God Creates Man Genesis 1:26-31 & 2:4-17

Introduction

We’re studying two passages this morning because they both describe the creation of mankind. Genesis 1 describes the creation of man in the order of the 7 days of creation; then in Genesis two it goes into more detail of day 6, where man is created; and woman is created from man.

Stand if you’re able in reverence for God’s Word while I Read Passages

Opening Prayer

I believe we can learn 3 main things from these passages and the first is….

How God Creates Man (vv. 1:26-27 & 2:4-7)

Like I had said before; Genesis 1 gives a quick overview of day six, we went over part of day six last week; where God created all the animals and insects etc. Now on the same day God creates man from the dust.

Read vv. 26 & 27 again

What does it mean that God created man in “His own image”? This is something that describes only mankind. Nothing else in creation is described as being made in God’s image. This means humans are and were the pinnacle of God’s creation.

Man was made in God’s image in 3 ways:

Intellectually: Mankind was made to be rational and free. With the ability to think, and ponder, and make decisions. When you think of someone creative, someone that can paint paintings, or write a book, or someone that invents a new machine. These things are possible because we are made in God’s image as beings with intellectual capacities.

If you remember a few weeks ago we had put on the screen these pictures of what it looks like under the streets of New York City, with miles and miles of cables, and pipes and whatnot, all working together to make this giant city have power and running water, and cable and phone and internet… All that is possible for us to do because God created man with an intellectual capacity that reflects His own creative nature.

2. Morally: Originally man kind was created perfectly righteous and good, which is a reflection of God’s perfect holiness. This is why in verse 31 God says His creation was now “very good” where every time before this He says His creation was just “good”.

Mankind has fallen, as we’ll go over when we get to Genesis 3; Adam sinned and now we all are born with a sinful nature, rather than a righteous and good nature like Adam had originally.

But even now the Lord has given every person a conscience. An ability to tell right from wrong. Man knows inherently that some things are wrong. Some people reject their conscience so much, that it gets seared and they no longer see right and wrong; and this happens so often. This is how we see people in the world so easily justify so many sins, because they’ve seared their conscience to the point they don’t even feel guilt anymore.

So when you see someone, especially a non believer who doesn’t have the Holy Spirit convicting them, call something evil, evil; we see how man is made with a moral compass in God’s image. Unbelievers who don’t care what God says, still know that sins like murder are wrong. Even if today there is a rise in people justifying murder of babies in their mother’s wombs, they still know deep down that it’s wrong.

I follow this evangelist on facebook who minsters outside abortion clinics in Chicago, telling mothers not to kill their babies as they walk into planned parenthood; and the anger and hatred that people show to this guy is unreal. And it’s because they know it’s wrong, and they don’t like him trying to awaken their conscience, they want it to stay seared so they don’t feel the guilt.

3. Socially: Man was made to be in fellowship with God, and like we’ll go over next week when God creates woman, he does this because God says it’s not good for man to be alone. It’s not good for man to be alone, because God the Father isn’t alone.

Notice in verse 26, it says “Let us make man in OUR image”. The triune God; Father, Son & Holy Spirit, God is a social God who desires fellowship with His people.

This is why Jesus established the Church before He left the earth and ascended back to heaven. Because we are not meant to be alone, we were created in God’s image with the social needs for fellowship so we can be like God.

The word translated church in the New Testament, is the Greek word “Ekklesia” which means an assembly of the called out ones. The church is the assembly of God’s people that He calls out of their homes, out of their hiding places, out of solitude, to assemble together and worship Him and fellowship together.

That’s why watching church online at home, is not a replacement for attending a church gathering. By the defintion of the Greek word Ekklesia, it’s a physical gathering of people called OUT of their solitude, to join together with other Christians for Worship, and Biblical Teaching, and Fellowship.

We do livestream our services, but it’s not meant to be a replacement. It’s for those who are homebound, who can’t attend the gathering for medical reasons, or those travelling, or those thinking about attending that want to see what it’s like first.

