Genesis: Stories From The Begenning; Week 2

Good morning, we are in week 2 of our series on the book of Genesis. Last week I only got through the first 8 verses of Genesis. This week I will speed things up a bit, as I want to get us ready for my son, who will be preaching next week and then Joe will finish out the series the week after that. I will not spend much time on recap as we have a lot to get through today.

Let’s go ahead and pray, then we will dive right in.

PRAY

Last week I opened up with a story about the Babylonian creation myth. The story of Marduk, Tiamet and Apsu. We talked about the ancient worldview that the Israelites would have had, in regard to creation. I also highlighted how the creation story in general provides the foundation for the rest of scripture and that it shows the character and nature of God.

One last thing…we talked about how Christ was a central figure in Creation and that Paul affirms the story of Adam being the first human.

In Genesis 1: 3-31 the author of Genesis lays out the 6 days of creation: I am not going to take the time to read all of it, but I do want to quickly tell you what was created and in what order.

Day 1: Light

Day 2: Atmosphere / Firmament

Day 3: Dry ground & plants

Day 4: Sun, moon & stars

Day 5: Birds & sea creatures

Day 6: Land animals & humans

Then, starting in Genesis 2, we have the 7th day, the Sabbath or day of rest.

Genesis 2: 1-2

“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.”

Day 7: The Sabbath of rest

Then, starting in verse 4 of Genesis 2, we see God begin to create man.

Genesis 2: 7-9

“Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

One of the many study Bibles I use had this to say about the creation of Adam:

CSB Study Bible: Notes (Chapter 2)

The Hebrew verb translated here as formed is used elsewhere in the Bible to describe the potter’s profession (Jr 18:4; Zch 11:13); God acts here as the divine potter, skillfully fashioning man out of the dust from the ground. But the Bible makes it very clear that people are more than just material beings. It was only when God breathed into the man’s nostrils the breath of life that Adam became alive. God is Spirit (Jn 4:24); thus, when God breathed into him, Adam and all later humans became a unique mix of the physical and the spiritual. The Hebrew phrase translated as living being is used elsewhere in Genesis to describe other types of living beings (1:20, 24, 30; 9:12, 15–16). Nevertheless, humans are considered to be in a class by themselves since they alone are made in God’s image.

Humanity is unique among God’s creation. God breathed into us and brought forth life.

Genesis 2:15–24

Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man 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.” For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

The word cultivate, that is mentioned in vs. 15 is actually subdue and rule. In other words, God put Adam in charge of the other creation. Then, starting in verse 15 and 16 we see the first time God enters into a covenant with His creation. He places Adam in the garden to cultivate it and care for it! He told the Adam that he had free reign of the place, there was only 1 rule…he can not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warned Adam that he will die if he eats from the tree. This covenant said that Adam and Eve…and their decedents would be able to live in the garden, in a perfect state, communing with God for eternity…all he had to do was trust and obey the simple directions given to him. From the very beginning, every covenant made with man has had the expectation of obedience. Of course we know that Adam and Eve broke the covenant and suffered the consequences.

There has been much debate over the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and what it represented. I’ll talk about that in a second.

But, soon, the man found himself lonely, without a suitable helper. So, God put Adam to sleep and formed Eve from Adam’s side-then breathed life into her. Adam and Eve became the first couple; and that is where Genesis chapter 2 comes to a conclusion.

Prior to the fall of man, God had created Adam and Eve in a perfect state. We know this because God was able to commune with them…there was no separation, like after the fall. While Adam and Eve were sinless, they still had free will. If this weren’t the case, God would not have given Adam the command to not eat from the TOKOGAE. If Adam had no choice, God would not have had to warn him. While there are debates about free will after the fall, pretty much everyone agrees that Adam and Eve were created with a free will.

Lastly, a number of these passages are referenced in the N.T. For example, both Paul quotes vs. 24 in 1 Cor. and Ephesians, while Jesus quotes Genesis 2: 24 in Matthew 19:5. In addition, Paul cites the order of creation when issuing correction to the church in Ephesus and Corinth.

