DAY THIRTY-THREE - BIG PICTURE IN A YEAR - THE PEOPLE

by King's Cross Training February 2, 2021

Then the Lord God formed a man..

Genesis 2: 7

There is something you will notice as you immerse yourself in the first two chapters of the Bible - and that is, that there is a second creation account at the start of Genesis 2. Why is this? Are they two different creation accounts? Are they identical, contradictory or complementary?

As you read closer and deeper you will see the relationship between Genesis 1 and 2 emerge. What we're looking at is the same event, from a different angle. This is similar to how a camera works. You can set the camera to a wide angle or a close-up. In Genesis 1, we are given sight of Creation in the wide angle, we could call it the macro Creation account. In Genesis 2 we see the same set of events – but this time there is a close-up focus on Day 6, the day on which humanity was created. We could call it the micro Creation account.

So when you are reading through the first two chapters of Genesis, and as we put a special focus on Genesis 2, The People, this month - don’t think of Genesis 2 as later on in time. It is actually a re-look at Genesis 1 with a special focus on mankind. Genesis 2 depicts in more detail the activities of God on the sixth day of creation week and is largely localized within the Garden of Eden.

This should also have the effect of helping you see how significant humanity is in God's eyes. As we saw in our devotional time yesterday, all that had gone before, all that God had been doing on the previous Days of Creation, were leading up to the creation of mankind, the details of which we see in Genesis 2.

Prayer

Thank You God for recording this for us, for choosing to reveal our true origins to us.

For the family

Engage

If you have a camera or video camera, even a phone camera will work, show your children how a wide shot compares to a close-up. Let them have fun taking a few pictures of both.

Explain

Explain that Genesis 1 and 2 are like the wide and close-up shots. The first chapter tells us about Creation in general and the second chapter tells us all about Day 6, when God created His first man and woman – Adam and Eve.

Now read Chapters 1 and 2 to the family – in a Children Bible if the children are still young and in an easy-reading version, like NIV, if the children are older. Tell them to pay attention and see if they can spot what you’ve just explained to them.