Do you long to get an overall grasp of the Bible?
Want to find out more about the origins of the world?
Join us at BASIC from 23 January – 6 March as we begin a new series on “a Wonderful World” with five Bible Studies and talks that show how the Bible fits together as the unfolding story of God’s plan for salvation.
Series Overview
Genesis means ‘origins’ or ‘beginnings’. The creation stories found at the beginning of Genesis are foundational to our understanding of who God is, who we are and why our world is as it is. The first study looks at God creating a perfect world out of nothing and challenges us about our response to God and the way we treat his world.
In the second study we see that God’s intention for mankind was that they should live as rulers of his world, in relationship with him, under his authority and in the place that he provided. It was right that Adam and Eve lived under God’s authority, because God is the maker of the world and therefore owns it.
God expected people to keep his command as a matter of free choice and not compulsion, so there was always a possibility that they would rebel and reject God’s rule over them, which, of course, is what we find in the third study. We see that sin is a huge problem. It is not just doing ‘wrong things’, but is an attitude which rejects God’s authority and says, ‘I’ll do things my way, not God’s way.’ Sin makes God and man enemies and explains why our world is as it is.
All this makes the next part of the Bible story truly remarkable. The fourth study looks at God choosing Abraham, who is just an ordinary, sinful man. He does not deserve God’s special favour and is not any more fit to be in God’s presence that Adam and Eve were. Yet God calls him and makes an extraordinary covenant with him and his descendants. These promises made to Abraham are of enormous importance. Essentially they are promises to take Abraham’s descendants back to a situation like Eden. The whole of the Old Testament, from Genesis 12 onwards, has these promises, which were made to Abraham, in view. The final part of this study looks at the coming of Jesus, the one who fulfills the promises made to Abraham. Only Jesus can deal with the problem of sin and reconcile us to God.
However, these promises made to Abraham will not be completely fulfilled until Jesus comes again to judge this world and establish a new creation. In the final study we see God’s redeemed people, made perfect, will live in God’s place, the new creation, under the authority of Jesus and in perfect fellowship with him. It is exactly what we were made for at the beginning of time and will be worth waiting for. It will be worth suffering for and will be more wonderful than we can ever imagine.
