The TRUTH (3): The Truth of Genesis

GENESIS gives us the foundational TRUTH of the Bible, necessary for us to receive SALVATION, whereas believing the LIE leads to destruction (2Thess 2:10,11). It’s the fundamental issue of reality - ORIGINS. Why is this universe here? Why are we here? Is there a God who created us, or is it all just a big accident? Everything depends on this issue including our identity, meaning & purpose. There are only 2 ways to interpret reality – the TRUTH or the LIE. The TRUTH is there is a GOD, who CREATED all things and defines who we are. He has the right of ownership & sovereignty over us, and to expect our loyalty. He defines right & wrong. We are accountable to Him, and one day will judge us. He gave us the freedom to choose or reject Him, to believe the TRUTH or the LIE, but will hold us accountable for our choices. The LIE says we’re just accidents, the product of random events (evolution), so our life has no purpose or meaning. No wonder there's such despair in society. The only alternative is ATHEISM (this universe is all there is). EVOLUTION is a BELIEF, a RELIGION based on the LIE, to explain our ORIGINS apart from God. You either believe there’s a personal Creator God, or that you’re part of an evolving universe. The LIE means there’s no God and no absolute moral code, so we are our own god and can define our own reality and do what we want. So, a culture that promotes the LIE becomes immoral The Kingdom of LIGHT is governed by the TRUTH, whereas the kingdom of DARKNESS is governed by the LIE. The key spiritual battle over every soul is whether he embraces the TRUTH or the LIE. Only if he LOVES the TRUTH can he be SAVED by trusting Christ. God revealed the TRUTH to man in (1) CREATION & (2) CONSCIENCE, but since men love the darkness more than the light, they suppress the Truth in their hearts, exchanging it for the Lie, and so worship the creation rather than the Creator (idolatry), resulting in immorality (Rom 1:18-25). The TRUTH of God is given in the first chapters of GENESIS, the most attacked part of the Bible, for Satan knows the foundational place Genesis plays in establishing the TRUTH. *Genesis 1 describes God’s CREATION of the universe (1:1), then how God brought forth all living things by direct CREATION – not EVOLUTION. It describes God as uncreated & eternal, not part of this universe. *Genesis 2 describes the direct creation of Adam & Eve (not by evolution), in the image of God, not apes (Gen 1:26-27), and that we are all descended from them (Acts 17:26). It describes the FALL. Adam SINNED, bringing the whole human race into a state of SIN & DEATH (Rom 5:21-21, 1Cor 15:22). This is opposite to evolution, in which we were created by a process of cruelty (sin) & death. The Bible says God made everything GOOD. Genesis 3 reveals the PROBLEM of SIN, so we need SALVATION. If we don't accept the truth that MAN is a SINNER, we will not feel our need for a SAVIOUR, so the Cross will be foolishness to us. It also reveals the nature of the LIE, and its entrance into the human race through Satan. The LIE is we are our own gods, independent from God. Satan denied the TRUTH of a supreme Creator God. Instead, he claimed the whole universe, including God, is evolving. The LIE was the basis for man’s FALL into SIN, for embracing the LIE, led them to rebel against God (Gen 2:17, 3:1-5) resulting in all mankind becoming sinners (Isa 53:6). God’s TRUTH in Genesis 2-3 reveals the nature of SIN as rebellion against God (rejection of His authority), and also reveals its consequences: the CURSE & JUDGMENT. The penalty of SIN is DEATH, which came on the whole human race in Adam (Gen 2:17, Rom 6:23). God put the TRUTH in man’s heart, that he’s a created being, under God. As such, he was made to depend on God and submit to His authority. But Satan challenged this basic TRUTH, by feeding man the LIE - the only alternative explanation for our existence apart from Creation. They BELIEVED the LIE, that we could be like God, knowing good & evil in ourselves, and so be independent from God, and as a result sinned (Gen 3:6). Genesis 3 reveals God didn’t finish with man when he sinned. In His love, He promised He’d send the MESSIAH, to save us (v15), and instituted a sacrificial system, to point to how He’d save us (Gen 3:21, 4:4). The everlasting GOSPEL is based on the foundational TRUTH of GOD as our CREATOR (Rev 14:7). The truths of sin, righteousness & judgment )(n 16:8), as well as the truth of SALVATION, are seen in the story of NOAH & the FLOOD (Gen 6-8), for it shows how man’s SIN infected the whole human race, until GOD had to JUDGE man’s SIN by a world-wide FLOOD. But before that, He provided SALVATION, through Noah’s Ark (a picture of CHRIST, our ARK of SALVATION), for all those who believed & entered the Ark. Likewise, those who trust in Christ are put into Him and are saved from judgment, for in His Atoning Death, the judgment we deserved fell on Him, instead of us, so we could be saved under His Covering.