God creates human beings to lead his kingdom. Though God remains ultimate Ruler, He nevertheless establishes Adam and Eve as king and queen of the earth. They are called to reflect God in their rulership over all things. Starting in the throne room of Eden, they are instructed to expand the dominion of his kingdom over all things. To accomplish this, they are expected by God to obey his commandment and fulfill his commission.
How old is the earth? Is it thousands… millions… billions of years old? And, in the end, does it really matter? There are a lot of questions and confusion surrounding first 11 chapters of Genesis. Yes, it does matter and it matters in more ways than you may realize.
After God fills the created kingdom, He finishes it with His own rest. The climax of the Genesis creation story, then, is not the making of mankind but the Sabbath rest of God. Why? Because the primary purpose of the creation account is not what is created but who created it. The text declares, "[T]he heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed"; therefore, the work lacks nothing, and there are no loose ends to tie up.
The first three days of creation describe the forming of the earth, and the second three describe its filling. Together they remedy earth's initial condition of being “without form and void.” With just a mere word—the expression of God's will—the solar system was set like a jeweled watch in the midst of the universe. With a word He made the galaxies and all that inhabit them.
Genesis fundamentally shapes the rest of Scripture. It is not a saga, legend, or creation myth like those linked to other ancient Near Eastern religions. Instead, it is history. It is written to reveal how the universe came into existence and how God will unfold his purposes for his people. Genesis 1:1 reveals that God is the foundation and creator of everything. Genesis 1:1-13 shows God’s power in forming the earth. God's speech brings about God's results. God speaks and brings order to chaos.
Genesis is one of the most read yet least understood books of the Bible. As the text unfolds, it addresses issue after issue that are still relevant: creation versus evolution, gender identity, marriage, sexuality, race, capital punishment, abuse. Yet the book of Genesis is not primarily about those things. Genesis is about one thing: the kingdom of Christ.