Genesis
“In The Beginning God”
Outline:
I. 1: -2:3 The creation account
III. 5:1 –6:8 The history of early man
IV. 6:9 – 9:29 The history of Noah
V. 10:1 – 11:9 The history of the descendents of Noah
VII. 25:12 – 36:43 The history of Isaac & his family
VIII. 37:1 – 50:26 The history of Jacob & his family
II. 2:4 – 4:26 The history of the first family
VI. 11:10 – 25:11 The history of Abraham
Genesis
“In The Beginning God”
I. 1: -2:3 The creation account
Ordinary history is recorded in away that reveals the achievements & progress of people. Telling what battles they fought, where they lived, what their culture was like & what shaped their future does this. Now though the Bible records some of this it is not the aim of it. Instead the Bible’s chief aim is to record the progress of God’s revelation of Himself to that which He created, (specifically) man. Genesis, like other books of the Bible, seeks to reveal how God showed His character & nature of holiness, justice, love & mercy. Further more it records how this revelation was received & what effects it produced in those who plainly saw Him. It can be summed up this way “The Bible is the revelation of God to man & the relation of man to God!”
The word Genesis comes from the Greek word that simply means “origin” or source. The Hebrew word is “Bereshith” which simply means “In the beginning”. This is the first of a fivefold work compiled by Moses called “Penta” = “five” “teuch” = books. Several things to note:
It is written to a people who believed in God: Thus it was not written to those who do not believe. Its aim therefore was not to prove what it puts forth as truth it already presupposes that those who read its pages believe.
It was written to this group of believers who believed that their God was, One, personal, all knowing, all powerful & eternal: Thus it seeks not to prove these points to those who refuse to believe.
It presents this same God to believers as the only creator without explanation, apology or argument: Thus the creation account is practical & stated as fact because it’s aim is to further the faith of its readers. Now that’s not to say that is contrary to science. The fact is that no real mistake has ever been demonstrated in the Bible in either science or history!
Vs. 1-5 Creations first day: At the writing of this book there were already several speculations & philosophies as to the origin of the world.
Materialist: All matter is eternal & that there is an inherent principal in matter that is working all things as they are now over a long period of time.
Pantheist: All matter emanates from a common divine substance, which is working everywhere in nature.
Here in these 10 words, (7 in Hebrew) we have some quite remarkable as compared to all the other opinions as to the origin of the universe. All other philosophies start with what the senses can detect (time, space & matter) & then attempt to understand how those things might have become what we now sense. For instance evolution has time, space & matter existing from nothing & then evolving into complex systems. But it fails to answer the question, “How did it all get here to begin with?” Now again I remind you that the perspective of Genesis is not to be a text book of science or as someone well said, “It’s purpose is not to tell us how the heavens go but rather how to go to heaven!” This then is the only place in the entire world of religion & philosophy where that question is answered. We are simply told of the existence of these three:
Time: In the beginning
Space: The heavens
Matter: The earth
But before these three things existed we are told of the existence of the Creator, (the uni-plural form of the name Elohim). The “im” in the Hebrew makes the name plural but its meaning is singular. This name describes God as eternal existing before the universe as all-powerful, all knowing & everywhere at once. Therefore nothing is impossible for God! In fact science affirms specific creation instead of evolution. There is a law in science that states “That no effect can be greater then its cause.” Simply put the existence of time, space & matter is proof of an intelligent, eternal, powerful person, which had to create them to begin with! “Well how did He do it?” We are told right here in this verse with the use of the word “created” which means to create something out of nothing. Now when we create something we do so by assembling together existing materials but that is not the way that God created. Evolution speaks of the forming of the world by chance or self-generation through random impersonal powers of nature. Yet the Bible speaks of the intelligent design of the world through creation. Based upon that we can conclude that the creation was not random chance but rather a special creation by a personal God!
“Ok, how was this creating something out of nothing accomplished?”
John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
Col. 1:15-17 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”
Vs. 2 Now some suppose there to be a gap between this verse & verse 1 because they see it as inconsistent for God to create anything “without form & void”. To further their position they quote Isa. 45: 18 where the same word for void is rendered vain. Several views come from this same position all of which try to reconcile the evolutionary theory of geological ages with the Bible. So they put in between these two verses a long gap to explain these geological ages. There are three basic views:
Theistic evolution: Says that God created all things but then let them evolve.
Creation: God created everything 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.
Gap theory: Traditionally is used to explain these geological ages, which personally are better explained, by Noah’s flood. Pastor Chuck believes that there is a gap of time between these two verses but not for the purpose to explaining the geological ages but rather to explain the creation of the angelic beings as well as the fall of Lucifer or Satan in Isa. 14:12. That being the case then according to that view Genesis 1:2-11 is a recreation.
