Some Themes never change
Genesis • Sermon • Submitted
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· 16 viewsThere are mant themes in scripture but they all point to Christ and none of them change
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Some themes never change
Some themes never change
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. 5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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.” 18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
In a world of constant change, where what used to be the norm is now seen as intolerant, hateful, or just plain wrong… God’s word still has not changed and that carries even more weight for us than perhaps it did in yesteryear…
We have before us today a passage that will always be the go to portion of scripture when we needs to understand created order, gender roles, and marriage. And while 20 yrs ago, or even 10 yrs the preaching of this text would not seem to be anything out of the ordinary for a normal Sunday morning in any church in America… In 2019 this is considered controversial.
If anything that is said today makes you uncomfortable, please hear me, our desire is to make much of Christ and to uphold the Word of God in every way we can until the day we are taken from this earth. This is not hate speech, it does not make us feel better than those who do not understand it, and it will not be a point of contention for us in ministering to people who have never had a chance to believe what we would call absolute truth.
Now why did I give such a big disclaimer at the front end of this? Because we need to keep in mind that there are a lot of fine sounding arguments out there which would sound loving and almost Christian yet would actually attempt to change God’s word and deny Gospel truth.
Today as we look into this text we are going to see for the first time in scripture, a theme appear. What do I mean by that? At face value we have a story before us, but it will be interesting how the various parts of this story seem to point to other areas of scripture where we find similar elements being discussed. And ultimately a theme will develop. So what is a theme? A theme is an idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature. We will see signposts in the elements of creation be repeated to develop into various themes in understanding God.
Let’s look at the text and break it down as we come across these seemingly random elements of the creation story.
First things first… notice 2 things about the story in front of us today. First, it seems like the whole creation narrative is given from a high level 30,000 ft view. There are no real description of how God creates, and the point we are meant to see is that he creates and controls everything. But as soon as we hit the story takes on whole new feeling. Like a movie that shows an epic landscape in the opening scene it now zooms in real tight on one specific part of creation… The bible tells us exactly how God made man and woman, along with a good bit of detail around what is going on in the creation narrative at this point.
The second things I need you to understand is that this is a bit of a rewind to the 6th day. We have covered that there are a literal 7 days spoken of, and last week we talked about the meaning of Sabbath rest which we see instituted by God on the 7th day. As we continue to read on the story jumps back to the 6th day. Something majorly significant happened on the 6th day. And while there is no real detailed description of how God creates everything, other then by speaking, we will now get some detail and a lot of seemingly unrelated things will be told to us. I would submit to you that some of these seemingly unrelated details speak of a larger story that weave all throughout scripture. Let’s look at the text.
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
gen2.4
These are the generations… The author is telling us that the story of creation will now zoom in on a specific family line. The word generations is meant to begin to point to a specific group of people. Introduced here in the text to follow we will have the first man and woman. But first we hear of some interesting facts about the earth, and things don’t seem to be like what we know...
gen2
5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground,
5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—
First thing I want us to notice here… the Land. A few weeks I made the point that in the creation, God had created the Heavens and Earth and everything in them an on them, including the seas and everything in them… as a way of ensuring provision for the peak of his creation, mankind.
Here we see God tell us how he filled the land, it seems like the earth was somewhat different from the way we understand it now. Before I attempt to point you to the obvious issues of no Rain yet, I want us to stop and think about Land. Everywhere in scripture moving forward, Land become something that people will fight over. Land will represent to a people their ancestors, and is always valuable based on what is in the land and how it can provide for its inhabitants.
Well before mankind fell into sin and a curse was pronounced on the land, it watered itself. Land is an element that develops into a theme we will see in all of scripture, because people are always looking for the land in which they will rest, land that will provide for them and protect them. And to this day people are still fighting over land.