If you’re not able to make it to a gathering of your church, don’t feel guilty for watching it online; but if you’re able to go and just prefer to watch it at home because it’s more comfortable, or maybe you’re not a people person; those aren’t biblical excuses, if that’s you, then you ought to be attending an in person gathering of God’s people weekly. Because we are made to be in fellowship with God, and with other people because we are made in God’s image.

pause

So we see and understand now that man is made in the image of God, unlike anything else in creation; mankind is different.

Now let’s look at 2:4-7 and see HOW God created man.

Read 2:4-7.

Let’s look into verse 7 first, this describes HOW God created man. He formed man from the dust of the ground, and then breathed into His nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.

Since God is the source of life, His breath gives life to lifeless creatures. Jesus does this same thing to His disciples after His ressurection in John 20:19-23

John 20:19–23 ESV

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Jesus breathes the breath of life over them, so they’ll receive new life with the Holy Spirit.

Some twist this passage of God breathing life into Adam, to say that the Bible teaches that life begins at first breath. And if life doesn’t begin until the first breath, then it must be okay to abort babies up to birth; because they aren’t really humans yet anyway.

This ignores the fact that this account of the creation of Adam is clearly a special one time event. God never creates another person from the dust like this; even when He creates Eve, it’s from one of Adam’s ribs, not the dust again. And Adam was created as a full grown man, capable of working the soil.

Over and over in scripture we can see examples of God’s love for babies, and the value of the babies specifically in the womb.

Psalm 139:13–16 “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

David says God knit Him together in His mother’s womb.

Jeremiah 1:4–5 “Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.””

God appointed Jeremiah as a prophet before He was born.

Psalm 22:10 “On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.”

David says the Lord was His God even while in the womb.

Luke 1:41–44 ESV

And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

Pregnant Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, came to meet Pregnant Mary, the mother of Jesus, and John the Baptist lept in her womb at the sound of Mary’s greeting. A baby in the womb was the first to leap for joy at the coming of the Messiah.

So we see all throughout scripture, that life begins in the womb; at conception and not at first breath. So to abort a baby at any stage is as much murder as murdering a full grown person, because a person’s worth isn’t determined by their size, developmental stage, or location.

pause

So now, Verse 4-6 describes what the earth looked like at this time; no bush of the field was yet in the land, and no small plant of the field had sprung up.

And it tells us why this was so, because God had not made it rain on the land yet, and because there was no man to work the soil.

If you remember last week we studied day 3 of creation where God created all the plants and vegetation. Genesis 1:11-13

Genesis 1:11–13 ESV

And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

So if God created all the plants on day 3, and we’re now on day six, why does it say “no bush of the field and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up?

There are two answers to this seemingly contradicting account, one is if we look at verses 8-9 we see God plant the Garden of Eden after Adam was formed. Read vv. 8-9.

So verse 5 telling us that no bush of the field or no plant of the field had sprung up, doesn’t necessarily mean there were no plants in the earth, but where God was placing Adam was barren at the time, and God would place Adam there after planting the garden of Eden.

The second thing we need to look at is what a bush and a plant “of the field” means. They are described as “of the field” because they are plants that need cultivating and caring. The plants created on day 3 were the vegetation, and plants yielding their seed and the fruit trees.

The plants created after the creation of man are the plants that are grown in a cultivated field. Plants that require a man to work the field. And the end of verse 5 tells us why God hadn’t created them on day 3, because there was no man to work the field yet. But now that God had created man who could work the field, he creates the plants that go in a cultivated field.

So the first thing we learn in this passage is HOW God initially created man, from the dust and with the breath of life from the Lord.

The next thing we learn in these passages is……

God’s Purposes for Mankind (vv. 1:26 & 2:8-15)

To find God’s purposes for mankind let’s first look at 1:26 again. Read 1:26

We see God giving a purpose for creating mankind, that they would have dominion over the fish, birds, and every animal.