One possible solution to the problem of the earth being without form & void is that perhaps what is being described here is the further development or shaping of the earth for habitation. All this was being done; it appears, in darkness so that there was a time when there was different aspects of waters in darkness & the Spirit of God was moving or “breathed” or it. Now with this view we don’t have to do inventing as far as the text is concerned, the text doesn’t say there was a gap so I’m not going to say there was a gap. “But what about the angelic creation?” Well the Bible doesn’t say here when that was created unless you suggest that when God created the heavens in verse 1 that they were created a that time?
Vs. 3-5 In verse 2 the Spirit of God moved or “breathed” over the waters now we see the manor in which god created, “God said.” God created by way of His Word. Heb. 11:3 tells us “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Then we are told in Ps. 33:9 that, “He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” The result of His word, “Become light was light became!” The most basic form of energy is light, which includes every form of light not just that which is visible, but short-wave (ultra-violet, x-rays) & long- wave (infra-red, radio waves) as well as heat, sound, magnetic & so on. The fact light is mentioned prior to the sun, moon & stars of verse 16 suggests that what is in mind here is energy in all it’s forms. This is further suggested by the fact that the earth is now rotating upon its axis as we have night & day. The word day “yom” is for the first time used in the Bible where it is used to describe a solar day.
What we learn through the first day of creation is that specifically created a habitation by which he would bring forth man. And before he brought forth this man, Adam, He knew that given a choice this man would choice disobedience. He also knew that He would provide a way back for His fallen creation. The way in which He would do so would be by His Son who was the instrument of creation. The way in which His Son would come would be through a man named Abraham. Through his family God would bring forth a nation & through that nation in a lonely stable a Child would be born as Isa. 9:6-7 tells us, “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”
Vs. 6-8 We come now to the third step in creation:
Step one: creation of heaven & earth
Step two: creation of light & its separation from darkness
Step three: creation of the sky
The word “firmament” is literally to spread out to thinness. The idea is that of spreading something out to an infinite thinness. So God created on the second day a space between the waters above & the waters below. The purpose of this appears to produce an atmosphere in which billions of gallons of water would be above the earth & thus a hydraulic cycle was to be produced which would cause water to be condensed into vapor & then vapor would then be redistributed back into rain, ice or snow. So just as light is absolutely necessary for life so to is water. Now having just returned from vacation I can tell you that this would have produced continual spring like conditions on earth known as the greenhouse effect.
Again I remind you that God was creating all of this for man to dwell in, that was His purpose & plan. Man does that speak to us about His desire for us to have fellowship with Him. I reminded of a tombstone with the words, “Remember, friend, as you pass by as you are now, so once was I, as I am now, you to shall be, prepare for death & follow me. ” Someone having read this man’s final words wrote underneath his, “To follow you I’m not content until I know which way you went!”
Vs. 9-10 There is a double work done on the third day of land & plant life. It seems that the waters under the heavens contained the material elements for dry earth so the earth that was without form now by God’s spoken word comes into form & the complex minerals & metals now are loosed from there watery matrix. It would appear from this scripture that originally the land surfaces were all together. It is possible that the theory of the continental shift, is a correct theory. That there was a time when there was a drift of the continent. Many scientists today that the continents, at one time, were all joined. It indicates in the Book of Genesis, that in the days of Peleg, the earth was divided. Now today we realize that even though all the water were gathered together in one place that some of the water’s went into the sea’s, others were gathered into great basins called lakes & still others were trapped under the earth’s service yet they are all seemingly connected. So they are all in one place yet there are many seas!
Vs.11-13 The second act of creation on the third day is the appearance of life in the form of vegetation. Tow important tings come out of this verse:
Vs. 11 The fact that the earth was able to immediately sustain plant life that flourished shows that the earth was extremely fertile. The soil had an abundance of nutrients to sustain vegetation on the very day it was created thus this flies in the face of the evolutionist that suggests “billions & billions” of years were necessary for rocks to erode to produce enough soils to sustain life.
Vs. 11 Second we see that evolution again is thwarted by the words, “yielding seed”. Simply put, seeds came from plants not plants from seeds!
Grass: The word means damp would include those plants that reproduce by other means then seed, (moss, ferns, lichens) all of which carpet the earth.
Herbs: Literally “yielding seed” so this would be plants that produce seed as a means of reproduction everything from grasses to flowers & shrubs.
Trees: Literally “trees of fruit”. The idea is that of the seed being inside the fruit.
The phrase “after its kind” is repeated 9 times in this chapter. Each type of vegetation would have it’s own complex DNA which would only allow its self to reproduce after its own species. In other words DNA allows for a wide variety with in its own kind but no variation outside its kind. Folks this is just a fact of nature & by this evolution can not be possible! You can have a wide variety of dogs & a wide variety of monkeys but you will not find a single “dogkey”! There has never been one single documented case of any of nature producing anything outside of its kind.
