Genesis 3

Have you ever asked a person what qualifies them to make it into Heaven and heard the response “I’ll make it into Heaven because I’m a good person”? If you then ask them what their definition of good is, you’ll probably get a list of things that they have done that they consider is good and righteous. But if we read Isaiah 64:6:

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

We find that even our good and righteous works are as filthy rags. Why would God not accept our works of righteousness? To find the answer to this we have to go back to Genesis 3 and look at verse 6:

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make wise, she took of its fruit, and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Notice that even before Eve took a bite out of the fruit, she had already decided that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil “was good for food”, even though it was not, it was death. Eve had usurped God definition of what was good and what was evil, she place herself at par with God. So whenever we think we are good enough and deserve a place in Heaven, we are tell God our definition of what is good and evil is better than His, just as Eve did in the garden.

So what is good? The answer can be found in Matthew 19:17:

And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

To find the goodness and righteousness we need to be with God in Heaven we need God’s definition of good and that is Jesus Christ.

To start to learn more about Jesus Christ go to The Way of Salvation

Genesis 2

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7

From the beginning it was God’s desire to have a close relationship with His creation, man. The verse above could have read “and breathed into him the breath of life”, but it doesn’t, it includes the word “nostrils”. Someone giving another person CPR, which is ironical also referred to as the “breath of life”, can only do it by being up close, face to face. CPR is something that can not be done at a distance. When I read Genesis 1 and the creation story, I see God the Master Artist at work on His canvas the universe and with each stroke of his brush He creates something new and wonderful. He then steps back from His creation and looks at the works of His hands and says “it is good”. When I come to Genesis 2:7, God is no longer that Artist with brush in hand. He has moved in much closer and is more like a Groom coming to give His bride her first kiss.

The rest of the Bible could refer to God the Artist, but it doesn’t, it refers to God the Groom and His relationship with His bride. In fact, in Revelation His creation is destroyed but His relationship with His bride is eternal.

Genesis 1

Set aside all that you believe about the meaning of the word “awesome” because you are probably underestimating its meaning. As a finite man or women, we look at the word, awesome, from the context of what we sense and feel, by doing this we have made it into to a word much less than it actually is. I have heard this word used in references to events, persons and things, but in reality it should only be used in one place. The word awesome has only one proper usage and that is in reference to God. When we think of God, we should always be in a state of awe, our months hung open and speechless. The very first verse in the Bible is one like no other for it defines the word awesome.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1

God created the earth, the Sun, the billions of stars in our galaxy and the billions of galaxies in our universe. Now that is awesome. How could anything that we sense or feel ever compare to that! If you don’t think that is enough, Genesis 1:16 says:

And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

“He made the stars also” is said almost like an aside. It is like saying, “here is the Earth and here are a couple billion galaxies as extras.” We are not done yet; these billions of galaxies were created in a day, the fourth day to be exact! God is awesome!

Awesome is a word that indicates a form of worship. It is Jesus Christ, our Lord and God that is to be worshipped and not events, persons or things. I hope that Genesis 1 and the story of creation have given you a true sense of awe for Jesus.