There are many things I could cover with chapter 2, but I do not have a lot of time, if I want to get to chapter 4 today. So, moving on to Chapter 3 we have the fall of man. This is where I want to spend the majority of my time today, as it is very relevant to you and I.

Genesis 3: 1-3

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’

After starting out the book of Genesis with 2 chapters of creation and everything going well, chapter 3 is where things fall off a cliff. I do have a question for you though, before we talk about that…perhaps something you’ve never thought about before. After Adam and Eve were created and the 24 hour cycle officially began, how long do you think it was before the serpent began to tempt Eve? Furthermore, how long do you think it took Eve to fall to the temptation? When we read the creation account in Genesis 1 and 2, we move on to chapter 3, but we often do not think about how long Adam and Eve were in the garden before the fall.

Remember, Adam and Eve were immortal beings who literally walked with God. They were in a perfect and protected environment in the garden of Eden. Do you think Eve took the fruit the first time Satan approached her or do you think Satan wore her down over time?

I’ll take a second and tell you my own theory…that’s all it is, a theory about this area of study. For many hundreds of years, the church refused to admit that the earth was round, because of how they interpreted certain passages. More recently, meaning over the past couple hundred years, scientists have found dinosaur fossils. For most of that time, the church refused to admit they existed…why? Because the Bible does not mention them. I have a theory that explains, not only the dinosaurs, but it also makes allowance for those who think the earth is much older than a few thousand years old.

In my opinion, while Adam and Eve were in the garden, protected and safe…they could have existed for millions of years before the fall. I believe that while Adam and Eve were in the garden, outside of that protected space is where the dinosaurs roamed…then, once the fall happened, the dinosaurs went extinct, in order to make the planted habitable for man. Now, you can take that as you will. The truth is, we do not know. I’ve settled on that theory as it does not force people to believe in a young earth and unable to explain when the dinosaurs lived. Now, I didn’t come up with that…my dad did, so I won’t take credit for it. That was for free....

So, a serpent approaches Eve and begins to question what God said, he begins to plant doubt in her mind. Notice what Eve said to the serpent…that they are not to eat from it…but what else did she say…to not even touch it. No where is it recorded that God told Adam that they couldn’t touch the tree. It’s possible that Adam had told her this…but it’s not something that God actually says. We believe this serpent to be the fallen angel, Lucifer…but the word used for Satan is never used here…that said, I will refer to this serpent as Satan going forward.

Genesis 3: 4-7

“The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”

Beginning here in vs. 4, Satan begins to manipulate Eve. First, he sows doubt by asking “did God really say this,” then, he follows that up with a lie....a lie that gets Eve to question the goodness and provision of our Lord. Still today, the feeling of missing out on something can make people do stupid things. For example, a bunch of your friends get together, but leave you out…that can make you angry, jealous and suspicious and cause you to do or say something you shouldn’t . Satan convinced Eve that she was missing out and that God simply did not want her to be as smart and wise.

From the very first sin, to every sin that a person commits today, the pattern is the same…we see something that is a delight to the eyes, so we pick the fruit and eat it. We are either drawn away by our own fallen nature or we give in to the lie being told to us by the enemy of our souls. This is why Paul says in

James 1:14-15

“But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

You see, Eve was enticed by her fear of missing out and her distrust that God could be trusted. Then, as the passage points out, she then gave it to her husband, who did not tell Eve that she was wrong or try and correct her in any way…he went right along and ate. Like I pointed out earlier, we know this is not just a figurative story, as Paul uses the story of the fall when issuing correction to the various churches.

Genesis 3:7 then says that the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked…so they sewed fig leaves together to hide their naughty bits.

Actually, they both discover that Satan was correct…their eyes were opened, that is exactly what he said would happen, he was also right that as soon as they ate the fruit, they instantly became aware of evil....except this new knowledge did not have the intended effect. Instead of becoming like God, all they became aware of was their own fear, sense of inadequacy, and shame.