So everything that God created was going along just as He ordained it should thus it was good. Creation was to support life, most of which was to support you & I. Now what does that tell you? Well it tells you that you are not an accident that your life & existence is part of His wonderful plan. And that some how you & I fit into His design & plan. We were created to have fellowship with the Creator & to enjoy all the benefits of that relationship. So we too will produce fruit according to His design for us. That’s what we are told in Eph. 2:4-10 (turn & read this). Our Creator is rich in mercy because of who He is. His love is based upon His nature not our worthiness. So that even when we were dead & unproductive He was at work to make us bare fruit.
Genesis
“In The Beginning God”
I. 1: -2:3 The creation account
1:14-31
“Then God blessed them”
I. Intro.
II. Vs. 14-23 Signs of life
III. Vs. 24-31 Made in God’s image
I. Intro.
What we have seen so far in the creation account is that the focus is more “why” then “how”. Now with that said the established facts of science completely agree with the truths found in Genesis chapter 1. Another thing that is real obvious in this account is that according what Solomon observed in Eccl. 3:1 “There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven.” God chose to create in stages or days, when He could of clearly have chosen to create everything in one “Word”. Further more everything that He created function just as He planed.
II. Vs. 14-23 Signs of life
Vs. 14-19 These verses present a difficulty because we have already read in verse 3 that God created light. The word in verse 3 is a different word then the word “lights” found here in this verse. There it describes “light” in all its forms as energy here it describes what was visible from the earth. The how is not answered but we are given a three-fold reason as to why:
Vs. 14, 16, and 17 To give light upon the earth both during the day & the night: Two different words are used God’s action in placing these lights in the firmaments.
Vs. 16 “Made”: This is not the word in 1:1 “bara” (created something out of nothing) instead it is the word “asah” which means to carve out, labor or produce. So we are told that God produced to great lights.
Vs. 17 “Set”: “nathan” which has the idea of relocation or perhaps you might say that God “presented” them in the firmament. The picture is that of the sky being a display window or a picture frame.
Vs. 14 “For signs & seasons”: The word sign here is the same one used for Noah’s sign of the rainbow. In other words God arranged the stars not randomly but specifically as a sign for those upon the earth. They were to speak of the glory of their creator & interestingly enough harnessed by man to navigate. Eclipses have been used to mark mileposts in human history. As seasons then we see God setting up climate controlled seasons through out the calendar year.
Vs. 14 “for days & years”: Simply put they exist as an instrument to measure time. Now again as we read in verse 16 God made the stars & all of this was visible tells us something about God’s creation that often goes unnoticed, “His creation was a mature one!” In other words these stars would have been billions of light-years away but at the very moment of their creation they were visible upon the earth. The light energy trail that would be necessary to see them from earth was created at the same time they were formed in the sky.
I think it is cool when you consider the effects of the creation in terms of our relationship to the Lord. Just like the moon we Christians have no light of our own all we can do is reflect the light of the Son! Now put a darkened world into this & you have our purpose, which is to reflect the light of His glory upon a darkened world. You see when in is night in the world they can not see the Son the only way they know that there is day light is His illumination upon our hearts. Hey, follow me on this one what happens if the moon does not do its job at night? Will they are called eclipses:
Lunar eclipse: Is when the earth comes in between the moon & the sun causing the moon not to reflect the suns light upon the earth. So spiritually the Christian will grow dim because it has allowed the earth (worldly values) to come in between themselves & the Son of God. The effect of this will be seen in a darker world because we have allowed the thing that we are to reflect the Son upon to obscure our light, Jesus Christ!
Solar eclipse: Is when the moon comes in between the earth & the sun. Now spiritually this can happen when the Christian & what he does becomes more important then the source of our light Jesus. In effect we block His light & the earth is lunged into darkness. The attention must not be on what reflects the light but instead upon the true light source Jesus the Son!
Vs. 20-23 Now on the 5th day we are given the creation of the aquatic life & those things that fly in the lower reaches of the sky. In verse 21 thew created is the same as 1:1 meaning that God created something from nothing, in other words God did not use any preexisting material in their formation. Up too this point there has been no animal life & as He now brings forth animal life from nothing we realize that contrary to the evolutionary theory which states “that life evolved from lifeless matter” we are told that God did not create it that way. Science has been unable to support any other theory based upon the fossil record. Simply put there are NO intermediary links between inorganic matter & the first appearances of life. Neither are there any links between early life forms & more complex forms. Where are the missing links? Folk’s we are not just missing one or two we are missing billions upon billions. Looking at the fossil record life just “sprang” into existence a fact that scientist’s have observed calling it the “Cambrian Explosion”.
Vs. 20 The word “living creatures” is the Hebrew word “nephesh” for soul, so God is making a clear distinction between plants & animals. Biblically there are three major functions of the soul:
The rational: That is they can think
The emotional: That is they can feel
The volitional: that is they can decide
Though plants can reproduce after their own kind (which shows they are alive) they can not fall in love, have any memory of the past or go through a guilty conscience. Now in the animal kingdom these functions of the soul vary from species to species in degree but all are evident.
