Memory Text: Psalm 33: 6, 9 KJV “6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 9 For he spake, and it was [done]; he commanded, and it stood fast.”

Sunday, October 8 God Is the Focus
Exodus 20:11 Holman “For the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.”
Job 38:4 Holman “Where were you when I established the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.”
John 1:1-3 Holman “1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.”
Colossians 1:15-20 Holman “15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation; 16 because by Him everything was created, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–– all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together. 18 He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything. 19 For God was pleased /to have/ all His fullness dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross–– whether things on earth or things in heaven.”
Hebrews 1:2 NKJV “has in these last days spoken to us by [His] Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;”
Revelation 14:6-7 NKJV “6 ¶ Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth——to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—— 7 saying with a loud voice, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water."”

Monday, October 9 The Creation
How is the word “heaven” used in this chapter?
Genesis 1:20 NKJV “Then God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens."”
What was the condition of the earth at the beginning?
Genesis 1:2 MKJV “And the earth was without form and empty. And darkness [was] on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters.”
John 1:3 MKJV “All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one [thing] came into being that has come into being.”
John 1:3 COMMENTARY BY BARNES In this place it is affirmed that creation was effected by the Word, or the Son of God.

Tuesday, October 10 The Creation Days
Genesis 1 NRSV “1 ¶ In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 ¶ Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 6 ¶ And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." 7 So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. 8 God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. 9 ¶ And God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, "Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it." And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. 14 ¶ And God said, "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth." And it was so. 16 God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. 20 ¶ And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky." 21 So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. 24 ¶ And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 ¶ Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." 27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." 29 ¶ God said, "See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 ¶ God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”
Genesis 1:1 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY In the beginning. These words remind us of the fact that everything human has a beginning. He alone who sits enthroned the sovereign Lord of time, is without beginning or end. The opening words of Scripture thus draw a striking contrast between all that is human, temporal, and finite, and that which is divine, eternal, and infinite.
Genesis 1:2 COMMENTARY BY JAMIESON, FAUSSET, AND BROWN the Spirit of God moved--literally, continued brooding over it, as a fowl does, when hatching eggs. The immediate agency of the Spirit, by working on the dead and discordant elements, combined, arranged, and ripened them into a state adapted for being the scene of a new creation. The following verses show that literal time was meant.
Exodus 20:8-11 NKJV “8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day [is] the Sabbath of the LORD your God. [In it] you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who [is] within your gates. 11 For [in] six days the LORD made the heavens and 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.”
SDA Bible Dictionary, p. 245 According to the narrative of Gen 1, the work of Creation was completed in six days. The most natural way to understand the passage is to regard these days as literal days of 24 hours each. The terms “evening” and “morning” were obviously intended to designate the dark part and the light part of a 24-hour day.

Wednesday, October 11 The Chicken or the Egg?
Genesis 1 (yesterday’s lesson) – focus on the sequence of events.

Thursday, October 12 The Creation of Humanity
How was the creation of animals similar to that of man?
Genesis 1:24 KJ21 “And God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth after his kind"; and it was so.”
Genesis 2:7, 19 KJ21 “7 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. 19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.”
How was the creation of animals different from that of man?
Genesis 1:26-27 KJ21 “26 ¶ And God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.”
Genesis 2:7 KJ21 “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 COMMENTARY BY JAMIESON, FAUSSET, AND BROWN Science has proved that the substance of his flesh, sinews, and bones, consists of the very same elements as the soil which forms the crust of the earth and the limestone that lies embedded in its bowels. But from that mean material what an admirable structure has been reared in the human body.
How was Eve created?
Genesis 2:21-24 ASV “21 ¶ And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof: 22 and the rib, which Jehovah God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
Genesis 2:21 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE God could have formed the woman out of the dust of the earth, as he had formed the man; but had he done so, she must have appeared in his eyes as a distinct being, to whom he had no natural relation.

Romans 1:17 "The just shall live by faith".

As I was studying this part of the lesson, the story of Abraham came to my mind. Just let your imagination run for a little bit.

Here is Abraham, all settled in Mesopotamia, when God calls him to leave that place and take his family and begin life anew at some place where God would lead him. Obediently, with a lot of faith, Abraham moves himself, his wife, his household servants, his flocks and herds, and his staff to a place that God would show to him. Haran.

