"In the beginning..." --Genesis 1:1
The Bible is a massive book made of 66 parts, written by dozens of people in three different languages. But through all the various plot streams and characters and pervasive themes, there is one complete story: God's zealous, unending pursuit of His most beloved creations: humankind.
In the first chapter of Genesis, God creates a beautiful world, filled with living things. It would have been enough for Him to make it all for His own enjoyment, but He wants to share it. So the last thing He creates is humankind. Adam and Eve, the first two people, bear God's image--they can know God personally, enjoy the things He enjoys, and truly revel in this world that He has made.
But Adam and Eve turn their backs on God's gifts, choosing instead to grasp the one thing He has withheld from them. This rebellion breaks not only their relationship with God but also the whole world, plunging God's perfect creation into a shadow of its former glory, where nothing is as it should be and where everything ends in sorrow.
God could have ended it all there. It seemed people weren't worthy of His gifts, of the world He had made just for them.
But then God does something unexpected. Adam and Eve must live under the consequences of their choice, but God gives them hope. Someone is coming who will set things right. Someone is coming who will restore the world to what it was meant to be. Someone is coming who will bring all people back to God.
Genesis shows us people's state, with Cain's murder of his brother Abel, a world so evil that God's judgment comes in a worldwide flood, a tower built to the heavens in an attempt to be their own god.
But even in this, God's redemption is coming. His judgments are followed by His promises. His curses are countered by His blessings.
The rest of the Bible is the story of God's redemption.
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