To have dominion is to have power over, or rule over. God ultimately has the sovereign power over His creation, like we went over extensively last week. The greatest example that shows God still has sovereign power over the creation, is with Noah’s ark; where God caused two of every animal on the earth to come to one place and get in the boat to survive the flood.

But God has chosen to delegate authority over the creation to mankind. God reiterates this in 1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it”.

God’s plan from the start was never to just create Adam to be the keeper of the earth alone; in verse 26 before creating Adam, God says “let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let THEM have dominion….”

That’s why we see God’s first command in verse 28 to multiply and fill the earth, and why? To subdue the earth, to have dominion over it.

Another way to say this is to say that God has given mankind “stewardship” over the earth. It’s not that God has given up control over His creation to mankind, He is still the one ultimately in dominion over all things. But God has given the creation to mankind to steward, to take care of.

We are to take care of the earth like a servant would take care of His master’s house.

This means we ought to care about the environment, and seek the welfare of God’s creation. We should be doing what we can to care for the earth, not littering, planting trees, recycling (Even though I’ve seen the same trash truck emptying trash cans pick up the recycling too, I have a feeling it goes to the same place)

The point is we SHOULD care for the earth, we should care for the animals and all of God’s creation and mankind ought to steward the creation in the best possible way we can. While not taking it so far as to worship creation as many do.

Paul writes about this in Romans 1 when describing people under God’s wrath:

Romans 1:25 “because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”

While we steward God’s creation well, we have to keep in mind that all things on this earth will be burnt up at the end of the age. All of this is temporary.

Now let’s look at 2:8-15 Read this

This describes what God said would happen in 1:26; God creates this beautiful garden called Eden, and places the man in it. And it’s summed up in verse 15, He put the man in the garden to work it and to keep it. This is what God meant when He said take dominion over the earth. Work the earth, and keep the earth, take care of it.

So notice here that God is putting Adam to work in the garden, and this is before the fall; this is before sin. So by this passage, we know that working is NOT a result of sin, it’s not a punishment for sin, it’s not a result of the fall.

Adam was working and tending the garden BEFORE the fall. Work itself is not a result of the fall, the fact that work is HARD is the result of the fall.

We’ll go over this in much more depth when we get to chapter 3 but in 3:17-19 God tells Adam what will happen as a result of His sin.

Genesis 3:17–19 “And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.””

So before the fall Adam was working the garden, but it wasn’t hard. There was no pain, no sweat, no thorns and thistles. But because of sin, the stewardship over the earth that God gave to mankind is no longer easy like it was in the garden.

God’s purpose from the beginning for man, the first thing He gave Adam to do was to work. Work itself is not the curse. The first thing we see God do in the Bible is to work six days creating creation.

I read online that there was an essay written in 1985 titled “The Abolition of Work” written by a man named Bob Black and in it he says “No one should ever work. Work is the source of nearly all the misery in the world. Almost any evil you’d care to name comes from working or from living in a world designed for work. In order to stop suffering, we have to stop working”.

I think many people in the world would agree with that statement, but it places the blame for suffering on the wrong thing. Work is not the source of suffering in the world, but sin is. Work is hard because of sin.

Work itself is good……. God works…..

Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

Jesus works John 5:17 “But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.””

Remember man was made in the image and likeness of God. God is a working being, and he created us to be working beings.

Paul warns the church in Thessalonica to keep away from any brother who walks in idleness and refuses to work.

2 Thessalonians 3:6–12 ESV

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

Christians ought to be working and earning their own living, and providing for their household. Paul also warns in 1 Timothy 5:8 “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

So to refuse to work when you’re able bodied, and not provide for yourself and your household is sinful.

Now on the other end, trying to find your fulfillment in your work is just as big a problem. In Ecclesiastes King Solomon describes his search for the meaning of life.

Ecclesiastes 2:22–23 “What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.”