1 Jn. 2: 15-16

“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

For the first time, since they were created, Adam and Eve were experiencing shame. Think about how powerful shame can be, still today. Shame can keep a person locked into a cycle of addiction and sin for decades. Conviction comes from the Lord and leads to repentance, while shame keeps us in our mess. God does not bring shame, He only brings repentance.

Genesis 3: 8-12

“They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.””

Because of their fear and shame, Adam and Eve hid from the Lord. Of course, the Lord knows what they did. Adam and Eve then confessed their sin, but they did not repent. In fact, they each blamed someone else. Adam blamed Eve, while Eve blamed the snake. How many of us know that when we are living in sin, it is very difficult for us to take accountability for our wrong? It’s when we break that cycle that we can gain the ability to take responsibility and truly repent, meaning, to turn the other direction and live differently.

In my view, it is the fall of man that marks the true beginning of time. Previous to the fall, man and woman were created to be immortal…to live forever. After the fall, humanity was given a life-span. We are born and we will, one day, die

As Genesis 3 continues, God then removes Adam and Eve from the Garden and then places upon each of them the consequences for their sin. I don’t have time to go throught it in detail, but I do want to highlight the consequences. 2 things to note about the consequences.

God uses the word cursed when dealing with the serpent and with Adam, but does not use the word cursed with the woman

Even though God is handing out the consequences of their sin, God also gives us our first glimpse of the plan of salvation.

When speaking to the serpent, God says this:

Genesis 3:15

“And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.””

God is saying that one day, Satan will bruise his heel …but that man will bruise, or actually it’s crush it’s head. This was fulfilled when Christ defeated death.

For women, two penalties were imposed; both struck at the heart of a woman’s roles in life. More than would have been the case had sin not entered creation, bearing children would add to the sum of painful effort in the universe (God said he would intensify, not originate, woman’s labor pains). Marriage would also be marred; though the woman’s desire would be for her husband, sin would mar God’s plan for marriage and often create tormenting inequality and subjugation. Unfortunately, many men have taken these verses as a command to justify acting harshly towards their wives…when in fact, the Godly husband should seek to raise his wife up, not to crush her. Christ set the example in the N.T., which teaches that marriage should reflect the relationship of Christ with the church (Eph 5:24–25) and be characterized by a husband’s understanding of and respect for his wife . Do you think that God is pleased when a man takes (what is supposed to be a result of sin) and use it as a means to try and force submission? That is not the example that Christ gave us. We can hardly practice servant leadership when we are demanding and mean. Worse than that, I’ve actually seen preachers use these consequences as a way to justify counseling a wife to stay with an abusive husband…because that was “her burden to bear.”

Then, because Adam listened to and obeyed his wife in preference to what God commanded (2:17), a curse would strike at the heart of a fundamental relationship in his life as well. Adam’s relationship with the ground would now be damaged by sin. All the days of his life he would experience painful labor (cp. the woman’s labor pains, v. 16) as he worked to bring forth the fruit of the earth.

Romans 8: 19-22

“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”

Romans 8 is referring to the consequences of the fall and because of sin, all creation is cursed and longs for its day of deliverance.

Genesis 3 ends with God stationing an Angel to protect the garden. To many critics of scripture, they look at this and ask when God stopped protecting the garden. The Bible doesn’t mention that…as that is not the point of Genesis 3, obviously.

The last thing I would like to do, very quickly is highlight the story of Cane and Able. That will then have us all set up for Sam to talk about the flood next week. The story of Cane and Able is very interesting, as it highlights a couple of firsts in the Bible. It is the first murder in scripture, but it’s also the first example of the principle and practice of sacrifice…which, as you may know, the principle of sacrifice is central throughout all scripture.

Genesis 4 opens up with Eve having a couple of children, Cain and Able. It says that Cain was a farmer while Able was a shepherd.

Genesis 4: 3-8

“So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”

Both Cain and Able offered up individual sacrifices to the Lord. Scripture says that God accepted Abel’s offering or sacrifice, but rejected Cain’s. Genesis does not give us the reason why God rejected Cain’s sacrifice, but the book of Hebrews does point us in the right direction.

