The God of Consummation

Throughout this study of the first 11 chapter of Genesis we have focused our attention on the God of creation. We have seen that all things were originated by Him and for Him. In concluding the study we want to emphasize that the God of creation is also the God of consummation.

Genesis 1:1 said that “in the beginning God…” The next to last verse in the Bible says, Revelation 22:20, He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. This verse emphasizes that He is the God of consummation because He will come again to judge sin and reign absolutely victorious over all opposition.

But from the time of creation to the time of consummation there was and is much opposition. The primary opposition is from Satan, who, in the Garden of Eden, deceived Eve. God then pronounced a curse on the serpent. And in the very early verses of the Bible (Gen. 3:15) we see Satan at work.

Satan’s second intrusion into God’s program concerned Cain. Genesis 4 tells of Cain’s rebellion against the Lord. The result was that the people became so evil that God destroyed them all except for Noah and his family. Genesis 6-8 tells of the worldwide flood by which God judged the earth.

Satan’s third attempt to destroy God’s work concerned the descendants of Ham in Genesis 10 and 11. Satan’s first antichrist was Nimrod, but God thwarted Satan’s plan by confusing the people’s language and scattering them abroad. This insurrection at Babel left it’s mark on the world as Babel became the symbol of the evil world’s system. Nimrod’s wife, Semiramis, is credited with establishing the Babylonian mystery religion which included idol worship, prostitution, child sacrifice and other sinful practices.

It was out of the pollution of the Babylonian mystery religion that God called Abraham. It was through Abraham that God chose to work to produce a people through whom He could send the “Seed” of the woman, Jesus the Christ. Through Jesus the satanic antichrist forces will eventually be completely destroyed. Revelation 4-19 tells how Jesus will triumph over the work of Satan.

Those who settled in Palestine were strict adherents of the Babylonian mystery religion. This is why God commanded His people to destroy and drive the Canaanites out of the land rather than seek to coexist with them. Although the Israelites destroyed many Canaanites, many were permitted to remain in the land with the result that Israel was always drawn toward idolatry and immorality.

The Israelites, especially under Jeroboam, Ahab and Jezebel, absorbed much of the Babylonian religion. One of the Babylonian gods was Molech, a god of the Ammonites. Children were sacrificed to Molech, and the Israelites were frequently warned not to let their children pass through the fire of Molech. The worshippers of this religion were guilty of murder, therefore God wanted them destroyed.

The Babylonian religion spread to the apostate church in the fourth century A.D. The Babylonian religion will come to its end in the Tribulation. Revelation 17 tells of religious Babylon which is described as “the great prostitute who sits on many waters”. The name of this harlot reveals the identity with Babylonian mystery religion,

· Revelation 17:3-5, Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5 This title was written on her forehead a name of mystery:”BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."

Satan will yet make two major intrusions into the world in an attempt to destroy God’s program. The first of these two attempts will be in the person of the Antichrist, who will be energized by Satan himself. Although the Antichrist will dominate the world during the Tribulation, Jesus will return to earth at the end of the Tribulation to bring Judgment on the Antichrist and his followers. Although the situation will look hopeless during the Tribulation, Jesus will be victorious at last.

Satan’s last major intrusion into God’s program will come at the end of the millennium. At the beginning of Jesus’ 1000-year rule Satan will be bound, but he will be loosed for a little while at the end of this literal kingdom on earth. The Bible says in Revelation 20:7-10, When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth-Gog and Magog-to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

This will be Satan’s last confrontation with Jesus, for at that time Satan will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, the place of his final abode. Again we see that Jesus is victorious. After Satan has been doomed to the lake of fire forever, all unsaved will be judged and cast into the lake of fire for having rejected God’s provision for their salvation.

Evil having been conquered, look at what we see in,

· Revelation 21:1-5, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

Can you imagine what that day will be like? There will be no more sadness, no illnesses, no death, no mourning, no more taxes, no more recessions, no pain, no more democrats, no more republicans, no more Supreme Court, no more commercials, no more lemons in the car market, in fact no more car market. No more grocery shopping, no more identity theft, no more bills due at the end of the month and no more Obama. By the way, the court that we call the Supreme Court is not really the “supreme” court. It may be the high court, but not the SUPREME court. This is just a short list . Let you imagination go to work and it will amaze you.

As we come to the close of this nine month study let’s take a look at where we have been. We began by saying that the Book of Genesis is by far the most important book of the Bible because unless we understand this book then the rest of the Bible is for the most part meaningless. In these first eleven chapters we are told how everything began and who the Creator was. We learn from the first two chapters what kind of God created everything. This in itself is absolutely essential to establishing any kind of meaningful belief system. We learned that this all powerful God created everything in just six days and He did it by simply speaking it into existence, out of nothing.

We learn that when He created the first humans that He created male and female and that this was the basis for the family unit. These two people were perfect but did not remain perfect because of the interference of Satan, the devil. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God they became the representatives of all humans after them and were fallen creatures. So that means that because of Adam’s sin all of mankind after him were sinful as well.

But that’s not fair some say. But many centuries later along came Jesus whose purpose was to live a perfect life and thereby be an acceptable sacrifice to God the Father for the sins of the world. Now we are taught that all who believe in Jesus as their personal Savior will be considered perfect in the eyes of God. Is that fair? 

Actually it was God’s plan that when Adam sinned and all his descendants were born sinful, but in God’s plan He had made provision for those He had chosen to be made perfect because of the sacrifice of Jesus. One of the main themes of Genesis is the matter of sacrifice.

Probably the most important event in the Book of Genesis after the creation is the flood where we see much typology, pictures that tell us of God’s plan, especially His anger at a sinful world when He sent a worldwide flood to destroy the world and that He once again in the future will destroy the world. This time, not by flood waters, but by fire.

Following the flood we see that there were only eight people that survived because of Noah’s faithfulness in building the ark that took over 100 years. So, all the people who have lived since the great flood are descended from Noah and his family.

And finally, we see that from the descendants of one of Noah’s sons, Shem, God had planned for Jesus to be born.

Now before we close this study I must say a few words about Theodore Epp and his book the God of Creation which was the main resource that I used for the lessons. When I read his book I found that his style of language usage was very much like my own. In other words, I would have used the same expressions and words that he used, assuming I had the knowledge that he had.

My original intent was to take what I learned from his text and put it into my own words. But I soon found that I would have said it just as he did in the text. To that extent, in much of the study lessons of the last nine months, I have taken his words as my own. If I be accused of plagerism, I plead guilty. But I suspect that I learned more from Theodore Epp’s text on the first 11 chapters of Genesis that members of the class and I am grateful to Epps for his work in so clearly presenting this important material.