The Road To Bethlehem: Jesus, Creator

As we begin the month of December and look forward to Christmas, I want to work our way through the Old Testament (with some journeys into the New Testament) and see what it has to say about Jesus. We'll be looking at prophecies about the coming Messiah that were fulfilled by Jesus as well as passages that - thanks to what we read in the New Testament - are about Jesus. Today, we'll begin at the beginning: Genesis 1.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

Now of course, we read that "God created," it doesn't say "Jesus created." Why is it that we can read this and think of Jesus?

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning. ³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

John 1:1-3

• Here in John, "the Word" refers to Jesus. Thus, we could read this passage as:
1. In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God and Jesus was God.
2. Jesus was with God in the beginning.
3. Through Jesus all things were made, without Jesus nothing was made that has been made.
• Based on what we read in John, would you agree that Jesus was involved in Genesis 1:1?
• Though Jesus had not come into the world, the world was created through him. Let's read a little bit more in John 1.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

John 1:14a

• What is this verse talking about?
• Though Jesus was there in the beginning, he did not become flesh until that first Christmas!
• Now that we've seen Jesus in the very first verse in the Bible, we'll be looking out for him in other places in the Old Testament as we go through the month of December.

Psalm 8

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet:

all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field,

the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8

Discussion questions

• According to this Psalm, who has the best name of all?
• What is better than God?
• According to this Psalm, who praises God?
• What is something God has done that makes Him great?
• Does God care for us?
• Has God placed us in authority over His creation?

Creation (Days 6 and 7)

And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Genesis 1:24-31

• The sixth day is the climax of creation. What did God create on the sixth day?
• Why is man special?
• Did God bless anything else before He created man?
• Did God give instruction to any other thing that He created?
• What's different about what God saw about what He created on the sixth day? It was VERY good.

Further evidence of man being special can be found in the verses we read from Ephesians a few days ago:

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

Ephesians 1:4-5

• God chose us to be adopted into His family
• God created
• God saw that it was very good
• What did God do next?

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that
he had done.

Genesis 2:1-3

Creation (Days 4 and 5)

And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

Genesis 1:14-19

• What did God create on the fourth day?
• Do you remember what God created on the first day?
• So, if there was no sun or stars until the fourth day, where was the light that God created on the first day come from?

The true light [Jesus] that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

John 1:9

While I [Jesus] am in the world, I am the light of the world.

John 9:5

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb [Jesus] is its lamp.

Revelation 21:23

Now, I'm not trying to say that God created Jesus, but that God didn't need to create the sun or the stars or the moon for there to be light.

And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

Genesis 1:20-23

• What did God create on the fith day?
• If there were things living in the waters and things flying in the sky, what lived on land?

Creation (Days 2 and 3)

And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning - the second day.

Genesis 1:6-8

• Who remembers what God created on the first day?
• Who remembers what God did before that?
• What did God create on the second day?
• What did the sky separate?
• Can you think of a story in the Bible where a lot of water comes from above?

And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

Genesis 1:9-13

• What did God create on the third day?
• How did God create this?
• What did God think of all that He created so far?
• When you see the sky or the sea or land with trees and plants on it, do you remember that God created it?
• If God thought it was good, what should you think about it?

Creation (Day 1)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Genesis 1:1-5

• What existed before the heavens and earth?
• What did create first?
• How did God create light?
• What did God think of what He created?
• What did God do before He created the heavens and the earth?

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

Ephesians 1:4-5

• Before He created the world, God chose us to be His children. How do you like that?
• God wants us to be holy and blameless in His sight. Do you think we should do good things or bad things?
• How many times when you are told to do something, do you say "First let me..."? Is this because what you want to do is important to you?
• So, before God said "Let there be light," He said "first let me choose the Brocks to be my children and to be holy and blameless..." Do you think we are important to God?
• Do you think it is important for us to live lives that are pleasing to God?