Creation and Time – Part 3

“Hear we go again! But this is new, I’ve never heard about what Jesus said about the book of Genesis!”, the stranger said. I replied, “Ah, you have come to the right place. The Deliberate Ruminator can answer some of your questions!”

“So, did Jesus talk about the Old Testament books and Genesis?”, the stranger asked.

” Well, yes, quite often actually. And what’s funny is he never noted that Genesis, Jonah or the other often controversial writings were poetry, allegory or just some made up stories!”, I replied excitedly. I continued, “For instance here are several scriptures where Jesus talks of the book of Genesis and the other ’stories’ many do not believe.:

“In Matt 12:40 Jesus says, ‘For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’ This references the book of Jonah pretty clearly showing Jesus was saying it was true history.

“And here, Jesus affirms some very early historical accounts (Cain and Abel) by saying,

‘ Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. (Luke 11:50-51)’.

You will also note that he frames this with the beginning of the world, not the beginning of man etc. To me this refers to the fact the bible is consistently describing creation as not something that took billions of years. Jesus says that the killings have been going on since the world was created and notes Abel’s death was the first.

The stranger is now amused, and he says, “Mr. Ruminator, this is all nice, but I don’t see it that way. Jesus was just using examples of old stories to get his point across.”
“Thanks Mr. Stranger, I appreciate the honesty! But, don’t you think Jesus would have worded things differently or worded them as he did the parables if they weren’t real history?” This brought a bit of silence, so I continued.

“You see, Jesus went even further. Jesus reaffirmed creation as well as the Garden of Eden when He said:

‘”Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator
‘made them male and female,’a 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will
leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will
become one flesh’ 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore
what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

That was Jesus quoting from Gen. 1:27 and Gen. 2:24 as recorded in Matt 19:4-6.

“Then, as if Jesus knew we would deny the existence of a worldwide flood (which many do today), He reaffirmed the account of Noah:

‘ “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.’ (Matt 24:36-39)

Pretty clear, right?

“I’ll conclude with this scripture from John 1:

‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.’

Even if you are only a beginner at studying the bible, you most likely understand Jesus is the Word in this text. You will also notice that the book of John begins the same as the book of Genesis, ‘In the beginning…’ Since Jesus repeatedly quotes from Genesis and the Old Testament it does make sense that He was there and therefore has the authority to reaffirm scriptures. He reaffirms not from the outside, but from one who witnessed all of creation and everything that followed.

God bless,
Jeff