Lesson 14
TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THE WEBSITE BIBLE STUDIES!
(www.growingtogetherinchristslove.org)
Bible Study 1 - Genesis 1[2]
SERIES: A WORLD IN A WEEK
LESSON 14: GENESIS 2:1-4 DAY 7 – IN THE BEGINNING-ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE
INTRODUCTION
As we approach chapter 2, I want us to take a look in the rear-view mirror this study and see the the overall picture because actually this climaxes our study of the creation. Over all I intend to paint a word picture of the events in chapter 2 so that we can focus more intently on several important subjects as we go along. Therefore, you will notice this study to be a little different than some of the others. We have been looking at Genesis 1 and the six days of creation. Actually, you have to have the second chapter to finally put it all together. I intend to break the rest of the chapters of Genesis down into different series, depending on what phase of life, history and moment in time it may be in which God is working and Moses is writing. We are going to have an exciting time as we continue to study it together.
Genesis 2:1-4 “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. 4. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.”
Since there are seven days in the week and chapter one only covers six days we must go a little further and look at chapter 2 to and finish out the “WORLD IN A WEEK.” The first four verses of this second chapter complete the account of creation given to us in chapter 1. In chapter 1 we have the chronological account of the days of creation in the first six days. Now as we come to verses 1 through 4 in the second chapter we have the account of the seventh day. We are told that it was on the seventh day and God has finished His worked and that God rested on that day.
INTERPRETATION
In Scripture the number seven is the number of perfection or the number of completeness. Now we have completeness. We have perfection. On this day God has completed His work of creation. He has finished His work. Then the Bible says that on that day God rested. We have to understand what that means. It is not that God was worn out. Not that God was tired and had to take a rest. We are specifically told in Isaiah 40, verse 28 that “The Lord, the Creator faints not, neither is he weary.” Therefore, it is not a rest of exhaustion. It is a rest of completion. It is a time of celebration when God celebrates the wonderful creation which He has brought into existence.
The word, “rest,” is the Hebrew word, “Shabbat.” It is the word from which we get the word, “Sabbath.” Of course, we know the Bible teaches about the Sabbath. We aren't going into detail about that in this particular study but we will look at it extensively later. However, let me just say at this point that we have here God's rest of creation. It is the completion of His great work of creation.
We know that later on that rest of creation is going to be interrupted. We will study that in the third chapter of the book of Genesis and we will discover that sin enters in and mars God's great creation work. Therefore, God began another work. It is a work that we will see unfolding all the way through the Old Testament and into the New Testament. When the Lord Jesus Christ came in John 5, verse 17, Jesus said this. ''My father worketh hitherto and I work.'' You may recall in John 4, when He was talking to His disciples about winning the woman at the well, he said, ''My work is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.'' There Jesus is not talking about the work of creation, but the work of redemption. Outside the city of Jerusalem, on a hill called Calvary, the Lord Jesus Christ hung between heaven and the earth. After suffering like no one ever suffered on the earth, He endured an infinite amount of punishment, shame, and guilt for sin, and in a finite period of time He shouted triumphantly, ''It is finished.'' When Jesus spoke those words, God's work of redemption was complete. That is why you and I have the opportunity to be saved. God did His work of creation. We are His creatures by creation. However, when we receive Jesus Christ as personal Savior, we enter into His rest. We are saved because of His great work of redemption.
Now, when we come to the fourth verse we have a terminology which we will find in several places in the book of Genesis. It says, ''These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created.'' You have unfolded what seems to be another account of creation. What's going on here? We have already seen an account of creation. Now, we come to the second chapter and there seems to be another account of creation. The liberals have noted this fact and have used this to try to teach that there is contradiction in Scripture. They have tried to say that we have an account of creation in Genesis 1, written by one author. They say we have another account in Genesis 2, written by another author and they contradict one another.
