Creation

“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (Genesis 2: 1, 2 NIV)

When his disciples were accused by the Pharisees of desecrating the Sabbath the conclusion of Jesus’ answer was, “If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12: 7, 8)

Jesus continued the work of our heavenly Father and now does that work through us.

Free Will Misused

The serpent’s craftiness and Adam’s rebellion began a downward spiral that required God’s direct intervention to redeem the world from death. The redemption narrative begins: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3: 15 NIV)

Cleansing

The spiral of death goes ever downward until it becomes necessary for God to cleanse the planet and start over. Noah, his family, and enough creatures to re-populate the earth were saved by the ark ordered to be built by God. The redemption narrative continues.

Restart

If I were to envision a movie being created based on the scenes described after the flood my introduction to the movie would be a panoramic view from above (like a helicopter over-view). We would see the population increase, commercial enterprises established, and centers of worship develop. Unfortunately, the centers of worship were more about the sun, moon, and stars than the invisible God of creation. One family line is followed closely until we see Abram called from a culture that worships the goddess of the moon, actually named Sin in the local language.

Journey

The life of Abram becomes a metaphor for our lives as we journey from sin to the Promised Land. Just as Abram struggled with some detours, delays, challenges, and tests in his development of faith; we go through the same issues.

But, we shall see that the faith of Abram continued to grow until he was able to lay down his promise from God in the ultimate test; to sacrifice Isaac. We, too, are able to develop our faith until the test of laying down God’s promises in our lives comes to us. It turns out, as Jesus taught:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. (Matthew 16: 24, 25)