The next thing we will notice here is the absence of something… Rain. It is hard for us in the PNW to envision a world where it doesn’t rain. Rain will be a more than an act of judgement in and 8, it will be seen only when there are clouds and storms, which tend to give way to imagery of darkness and judgement as well, yet rain will represent blessing from God. Nothing can grow without rain, and it is showered down on as we can easily be caught in an unsuspected storms. Yet Rain becomes a major component of God’s people knowing his blessings. In stories like when Elijah prayed that it would not rain for 3 years and again he prayed and it did… In all this rain was used to show God’s blessing and favor.
How crazy is it that storms are seen as judgement, trails in life are referred to as storms and yet the by- product of them is rain which is seen as a blessing? Before the creation had to deal with the fall of man into sin, there was no need for clouds and storms, no judgement and trials… and the rain wasn’t necessary because the land watered itself by a mist that rose out of it. For us to get a picture of this theme of blessing Jesus shows us how God uses rain as common grace to all creation...
45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Jesus was saying God shows his blessings to all . And in genesis 2 what seems to be little details of a different story, we hear of something that we will see play out in a theme through the rest of scripture in ways of understanding the blessings of God. Land for provision and rain for blessing, but who will be the recipient of this provision and blessing? Let’s keep reading...
7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
gen2.7
We do not how God created the heavens and the earth beyond speaking, but we do know how he created Man… Out of the dust of the ground. It blows me away to think of anything amazing that any man has ever done, and it is nothing more then collected dust that God breathed on.
Can you see how this creation account would be seen as so unique amongst all over ancient peoples?
In a world where we are told to believe that we have evolved as some sort of accident, the Bible is clear that we are created by God.
God creates man
God creates man
This may not seem like earth shattering information for a bunch of Christians to hear in church on a Sunday morning, but this is foundational to everything we believe.
Man has made a lot of things and takes credit for much of his accomplishments, and nay-sayers will assert that man made up God as a way to deal with moral dilemma’s. But there is more to this statement than what would seem obvious… There is an order of importance.
God came first and he created us. The bible is about God, as his special revelation of himself to us as the creator of everything who also controls everything. We need to understand this if we are going to understand everything that will come after this… WHY???
Because we can take what God said and change it so that we are worshipping a god that we make in our image rather than the God who made us in his image. If we do not see the importance of God being pre-eminent over us as his creation, we can start to believe false version of the gospel that make us into the main character of scripture, and God becomes our helper. When we find scriptures that make us uncomfortable with what we would want to see happen rather than what God says, we will change what we see and hear from scripture to fit our ideal description and in so doing begin to worship a different god than the God of the Bible! So, YES, it is important to say this and repeat this.
God created Man, God created Man, God created man… Well I don’t like the idea of Hell… Well, God created man… Well I don’t like anything that says I am not in charge of my own life… Well God created man… Well I don’t like what you believe about election… Well God created man… God is in charge and we are not… this is his story not ours. This is his creation, under his plan, within his control… and it is very basic… God came first and God is in control.
There is an other theme of something in the creation of man that I need to point out to you. The Dust he formed became a living being only when he breathed on it.
Breath is another theme we see all through scripture, and it speaks of something greater than just ordinary breath. Since the lump of dirt was not alive until God breathed in its nostrils, breath begins to represent life in the scriptures.. and so we see it play out that way in other stories...
Remember in Ezekiel when God shows the prophet a valley of dry bones. and from them he raises up an army. But how? by commanding the prophet to prophesy that Breath would come into them...
eze37
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
The bigger narrative in that story is that it represents something else… A vision of dry bones is meant ton represent death, and the story is about how God can make dead things live. And he does this by breathing on them, just like he did for Adam in the garden. The breath of God make things come alive. From the very beginning of the Bible in , on through the rest of scripture. We even see this theme in what the bible says about scripture itself...
2tim3.16
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
Even scripture is Breathed out by God and so it is alive and powerful...
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
So there are themes in that we must take note since they keep appearing in the rest of scripture… there is a bigger story being told than just the one before us. Let’s continue.