Nevertheless, what we find here is not something in contradiction. However, we find that rather than being contradictory, they are actually complimentary. There are two important factors you have to keep in mind. First of all, you have to keep in mind what is known as “the law of recurrence.” That is a principle of Bible teaching which teaches that sometimes the Scripture will state a matter and then it will state that matter again in a little different form. We know a great deal more today than we knew about the way they wrote in the Bible days. We know now that it was characteristic of them to lay out a matter and then go back and fill in details about the matter. It's kind of like an artist who begins to sketch the picture before a great canvas. He draws the broad strokes and the big picture. Then later he goes back and begins to fill in the details and give all the shades and the hues and the different colors. He is giving the big picture, then moving in and specifically targeting areas.
Genesis 1 gives us the big picture. It gives us the chronology. It tells us what happened chronologically. However, when you come to the second chapter the Holy Spirit is giving us the details. He is going to fill them in. In Genesis 1 we are told that the animals were created and then man. Now, in Genesis 2 we are told that man was created first and then the animals. You have to keep in mind that he's not interested in chronology in chapter 2. Rather he is interested in thematic matters. He is trying to show us that the great purpose and the great zenith of God's creative activity is not the creation of the animals, but the creation of man. You have to keep in mind the law of recurrence.
Another thing that has been pointed out in this chapter is that you have a different name for God. In verse 4 it says, ‘‘and the Lord God made the earth and heavens.'' In chapter 1 it just simple says, “God.” It is the Hebrew word, “Elohim” in chapter 1. Now, in chapter 2 it says “the Lord God,” which is the name “Jehovah.” Therefore, the liberals say you have a different name for God. That means two different people wrote. The truth of the matter is that in chapter 1 you have “Elohim” which emphasizes God's creative work. Now in chapter 2 you have a personal name for God, “Jehovah,” which emphasizes God’s personal work. If I counted correctly, I think 11 times in this second chapter, reference is made to “the Lord God.” It emphasizes God's personal intimacy with man. God's personal relationship with man. “The Lord God!”
In that atmosphere and in that setting we are given in Genesis 2 another rendering, another statement of creation that just kind of ties it all together. It shows us that God has created man with every possible advantage. Man has every opportunity to be everything God intended him to be. He is setting the stage for Genesis 3.
I want us to move quickly down through this second chapter. As we study here you will discover that man is placed in a setting of paradise. IN THE BEGINNING EVERY DAY WAS JUST ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE.
EXPLANATION
I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF MAN WERE IDEAL PSYCHOLOGICALLY. Verse 7 says that “the Lord God formed man.” This is the picture of a potter forming a vessel. He formed man of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. Here is a very different image of man's psychological make up from modern psychology. Modern psychology misses it because it says that man is basically two parts. Modern psychology teaches that man is body and mind. However, when you study the Scriptures you will find that man is not a dichotomy, but rather man is a trinity.
A. GOD MADE US WITH A PHYSICAL NATURE. In I Thessalonians 5, verse 23 the Scripture says, ''I pray your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved until the day of our Lord Jesus.'' You are a trinity. You have a body. You have a soul. You have a spirit. That is exactly what we find in verse 7. We see that man is put together ideally psychologically. It says that man has a physical nature. ''The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.'' We are formed from the dust of the ground. The Bible says that God remembers our frame. He remembers that we are dust.
In chapter 3 of Genesis and verse 19 God said to Adam after sin, ''For dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return.'' We are made out of dust. We are constituted out of the dust of the ground. When you analyze the chemical components of our physical body you will find that we are made up of about 15 or 16 different chemicals. The founder of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, Dr. Charles Mayo had a rather interesting way of describing how man is put together. He said that if you want to build a body you would need enough potassium for one shot of a toy pistol. Enough fat to make seven bars of soap. Enough iron for one large nail. Enough sulphur to free a dog of lice. Enough lime to whitewash a chicken coop. Enough magnesium to make one dose of medicine. Enough phosphorus to make a few boxes of matches. The total purchase to make the body of a man would take about two sacks full of groceries. Yet, when you and I look at the body of man we understand that it is not just in the chemical components of the body, but it is in the complexity of the human body where the miracle seems to be.
