The greatest story ever told is not the story of mankind’s survival, independence, and achievement. To put it differently, the greatest story ever told does not begin with man, but with God. That’s right—God.

Mankind would not exist apart from God. Mankind would not have a story tell apart from God. Mankind would simply not be. God, on the other hand, is simply there. God is the God who is.

This God has a story, and it is the greatest story ever told. It is the story of all stories. It is the ultimate story, which trumps all other stories. It’s not that other stories are unimportant —they are in their own, unique ways—but the story of God is the story from which all other stories derive their meaning from, or at least they should. The story of God is comprehensively amazing and satisfying and encouraging. We would do well to spend some time on it.

Nancy Pearcey, in her ground-breaking book, Total Truth, encourages us to approach any worldview or story through a three-part grid: creation, fall, and redemption (127, 128, and 134).[1] It is through this three-part grid that we will briefly journey our way through the biblical story.

Creation

The biblical story begins with God. I have heard it said that the Bible does not begin by arguing for the existence of God, but by simply assuming it: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1; ESV). The beginning that is referred to here is not the beginning of God, but of the world, or better, the universe.

The Bible begins by drawing our attention to the main character of the story—God. He is the Creator of the universe who designed, filled, separated, and gave meaning to—and made possible the existence of—life in general, and humanity, in particular.

Out of all creation, mankind was created in a unique way to reflect who God is to the rest of the world. Humanity was created in the image of God, called to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (v. 28; emphasis added).

God, the rightful and just ruler of the universe, created and called mankind to represent Him and exercise His authority on earth. This was/is a great opportunity, blessing, and honestly, tremendous responsibility. (Let us just say that we have not, broadly speaking, done a good job at it).

Plus, God gave humanity the gifts of work and rest. Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden to work, care, and cultivate it for God’s glory. Overall, the beginning was characterized by shalom, and mankind was right in the center of it.

This first chapter of the biblical story is of crucial importance for the rest of the narrative for various reasons. The first chapter of Genesis teaches us some of Christianity’s core doctrines: creation out of nothing, the goodness of creation, creation of mankind as image-bearers, the origins of evil in this earth, the fall of mankind and its need for redemption, etc.

The creation account serves as the foundation to the rest of story of God. Nothing in the rest of the story will make sense without, or part from, the creation account.

[1] Pearcey, Nancy. Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity. Print.