Bible Study Text for New Christians
Chapter 1. God's Creation of the Heavens and the Earth
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1)"
The first verse of the Bible is that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then why does the Bible mention first of all that God created the world? Do you think it is for simply letting the world know the fact that God created the entire universe?
There are many associations like 'Association for Creation Science' and they have been trying to prove scientifically that God created the world. But even though God's creation of the world can be proved by science and ultimately God is accepted as the Creator, this knowledge cannot give someone salvation or eternal life.
The story of God's creation of the world in the first verse of the book Genesis, which is the first book of the Bible, ends with the story of God's judgments of the world that God created. In other words, the Bible tells us that God destroys the world with His own hands that He himself created.
Therefore, it is not admitting God's creation of the world that is important to us. We cannot avoid God's judgments if we don't know why God judges the world although we confess and accept God as the Creator one hundred times or more. Of course, this does not mean that we don't need to believe that God is the Creator. What is trying to say here is that we cannot be considered as Christians due to the fact that we simply believe God is the Creator even though we are ignorant of the reason why the entire world should be judged by God.
If we take a look at the chapter 1 of the Genesis, there is an expression that is used whenever God created a new thing everyday. That is 'God saw that it was good (Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31).' The meaning of 'God saw that it was good' is that God liked it. If God liked the creatures created by Himself, there is no reason that He should destroy them, isn't that right? If He really liked his creatures, they should be the reason for joy rather than the targets for judgment.
If God must destroy His creatures that He liked, what is the reason for that? That is because the creatures are not as they were when they were created by God. For example, let's assume that you made a cute and pretty rabbit using soil. You did a very good job in making that rabbit, so you really liked it very much. You were so happy because of the rabbit you made. By the way, one day a bird flied to the rabbit and destroyed its ears. The pretty shape of the rabbit disappeared and became ugly. You didn't like it, so you deserted it. In that situation, can the rabbit complain to you like "Why do you destroy me?" The rabbit cannot complain because you have a right to destroy it.
If there is something that the rabbit should know at that moment, it should be 'Why does my creator want to destroy me?' or 'What shape or aspect of me does my creator hate?' The rabbit really should try to know what the creator likes and hope to be in a shape that the creator likes. We call this salvation.
Creation of the heavens and the earth in the book of Genesis was written for letting us know this. God created the world and humans. God saw that they were good and He really liked them. But God's creatures didn't remain as God's joy and were changed. So, God made up his mind to destroy all the creatures He created and to create a new world. This is the consistent message underlying from Genesis to Revelation.
From now on, we are going to learn these messages one by one. The purpose of learning the Bible is hope to desert our shape we want and to be born again as a new creature whose shape God is really happy about by learning why God didn't like the world, why the world should be destroyed, and what God's delight is. Therefore, we always should ask ourselves if or not our current shapes are as they were at their creation. Of course, this question is not about our appearances but qualities and nature. In this point of view, we can see that we are not in the shapes as we were when we were created. We are just the ones who should be destroyed by God because God doesn't like our current shapes. By the way, we are going to learn about how we could be saved from God's judgments and why God lets us inherit the eternal kingdom of heaven instead of destroying us. We have to learn the answers to these questions through this bible study. When we get to know these answers and understand the meanings, we will be able to obtain real joy and happiness that can not be obtained from the world.
Humans are just creatures in front of God who created the world and the universe. Creatures should live thanking God for what their creator gave to them. They are real creatures. They feel God's love through looking at the sun, the moon, and stars; and thank God. When they look at a tree, a grass in a mountain, they think God and thank Him. They realize that they have been living thanks to God's grace breathing everyday. This is our biggest happiness, but now we lost the happiness because we are not as we were.
Therefore, we need to know who is a real human that can be God's delight. For this, we open the Bible. It is very important for us to have in mind that we should really eager to live as a person that God is happy about. Keep this in mind and let's start this Bible study.
Chapter 1. God's Creation of the Heavens and the Earth
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1)"
The first verse of the Bible is that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then why does the Bible mention first of all that God created the world? Do you think it is for simply letting the world know the fact that God created the entire universe?
There are many associations like 'Association for Creation Science' and they have been trying to prove scientifically that God created the world. But even though God's creation of the world can be proved by science and ultimately God is accepted as the Creator, this knowledge cannot give someone salvation or eternal life.
The story of God's creation of the world in the first verse of the book Genesis, which is the first book of the Bible, ends with the story of God's judgments of the world that God created. In other words, the Bible tells us that God destroys the world with His own hands that He himself created.
Therefore, it is not admitting God's creation of the world that is important to us. We cannot avoid God's judgments if we don't know why God judges the world although we confess and accept God as the Creator one hundred times or more. Of course, this does not mean that we don't need to believe that God is the Creator. What is trying to say here is that we cannot be considered as Christians due to the fact that we simply believe God is the Creator even though we are ignorant of the reason why the entire world should be judged by God.
If we take a look at the chapter 1 of the Genesis, there is an expression that is used whenever God created a new thing everyday. That is 'God saw that it was good (Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31).' The meaning of 'God saw that it was good' is that God liked it. If God liked the creatures created by Himself, there is no reason that He should destroy them, isn't that right? If He really liked his creatures, they should be the reason for joy rather than the targets for judgment.
If God must destroy His creatures that He liked, what is the reason for that? That is because the creatures are not as they were when they were created by God. For example, let's assume that you made a cute and pretty rabbit using soil. You did a very good job in making that rabbit, so you really liked it very much. You were so happy because of the rabbit you made. By the way, one day a bird flied to the rabbit and destroyed its ears. The pretty shape of the rabbit disappeared and became ugly. You didn't like it, so you deserted it. In that situation, can the rabbit complain to you like "Why do you destroy me?" The rabbit cannot complain because you have a right to destroy it.
If there is something that the rabbit should know at that moment, it should be 'Why does my creator want to destroy me?' or 'What shape or aspect of me does my creator hate?' The rabbit really should try to know what the creator likes and hope to be in a shape that the creator likes. We call this salvation.
Creation of the heavens and the earth in the book of Genesis was written for letting us know this. God created the world and humans. God saw that they were good and He really liked them. But God's creatures didn't remain as God's joy and were changed. So, God made up his mind to destroy all the creatures He created and to create a new world. This is the consistent message underlying from Genesis to Revelation.
From now on, we are going to learn these messages one by one. The purpose of learning the Bible is hope to desert our shape we want and to be born again as a new creature whose shape God is really happy about by learning why God didn't like the world, why the world should be destroyed, and what God's delight is. Therefore, we always should ask ourselves if or not our current shapes are as they were at their creation. Of course, this question is not about our appearances but qualities and nature. In this point of view, we can see that we are not in the shapes as we were when we were created. We are just the ones who should be destroyed by God because God doesn't like our current shapes. By the way, we are going to learn about how we could be saved from God's judgments and why God lets us inherit the eternal kingdom of heaven instead of destroying us. We have to learn the answers to these questions through this bible study. When we get to know these answers and understand the meanings, we will be able to obtain real joy and happiness that can not be obtained from the world.
Humans are just creatures in front of God who created the world and the universe. Creatures should live thanking God for what their creator gave to them. They are real creatures. They feel God's love through looking at the sun, the moon, and stars; and thank God. When they look at a tree, a grass in a mountain, they think God and thank Him. They realize that they have been living thanks to God's grace breathing everyday. This is our biggest happiness, but now we lost the happiness because we are not as we were.
Therefore, we need to know who is a real human that can be God's delight. For this, we open the Bible. It is very important for us to have in mind that we should really eager to live as a person that God is happy about. Keep this in mind and let's start this Bible study.