Vs. 21-23 The words “great sea creatures” is literally long extended things & we are told that they “glided” in the water & reproduced again according to their own kind. So much for the Darwinian theory of the fish who skinned its under belly & grew appendages which over billions & billions of years became legs by which the fish now walked onto the land. The word for bird here is very broad & could include all things that fly including insects & bats.
In the words “it was good” is implied that that which was created functioned just as God designed. God ordains a higher function for reproduction in the animals then He had with plant life as in the animal kingdom choice & emotions are both present that are not present in plant life.
III. Vs. 24-31 Made in God’s image
We now come to the crowning achievement of God’s creation, the sixth day. First note that it was a double day of creation as creeping things, (cattle & the like) as well as mankind was created.
Vs. 24-25 Now it seems as though the land animals were created on the early part of the 6th day & we see that the act of creating them was from the earth as God spoke to the earth & it brought forth life. Simply put the same basic elements that make up the earth are in both animals as well as mankind. The “living creatures” (soul of life) are of three classifications but they do not correspond to the system used by modern biologists:
Cattle: “behemah” the root of this word means to be dumb or meek & would include all domesticated land animals, such as sheep, goats, cows, camels, dogs etc.
Creeping things: “r’emes” which means to move about lightly or glide about. It would include everything that moves about close to the earth, such as reptiles & non-flying insects.
Beasts of the earth: This word means to move about freely & would include large non-domesticated animals. Now we can’t be sure but accordingly it would seem that the dinosaurs would have been in this category, as well as the other two possibly.
Again notice the words “according to its kind” which flies in the face of Darwinian thought which suggested that the diversity of species could best be explained by way of natural process of adaptation into higher forms of life. Their principal works out this way; “Giraffes were once animals with short necks who because the changing environment had to keep stretching their necks to get at the food supply, thus succeeding generations of giraffes adapted into a higher form of life with longer necks.” Now if that were true then would we not see parents who in succeeding generations lost a leg eventually produce children with only one leg? The reality is that this has nothing to do with adaptation into higher forms or natural selection but everything to do with genetics. The Darwinian theory rests upon mutation as the process for this change but the fact of science is that mutation damages life not causes it to evolve into higher forms. What ultimately causes changes in species is that certain genes or traits are not suited for the environment over time get eliminated through death & thus are not passed on to succeeding generations. Nothing new is created rather the species has adapted through genetic trait elimination & thus the species is “refined”. Folks we have been doing this manually by breeding certain types of animals to fit what we want.
Vs. 26 The first difference we see in the creation of mankind is that there is a divine consultation about this creation. Who is God speaking with? The word used here for God is “Elohim” which is plural meaning three or more. Notice the use of the plural with the singular, “us & our (plural) with image & likeness (singular)” which is the strongest yet of the trinity in scripture, God existing is a three-fold unity. According to verse 27 “God created man in His own image; in the image of God” the “us” & “our” of verse 26 must refer to God not some angelic being as some suppose. But what exactly does this mean?
“Image”: The root of the word means to “carve out” & speaks of the dignity of man. Man is not only made with deliberate purpose & plan he is patterned after God. Now this does not, as the Mormons maintain, mean that God has the same physical characteristics as we do. Their famous line is, “As man is God was once, as God is man will become!” The context of this passage again makes it plain that it is us who have been in the image God, not God who has been made in our image! Whenever God is being described in anthropomorphic expressions in scripture you can not take them literally otherwise in Ps. 17:8 God would have to have wings. Thus there is a human likeness that is “carved out” in man that is like the triune God. As we have seen in the animal kingdom they have:
Body: Just as mankind does
Soul: They have a varying ability to (think, feel & decide).
There is something here that makes mankind unique in all of God’s creation &
it’s that mankind is a spiritual creature. Jesus told the women at the well,
“God is Spirit & those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit & truth.”
Based upon what we have seen thus far in Genesis we can see three things that
appear to be unique in God’s nature that we too posses.
1. Creativity: The ability to imagine, conceptualize & then fashion what
we imagined. Now we can not create something out of nothing as God did but we can take that which is existing & fashion it into what we desired. No other of God’s creatures can do this.
2. Communication: God speaks or conveys ideas & discusses matters. Animals can not communicate as we do. They make noises or even mimic our sounds but they are unable to pass on ideas in which they have discussed information. None of the animal kingdom has been able to advance its civilization through its communication.
3. Conscious choice: We often call this free will. We alone have the free moral agency to distinguish & then act things that are good & evil. Just as we have seen God in this chapter declare that what He created was good.
“According to our likeness”: The word here implies resemblance or similarity to the ideal. In other words we have been given everything necessary for us to function properly to God’s character & nature. Thus we are told to be holy for He is holy. In 2 Peter 1:3 we are told that, “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” Adam not only had the capacity to be godly he was, he was creative, communicated rightly & prior to the fall made godly conscience choices. He was function as God had created him to in His likeness.
