Notes on Genesis.

E. L. Bevir.
Biographical Note
London: G. Morrish, 20, Paternoster Square, E.C. 1900.

"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding? Job 38:4.

The following "Notes on Genesis" have been reprinted from Helps for the Poor of the Flock. Several of my friends have expressed a wish to have them in a succinct form.

In reading them over, I see nothing that I wish to change. I have no pretension to add to many valuable notes on this wonderful book nor is there any startling novelty. I cannot, however, but hope that the main subjects of Genesis, which are strictly followed in these Notes, may be of help to many who study the scriptures with a view of discovering in them the glory of Christ, and of growing in the knowledge of Him.

In the marvellous history of the first ages, God's grand principles in His ways with men, His counsels, and His full triumph over evil, become visible to us, as in a divine speculum [mirror].

It is a happy thing, in such a day as ours, to receive by faith the divine account of the formation of the heavens and the earth.

A believer receives God's word in his heart; and his mind is certainly satisfied at the same time, for the mind would be sadly tortured if it had to conceive a universe without a Being who had formed it.*

{* I suppose that the very grossest materialist would admit that there is force acting in the universe; and if he be pushed to it, must he not admit that it is either outside of the molecules of matter or inside them? Which is more likely? That one supreme will and power formed the worlds, and set them rolling; or that all the atoms suddenly agreed by interior force to collect, and then to keep to the laws of gravity?}

The first verse stands by itself, and the gulf or interval between it and the second is greater than we can imagine. The beginning, if we had to count the time back to it, is very remote; but the great thing to observe is that it is the beginning. Ages and ages ago, there was a beginning. It may be said: "We cannot understand what creation is;" to which I would reply: "I believe you; and if you try to account for it in any other way than God created, you will surely go wrong." Faith receives it, and the heart and mind rest in Him who never had any beginning, in the eternal Son, by whom all things were made, and for whom all things were made, in whose power all things are subsisting. In the beginning was the Word; and our hearts delight to think of the eternal deity and Godhead of Him, whose almighty power was exerted at the creation. "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they exist, and were created!"

And here let me warn the reader against a fault that is very common; that of misunderstanding the purpose of the scriptures. The Bible is not a book of astronomy or cosmography, but one that deals with the hearts and consciences of the inhabitants of the earth. It gives us a faithful history of the earth, from this point of view; and the "heavens" here are the first heaven; that is, the atmosphere. It is no question of the relative time of creation of other globes; but the beginning of this earth's history.

The history of what should take place on it (the earth) forms indeed a wonderful part of the divine book, and of this we shall have cause to speak. I am only calling attention to the fact that we have here the earth and its atmosphere before us; God created them in the beginning.

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With the prayerful desire that the Lord Jesus Christ will use this God-given ministry in this form for His glory and the blessing of many in these last days before His coming. © Les Hodgett contact at stempublishing dot com .