Solomon says working and toil itself does not bring fulfillment and joy. Some try to fill the emptiness in themselves with their work, but Solomon says this is a vanity. But in the next few verses he explains how one can get fulfillment from their work and toil.

Ecclesiastes 2:24–26 “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.”

We can find enjoyment in our toils, but this only comes from the hand of God. Apart from God, work is full of sorrow and vexation. But when you work to the glory of God, you can find enjoyment and joy.

Paul writes in Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,”

When you’re working, whatever you happen to do; whether you’re an entry level employee or running the company; work not as for men, but work as though your working for the Lord.

If you keep this mindset, the quality of your work, no matter what you do; will be the best it can be; and you’ll glorify God with it. If you have the mindset that you’re working for your human boss, your quality of work and drive will change depending on the quality of the boss.

But if you work with the mindset that you are not working for your boss, but you’re working for the Lord; no matter what anyone does or says at work, the quality and drive in your work won’t change, and you’ll glorify God in your work.

And ultimately that is the purpose of mankind, to glorify God in all we do, including work.

1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

This is the purpose of man!

So the first thing we learn in our passages was HOW God created man, from the dust; Then we learn God’s purposes for mankind, to work and have dominion over the earth; ultimately to glorify God in everything we do.

Finally the 3rd thing we learn in these passages is……..

God’s Commands for Mankind (vv. 1:28-31 & 2:16-17)

Let’s first look at 1:28-31 where we see God’s first command to Adam. Read 1:28-31

God’s first command to mankind was to “Multiply and fill the earth and subdue it”. We already extensively studied what it means to subdue the earth, so we’ll focus on multiplying and filling the earth.

Adam and Eve, as the first two humans; were commanded by God to have children, who would have children, who would have children, to fill the earth and subdue it.

Now the question is: Is this a command for all people throughout all time? Yes and No.

Yes mankind as a whole is to continue multiplying and filling the earth and subduing it.

Psalm 127:3–5 “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.”

All children are a blessing from the Lord and should always be treasured. Christians especially as a whole should be having lots of children and training them up in the way of the Lord, so the world will have more God fearing and honoring men and women.

But this doesn’t necessarily apply to every individual. If this were the case Jesus would’ve had children, but he didn’t have a wife or any children. So we know that to not have children is not sinful in any way.

If the command was for every individual to bear children then how could we explain infertility? Nowhere in scripture is infertility implied as a sin or a curse from God.

So we see that this command to multiply and fill the earth, does apply to mankind as a whole; but not every individual.

The Apostle Paul actually says in some circumstances it’s better to stay single; so you can focus more of your life on serving God.

1 Corinthians 7:38 “So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.”

Some, the Lord has chosen to bless with children to raise and train; and some the Lord has chosen to bless with a childless life so the person can spend more time serving the Lord.

Different roles for different people,

But whether a man has a wife and 10 children, or stays single and childless all his life; as long as his goal and desire is to glorify and serve God in the role God has placed him in; He’ll be blessed and God will be glorified through him.

pause

Now let’s go to 2:16-17 Read it

Now we see the second command; eat from any tree in the garden, EXCEPT this one.

Remember after God created Adam and put him in this garden with this tree; the Lord said “it is very good”.

So we know that this tree is not evil or bad in and of itself.

We’ll go over this in much more detail when we get to chapter 3, but this tree of the knowledge of good and evil; is not a tree that contain evil, theres nothing bad in the tree itself.

Knowing the difference between good and evil, is not bad in itself either.

King Solomon asks God for wisdom to discern between good and evil and God grants it to him. 1 Kings 3:9 “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?””

Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

The writer of Hebrews wants the church to grow in their discernment of good and evil.

So if the knowledge of good and evil isn’t bad, then why did God prohibit them from eating of this tree?