Think about just one square inch of skin on your hand. Have you ever thought about how complex that one square inch of skin is on your hand? I have learned that there are three million cells in that one square inch. There is a yard of blood vessels in that one square inch. There are four yards of nerves there. I am told that you will find that there are 100 sweat glands in that one square inch of skin. There are fifteen oil glands and twenty five nerve endings in that one inch of skin. How complex is the skin that covers our body. No wonder the psalmist said that “we are fearfully and wonderfully made.”
Therefore, God made us with a physical nature. That is your world consciousness. It is through your five senses that you relate to the physical world around you. You relate to the world around you with your eyes seeing, with your ears hearing, with your nose smelling, with your taste tasting, and with your hands touching. That is the lower story of man's make up. Man was put together ideally physically.
B. GOD MADE US WITH AN EMOTIONAL NATURE. You will notice that it says that “man became a living soul.” That tells us how man is emotionally. It tells us about your self-consciousness. That's the middle story of your make up. Of course that simply means that you have a mind, you are able to think. It means you have emotions. You are able to have feelings. You have a will. You are able to make decisions and choices and to act. It is your self- consciousness.
C. GOD MADE US WITH A SPIRITUAL NATURE. Jesus talked about the importance of the soul. Jesus said one time, ''What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?'' Don't lose your soul! Don't take care merely for your body and neglect the needs of your soul. It says when God formed man of the dust of the earth that “He breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living soul.” It was that breath of God that brought man into existence indeed. It was that part that came directly from God Himself. That spiritual nature. You have a spiritual nature that is something beyond your physical nature. There is something beyond your mental and emotional nature. You have a capacity for God. There is something about you that has a God consciousness. It is the top story of your being. Jesus said “God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” You have capacity to know and worship God. Man was put together psychologically in ideal circumstances. So far so good. Man's circumstances are ideal psychologically. He is able to relate properly to himself.
II. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF MAN WERE IDEAL ENVIRONMENTALLY. We are told about man's environment, man's earthly circumstances, and his living circumstances in verse 8 and right on down through verse 15. Here is where modern sociology goes astray. Modern sociology teaches that man is basically good and all we need is to have a good sociological environment. Therefore, they say if you can just educate a man, give a man a good place to live and make his circumstances or his environments ideal, then that man will be all right.
Of course, we know that is not the case. It is important to have good housing, to live in a good community, and to live in a good home. However, just having a good place to live doesn't mean that you will be the right kind of person. Having a better home does not necessarily mean that you will be better. Simply because your circumstances are good does not mean that you will do the right thing. You can educate a man, yet you can't change a man's heart by education. You can take an uneducated man so that he will get on a railroad car and steal a crate of oranges. Take that same man who does not have a right heart and educate him and he'll steal the entire railroad!
In my lifetime and in ministry, I have seen people from different races, male and female, who have evolved from horrific circumstances and backgrounds to become very respectable, honorable, trustworthy, and successful people. I have also see some who, as some would say, “were born with a silver spoon in their mouth,” devolved to the depths of depravity and destroyed their family, friends, fortune, and future. Can you see my logic? Can you agree with it at all? I cannot argue with what I have seen and experienced personally. I hear this kind of logic spoken about on the news concerning the inner cities and the riots and all the unrest that is infecting our country today. No matter how much money we dump into some places to try and make people better, the solution is only going to be found in the heart. There is no harm in making the circumstances better for anyone if possible. However, simply because your circumstances are good does not mean that you will do the right thing.