8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
gen2
So we see here on the 6th day when God created Man, that he also planted a garden and placed the man in that garden. We see that he makes trees spring up out of the ground. Again this speaks of the provision that the land God made was for humans. Trees come from the ground, they provide fruit to eat and make the planet look good too.
But here is another theme that we will see play out in scripture… the tree. Certainly we are introduced to the most infamous tree in the Bible, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But this isn’t some moot point, because the tree become more than a symbol, it is a theme of provision we see in lots of other stories. Noah needs to build an ark out of Gopher wood. Trees are made of wood and wood is cut for fires, fire are needed for sacrifices. Trees provide for God’s people… But what about the wood that was needed for a sacrifice by Abraham… He had his son Isaac carries the wood Abraham was going to use to sacrifice him with up the mountain…
Am I just pointing little symbols? Well hundreds of years later on the same mountain range a son, sent by his father, is going to be sacrificed and he is carrying the wood on which he will be the sacrifice for his people.
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
Interesting, but we are still looking at … seeing that the beginning of the story has elements that become reoccurring themes played out all through the rest of the story. But there is more...
10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
gen2.10-
Now this little section seems to be a helpful part of geography, except for the fact that we have no idea where these places are for the most part after the Flood. But as we can see the Land again is known by what it provides for people, Gold, Bdellium, Onyx, etc… But Notice the rivers.
Rivers are known as boundaries to the land. Rivers will be places of protection and provision. Over and over in scripture we see rivers play an important part of many stories. Places where the children of Israel will cross safely and also have their enemies swept away. Rivers become a place where baptisms happen. They represent a flow of water that nourishes and cleanses, they are a place where people will go to Drink and be refreshed.
In we see there are many rivers flowing through the land nourishing it, and making a distinction between different lands as natural borders… follow that theme in scripture and hear the words that Jesus proclaimed...
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
john
So rivers are now what flows out of believers in Christ as they proclaim the gospel, it nourishes the land around them and defines their borders.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
gen2.15
We see here that God gives man a purpose. Work, this is a theme that carries much weight throughout the rest of scripture. Everywhere there is men they are being defined by their work. By the work of their hands they find delight and pleasure. It is important to notice that before the fall and the curse pronounced upon the man and the land, that there was still work being done. So much more could be said on this theme as it is played out in the rest of scripture yet suffice it to say men work to provide. So when the gospel story tells of a work that no man can do for himself, it is one of the hardest things for us to understand. Work has been ingrained in us from the garden.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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.”
gen2.16-
This is the first place where we see God speak to man. The very first thing God did was to give permission and orders to protect him. This is another theme that will develop in scripture that will be a big distinction between those who believe in this God and other who believe in false gods .he theme of speaking… God speaks to his people constantly, even when there is years of silence, and after scripture is finished we continue to hear God speak to us every time we read his word. Do you want to hear God speak to you? well listen up...
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
gen2.18
This is the first thing we see in all of scripture that God says is not good… It is not good for man to be alone. God created on the first day and it was good, the second day, it was good, the 3rd, 4th, 5th day it was good. The 6th day it was very good when God man man. Yet even though God was very pleased with man, before he declared that the 6th day was very good, there one thing that was not good… Man was alone.
This leads to something profound… let’s keep reading...
19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.
gen2.19
Please notice that God said in vs 18 he would make a helper FIT for him, and again here in vs 20 it says that there was not a helper fit for him. That word for Fit in Hebrew means to complement or a counterpart, i.e., that object which is corresponding or like another object. There is a theme developing here about the problem of man being alone and God is going to great lengths in showing how not just anything will fit as a complementing counterpart for man. Look at what God does next...
counterpart, i.e., that object which is corresponding or like another object
21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
gen2.
Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
God does not make another creation from the dust, he takes from the man!
Man is first, then woman, and she completes him. She is brought to him and he talks for the first time recorded in scripture. And he says...
AT LAST! After all this time of not having a real complementing counterpart… At last! And she is part of me!