Now clearly something has happened to mankind by which he has lost the ability to consistently function as God designed him to. Even though he still posses the image, (Creativity, Communication, Conscious choice) he can no longer function according to God’s likeness or if you function as God Himself would.
It was in this sphere that God gives mankind “dominion” or mastery over the rest of His creation. Nothing points so vividly to mankind’s fall then does the fact that we have become so much like that which we were designed to master!
Vs. 27 Women was not an afterthought even though we are told that she was not created until after Adam named the animals. Both were in God’s image & likeness thus they equally possessed the same spiritual nature that we have already scene. God will fill in the details of her creation in 2:18-25.
Vs. 28 Notice here that God’s giving them mastery over His creation excluded mastery over their fellow man! So if we would not have fallen then all of this inhumanity towards each other would never be! There is a similarity but also dissimilarity between all other creatures in their self-perpetuation; both are blessed & told to be fruitful & multiply but God’s plan is clearly marriage as we shall see in 2:24. In everything remember that mankind was in God’s Image thus “God -like” & also he functioned as designed thus “God-able” so mans authority to function in the environment that was created for him was perfect or just as God himself would.
Vs. 29-31 It appears that God’s design for his creation was to be vegetarians (not until 9:3 are we told that God told Noah that every moving thing was food for him). No doubt there was a never-ending supply as plants were designed to continually replicate themselves through their own seed. As it was to be over all the earth we know that all that God had created was a paradise.
The animals appear not to be carnivorous at this time so there would have been no predators & all of God’s creation was living in perfect harmony something that we are told that in the future will be restored. Everything that God created He now calls very good according to Ezekiel even the angelic world was perfect as we are told in 28:15 that even Lucifer was “perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.” Thus there could not have been a gap between verse 1 & verse 2!
Genesis
“In The Beginning God”
I. 1: -2:3 The creation account
II. 2:4 – 4:26 The history of the first family
Genesis 2:1-25
“The beginning of our history”
I. Intro.
II. Vs. 1-7 Resting in His presence
III. Vs. 8-17 Self-centered or God-centered
IV. Vs. 18-25 God’s gift to man
I. Intro.
The first chapter of Genesis gives us an overall view of the first six days of God’s creation. Reading this account it is easy to tell that it was meant to supply only a summery of the events of those days & not a detailed account. This fact is further brought out in the 4th verse of chapter 2 where we read, “This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.” The word history is literally generations & is where we get the title of the book. The word will also serve as a key to the many divisions in the book. From here on out when you see these words they will be followed by the name of a particular patriarch, which followed the practice of other ancient cultures. These names are of the men that wrote each section recording those generations. They would then pass down the tablets to the next generation that again would record the history of their generations. This happened up to the time when all of the tablets came into the hands of Moses who wrote the final chapters (37:3 – 50) of Genesis as well as organizing & editing all of the proceeding generations. So what we have in Genesis 1 – 2:3 are events which God told Adam as he was not yet created. So then Genesis 2:4-25 is a more detailed account of the 6th day of creation, the day in which Adam was formed & Eve from him.
II. Vs. 1-7 Resting in His presence
Vs. 1 At the close of every other day were the words, “So the evening and the morning were the ____ day.” Yet when we come to the 7th day those words do not appear instead we are told that things were “finished & ended”. The word “finished” in verse 1 & the words “ended” in verse 2 is the same Hebrew word. From a scientific perspective it is yet another nail in the coffin of evolution. Biblical creation you will recall starts with God creating & we are told here that when He was done that it was finished or perfect in as much as nothing in creation took place after this. Evolution starts with nothing & then boldly proclaims that it evolved into complex systems of life. Creation with the word finished is better supported by the fossil record then evolution that are supposabley still evolving!
The declaration of His work as being finished comes from two perspectives:
It was clearly done!
It was perfect or just as He intended it to be!
Now folk’s it’s the second meaning of the word “finished” here that speaks to you & I about God’s work towards us. God declares to the nation during their deportation to Babylon in Jer. 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Simply put the work that God is doing in your life no matter how difficult it may seem right now is perfect, just as He intends it to be. There is no short cut to Christian maturity; it runs strait through the cross. I also believe that God always use the easiest way to get us to where He wants us to be.
Vs. 2-3 So God ended His work & here we are told that He “rested” from all His work which He had done. Now obviously when we realize that we have an all-powerful God this can not mean that he was tired after His creative work. The word literally means “cease or desist” & when combined with the word work, which means “special task”, we get a much clearer picture of what this day of rest is all about. You see the “day of rest” is not about keeping a “special day” it is rather a time of remembering the “ending of a special work.” The Jewish Sabbath always carried with it a twofold idea:
Cessation from work
Satisfaction after work
So our day of rest is not so much about a day as it is about us setting time aside where we reflect upon the special work that God has done & are satisfied as we reflect upon His work on our behalf. Jesus said in Matt. 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Then as we read in Heb. 4:10-11 “he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” Are you getting the picture of what this rest was meant to be? It’s a time when believers cease from our self efforts, religious activity, self-righteous works & recognize that it’s not Jesus plus my anything instead it is as we are told by Jesus, “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” Or as Paul wrote in Eph. 2:8-9 “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” It is not that we cease from activity, no instead we just cease from activity that is in our own strength.
