The
Book of Genesis
Lesson Verse: Revelation
4:11 (Memory verse)
I.
Lesson Introduction
A.
In this chapter, God
focuses on the creation of man.
1.
Mankind was created for
God’s pleasure
2.
All of the rest of
creation was created for our pleasure
3.
How much pleasure has
creation (especially mankind) brought to God?
4.
Repentance begins when we
see how worthless we have been to God
B.
But before He forms man,
He says, He RESTED. For ONE day, God rested, but since the creation of mankind,
He has not been allowed a moment of rest since! God surely could have walked
away from this mess, but then again, He would stop being the good God that He
is! Thank God for His commitment to us!
II.
Lesson – The Creation of Man (Genesis 2)
A.
All the heaven(S) and the
earth are now finished (2:1)
1.
Two heavens were created
– the container of everything (the universe), and the atmosphere
2.
The third heaven, where
God dwells, has always been there
B.
The Seventh Day
– Sabbath – Saturday
1.
Here is a most important truth that we as Christians often
overlook.
a.
God rested, not because He was tired, but because He was finished.
b.
He also rested on the seventh day as an example to us.
God created man to work six days and rest one. A basic need of al humans
is a day of rest
c.
It is so important that God placed it into His Ten Commandments
(Ex 20:8-11) – the FOURTH commandment
d.
Sunday is NOT really a Sabbath, or a day of rest for the Christian
– it is a day FOR the Lord, not for ourselves
e.
Saturday ought to be your day of rest
f.
How DARE we go out and SHOP till we drop on Saturday, and then
SLEEP in on a Sunday! WICKED!
g.
Our western protestant culture was built upon this truth with our
5 day work week, and TWO days off (Saturday and Sunday)
h.
Now, NO day is holy, and no day is a day of rest
2.
Did you notice the words, “his work” in 2:2?
a.
Compare with John 5:17, and notice that God the Father’s works
all focused on man’s redemption – all of creation is so that mankind can be
with the Father!
b.
A sinner can REST because the work of salvation is finished as
well (Heb 4:9-11)
3.
God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, that is, He set it
apart from the other days (Gen 2:3).
a.
Notice that the Sabbath (Saturday) was made HOLY (sanctified) by
God – to be kept as a holy day
b.
Seventh day Adventists capitalize on this, but not correctly
1)
Before the cross, special
days were set apart as holy days
2)
Other days were normal
days
3)
After the cross (Col
2:16,17; Rom 14:5-8), any and every day MUST be holy, and lived for the Lord –
none ought to be lived without the Lord, or in sin.
4.
Did you also notice the
seven day week?
a.
All cultures have always
had only 7 days in their week cycle.
b.
Number of days in the
months have fluctuated, and the number of days in a given year have changed, but
never the number of days in a week!
c.
The origin of the seven
day week goes all the way back to CREATION!
5.
Now God takes us back into
the sixth day, to review His greatest creation – Mankind!
C.
The Generations
(beginnings) of the heavens and the earth - family history of creation (Gen 2:4-7)
1.
At the start, God created
all the heavens, the earth, and all of life as well
a. His Hebrew name. The Hebrew name for LORD is JEHOVAH. This name denotes Him having being of Himself and His giving being to all things.
b. What His name expresses. Jehovah Elohim, LORD GOD, expresses a God of power and perfection.
2.
But with all the living
things on the earth, someone was needed to take care of everything
a.
God created everything to
need mankind
b.
God therefore creates a
“built-in” need for something greater
c.
God created in all of life
a need for Himself
3.
Back at the first, it
never rained (2:5)
a.
A dense, moist fog
abundantly watered the vegetation – the earth was kind of like a warm sauna
with lots of steam, but no rain!
b.
Notice here also that it does not rain but a mist waters the
ground daily. It stays this way for
over 16 centuries until the great flood of Noah comes.
That's one reason that no one believed Noah's warning above the flood.
They had never seen it rain upon the earth.
4.
And it was at this time
that God reaches down into the dusty clay, and fashions a body (Gen 2:7; Ps
139:14,15; Isa 64:8;
a. We were formed from dust versus being created. Formed meaning God used already existing raw materials.
b. We received life from the breath of Jehovah Elohim and immediately became a living soul.
c. The word of God receives its perfection and authority because it is the very breath of God (Matt 4:4; 2Tim 3:16)
d. While man's body is formed of the earth, it is not until God breathes the SOUL into him that man really became a human being composed of body, soul, and a spirit (1Thes 5:23). We did not come from monkeys, frogs, or some little one-celled animals. We came from God. While Charles Darwin may have believed that idea at one time, I can promise you that he does not believe that theory today, wherever he may be
1) The BODY is a tent we live in while alive on earth (2Cor 5:1)
2) The SOUL is WHO we really are
3) The SPIRIT is the spiritualness about us that makes us similar to God (John 4:24). It enables us to relate to, and communicate with God.
