Teaching History Like Scripture Does – Part Three

As we move from our introduction into our first case study teaching history like Scripture does, I highly encourage you to pause, reach for your Sword of the Spirit, and follow with me. While space does not allow me to insert all the Scripture we will cover, the key verses will be only understood in context. Now, equipped with the guidance and accountability of the Word, let’s begin at the beginning.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Already, from verse one, history is firmly anchored on pillar one: God is the principal character. He predates time. He speaks with such great force of energy that His command dethrones the darkness reigning over the lifeless earth. So the authority of God’s Word, His light and order further reveal Who this lead Character is and His part in the plot.

Our second question is declared with a solid exclamation mark on Day Six with man’s creation.

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Genesis 1:26

Almighty God wanted creatures who would bear His image, creatures He could enter into fellowship with. He desired children, friends who would willingly love Him and choose His fellowship with the trust and goodwill that bubbles from mutual love and appreciation. The Almighty made man in His image, not only endowing him with value and identity, but a soul, mind and emotions, and an essence that mirrored His own invisible attributes. Unlike God, man was also given a body of flesh and bone, created from the dust of the earth he was to govern. Yet even this physical body would become an object lesson to the unity God anticipated between Himself and man and between man and his fellow man.

And how was man to express this nature of image-bearer? By his multiplication and benevolent rule of creation. It would be embodied in the creativity of his mind, the work of his hands and the domain of his steps. It would be shown in the multiplication of sons and daughters bearing their parents’ image, resulting in the image again shining forth in the love, goodness, righteousness, purity, and generosity of the Original. Why are we here? Because God delights in us and wants us to be filled, to then fill His creation with His fullness.

Genesis 2 zooms in on man’s origin and unveils our third pillar: the intimate view of the individual. Adam and Eve emerge with a close up view of their child-like trust in their Creator and His fatherly delight in them. Their unity with God and each other is a melody of the sweetest notes as long as they continue in obedience and trust to His truth. His truth, that all the good of the garden is given for their benefit but that one tree is not theirs to eat, lest they die, and our final question is answered; for God defines truth, which in turn, Adam and Eve receive by faith. Of course, we know time is ticking when that trust will fail. But for now, for now, they give us history’s purest glimpse of the harmony God and man were meant to enjoy.

Kenzi Knapp is a follower of Christ, homeschool graduate and student of history. A fourth generation Missourian she enjoys writing about daily life enrolled in Gods great course of faith and His story throughout the ages at her blog, Honey Rock Hills.