Lesson 1, March 26 - April 1
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Psalms 100:1-3, Genesis 1-2, Exodus 20:8-11, 40:33, Matthew 25:14-30, 19:7-9.
Memory Text: “*In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
The book of Genesis and, hence, the whole Bible begins with God’s acts of Creation. This fact is very important because it means that our creation marks the beginning of human and biblical history. This truth also implies that the Genesis Creation story has the same historical veracity as other events of human and biblical history.
The two Creation texts in Genesis 1-2 contain lessons about God and humanity. As we study this week, we will understand better the profound meaning of the seventh-day Sabbath. We will ponder God’s act of creating humans in His image, and out of the dust too. We will be intrigued about the purpose of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and about its connection with the tree of life.
The most important lesson of the biblical stories of the beginnings is a lesson on grace. Our existence is purely an act of grace. God created the heavens and the earth while humans were not yet present. Just as our creation was, our redemption is, too, a gift from God. And how profound it is that both concepts, creation and redemption, exist in the seventh-day Sabbath commandment.