Hebrews 11:4

“By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”

The reason that God rejected Cain’s sacrifice has nothing to do with the fact that he didn’t offer up meat from an animal. It had everything to do with the intent of the heart. Abel offered up his sacrifice to God in faith, while Cain did not. After Cain offered up the inferior sacrifice, God did not strike him dead with a bolt of lightning. No, God tried to warn Cain that he was headed down a dangerous path. The Bible says that Cain became very angry and that his countenance fell. God told Cain that he doesn't’ need to be angry…and that if Can will make the right choices, his countenance will be lifted up.

The word countenance is simply the expression on a person’s face.

It’s clear from what happened that Cain did not have much self-introspection. Not only did Cain offer up a sacrifice that has half-hearted, trying to gain the approval of God, but once God tried to warn him, Cain ignored the advice and murdered his brother. Cain became jealous of his brother when God accepted Able’s sacrifice, but rejected his own. Think of all the people who have been murdered over time because of hard-hearted jealousy and resentment?

To make matters even worse, when God confronted Cain, he lied, trying to hide his actions. As a result, Cain is banished and sent away.

Genesis 4:13-14

“Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to bear! Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.””

The cherry on top of the Cain sundae is that after all Cain had done, yet God spared his life, Cain complains that his punishment is too hard, that he will be killed on sight. It’s quite telling that the only time Cain opens his mouth was to complain about the punishment, not to confess his sin or to ask for forgiveness.

Genesis 4:16

“Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”

Two things of note about this section, 1. Before God banished Cain, he put a mark on him, to prevent other people from killing him. This is commonly referred to as the mark of cain. 2. If Adam and Eve were the first created humans, that means their kids were the only people on the earth. If that’s the case, how did Cane find a wife in the area he was banished to? How were there people living in the area Cane went to, who were they?

The mark of Cain has been debated rigorously throughout history. The actual word used denotes a Divine protection. Despite the fact that Cain did this horrible thing, God showed mercy. Of course, Cain had to suffer the consequences of his sin. For a number of generations that mark of Cain was associated with skin color. Those who were proponents of Slavery justified themselves by claiming that Cain and then Ham (one of Noah’s sons who was also cursed), that mark or curse was black skin. Thus, those with black skin are supposed to be subjugated, as their is simply their lot in life…similar to how some treat women, as God told them that they would long for their husband, but would be dominated. It’s because of this type of thinking that an untold amount of cruelty has happened across time, all because “God said that’s how it’s supposed to be.” Those notions have been widely debunked, so I will not take the time to convince you that God does not approve of such things.

For the second item, the fact that Cain was able to find a wife, after being banished. Most trustworthy scholars believe that Adam and Eve had many kids…I mean, they lived for over 900 years. Not all of them stuck around. The Bible only makes note of a few…Cain, Able, Seth, but Genesis 5 also mentioned that they had other sons and daughters. It’s also possible that the people in the land that Cain went to were kids that Adam and Eve had before the fall. Again, we do not know how long they were in the garden…plus the fact that one of Eve’s consequences was pain in childbirth…this seems to suggest that prior to the fall, childbirth did not cause pain.

All of that is speculation and is fun to talk about, but it does not have any bearing on the actual story or what we can learn from the stories. Genesis 4 then ends with the birth of Seth…and that sets us up for next week, where Sam will talk about the flood.

Now, let’s take about 10 minutes to recap and talk about what we can learn from the things we’ve covered the past couple of weeks.

Last week we talked about the fact that the story of creation is still important today, because:

It sets the foundation for the rest of scripture

It reveals the nature and character of God

Now that we’ve gotten all the way through, the creation account, I want to quickly recap. Then, to wrap up, I want to talk about the principle of sacrifice and how that principle is still important today.

If you take away anything from the last couple of weeks, perhaps you’ve never given much thought to the importance of when and where a specific text was written. Do you think if the creation account were being written today it would be the same details or would it have been written, according to our understanding? The context in which a passage is written helps us understand the significance for us today. When it comes to the creation account we are pretty sure that Moses penned these words. That means these words were written at the same time Israel was wandering around the desert waiting to enter into the Promise Land. Is it a coincidence that the creation story was penned during that time? Doubtful.