5. Notice that man’s value was not his flesh (Rom 7:18)
6. God’s GREATEST creation was man’s SOUL – that is the real focal point of a person
a. Psychologists claim to understand the soul (psyche, Greek for soul)
b. Spiritualists, and religionists claim to understand the spirit
c. Only the Bible can lay them out on the table for all to see, and understand (Heb 4:12)
d. The soul is the heart of the person – the physical heart is the most vital of all the organs
e. The spiritual heart is the most vital of all the aspects of being human (Jer 17:9)
f. To have eternal life, you need not a new body, or a new soul, but a new SPIRIT, the HOLY Spirit (Jn 20:22).
D. Eden (Gen 2:8-15)
1. Eden was a large area – probably the whole land mass was one continent, and was called Eden
2. God created a special garden, eastward in Eden
3. The man (Adam) was first created OUTSIDE of the garden, and then placed IN the garden
4. And then, God forms in front of the man every tree that was good
a. Why?
b. Because Man had hissed it – He was LAST and so needed to see how God made everything
5. Two of the trees created were:
a. The tree of life
b. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil
6. A special river flowed OUT from the garden (2:10-14)
a. It was the river of life (as will be seen again in Rev 22:1,2)
b. It divided into four branches, v. 10.
1) The Pison (2:11)
2) The Gihon, (2:13)
3) The Hiddekel, or Tigris (2:14)
4) The Euphrates (2:14)
c. Evidently, that river kept everything eternal – there was no decay, or death at all because of this river flowing throughout the continent, and into the seas.
d. These rivers before the flood were rivers of living waters, supplied by the presence of God
e. After the flood, these rivers remained, but were only supplied by rain water
7. Eden is divided up into different continents during the flood
8. The garden in Eden is destroyed by the flood
E. The First Law (Gen 2:15-17)
1. Man is placed into the garden
2. He is given a job, a purpose
a. Dress, cultivate, take care of the entire garden
b. Even develop the garden better as he saw fit – to have dominion is not to constrict and control, but to see what happens as he cross-breeds and experiments
3. He is also given a rule
a. Freely eat of any tree in the entire garden
b. But do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
c. God did not say, “Don’t TOUCH the tree!” Just don’t eat of it
d. Pretty simple law – just ONE rule to live by
4. Then God explains the high cost of sin – even just the sin of disobedience – DEATH:
a. Spiritual death at the moment of sin (Rom 7:9; Eph 2:1)
b. Physical death sometime later (Rom 6:23)
5. The man is also finally given a name – Adam (Gen 2:19)
a. It means, MAN
b. But it also means, of the earth, or from the earth (1Cor 15:47)
F. The Formation of Eve (Gen 2:18-25) and the first Wedding
1. There are only two things that God said were not good
a. Darkness (the absence of Light)
b. Aloneness (Gen 2:18)
2. So God corrects what was not good in Adam’s life
a. Again, God created Adam first, and alone – to show him that by himself, and without help, even though in all ways perfect, he was incomplete – Adam would need God, and Adam would need others!
b. So, God creates dilemmas in your life so that you will need Him
c. And then God corrects those dilemmas
3. The help, meet for Adam
a. A help to Adam – meeting his needs, not being a hindrance
b. Marriage was designed by God to enable a couple to serve and glorify God better than when alone!
c. Marriage has been allowed to become a curse, so people only live together and break up as if only a game!
d. Meet for Adam means fitting to Adam specifically
1) Eve was not going to be a one size fits all
2) Eve was to be God’s choice for Adam because God knew just the person who would best fit with Adam
3) You should not just “marry” anybody
4) They need to be God’s choice so that you get the right one for your needs
4. Preparation for Eve
a. God begins to prepare Adam for his mate
1) Re-creates all of the living things right in front of him in the garden
2) This again is because Adam was NOT there when God created them the first time
3) Adam was asked to carefully examine everything that was formed, and to “name” it – classify it
4) Adam deep down was searching for something that would be like himself, and meet his needs
5) This is what God did when He created us – he was seeking someone who would meet his needs, and fulfill His existence (Jn 4:23)
6) Out of all the animals, not ONE was anything LIKE Adam. God wanted Adam to know that the person that God brought to Adam was far superior to anything Adam might find by himself in the world!
7) Adam was the most intelligent being ever created – at creation:
a) Able to speak and communicate with God
b) An adult in nature – not a baby and immature
c) Very intelligent – could examine, and classify the entire animal kingdom with no sweat
d) None of US start off that way!
b. So, God performs the first surgery.
1) He puts Adam to sleep, and removes a rib. Did you ever wonder how many poor souls would have been save from needless pain and death, if doctors had realized this simple fact sooner. Put the patient into a deep sleep before you operate on him. In the 1800’s doctors discovered chlorophyll would knock people out. Before that, doctors just used whisky and strong drink (Prov 31:6)
2) Then God made a woman from the rib. Again educated men laughed about this for hundreds of years. What a ridiculous story. Making a person from a rib? It is just within the last few years that science has discovered that this process is indeed true. We just were not smart enough to know it yet. Today that process is called cloning.