In modern sociology man misses it. Nevertheless, the Bible tells us that Adam and Eve were placed in a place of ideal circumstances environmentally. Look at verse 8. God gave them a place. ''And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man who he had formed.'' God gave them a place to live, Eden. “Eden” means delight. It means paradise. God gave him a paradise to live in. I image the climate was just right. All of the circumstances of his living environment were evidently ideal. Then it tells us in verse 9 that there were trees in that Garden of Eden. There were all kinds of trees, pleasant to the eyes, beautiful, good for food, useful. Everything you could desire was there. By the way, one of these days the Bible says we are going to a place that is called paradise also. In that paradise there will be a marvelous tree of life.
However, notice not only that there are trees and the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Verse 10 says that a river went out from Eden. It tells about that river. No one has ever found a place on the earth geographically where this pattern is given. No one has ever found these four rivers anywhere. We have found the Tigris River. We have found the Euphrates River in what we call today modern Iraq. We do know that the Mesopotamian valley is known as the cradle of civilization. However, we don't find all of these rivers in the same place. Some say that perhaps it was the fall that changed the topography of the earth. We don't know. Nevertheless, the point I'm trying to make is that God gave man a perfect environment.
Verse 15 says, ''And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.'' That is to cultivate it and to take care of it. God gave him something useful to do. You need to have something useful to do. You need to have a purpose. You need to have a reason. You need to have a meaning for your life. Therefore, God gave Adam an ideal place to live. He gave him everything the heart desired. He gave him a work to do. So far, so good. Every day was another day in paradise. God set man's circumstances up ideally psychologically and environmentally.
III. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF MAN WERE IDEAL THEOLOGICALLY. This is where liberal theology goes astray. Liberal theology fails to understand the basic truths that are set forth right here. It says in verse 16, ''And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.'' God now is relating to man in a right relationship. Notice there are two fundamental truths set forth in these verses.
A. THERE IS THE TRUTH THAT GOD HAS THE AUTHORITY TO COMMAND. Notice what you have here. You have freedom within limitations. You have unlimited freedom to do the will of God within the confines of God's loving will.
It's kind of like a parent and a child. A parent says to that child, ''You can play all over the yard. You are free to play anywhere in the yard you want to play, but don't play in the street.'' There you have a maximum of liberty and a minimum of prohibition. God gives man a maximum of liberty. He says you can eat of every tree in the garden. Now a minimum of prohibition. ''Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.'' God establishes His right as the Creator, as the God of this universe, to set the standards. To give an objective standard of right and wrong. That's what has happened in America. America has lost its understanding that there is objective truth. That there are absolute rights and there are absolute wrongs. We are living in a post modern generation that says all truth is relative. Truth is whatever you want it to be. Right is right and wrong is wrong according to how you may interpret it. Oh, no. The Bible teaches that it is God who sets the standards of morality. It is God who says something is right and God who says something is wrong. You were created by the eternal God and He is the God to whom you are personally accountable. He has authority to command.
B. THERE IS THE TRUTH THAT MAN HAS THE ABILITY TO CHOOSE. No limitation here. Man can make the choice. It says, ''In the day you eat thereof you shall surely die.'' ''Thou shalt not.'' He is saying here that you have a choice. God has given you the ability to choose. You can choose to obey the Lord and be happy. You can choose to disobey the Lord and bring conflict and misery and agony into your life. ''The day you eat thereof.'' If you make the wrong choice, you will die. At this point it is all paradise. At this point everything is ideal. Man is in an ideal place psychologically. God has placed man in a situation where it is ideal environmentally. He is rightly related to God. He is walking with God in the garden. Everything is ideal for man theologically. So far, so good.
IV. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF MAN WERE IDEAL DOMESTICALLY. Verse 18 says this. ''And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone.'' Put that in connection with the first chapter where several times the Bible says, ''It is good, it is very good.'' Now, God having created man in His own image, with a physical, with an emotional, with a spiritual nature. Having placed him in the Garden of Eden. Having established himself as the moral authority with man having the ability to choose. Now, God says “it is not good for man to be alone.”
