SERMON 152 THE BOOK OF GENESIS, CREATION AND CHRONOLOGY                                            The first book in the Bible is called Genesis in English.  In the Hebrew Bible it is BERASHIT, which is the first word in the book,  It means “in the beginning.”     Genesis 2:4:
    This is the generations of the heavens and the earth when they
    were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and
    the heavens, Genesis 2:4.      
The word for generations in Hebrew is TOLDOTH.  In the New King James Bible translation it is translated “history.”  So we read in Genesis 2:4:  “This is the history of the heavens and the earth.”
    The Book of Genesis is a part of the Law that God gave through Moses.  It is called the First Book of Moses. It is the first of the five books that God gave through Moses called the Law, haTorah.
    There are eleven sections of the book of Genesis which begin with “Generations,” such as “These are the generations of . . .”    The book of Genesis gives us a history from the creation of the heavens and the earth until the people of Israel entered Egypt including the deaths of Jacob and his son Joseph.
    God chose the people of Israel to be a special people for bringing His Messiah into the world so that all people of the world could be blessed with salvation from sin and have eternal life in Messiah.  Abraham was chosen by God.  God said to Abraham, “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  Genesis 12:3.  From Abraham came his son Isaac and from Isaac came his son Jacob whose name was changed to Israel.  Israel had 12 sons who became the people of Israel.
    The book of Genesis, the book “In the Beginning” gives us a hisory from the beginning until Israel entered Egypt.               
    In the first chapter of Genesis, we read the history of  the creation of the heavens and the earth.   
    Genesis 1:1:  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  
The six days of creation are recorded in the first chapter of Genesis.  The days are numbered and each day has an evening and a morning.  This shows us that we are to understand the word “day” in the sense of a day having an evening and a morning, not in the sense of a long period of time.
    In Exodus chapter 2O, Israel was commanded to:
    “Remember the Sabbath day, and to keep it holy.  Exodus 20:8.
And then in this context we read:
    Exodus 20:11:  For in six days the LORD made the heavens and                                 2
    the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the
    seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and
    hallowed it.  Exodus 20:11.
The six days of creation are used in the same sense of the word “day” as the Sabbath day, a 24 hour day.  Notice that the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them in six days.  There are no gaps or long periods of time.
    Jesus Messiah said:
    Matthew 19:4:  And He answered and said to them, “Have you
    not read that He who made them at the beginning, ‘made them
    male and female,’  Matthew 19:4.
Yes, Jesus Messiah stated that at the beginning, God made them male and female.  Jesus quoted Genesis 1:26, which was on the sixth day of creation.  So then Jesus Messiah declared that the sixth day was at the beginning, not some later time.
    The heavens and earth were made in six days.
    When you read Genesis 5, you can see that it gives the  descendants of Adam from Seth to Shem. The age is given of each father when his son is born.  By adding up these we get a time from creation to the birth of Shem, the son of Noah. From Genesis 11:10 this geneology is continued from Shem to Terah the father of Abraham. We are given the time from creation until Abraham.  God had this information put in the Bible so that we could know. This geneology list is also given in 1 Chronicles 1  and in Luke 3.
    It is an interesting study to put together geneologies, times and dates given in the Bible.  We can just summarize the studies and calculations made by Richard Teachout.  The reign of Solomon began in 971 B.C.  In 1 Kings 6:1, it was 480 years from the Exodus out of Egypt until the fourth year of Solomon’s reign.  So the Exodus was  1,446 B.C.  Exodus 12:4O tells us that Israel was in Egypt 430 years.  So the people of Israel went to Egypt in  1,875 B.C. when Jacob was 130 years old,  Gen.48:28.          Jacob was born when Isaac his father was 60 years old, Gen. 25:26.      Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years old,  Gen.21:5.   Abraham was born when his father was 130 years old, Gen.11:32, 12:4; Acts 7:4,    So Abraham was born in 2,166 B.C.
    By calculating back from Abraham, using the Septuagint text of Genesis, the flood was  3,398 B.C. or bout 5,400 years ago.  Creation was  5,654 B.C.  or almost 7,700 years ago. 
    The book of Genesis is history.  The book of Genesis is the word of God.  The book of     3   Genesis is part of the Law that  God gave through Moses to Israel.  Messiah Yeshua, Jesus certified the book of Genesis. You need to believe the word of God. Do not put your faith in the guesses, assumptions and false theories of men.  They were not there when God created the heavens and earth.
    God promised Abraham in:                              
    Genesis 22:18:  “In your seed all the nations of the earth 
    shall be blessed,because you have obeyed My voice.” Gen.22:18.
Yes, in the seed of Abraham all nations are indeed blessed.  The seed is singular, one.  The seed is Messiah.  You can be blessed in Messiah just as God promised Abraham.  You can have a blessed life here on this earth and eternal, everlasting life in the heavenly New Jerusalem. Messiah gave His blood for the forgiveness of your sins.  Understand that Messiah Jesus died for your sins according to the scriptures.  Messiah Jesus was buried. Messiah Jesus rose the third day according to the scriptures. This is good news for you.  You also can die to sin.  You can be buried with Messiah in baptism into death and you can be raised up to walk in newness of life.  Romans 6:4.  Will you believe in Messiah Jesus?  Will you turn away from sin?  Will you be buried under the water in baptism into Messiah Jesus?  Then you will be raised up to walk in newness of life, eternal life. 
    Colossians 2:12:  buried with Him in baptism,in which you also
    were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who
    raised Him from the dead.  Colossians 2:12.
    ‘And now why are you waiting?  Arise and be baptized, and wash
    away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’  Acts 22:16.
    John 3:5:  Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless
    one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the 
    kingdom of God.  John 3:5.     
    Acts 2:38:  Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every
    one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
    remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Acts 2:38.