Prologue: Bonus Episode-God’s Heavenly Family and Jesus As The “only” begotten Son.
Prologue: Bonus Episode-God’s Heavenly Family and Jesus As The “only” begotten Son.
In part three, we introduced the possibility that when God uses the plural, let us make man in our image in Genesis 1:27 he is not referring to the Trinity, but to what scripture calls, the heavenly host, the sons of God or God’s divine council. But how can we take this interpretation of Jesus is God’s “only” begotten son?
Prologue PT 3: GOD’S IDENTITY: MORE THAN A CREATOR—THE STORY OF A FATHER
The story of Genesis is the story of a God who has created and ordered the heavens and the earth. The story of a God who is not only powerful, but present and personal. The story of a God who is interested and attentive. This is the story of a God who has created a home: an ordered sacred space to live with us in. Genesis is not just the story of a powerful creator, it is the story of a father. A relational God who has a heavenly family and a human family.
In Part 3 we unpack some possible interpretations of Genesis 1:26-27 and what scripture means when God says: “Let us make man in our image and likeness…” What does the “us” and “our” refer to if God is one? Is God referring to himself as the trinity? Possibly, but there may be a better way to understand the plural language that pulls together the whole arc of scripture. Maybe after describing how he has ordered the cosmos, God is now describing the reality of the unseen spiritual realm in relation to humanity and the world.
Prologue PT 2: God’s Identity: The Story of a God of generosity who is filled with abundance and capacity.
Stories have a powerful shaping influence on us. We are reintroducing ourselves to the story of Genesis 1-3 (the prologue of scripture) and the theological messages found in the first pages of scripture, asking “What does God want to reveal about who He is and what He is like? What does he want us to know about our identity? What does He want us to know about the shattering of his good world and why we experience life the way that we do—instead of the way we once did? What does God want us to know about the deep longing and ache in our heart for another world, a true HOME?In Part 2 we are asking what story has the greatest influence on your life. The story of God found in Genesis 1, which is the story of a good and generous God who has immense capacity and loves to give abundantly, or the story of our world, our own narratives and the narrative of the enemy which is a story of scarcity and fear. Which one has formed a stronger pull on your life? God wants to reset how we understand his identity and how we image him.
Prologue PT 1: God’s Identity: The Story of a master builder creating a HOME
Prologue PT 1: God’s Identity: The Story of a master builder creating a HOME
We long for another world and connectedness to God, but many of us feel trapped in the brokenness of this world and disconnected and distant from God. We know information about God, we know what we are supposed to believe, but He isn’t real to us. Many of us live with an inner conflict from the disconnection between what we believe should be and what we experience. We long and ache for beauty, purpose, and order, to know we are not alone and that rest and peace are possible. We ache for the day when death and pain are swallowed up. We are aching for something to make sense of, and bring healing to, the pain and grief we experience as normal life in a broken and dark world. We long for order in a sea of disorder.
We are reintroducing ourselves to the story of Genesis 1-3 (the prologue of scripture) and the theological messages found in the first pages of scripture, asking “What does God want to reveal about who He is and what He is like? What does he want us to know about our identity? What does He want us to know about the shattering of his good world and why we experience life the way that we do—instead of the way we once did? What does God want us to know about the deep longing and ache in our heart for another world, a true HOME?
In Part 1 we are asking if Genesis 1 isn’t so much about the material creation of the universe and the mechanisms required, but about the heart of God to reveal his true identity, our true identity and the reality of the world we live in? What if the main message of Genesis 1 is theological and not scientific? In this first part of our Prologue series we are unpacking how to read Genesis in context and how to understand the word create and how it is used in context.