Genesis

The Book of Genesis.

1. Creation

Who is in charge here?

Who is in charge of everything?

God. He rules over everything. Let's get that clear before we proceed.

What does it mean to rule something?

You speak and it is done.

We see this most clearly in Genesis 1.

God speaks, and things are made.

“1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”

God created the world to run on natural patterns. Light and darkness. Day and night. Land and sea. Plants and animals. Man and woman.

16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.

In God’s cosmic order, he established an authoritative pattern of how the sun, moon, and stars would rule over different times and orbits. They exercise a certain gravity over everything on earth. The sun presiding over the day is one simple way to see what it means to have authority.

Gen. 1:26: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

God said, I want to make people who are like me. What does it mean for humans to be like God? It means they have dominion. They will rule over all living things, just like God rules over everything. They'll make things, just like God make things.

Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image,

    in the image of God he created him;

    male and female he created them.

Men and women were created together to rule together. How do they help each other?

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Men and women help each other rule by being fruitful and multiplying. That is, having sex and bearing children. Making new humans is one way that people can be like God - making life. It's not the only way to be like God, but it's one of the most central.

God made us to fill the earth - that is, to find territory for ourselves. One of the best ways to do that is to have a good woman. But it also means putting in a lot of long, hard work by yourself.

Now we can see this theme throughout the book of Genesis and ultimately the whole Bible: how are men going to fill the earth and subdue it? Are they going to do it in a godly way or a sinful way? Who is going to be in charge?

Now what does all of this have to do with you? What God said here about man and woman in general applies to you. He made you to be like him. He made you to be a ruler and a maker. Some people today deny that - they just want you to obey and they just want you to consume. But God made you to make things and take charge of things.

Key Take Aways

God made us to be like him.

Being like God can involve making things, taking charge of things, and making new life.

Discussion Questions

In your life today, what are you in charge of? Do you have any say over anything?

What would you like to take charge of some day?

Do you think people in general today care about being fruitful and subduing the earth? What would that look like today? For people who don't care, why do you think they've lost sight of this?

How does our culture undermine God's authority? How does it undermine men's authority?

Is there anything that you work on making?