3) Eve was going to be genetically like Adam, yet not exactly!
4) God used a rib – He could have used anything of Adam, but chose a rib to obtain the raw materials to make Eve from
5) The rib cage protects the heart, and the lungs. God made Adam vulnerable to death and attack when He made Eve – Adam was no longer complete
6) So be to made complete, Adam had to lose in order to gain
c. From a report called “The Healthy Cell Concept” by Rev. George Malkmus we find the following information: “Have you ever thought about where you came from, or where and how your life began? Oh, I know that in the beginning God created the original male and female. But... today, where do we come from? How are we made? What are we made of? Let's consider these questions!
1) Human life begins at conception, when the sperm of the male joins the egg of the female and a single cell forms. This single cell contains DNA, which is a blueprint of what the entire body will be like, including the sex of that individual... right on down to what the color of the eyes and hair will be.
2) Now what happens after the sperm and egg unite is pretty awesome. That original cell divides into two cells (each with its own DNA) and the two cells become four cells and the four become eight and the eight become 16 and the 16 become 32 and on and on these cells continue to divide and multiply at an unbelievable rate of speed for the next 11 months. At the end of approximately 11 months, two months after birth, the body has its full compliment of cells... somewhere around 100,000,000,000 (one hundred trillion) of them, with each cell containing its own blueprint of the entire body!
3) At about two months of age, this wild proliferation of cells stops and from here on and throughout life, there is not supposed to be any more wild proliferation of cells... only the replacement or recreation of cells. For example, throughout life, every week or so, the entire outer layer of our skin is replaced with new cells. Approximately every two months, practically every cell in our heart muscle is rebuilt; and within a two to three year period, our entire bone structure replaces. So, two to three years from this very moment, every cell in our body will have been replaced with a new cell. Thus, in two to three years , every one of us will have a totally new body!!! We should be struck with awe at what a marvelous, self-healing body God has given us.” Psa 139:11-18.
4) The evidence of our bodies prove beyond any doubt to sane thinking rational people that we did not evolve from a one cell unit of slime. If anyone that holds to evolution as a fact would bother to pay attention, they would understand that all things rot and decay away. They do not become better on their own.
d. Another very important fact about this is God said there was one man and one woman. Two shall be one, not three or more. Also take note of the fact that it is Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. One man was meant to marry one woman and anything else is only the result of HARD HEARTS (Mt 19:8).
5. The first wedding ceremony (Gen 2:18-25)
a. Adam and Eve became the example for all time of a Godly marriage
b. To meet the need of two people who want to live for God better
c. God brought the two together
1) Part of God’s plan – not a guess, or stab in the dark – the perfect will of God
2) Adam did not go out and try and FIND his Eve
3) God brought her to him
4) We need to know that when we get impatient, we are not trusting the Lord (Ps 27:14)!
d. Adam recognized the other person as:
1) A gift from God – not a possession to be conquered
2) A match for him – his equal – not his servant, or a lower class animal as the Koran teaches
3) A woman – not a man (so, don’t dress like one, act like one, or expect to be treated like one)!
e. The two were to BECOME one flesh – their marriage enabled their union. The union of two flesh did not make the marriage
1) The union of two flesh made for fornication and or adultery
2) The honourable marriage of two people allowed for their union of two flesh
f. The two would from that moment on CLEAVE – cling, STICK together – be bound until death
g. Totally honourable – without any shame, or taint of sin – they could stand their NAKED looking at each other and not be ashamed of anything!
6. Sin in the world has limited this a little bit, and God has provided some flexibility, but Christians especially are called to a very high standard above even the world
7. Marriage therefore, to be a true marriage has to be more than just the joining of two bodies
a. It has to be God ordained – through authority – not an elopement
b. It has to be honourable, and therefore HONOURED by others – not secretive, or hidden (2Cor 4:1,2) or shameful (Gen 2:25)!
c. It has to be permanent – by a VOW, a COVENANT
d. It culminates in sexual union – the LAST thing, not the first (1Cor 7:1-4)
1) There is no shame in nudity in the marital union
2) Sex was God's idea and is not sinful in marriage
3) Propagation of the species is one purpose of sex
a) Hebrews 13:4 gives another reason; to promote love between husband and wife
b) 1Cor 7:2 gives a third reason; to prevent fornication - the unlawful satisfaction of the God given sexual desire.
III.
Some Questions
A. Why did God take six days to create the universe?
B. Why did God rest on the seventh day?
C. What day of the week is the Sabbath day?
D. What happened to the garden of Eden?
E. From what substance what Adam made?
F. What raw material did God use to make Eve?