And notice that there is an order here. God first… then Man, the woman. God makes man from the ground and then he makes woman from man. So they become equal in value… Man is not more valuable them woman, because she was made from him.
Man and woman are equal in value but distinct in roles.
Man and woman are equal in value but distinct in roles.
And we see this order is a complementing way of completing creation. but never was there any confusion about what they were.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
God came first, he creates man, and them woman… male and female he created them.
from that time forward male is never called female and female is never called male. They are both image bearers who have equal value but distinct roles. these roles will be seen more in the next chapter, but make no mistake about it, there is a divine order here.
This is not another moot point, but rather an important part of what is the most prolific theme in scripture. The order that is established is part of a bigger theme… Marriage. Right here and now in scripture it is established...
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
The idea of man and woman being united in their flesh to become one is a beautiful way that God designed for them to enjoy each other and complement each other. And notice before the fall and sin entering in they are not ashamed. There is a beautiful picture of what marriage should look like here.
So what is marriage a theme that is shown over and over in scripture? why is it important? Did you notice the order of this account? it describes marriage and even the wedding ceremony.
Think about the wedding ceremony and compare it to genesis 2… they are the same. God, (the father) presents woman, (his daughter), to man. Man then responds with Joy and makes vows by admitting that she is his own now. The husband then takes responsibility for coring for her. And ultimately their union of becoming one flesh produce more people.
The order is divine and God ordained. And this theme plays out through the rest of scripture. and the picture of a marriage between God and his people is shown over and over. The whole OT is full of imagery of everlasting love and unfaithfulness. It speaks of the work that one party does to uphold the marriage covenant and the Love it takes to overcome when one part is unfaithful to the other.
Is it any wonder that the best picture of the gospel we can have is rooted in the theme of marriage?
In the NT we see this powerfully on display as God the Father, present the church to Christ, and Jesus takes us as his bride and declares that he will take acre of us. he takes responsibility for us. And when we are united with Christ the natural outflow is other believers are made as we live in this marriage.
We do not have the Gospel to better understand our marriages, we have our marriages to better understand the Gospel!
In this text we have one theme after another that points to Christ and God’s love for us.
Jesus is the true Land we desire to make provision for us that we can rest in.
By coming to him and believing in him he by his Spirit will make his home in us and River of living water will flow from us.
The trees that sprung up from the ground as a provision for God’s people were now made to be fuel for the fires of sacrifice and ultimately become provision for the instrument on which Jesus becomes Sin for us so we can be his righteousness.
The work that man was given in keeping the garden becomes man’s identity in seeing value in himself. But the Son of Man comes to do a real work in a different garden when he tells the Father, “If it be possible to let this cup pass from me, but not my will be done but yours”. And because of the work of another all men are now freely justified outside if their own works.
The order we see in creation of God first then man, we hear when the pharisees try to confront Jesus, yet he answered them, “Before Abraham was, I am”.
And then the order of Man before woman, and woman being made out of man. By this we understand that our true bridegroom Christ was first and we were taken from his side and made new in him only to be presented to him for a true union.
And the picture of a perfect union between man and woman becomes a theme of the Bible when understanding the gospel. All through the scriptures we are given great pictures of marriage and even contrasts of what it looks like to be unfaithful, and yet there is a true union between Christ and his church.
We model our wedding ceremonies after this picture of beauty, and we hear the instructions of how our gender roles are to act within the marriage, yet we fail to see how this is a picture of the true Gospel message we have recieved. Our marriages become more important than the one who gave them to us so we end up seeing them as a means to be happy, rather than understanding that they are training us to understand what God through Christ has done for us...
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
eph5.22-
And there we have it a theme that never changes no matter what others in this world would say to REDEFINE MARRIAGE…
In the beginning it was one man and one woman, and all through out scripture it was one man and one woman in order to help people understand the God that saves them.
The book begins with a wedding and Jesus talks to people in parables about weddings, and the book ends with a wedding.
What was a joyous celebration in the creation of both male and female becomes the theme by which God shows us our future union to him.
6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