Now consider this rest in light of the rest of chapter two & you will see how important it is that we are diligent to enter into His rest.
Vs. 4-7 Mankind is to remember their frame “dust”.
Vs. 8-14 Mankind is to remember how dependent they are upon God’s provision.
Vs. 15-17 Mankind is to remember that it is God who gives them purpose & that this purpose is best found in obedience to His word.
Vs. 18-25 Mankind is to remember that it is His grace that blesses us with each other.
Vs. 4 What we have here according to this verse is the story of what happened to Adam & then Eve as they came into being. What is interesting is to note is mankind’s duel citizenship as being first heaven then earth! Next you see a new name used for God “Lord God” or in Hebrew “Jehovah Elohim” the combination of the everlasting, all-powerful, creator with the relational promise keeping God.
Vs. 5-6 Scientifically these verses again affirm a “mature creation” also we see that the hydrological (water) cycle was not atmospheric as it is today but rather subterranean the “water vapor” called mist here was a daily cycle of evaporation & condensation. Simply put there was a special preparation by God for the creation of man even though what man is made up of is common & ordinary. In other words the uniqueness of mankind is to be seen not in what he is made of but rather in who created him. So? Hey think of the endless hours of self-absorption we are occupied with trying to make our dirt more special!
Vs. 7 Man was formed as I have said out of the elements of the earth, “carbon, hydrogen oxygen etc.” which are the same unity of composition of both plants & animals. What is interesting is that this was stated as such in Genesis long before science established this fact. The material used “dust of the ground” does not imply dry earth but rather a damp mass. The word “formed” is literally molded & is used else where to describe the activity of a potter. Thus in Isa. 64: 8 we read “O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.” You could say that this was quite literally what took place. The point behind this is that of personal & particular care in the formation of man. Perhaps there really is something to that old saying, “When they made you they broke the mold!” Now as we remember back the animals they too have breath but mankind’s breath was given him directly from God. You see folk’s it takes the breath from the living God to turn us from lifeless lumps of clay into a living beings. Think of this now spiritually & it will bless your socks off, “We continue to live by inhaling that which God exhales!” If you will, “What continues to keep us alive is God giving us mouth to mouth resuscitation by which His Spirit breaths His life into us!”
III. Vs. 8-17 Self-centered or God-centered
In these verses we shall see where God places mankind & what he wants mankind to do & not to do.
Vs. 8 This verse is a summary of the next 6 verses, 9-14 & here we are told something quite wonderful. God created Adam, brought him into consciousness & then planted a garden in Eden east of where Adam was created. So? Well God created Adam & then allowed Adam to watch Him as he created this glorious place where he would dwell. That is always the way God works, God just places us in the work that He has already planted. Folk’s, it is just as Paul said to the Philippians, “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
Vs. 9-14 Here we move into the provisions God gave mankind (Adam) in the garden.
Vs. 9 Our attention is taken to the trees of the garden & two things are told us as far as their selection to the garden:
Pleasant to the sight: They were selected for their beauty, no ugly trees in the garden. Frankly I have not seen to many ugly trees, so the variety must have been incredible.
Good for food: Next we see that they were placed there based upon there usefulness to Adam.
Do you see that? God wanted to put mankind into a home that was both beautiful as well as useful. Specifically we are told of two of the trees both of which if eaten would produce lasting effects:
The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden: First off two things come out in this verse.
This tree & its fruit was the most accessible of all the trees in that it was in the middle of the garden.
There was no prohibition on partaking of the fruit of this tree at all. Simply put Adam was given no restriction from eating the fruit of the tree of life until after he disobeyed the Lord & ate of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. (3:22) The reason then is that it would have put mankind into an irreversible state, which shows us that had Adam taken of the fruit of tree of life it would have enabled him to live indefinitely thus suspending the effects of the metabolic aging process. Now we see that Ponce Delion should of being looking for the tree of life instead of the fountain of youth! The phrase “tree of life” appears 10 times in scripture most of those references are used to describe a positive effect if we follow the Lord. But here are some other interesting facts: Rev. 22: 2 It is located near the throne of God bears 12 fruits each month & its leaves heal the nations. Rev. 22:11 tells us that only those who obey the Word of God have the right to eat of it.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil: We are not told this trees location but it is obvious that it was not as accessible as the tree of life. Neither are we given any other statements about it here so we will wait to comment on this tree’s fruit until verse 17. Now what I find here that since everything that God had created was Good, what he did not have was any consciousness of what was evil. Today the world often puts down a naivete as being ignorant or inexperienced. They even have a term to describe a person who has tasted of this tree, “worldly”. I would like to place another word in front of this & say that those who have partaken of this trees fruit are “fallen worldly!”