"Well", thinks Abraham, "this is OK. I can live with this", and settles down.

His father dies, and Abraham takes over as the Master of the clan, and all is well. But then Abraham hears God's voice again. Hey, this is NOT the end of the journey! So, without question, Abraham begins the task of going to a new place -- Canaan! Oh, now that is a bit different. That place has a REPUTATION! Baal worship! Temple prostitutes. Wife snatching (or getting "rid" of the husband!). Did God REALLY want him to go there? Apparently He did!

Abraham settles in quite well. He built altars to the Lord wherever he went. God was with him. Then comes trouble -- a famine. He decides to go down to Egypt for a while, but then he worries again about his beautiful wife -- well, not so much about her -- it seems he was more worried about himself!

They needed food for the clan and the livestock, but he did not like the idea of maybe losing his life! So he has a brainwave (not always the best way to solve problems). He tells Sarah to say that she is his sister! And that was no lie -- well, only half a lie! She was his half-sister. Well, the rest of that story is in Ch. 12. God helped Abraham out of the mess tht he was in, and Abraham returned to Canaan, a wealthy man.

We now skip through history, with the miraculous birth of Isaac (--ooops! There was a BIG stumble just before THAT -- and we are still reaping the results!) Then we come to his walk with God on the way to Sodom and Gomorrah, and his pleading with the Lord -- that took a lot of courage and faith. Then, in ch.20 we find that Abraham (you wouldn't believe this if it wasn't in the bible) -- he commits the SAME BUNGLE AGAIN! (Frankly, you and I would never do that, would we!) And, once again, God delivers him from his foolishness.

God then gives Abraham a B--I--G test -- "sacrifice your son for me"! Now, that was the one time when I would have said,"This is not the voice of God. He would NEVER ask me to do that! That is murder! God definitely would not ask that of me." God rewarded Abraham for his obedience and his faith that God would save his son.

When we read Hebrews 11, how often do we think of the struggles these people had with obedience -- and how often they fell, and then got up, and how often they followed God's instructions by faith alone!

It seems to me that God doesn't count our falls -- He just helps us up and sets us on our feet again. What He is interested in is -- how are we going on the JOURNEY. He WILL see us through -- and he doesn't count the stumbles and falls -- He just helps us to our feet, and watches with a smile as we continue the journey. Hebrews 11:39,40.

Meet you in heaven

Beryl

We can picture God using magic words to call matter, energy, and life instantly into existence. Maybe that's how it was, since we really have no idea what God is capable of.

We can also picture God using technology to modify the Earth, then organize matter into well-designed self-replicating structures, life. God designed the DNA codes for life on the primeval Earth, gave his orders, and the Holy Spirit assembled the life forms, then God's helpers disbursed the plants or animals throughout the regions they were designed to inhabit.

Six days does not seem unreasonable to accomplish the remodeling of Earth's surface and the creation and distribution of life on the newly modified planet. We could believe God used only miracles, but we could also believe he used highly advanced technology, a more likely scenario. Perhaps we cannot envision a being so powerful that modifying and colonizing a planet is child's play...

Genesis 1 is not the story of the creation of the universe, but rather, is the story of how Earth's surface was modified to provide a suitable environment life forms to thrive in, followed by the creation of a wide range of self-replicating life forms.

God never said, "Let there be Earth" because the Earth was already there when he and his crew arrived. Because no light reached the surface of the worldwide ocean of water he said, "Let there be Light" so they could see to work. If light did not exist before that time, then God and the Holy Spirit existed only in Darkness, and he and his messengers groped around like blind men because there was no light to see, unless their eyes were sensitive to non-visible light, that is, the infrared or ultraviolet spectrums.

It is unfortunate that Genesis 1 is so terse and sketchy, but it may be all that we need to know for now. We can choose to believe that God did indeed come to our world and colonize it with life, or we can choose to believe that life created itself accidentally or by some mysterious life-generating force that permeates the universe and comes into action when the right physical conditions are met.

It's easy to picture a highly intelligent being designing the codes for life, but it's a real stretch of the mind to picture life, so very complex, creating itself in primordial soups or microscopic pits on the sides of rocks, then not merely adapting to the environment, but transforming itself into different creatures with new functions.