God is getting ready to have a wedding. Proverbs 18, verse 22 says, ''He who finds a wife, finds a good thing.'' Now we have God getting ready to get a wife for Adam. ''It is not good that man should be alone.'' God has made us social creatures. God has made us in such a way that we need someone to share the intimacies and the joys and the delights of life. Therefore, God says, ''I will make a helper suitable for him.'' The word, “helper,” establishes the companionship that the woman is to have with the man. It does not imply in any way inferiority. However, it implies equality. You say, ''I don't like the idea that God says I'm a helper. I don't want to be a helper.'' Well, in Psalm 33, verse 20 God says “He's a helper.” You are not better than God, are you? Therefore, God says, ''I'm going to give someone to be a helper, suitable for man.'' The word literally means face to face, complimenting man. Have you ever heard anybody say “this is my better half?” God has so constituted us that we complete ourselves with a mate. Therefore, here is a helper “meet for him,” “suitable for him,” “complimenting him.” He establishes here the equality of man and woman. You never read inequality in the Bible. The Bible clearly establishes the equality of the sexes, the equality of man and woman.
God says I'm going to make him a helper, someone who will just fit him. Therefore, it starts. This gets so good. Look at verse 19. ''And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.''
Let me explain those verses right there. Adam was like most of us men. He was a little slow. He was a little thickheaded. God knew that he needed a mate but poor old Adam hadn't caught on yet. Therefore, God had to create in Adam the understanding and a desire for a mate. Here's how I think God could have done it. God said, ''Adam, I want you to give names to all the animals.'' Here come the animals parading before Adam. Down the path comes this little white fuzzy thing. “Hoppity, hippity up the bunny trail. Adam looks at that and says, ''My, that looks just like a rabbit to me. I'll name that a rabbit.'' Then up the path comes this big old animal lumbering with heavy steps. Adam looks at that fellow and says, ''What do you know, that looks just like a bear to me. I'll name that a bear.'' About that time this weird looking animal comes lowering its head to get under the branches of the trees. Adam says, ''My, My, that looks just like a giraffe to me. I'll name that a giraffe.'' Adam named all of the animals. Then he started looking around and said, ''You know, there's a Mr. Rabbit and a Mrs. Rabbit. There's a Mr. Bear and a Mrs. Bear. There's a Mr. Giraffe and Mrs. Giraffe. There's a Mr. Adam, but there's no Mrs. Adam. I need a wife.''
God performed the first anesthesia. In fact, anesthesiology came right from this verse of Scripture. ''The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam.'' This was Divine anesthesia. God put Adam to sleep. From the side of Adam, verse 22 says, that the Lord took a rib. The Lord God took from man the rib and with that rib He made a woman. “Man” is the Hebrew word, “ish,” which means to exercise power. The word for “woman” is the Hebrew word, “ishshah,” which means to be soft. Therefore, God took from man a woman and brought her to the man.
Ladies and gentlemen, before Eve was ever in Adam's arms, she was in God's mind. It was never Adam and Steve; it has always been Adam and Eve. That is the way God started it, that is the way God intended it to continue, that is the way it should always be. The sexes are not my idea and they are not your idea they are God's idea. Man and woman! If you disagree and you do not like it take it up with God, repent, apologize and He will forgive you and love you anyway. However you have a choice to be wrong if you want to be wrong. Just do not impose your error on me. When you get to the point where you agree with what God says in the Bible then we can have an “intelligent” conversation. Here comes Eve. Adam says, in the King Frank’s Paraphrase, ''Yabba, dabba, do!''
The first attraction was physical. It's always the first attraction. However, you have to be very careful. You have to understand that there's more than the attraction of the physical. That was Samson's problem, wasn't it? Samson got his father to get Delilah to be his wife. On this basis she looks good to me. That's what he said. I want to say, though the physical is certainly important and has its place, there is far more to that boy or that girl than the mere physical. There is also the emotional. There is also the spiritual. Let me also say this to you who are unmarried. God may not want everyone to marry. That's not God's plan necessarily for everyone. Nevertheless, that which God did for Adam He can do for you. It says that He brought her unto the man. Let God bring you your mate. You need to get somewhere the Lord can do that. If you never get around a girl, chances are you will never marry one. At least let the Lord do the bringing.