Vs. 10-14 The word “Eden” comes from the word that mean “delight”. Its location was eastwardly in a geographical area where 4 rivers heads came. The river that went out of the garden was to irrigate it & we are told two of the four names are associated with the modern names Tigurs & the Euphrates. Now it is impossible to determine the actual location of this garden as the rivers here described were fed by underground wells & not rainfall & further more the river beds themselves would have been radically changed after the flood. Havilah, means “sandy land” & evidently there was lots of gold in this region. Other natural resources of this area was, “Bdellium” was a precious fragrant gum that was used, as well as onyx which was also scene as precious.
Vs. 15-17 We are here given mankind’s purpose, provision & prohibition.
Vs. 15 PURPOSE: Man was to care for the home God had placed him in. Adam was removed from sin at this time but his time was not to be spent idle but rather he was to be very active. He was placed in a perfect environment as well as a perfect circumstance yet he was not in a place of no-responsibility. Consider what the prophet Ezek. Has to say concern what the sin of Sodom was, (16:49) “this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.” God did not make mankind to be idol instead He made him to be satisfied doing what God has called him to do.
Vs. 16 PROVISION: This is the first recorded time in which God communicates with man & we see two things about God in His dealings with us:
“Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat”: God is not restrictive in nature. Far from fallen mankind’s perspective that God is some sort of spoil sport taken away all the fun & enjoyable things. No, God says “of every tree you may eat freely!” Does that sound restrictive to you? The only things God prohibits are the things that would separate us from fellowship with Him; in other words things that would bring us harm!
Vs. 17 “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”: Life hangs upon obedience to His word. God’s word are to be the standards of life.
Vs. 17 PROHIBITION: Adam clearly knew the consequences of rejecting God’s word “death”. Literally it is “dying you shall die!” Thus Adam knew that disobedience would lead to spiritual death & that would set in motion the eventual physical decaying which will lead to our death.
But just what was this “tree of the knowledge of good and evil?” Why would it be so bad to eat of this tree as even Hebrews 5:14 tells us that we ought to “use their senses to discern both good and evil.” We are given a partial understanding of this when we examine Satans words to Even in chapter 3:5 “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The part that is a lie is that in disobeying God’s word we would ever be like Him! The word used in 3:5 for know is literally “distinguish” but just how does God know good & evil? Clearly He does not know it by experience, so then the only way He would know evil would be by comparing it with His own holy & perfect nature. That which is consistent with His nature is that which is good. He simply relates it to who He is; thus He is the only true standard on which good can be determined. We too can determine what is good by comparing it to God’s character & nature. When God had created He declared that everything that He created came up to the standard of who He was. So when Adam & Eve ate of this fruit they became their own standard of good & evil, they became self-centered & could then justify evil based upon how they saw things not how it relates to Who God is. Think of how eating this fruit has warped mankind’s mindset. Today we are saying what Isaiah said in 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil”. All because we use ourselves as the standard & not God’s character & nature.
IV. Vs. 18-25 God’s gift to man
All the events recorded here in these verses take place on the 6th day after God had proclaimed everything very good.
Vs. 18-19 This is the first time we read in scripture that something was not good. Literally the word means incomplete, thus God is saying that before the creation of Eve man was incomplete. Two reasons are listed here by God to describe how Adam was incomplete & why Eve was to make him complete.
“It is not good that man should be alone”: Adam needed companionship, he was created to be social both to God & His creation but also to one that would be his equal. Adam needed to have someone to share his life with.
“Helper comparable to him”: She was not only to share his life with her he was to share his work with her as well. The word “helper” means to support or assist & the word “comparable” means a counterpart that complements. She was to assist Adam complementing or completing him.
Vs. 19-20 Look at how God reveals this truth to Adam. We are told in these two verse two things that in naming these animals Adam would have discovered about himself:
He would have realized that all of these other creations had a mate that complemented them.
In Hebrew the word “name: implies examining to discover its character or nature. Thus the name fit what the animal was in nature. So that “whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.” In seeing what these animals were to each other he would discover what a gift Eve would to him. She was not just to be his beast of burden like the cattle were. Neither was she to be his pet to occupy his time when he was board. She was not just to be a baby factory either. Adam had mastery over the animals but none of them complemented him.
Now in naming these animals listed here it would have been around 3000 & taken him around five hours to do so & in that time he found not one animal that would complete him.
Vs. 21-23 So here we are told how God formed Eve from man. God caused Adam to be at rest; I like that as most of the time our spouses cause us to be at ease. The word “rib” is actually “side” & according to Adams proclamation in verse 23 included bone & flesh. Several things come to mind when we consider this:
The side protects our most delicate & vital organs. And women are very protective in nature.
The side also protectors the heart, which we often link to the center of our emotions. And women are much more in tune with their emotions.
