Thus far, we have seen God’s history in eternity past. We have also seen His history in time in creating the universe, in judging Satan and the universe, and in restoring the judged universe and creating man. Even the creating of man is part of the real history of God. Genesis does not merely tell us a story of how man was created. God’s creation of man is actually a marvelous part of God’s history in this universe.

Genesis 1:26 says that God created man in His own image and according to His own likeness. The model, the prototype, for man’s creation was God Himself! Of course, God is almighty, but I believe that before creating man, God should have had much consideration. Carpenters who make furniture spend much energy to make designs before they actually make a piece of furniture. In His creation of the universe, God spoke things into being. He spoke, and it was (Psa. 33:9). God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Gen. 1:3). Why would God not say, “Let there be man,” and there was man? God did not create man by speaking him into being. He created man in a marvelous way.

Genesis 2:7 says that God made man with a form. God then breathed the breath of life into this form, and that breath became man’s spirit. The result was that man became a living soul. Then God put this man in a particular place, a garden. On the earth there was a garden, and this garden was full of trees that were pleasant to the sight and good for food to nourish man. But among those many trees were two trees—the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (v. 9). By the side of the tree of life was a flowing river, and at the flow of the river there were three precious materials—gold, bdellium, and onyx stone (vv. 10-12). Genesis 2 says that God caused man to sleep, opened up his side, and took out a rib of that man. God used that rib as the material to build up a building, and that building was a female (vv. 21-22). We have to enter into the significance of all these things. Actually, Genesis 1 and 2 are not a history of Adam but a history of the Creator, of the wise Architect, God. The first two chapters of Genesis are a part of God’s history.

We have seen that Genesis 3 reveals how God saved man from his fall. Then we saw how God dealt with Abel, Seth, Enosh, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah. With these men we can see the history of the acting God on the positive side. Then on the negative side, God judged those who forsook Him and took the way of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the way of death.

For us to study the Bible by viewing it as the history of God gives us an entirely new view. The Bible is an old book, but we have a new way to study it. The most crucial point in taking a photo is the angle at which you take it. If you do not have the proper angle, you cannot have a proper photo. If we take a picture of someone, and it is a photo of his feet, this means that we took the picture at the wrong angle. We need to view the Bible from the angle of the history of God to have a proper and complete view of the divine revelation.