Read for This Week’s Study: Ps. 100:1–3, Genesis 1, Genesis 2,
Exod. 20:8–11, Exod. 40:33, Matt. 25:14–30, Matt. 19:7–9.
Memory Text: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth” (Genesis 1:1, NKJV).
T
he book of Genesis and, hence, the whole Bible begins with
God’s acts of Creation. This fact is very important because it
means that our creation marks the beginning of human and
biblical history. This truth also implies that the Genesis Creation story
has the same historical veracity as other events of human and biblical
history.
The two Creation texts in Genesis 1 and 2 contain lessons about God
and humanity. As we study this week, we will understand better the
profound meaning of the seventh-day Sabbath. We will ponder God’s
act of creating humans in His image, and out of the dust too. We will
be intrigued by the purpose of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil and by its connection with the tree of life.
The most important lesson of the biblical stories of the beginnings
is a lesson on grace. Our existence is purely an act of grace. God cre-
ated the heavens and the earth while humans were not yet present. Just
as our creation was, our redemption is, too, a gift from God. And how
profound it is that both concepts, Creation and Redemption, exist in the
seventh-day Sabbath commandment.