Finally as many have pointed out from the side of man that she might be his equal. “Not from his feet that she would be his servant, nor from his head that she would be his master, but from his heart that she would be dear to him!”
So all other men have been born of woman, but not Eve the first woman was made from man.
Vs. 23-25 Finally right after her creation God institutes marriage. So the institution of a sacred home in which monogamy is relationship through out all of life is what God had planed for His creation. Now considering that Adam waited around 6 hours for her creation I love the words he uses here upon seeing her, “This is now” literally “now at length!” It felt like eternity until she was brought to him. There four principals of marriage here as well:
Vs. 23 UNITY: “bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh”. It is the most fundamental aspect of marriage.
Vs. 23 ORDER: “She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” There is a biblical leadership in a marriage & man has been given that role & if you want to know what it looks like just treat your wife as Jesus treats His church. “Lay down your life for her!”
Vs. 24 PERMANENCE: “a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife.” The word “joined” is glued thus security is a principal of marriage. Henry Ford had it right when he quipped about the secrets of a successful marriage, “The same as making a successful car: stick to one model.”
Vs. 25 COMMUNICATION: “they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” They were not ashamed not because a lack conscience but rather because they recognized that their physical differences were part of God’s creation. They had open communication & did not hide anything.
Genesis
“In The Beginning God”
II. 2:4 – 4:26 The history of the first family
Genesis 3:1-24
“Lost in the Wilderness of Sin”
Intro.
II. Vs. 1-6 Has God indeed said
III. Vs. 7-13 Where are you
IV. Vs. 14-24 The way to the tree of life
I. Intro.
Adam & Eve are about to go from “perfect in paradise” to “lost in the wilderness of sin” without ever changing physical locations. This chapter is the only explanation that is supported by human experience & history as to what has happen to God’s creation.
The evolutionists say that all human sorrow is part of an upward movement in our development.
The humanists say that all “evil” in the world is caused by our upbringing & can be changed through proper upbringing.
Simply put according to the:
Evolutionists: Mankind is suffering because it is diseased. Thus they seek to cure mans suffering through treatment.
Humanist: Mankind is suffering because it is dysfunctional. Thus they seek to cure mans suffering through education.
Bible: Mankind is suffering because it has disobeyed. Thus we seek to point people to the cure Jesus Christ!
II. Vs. 1-6 Has God indeed said
Vs. 1 There are three main personalities in this chapter two of which we are already familiar with, Mankind (Adam & Eve) & the Lord God. The third is this mysterious person called the serpent.
The word “serpent” is a word that means “to shine or the shining one” which suggests that this temptation came through a creature that caused attention by way of his appearance, thus he was far more then a talking snake. Most likely he possessed a snakes body for the purpose of deception. Here is what we know about him:
2 Cor. 11:14 “For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.”
Rev. 12:9 “The great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan.”
Ezek. 28:14-15 Highest of all God’s created angels known as Lucifer (light-bearer) his beauty & wisdom was unsurpassed in the angelic creation. This caused his heart to be lifted up as his pride caused him to think that he was equal with the Godhead & thus he attempted overthrow the One who created him (Isa. 14:12-15).
Rev. 12:4, 9 In this state of self-deceived wisdom he convinced a third of the angelic creation to follow him in rebellion against the Godhead (most likely by convincing them that God was created as they were).
Ezek, 28:17 So he & the third that followed him were cast down to earth where he became Satan (The adversary). Instead of being ministering spirits as the rest of the angelic (Heb. 1:14) world they became deceiving spirits spreading doctrines of demons (1 Tim 4:1) to tempt & deceive the very ones he & the others were called to serve.
The word cunning means to be “subtle or crafty” in other words his character is explained as being clever. So we can forget all those Holloween pictures of a guy in a red suit with horns & a pitchfork as he would much rather appear as someone that would catch your attention in a positive way & thus say & do things that would draw you into his deception.
He spoke using the serpent’s throat to create sounds to deceive Eve in her innocence.
We are given four ways Satan attacked God in his deception of Eve: (verses 1, 4-5)
Vs. 1a “Has God indeed said,”: Attack upon the Word of God. The root of all sin is to be found in doubting God’s Word. Life hangs upon obedience to His word, His word is to be the standards of life. The lie is that some how by disobedience to God’s Word we will become more like Him. Also the way in which he gets you to doubt it is always the same, attack God’s character & nature.
Vs. 1b “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”: Attack upon the grace of God. He gets Eve & us to doubt God’s “goodness” towards us. God you will recall had said that Adam & Eve could “of every tree… eat freely!” God is not restrictive in nature, God is not some sort of cosmic spoilsport waiting to take away all that is fun & enjoyable in life. So what’s under attack? It is God’s nature of grace towards us. Unbelief happens when we use the situations & circumstances to interpret who God is rather then using who God is to interpret the situation & circumstance. Remember Jesus was tempted the same way in Matt. 4:3-4 “If You are the Son of God, command that these st