Reading Scripture as the First Believers Did

When we open the Bible today, we often bring modern questions with us—
questions about science, timelines, and explanations.

But the Bible was not written in a modern world.
It was written to ancient people—Israelites—who thought very differently than we do.

If we want to understand Scripture faithfully, we must learn to read it the way the original believers would have heard it.

Not to change its meaning…
but to recover it.

Today, we’re going to look at how the earliest believers would have understood the Scriptures—starting in Genesis—and how that understanding carries all the way into the New Testament.

Part 1: Genesis Through Ancient Israelite Eyes

When modern readers come to Genesis, we often ask questions like:
“How old is the earth?”
“How did God create matter?”
“How does this fit with science?”

But those are modern questions.

Ancient Israelites weren’t asking how matter came into existence.
They assumed the material world already existed.

Their question was different.

They asked:
Who is in charge of this world?
What is its purpose?
And how do we live rightly within it?

According to scholars like John Walton, in the ancient world something “existed” when it had a function—when it had a role within an ordered system.

So Genesis 1 isn’t primarily about material origins.
It’s about God bringing order, purpose, and meaning to creation.

Part 2: Creation as God’s Sacred Order

Genesis begins with a world described as formless and empty—chaotic.

And what does God do?

He speaks.
He separates.
He assigns roles.
He brings order.

Light has a purpose.
The sun and moon have a function.
Humanity has a role.

And when the work is finished, God “rests.”

But rest doesn’t mean inactivity.

In the ancient world, a god rested when he had taken up rule in his temple.

Genesis is declaring something powerful:
The universe itself is God’s dwelling place.

There is no rival god.
No cosmic struggle.
Yahweh alone reigns.

Part 3: Adam and Humanity’s Calling

To the original audience, Adam was not mainly a scientific puzzle.

Adam was a representative.

He was placed in the garden to “work it and keep it”—language later used for priests serving in the tabernacle.

Humanity’s calling was priestly:
To bear God’s image
To represent His rule
To extend His ordered presence into the world

Sin, then, is not just breaking rules.

Sin is rejecting God’s wisdom and bringing disorder back into His creation.

And the result is exile—from sacred space.

That theme—exile and restoration—will shape the entire Bible.

Part 4: Israel’s Story Continues the Pattern

As we move through the Old Testament, the same worldview continues.

The tabernacle and the temple are not random religious ideas.
They mirror creation itself.

God orders space.
He fills it with His presence.
He invites humanity to dwell with Him.

The Law was never about earning salvation.

It was about living in harmony with God’s order.

Blessing flowed from alignment with Him.
Disorder brought consequences.

The prophets didn’t invent something new—they called Israel back to what had always been true.

Idolatry brought chaos.
Justice reflected God’s order.
Faithfulness mattered.

Part 5: The New Testament Fulfillment

The New Testament doesn’t abandon this ancient way of thinking.

It fulfills it.

When John says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,”
the word dwelt literally means tabernacled.

Jesus is God dwelling with humanity again.

He is the true image-bearer.
The faithful priest.
The beginning of new creation.

Everything that began in Genesis finds its fulfillment in Him.

Closing Reflection (Outro)

The Bible was never meant to answer every modern question.

It was meant to reveal who God is
and how we are meant to live in relationship with Him.

From Eden…
to the tabernacle…
to Christ…
to the new creation…

God has always desired to dwell with His people.

The real question Scripture asks is not,
“How did this world come to be?”

But rather:

Will you live within the order of the God who made it?