; sinless at
first, man falls, and begins the battle with evil which shall cease
only with the ultimate complete triumph of Christ, the Redeemer. The
flood marks the first of a series of tremendous efforts to save the
world from the thraldom of sin.

Before the Chosen Family

#9. Prelude.#--This is the beginning of all things, and well suits the
cravings of the human mind. It says, "In the beginning God created."
This beginning does not go as far back as that of John 1:1, for that
antedates creation and points to a beginning before God created. That
is, John sweeps back to that beginning when as yet there was none but
God. If this statement of Genesis 1:1 is compared with creation myths
as found among other nations, it will at once be seen to be far
grander and more in accord with our best thoughts of the divine
activity. Unbelief may say, "In the beginning matter," or "in the
beginning force," but that does not satisfy the human heart as do the
words of the sacred writer.

#In this beginning# we see the origin of all things. Genesis means
"beginnings," and in this book we find the beginnings of matter, of
vegetable life, of animal life, of man, of sin, of sacrifice, of
material civilization, of the Covenant People, and of Redemption.
Truly a wonderful book. Well has it been said that "_Genesis enfolds
all that the rest of the Bible unfolds._" In this book we find the
germ of all that is to follow. If we would know the inner significance
of all that we find in Genesis we must look to Revelation.

#10. Period One.--Adam to Noah.# Here comes the story of the creation
of man. Innocent he was at the first, but in the trial to which he is
brought, man fails, and disobeys. As sinner, he now hides from the
face of God, and has to be sought out by his heavenly Father. Sin
created a barrier between God the Holy One and man the sinner. Then it
is that God begins his work of redemption, and in Genesis 3:15 we see
the first promise of that redemption that is to be fulfilled in Jesus
in later days. In this period we see the first sacrifice, and in it,
too, we come across the full fruitage of hatred, which culminated in
murder. Man proves to be a sad failure, and the record is that God
looks down from heaven to see how man is acting. "And Jehovah saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually"
(Gen. 6:5). From that day to this, man when l