All the Hope in the Bible

The Beginning of HOPE

Part 1

Genesis: In the beginning, God The first chapter of the book of Genesis gives us the story of creation; A practical explanation of how the universe came to be, in a process that is scientifically correct. You can follow the progression of days in perfect order to produce a world in which every living creature may live and thrive in harmony with its environment. A planet where everything needed to support human life; in just the right amounts and combinations of elements necessary for our existence and sustenance; a home for us. As far as we know, there is none other like it. When all was ready, God created man on the sixth day. Male and female he created them and put them in a perfect garden, with perfect bodies in a perfect environment, where they could live forever, with God as their father walking with them in the cool of the evening. There was only one tree that they could not touch on pain of death. It was the tree of life that stood in the center of the garden. It was exquisite, with tantalizing fruit and a beautiful creature who occupied the branches and spoke to them, in a voice of authority, telling them that the fruit would make them like God. Having been given free will to choose, Eve took a bite and shared it with her husband who stood mesmerized beside her. God’s enemy, had won the first round. Sin had entered their world and there was not to be a happily ever after. Their bodies became like ours and they were exiled to make their way by the sweat of their brows, in a world full of hardship and woe. They had children and the first family became the first dysfunctional family. A son Cain, killed his brother Able in a jealous rage. God gave them another son to take his place. His name was Seth and it was his line that came back to God. They also had other sons and daughters. (Genesis 5:4) Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord. (Genesis 4:26.) Many generations later came Enoch. He walked with God and then he was no more, because God took him away. He lived here 365 years and his son Methuselah lived to be 969 years old, the oldest man in the Bible. His son Lamech was the father of Noah who was 500 years old when he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth. (5:32) The Godly and ungodly had intermarried until all godliness had disappeared except for the family of Noah, God’s hope for the world. It was time for a new beginning. God made him a preacher of righteousness for 120 years, laboring to bring his countrymen back to God. (Gen. 6:1-9; 1Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5). Nobody paid attention, so God’s judgment would fall upon them. Noah was given instructions to build an ark to house him and his family and every kind of creature, to save them from the flood that would destroy the rest. The people laughed and scorned him. It did not rain there, and there were no waterways to float an ark. They walked by sight and human reasoning, not realizing that nothing is impossible with God! There was no hope for the scoffers who had refused the master of the universe. Their creator had done everything possible to get their attention and now the Ark was ready and God shut the door. For forty days and forty nights the rains came and the ark landed on the mountains of Ararat. In time the waters receded and man was again able to live on the earth once more. God sent a rainbow to signify his promise to never again destroy the world with water. The family of Noah, three sons and their wives, would once again follow God’s will to populate the world, and his sons were founders of the nations.