BULLETIN ARTICLE – 6 January 2019
Beginnings are always significant. We are thrilled to hear about a new beginning – the birth of a baby in the family. There is much excitement and fanfare at a new beginning – a child’s first day of school. At the beginning of every year there is always much excitement and anticipation and sometimes even fear and uncertainty as to what the new year would bring.
This year 2019, we at BKC will study the Bible book of Genesis. The word “Genesis” is taken from the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) translation of Gen 2:4 “This is the book of the generation (geneseos) of heaven and earth”. Hence it teaches us that the book of Genesis does not just refer to any beginning. It brings us right to the very beginning when – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). In the Biblical creation account given to us in the book of Genesis, we must not forget the central figure of it all – the Triune God, the Creator.
As the sequence of the creation of “the heavens and the earth” unravels, we anticipate with bated breath, a beautiful and perfect world – one where God rules and mankind is in constant fellowship and close communion with him. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and the world was marred by original sin. Yet God’s love for his creation meant that he had to have a plan to rescue people even though they chose to sin against him and rejected his rule.
In the book of Genesis (and throughout the Pentateuch – the 5 Books of Moses), and even the rest of the Bible, we see how God carries out his plan of rescue through Abraham, through his family, and later through the nation Israel. God remains faithful to his plan. In the New Testament we see his plan of salvation fulfilled in Jesus Christ, God’s only and beloved son. Through the blessing of Abraham, of his family, of the nation Israel and ultimately in the Israelite Jesus Christ, the world is blessed with every spiritual blessing, even salvation from sin and eternal life.
Mankind is still confronted with choices today. We can choose to live God’s way, under his rule and care or away from it. Many still choose to go their own way. We see this in the way most people in the world live.
As we embark in 2019 on a study of the Bible book of Genesis, we will do well to first and foremost remember who God is and what he is like. This will be a new beginning for us and sets the paradigm for how we should live. Let us look carefully upon the decisions we make in life – will we choose to live the life as God intends for us and in so doing bring glory to his name, or will we reject his counsel like Adam and Eve did? We also need to experience the kind of transformation seen in the lives of the patriarchs in Genesis. Only then can we be a church that cares for the community around us and become God’s channel of blessing to all the families of the earth.
