Genesis 1-2; Matthew 1

Key Verses:

Genesis 2:15-17
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Matthew 1:22-23
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

Genesis 1 is the well-known account of creation. The story of God’s redemptive love begins in Genesis 1 with the words, “God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 2 zooms in to give more detail, especially regarding the sixth day when God created humans. When I read Genesis 2, I imagine God as a loving, meticulous artisan… Listen to the verbs:

formed
breathed
planted
caused

God loved his creation – so much that He bequeathed His own image and divine purpose to his prized creatures, humans.  Today’s key verse highlights God’s loving instructions to Adam. This verse foreshadows the disastrous disobedient choice Adam and his wife, Eve would make – turning their hearts away from their Creator and poisoning God’s creation with sin.

But…thousands of years later, in a lowly city, an extraordinary baby would be born. Our Savior, with a King’s credence, arrived quietly to a poor carpenter and his soon-to-be wife. These two chapters mark the beginnings of God’s story – a story of a loving Creator sending His son to save His wayward children. It is a story of God’s amazing grace!

Amazing grace is what we’ll need to continue this journey! Day 1 – check. 364 to go…