Pastor and Theologian John Piper says the following about this question:

“What was God saying in prohibiting the eating of one tree out of a million trees? He was saying,

I have given you life. I have given you a world full of pleasure — pleasures of taste and sight and sound and smell and feel and nourishment. Only one tree is forbidden to you. And the point of that prohibition is to preserve the pleasures of the world, because if you eat of that one you will be saying to me, “I am smarter than you. I am more authoritative that you. I am wiser than you are. I think I can care for myself better than you care for me. You are not a very good Father. And so I am going to reject you.”

So don’t eat from the tree, because you will be rejecting me and all my good gifts and all my wisdom and all my care. Instead, keep on submitting to my will. Keep on affirming my wisdom. Keep on being thankful for my generosity. Keep on trusting me as a Father and keep on eating these trees as a way of enjoying me. There are ten thousand trees with every imaginable fruit. Just go eat. Be thankful. I have given them to you. See them as expressions of my goodness and savor them that way.”

So, the prohibition of eating from this tree was not because there was something evil in the tree itself, but because it gave Adam a choice to obey the Lord or rebel. To trust that God knows evil and good, and will protect Adam and Eve from evil. So in eating from the tree; they are saying they don’t trust God, and need this knowledge for themselves.

We’ll go over this in further detail when we get to the fall of man in Genesis 3; but let’s look at what God says will be the punishment for disobeying this command:

Genesis 2:17 “but 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.””

This was the punishment for sin in the garden of Eden, and this is the punishment for sin today.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The wages of sin has always been and always will be death. Sin is why there is death and disease and destruction in the world.

Call Worship Team up

Conclusion

The wages of sin being death is the reason that we all die. The human death rate is currently 100%. You know the saying; There are two guarantees in life; death and taxes.

But the death that results as a punishment for sin, is not just a physical death in our earthly bodies. But since the sin we’ve all committed is against God who is eternal, the punishment is eternal. This is what hell is, eternal death in torment.

God in His love and grace created man in His own image, gave him a perfect creation and garden to work; and allowed no pain or suffering. But man rebelled, Adam and Eve ate from the tree God forbid eating from, and because of this all of their offspring, including you and I, inherit a sinful nature.

A natural desire to disobey God and do our own thing. Romans 3:10 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;”

God’s standard to be in fellowship with Him again, is perfection. James 2:10 “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”

If we break even one of God’s laws our entire lives, we’re as guilty as if we broke every single law.

This may seem unfair, but it’s actually the most fair thing we can imagine. God gave mankind a fair warning. If you sin you will die. He’s said that since the very beginning.

And since we’ve all sinned, and no one is righteous; no one can please God on their own.

But God in His loving kindness, sent His own Son Jesus Christ to the earth; who lived a perfectly sinless life, being tempted in every way as we are, yet not sinning once.

Jesus never sinned, so He never earned death. But He died a sinner’s death on the cross anyway, in the place of anyone who will turn from their sinful ways and trust in Him.

This doesn’t mean sinlessness; that’s not possible. But if you’ll turn away from your sin, and turn toward Christ and put your trust for salvation in Him alone; God will take your sin and wretchedness and will look back and put the punishment for it on Jesus on the cross.

And then He’ll take Jesus perfect righteousness that He earned by living a perfectly sinless and righteous life; and put that on you. So on Judgement day, God won’t see your sin; He’ll only see the righteousness that Christ has clothed you with and there will be no condemnation for you, even though you deserve and earned condemnation.

It’s a two way transaction; You get Christ’s righteousness, Christ takes your sin. It’s the greatest transaction in history.

And you receive this by faith. By trusting that Jesus really came and lived a perfect sinless life, He really died a sinners death He didn’t deserve on your behalf, and He really rose from the dead on the 3rd day proving that God accepted the sacrifice for sin.

The moment you believe this and put your faith in Jesus Christ, God takes you from death to life, gives you a new heart and you’ll have new desires to please Him rather than your sinful flesh, and you’ll be a new creation, born again with the Holy Spirit dwelling in you.

Altar Call

Closing Prayer