During this point in history the Israelites were in a fragile spot. They had just spent over 400 years in slavery. Generation after generation grew knowing nothing of freedom. Their identity was that of a captive people.

Moses leads them out of captivity, but they still keep their old mindset. They are acting like a captive people, even wanting to go back to their captors. They don’t understand freedom, and they don’t know their true identity. All they know was living in captivity. So they acted like captives.

This is why Moses receiving the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20) was such a big deal. When they left Egypt they lost their sense of purpose and direction. For years it had been, do what you’re told. With their new found freedom they had no guiding principles. Their whole life shifted, they had a completely new normal, and they had no idea how to live. The 10 Commandments gave them that framework.

This is important because this is the context in which Genesis is written. These are the people who it was first written to, a nation of former slaves now wandering through the desert. Not really sure of who they are and still learning to trust God. Genesis was written for everyone but it was written to Ancient Israel. This is why we must take setting and context into account when we develop our doctrine and theology. For example, when the story of Creation was written, the emphasis was placed upon there being one true God, not multiple gods…yet, as the N.T. comes into focus and the people gain a better understanding of Christ, the N.T. writers make it clear that Christ is the central driving force behind creation. Had Moses written that, the Ancient Israelites would not have understood. This is why we say that scripture interprets scripture. The more that God reveals, the more we understand.

The same goes for the principle of sacrifice…that we see for the first time in Genesis Ch. 4, with the story of Cane and Able. Both brothers made sacrifices, we do not know if they were commanded to do so, but it’s clear they understood the importance of sacrifice. Later on in the O.T., God institutes sacrifice as a part of the law of Moses. The people were to take something prized to them, something of value and offer it to the Lord. The Lord then honored that sacrifice and accepted it as partial payment for their sin and wrongdoing.

A very common thing going on at the time was child sacrifice. People would offer us their children, hoping to gain the favor of the god Molech.

Lev. 20: 2-5

““You shall also say to the sons of Israel: ‘Any man from the sons of Israel or from the aliens sojourning in Israel who gives any of his offspring to Molech, shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones.

The principle of sacrifice was well known, both inside and outside of Israel. The problem is that it had been perverted and tainted.

There are many definitions of sacrifice, as there are different types of sacrifice. The best definition I’ve come across is:

to surrender or give up, or permit injury or disadvantage to, for the sake of something else.

We know that Christ became the ultimate sacrifice. Christ willingly surrendered, he permitted injury to himself, for our sake.

1 Jn. 2:2

“and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”

What started way back with Abel, offering up a pleasing sacrifice to the Lord was brought to fulfillment in Christ, as He became the sacrificial lamb on our behalf. As a result, and because our sin has been pardoned, we are continue with the principle of sacrifice.

All of us make sacrifices on a daily basis. We give something up, in order to gain something for the future. For example, we sacrifice something we want to buy, in order to have something for the future. Parents sacrifice their time and money, in order to provide into their kids. Perhaps you’ve never thought of your relationship with the Lord in those terms, but the truth is, we are called to be living sacrifices. To give of our selves, in order for someone else to benefit.

My challenge to all of us today is this:

What type of sacrifices are we offering up to the Lord? One very common trait among immature people is the inability to sacrifice something now, for something later. Or, to give something up, so someone else can benefit. Christianity is all about sacrifice. The giving of our selves, to either, benefit someone else, or to be able to recieve something better from the Lord, down the line. What happens though when we fail to make sacrifices in our finances or relationships? We end up pushing everyone away from us, relationally or we end up going broke, financially.

Romans 12: 1

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

Is our sacrifice pleasing to God, like that of Abel, or does our sacrifice come from a “less-than” attitude, like that of Cain? I’m not talking about money, just so you know…although it could apply…I’m talking about our ability to sacrifice what we want, so the Lord can do what He wants? Paul says that offering up our wants, desires and dreams to the Lord is an act of worship to the Lord, no different than the O.T. sacrifices, that were supposed to be a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

Let’s Pray!t