the created order.
We would have no understanding of a binary worldview of complimentary distinctives - male/female, heaven and earth, light and dark, night and day.
We would have no basis for truth.
We would have no basis for goodness.
We would have no basis for beauty
We would have no understanding of marriage and family. - or even government.
We would have no understanding of order.
We would have no understanding of covenant or even of the whole thrust of the bible. The big scope of God's plan.
Most of all, we would have no foundational context for the cross.
Why not go back over this list above and give God thanks for giving us an understanding that so many people in this world don't have. Thank God that through Christ and the work of regeneration in our hearts, we actually care about this list. It's true that Genesis gives us a great basis for understanding our need for Jesus. It is also true that without Jesus and the Spirit's illumination of our hearts, we would see no real significance in Genesis.
At the end of the day, Jesus IS the significance of Jesus.