This is the first wedding. Can you imagine how it was? The animals are the witnesses in the beautiful shade of the trees, in a perfect garden, in a paradise. Here comes Eve on the arm of the Lord God Himself. Her heart is beating almost out of her chest. God brings her to Adam and the Bible says in verse 23, ''And Adam said, 'This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.'''
In the Matthew Henry Commentary, Matthew Henry put it in such a beautiful way. He said “God created the woman from man. Not out of the head of the man to rule over him. Nor out of the feet of man to be trampled under by him, but from the side of man to be near him, to be under his arm, to be protected by him, to be close to his heart to be loved by him.”
They were brought together and God affirms His endorsement on the physical, the sexual relationship of the man and the woman. He says in verse 24, ''Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.'' This was not just in reference to Adam cleaving unto his wife and the two of the becoming one flesh. This was God’s reference and endorsement for all future generations for the man to leave his father and mother and to cleave unto his wife (being the opposite gender), and they shall be one flesh. It has never changed and never will.
Here is an extra nugget for parents of married children or children about to be married. You in-laws, leave your married sons and daughters alone. Let them run their own life. You stop trying to hang around and make all of their decisions for them. Pray for them. Love them. Be available if they want any counsel, but dad, cut the purse strings. Mom, cut the apron strings. That does not mean you do not love your children. That does not mean you do not love your mother and father. It means something brand new is being brought into existence. ''Leave your father and mother.'' Then it says, ''Cleave.'' You and your mate decide what God wants you to do. You in laws stay out of it. There are more problems and difficulties that happen in marriages because of nosy in-laws than anything I know. Stay out of their lives unless you are invited in to help them out and then be very wise and cautious. I know I am getting mighty strong but I am trying to help you parents and married couples. You in-laws are going to mess things up real bad if you just keep putting your little two cents worth in there. It never works out for the best on either side on any issue unless life and death is involved.
Verse 25 says, ''And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.'' ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE? When we read that it's not what we find today. SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED! You and I know what it is. Instead of paradise, we find anything but paradise in this world. We find man a wreck psychologically. We find man destroyed environmentally. We find man all messed up theologically. We find man in trouble domestically.
There is only One who can put things back together the way they ought to be so that the circumstances will be right personally. There is only one way the circumstances will be right in mans surroundings. There is only one way the circumstances will be right between man and God. There is only one way things will ever be right between man and his mate. His name is Jesus and He is The Way. Jesus can put your life together again. Jesus can make you what He wants you to be. Then every day, even with all the difficulties this world shells out, can be ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE.
DO YOU NEE SOME HELP?
To find more help in receiving Jesus Christ as your personal Savior please go to the Bible Study Title Page “ETERNAL LIFE.” Please send me an email and let me know about any decision for Christ you make so that I may pray for you. Feel free to send me any questions, comments, or responses you may have as well. For those who are already Christians I invite you to also please let me know of any decisions you make in your Christian life for Jesus. Please send me your questions, comments, or responses and let me know if the Bible Studies are helping you. [rfdenning1951@gmail.com]
ALWAYS REMEMBER!
The support of your local Church ministry and the ministry of your Pastor should be the first priority of your Christian life and your service to the Lord. Be faithful to prayerfully prepare and attend Sunday School and Worship Service this Sunday and participate in worship as your Pastor preaches the Word. Do not forget to give the Lord at least your TITHE through your local church from your gross income – that is your first fruits. Any other other giving is an offering to a ministry unto the Lord. Honor the Lord in all you do and with all that you have. Always remember that everything you have and all you are belongs to the Lord. It is on loan to you – so manage it well! There will be an audit one day! Make sure the Books Balance!