In the Beginning: Creation, the Promised Seed and the Grace of God (Bereshit)
The short answer: Bereshit, "In the beginning," is the foundation for everything else in Scripture. Genesis 1–6 introduces the great themes of land, seed and blessing, and Adam's story in the garden foreshadows Israel's story in the land. Both point to the same answer: not our ability to keep the law, but the promised Seed of Genesis 3:15, Yeshua, and the grace of God that was there from the very beginning.
Your beginning shapes everything
This teaching opens the yearly cycle of Torah readings with the portion Bereshit (Genesis 1:1–6:8), paired with Isaiah 42:5–43:11 and, from the New Testament, John 1:1–14, Colossians 1:15–17 and Hebrews 1:1–3.
How you deal with the first words of the Bible decides everything else. If Genesis is a collection of myths, no other word in the Book carries authority. If God truly spoke the cosmos into being, then He has the right to speak into your life.
Elohim creates
Scripture does not begin with a man's opinion about God. It begins with God acting: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). The name used is Elohim, a plural form, paired with the singular verb bara, "He created." Later God says, "Let us make man in our image" (Genesis 1:26). Believers have long seen in these details a hint of the plurality within the one God.
Over six days God brings order out of formlessness: light, the expanse of the heavens, land and seas, the lights that mark the seasons, the creatures of sea and sky, the land animals and finally humanity in His image. The repeated phrase "there was evening and there was morning" is why the biblical day begins at sundown.
The seventh day
On the seventh day God rested and sanctified it (Genesis 2:2–3). The Sabbath is woven into creation itself, long before Sinai. Yeshua kept it, and so did His apostles after Him.
History records how the church moved away from it. In AD 321 Emperor Constantine made Sunday a civil day of rest, and the Council of Laodicea in the fourth century forbade Christians to rest on the Sabbath (canon 29). Pastor Chris encourages believers to rediscover the Sabbath not as a burden, but as a gift.
YHVH draws near
From Genesis 2:4 the account zooms in, and God is revealed by His personal name, YHVH. The Creator who spoke galaxies into being now kneels in the dust, forms the man, and breathes into his nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). He plants a garden, places the man in it, and gives him work to do.
When it is not good for the man to be alone, God forms the woman and brings her to him, and the two become one flesh (Genesis 2:18–24). Marriage between a man and a woman is not a human invention. It is God's design from the beginning.
The fall and the first promise
The serpent's first words are a question: "Has God really said…?" (Genesis 3:1). The woman believed the lie, looked at the fruit, took it and ate, and Adam, who was with her, ate too. Exile from the garden followed.
But before the exile, God speaks a promise: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15). The rest of the Bible is the story of that Seed.
Adam's story is Israel's story
Read Genesis 1–3 next to the rest of the Torah and the parallels are striking:
God blesses Adam and Eve (1:28), just as He later promises to bless Abraham and all nations through him.
They are told to be fruitful and multiply, which becomes the promise of seed as numerous as the stars.
They are told to subdue the earth, foreshadowing Israel's call to take the land.
Adam is formed and then placed in a prepared garden, as Israel is formed and brought into a prepared land.
Adam receives a command with death as its penalty, as Israel receives the commandments.
Adam fails to overcome the serpent and is exiled, as Israel falls to Canaan's temptations and is exiled.
Why these parallels? Because the Torah itself is preparing us for a hope that does not rest on our performance. If Adam and Israel both fell, where is our hope? In the promised Seed. As Paul says, the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6).
The Word in the beginning
John deliberately echoes Genesis: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… All things were made through Him" (John 1:1–3). Paul says all things were created through Messiah and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:16–17). Hebrews says God made the worlds through His Son, who upholds all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:2–3).
Isaiah 42 speaks of a servant who will be a light to the nations, open blind eyes and free prisoners. Israel was called to be that light, and Yeshua, the true Light, fulfills that calling and draws the nations to the God of Israel.
Grace was there from the beginning
The teaching closes on grace. The Hebrew chen carries the idea of a superior bending down in kindness toward one who has no claim on him, like a king rising from his throne to extend his scepter.
Zechariah 12:10 shows it clearly: "I will pour on the house of David… the spirit of grace and of supplication. They will look to Me whom they have pierced." They do nothing to earn it. God pours out grace first, and then their eyes are opened.
When we lose sight of grace, pride creeps in, the very sin that turned the highest created angel into Satan. "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6).
I have been crucified with Messiah, and it is no longer I who live, but Messiah lives in me (Galatians 2:20).
Without God's grace there would have been no beginning at all, and without it there would be no new beginning for us. The Seed promised in Eden was born, crucified and raised from the dead. Make His grace the foundation of your life, starting today.
Frequently asked questions
What does Bereshit mean?
Bereshit is the first word of Genesis in Hebrew, meaning "In the beginning." It is also the name of the first weekly Torah portion, Genesis 1:1–6:8.
Is the Trinity in Genesis 1?
Many believers see a hint of it in the plural name Elohim used with the singular verb bara, and in God saying "Let us make man in our image" (Genesis 1:26).
What is the first prophecy of the Messiah?
Genesis 3:15, where God promises that the offspring of the woman will crush the serpent's head.
What is the Hebrew word for grace?
Chen, which carries the idea of bending down in kindness toward someone who has no claim on you.
Take the next step
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