ADAM
A man this morning. We're going to be in Genesis. Chapter 2. All right. We're flying we're going to talk about Adam. Reply, I'm Adam Adam and Eve, you know the challenge of preaching through Genesis and the challenge of dealing with Adam and Eve is is very very significant. At least there's a cultural challenge to it that the moment in our culture you start talking about Adam and Eve you will be ridicule. You're crazy enough. You're stupid. You're naive enough to believe in that mythological Fable of a garden and a talking snake and the guy at Adam and Eve you actually believe that's true. in the culture of scientific materialism that we live in You still want to believe that that there is a Creator. They let God created that there's a cultural barrier and challenge that comes from talking about Adam and Eve. Are they real? Are they a myth? Are they created the Nova are the results of other processes? Are they there are they the first people are part of the first people. Is Genesis chapter 2 a representation of Genesis chapter 1? Is it in conflict with Genesis chapter 1 if you really look at the the creation narratives given a chapter 1 and chapter 2 you're going to see differences differences and differences in timing is Art. Do we have two narratives in Genesis that are in conflict with each other? Or as I as I want to portray this morning, is it possible that Genesis chapter 2 is a sequel to Genesis chapter 1 in his telling us something equally as important but distinct from Genesis chapter 1 there's a lot of challenges in dealing with Adam and Eve.
in the church There's a whole other set of challenges and and and this is one of the most difficult ones for me to deal with personally and I think for all of us is that it is probably the most familiar story in the scripture if you've been in church for a while if you went to Sunday school if you saw a flannelgraph ever in your life.
You heard about Adam and Eve. And here's the challenge with that the more familiar we are with something the more we assume we understand it. And in the more we assume we understand the less. We actually look at it and listen to it. It's just a real challenge for me personally, and I think we're probably all of us that have been charged for a while. To look at Genesis chapter 2 fresh eyes. And let it speak to us what it's actually saying without the voices of our culture and our Sunday school teachers and just all the imagination that we've put on Genesis chapter 2 and actually let the text speak. I don't have the kind of hubris this morning. That I think I can get us all to believe the exact same thing about Genesis chapter 2 Genesis really about much outside of Christ. That's not my goal. My goal is to help you see the text as it is and let the text speak. I know the today's sermon is going to challenge some of your long-held beliefs about Genesis chapter 1 and 2 because it has mine. NN all I ask is don't get mad at me
deal with the text we can agree to disagree on all sorts of stuff. Okay, but let's submit ourselves. The authority of scripture and let's look and listen to what God has to say to us. Can we do that together this morning? I want to remind you the Bible is written for us but it is not written to us. I've been saying this week after week after week in the series. We cannot read this through our modern scientific materialistic American democratic.
Mine says we have to learn to see and listen to the scriptures as it was written into the audience that it was written to if we impose. Our world you if we impose our standards if we impose our questions upon the text. We will not hear what the text is actually trying to say I spent a lot of time in Genesis chapter 1 trying to help us understand that we when we think about creation we want to know how did it happen. We want to know the science of it the physics of it the chemistry of it because that is how we think if we're going to talk about creation in our culture in our age. That's what we want to talk about because that's how we see reality but that is not how the author of Genesis and that's not how the ancient Israelites who received the Book of Genesis thought at all. It is not a scientific textbook. It just isn't at the moment. We try to make it that we miss what it's actually trying to say so the message of Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2 and this is true of all the scriptures by the way. It's not a scientific textbook anywhere. The message is theological not scientific the books written on purpose. It wants to tell us something but it's not telling us something about material creation. It's not telling us something about the science or chemistry of creation. It's telling us to be a logical significance and reality up creation and it can all be summed up this way. God made it. That's the point God made it. Doesn't matter how it's not concerned with the process. It's concerned with the function Genesis 1 and Genesis chapter 2 are functional creation narratives. The point and the message is not how but why or what? It is theological not scientific. Let's just start.
This way we're going to talk about Adam and Eve right Adam and Eve. Here's the first thing you got to wrap your head around this morning. Those aren't their real names.
Those aren't their real names. How do you know that Jeremy was thank you for asking. Because Adam and Eve are Hebrew names their Hebrew words and Hebrew as an as a language didn't exist until the middle of the second millennium, BC. We're getting a historical record of something that happened before Hebrew existed. So whatever Adam called even whatever you call Adam, it wasn't Adam and Eve. This is not a historical documentary. We don't have a reporter and a filmmaker watching them and come on over here. Hey, Adam asked what this is. This is theological messaging. So let that sink in for a moment. These aren't their real names. That doesn't mean they're not real people. That doesn't mean that for a second. I absolutely believe that Adam and Eve were real historical people that live in Real History. Those weren't their names. What's the importance? And why are they called back? Thank you for asking. If you were to read a story maybe a parable something like Pilgrim's Progress and you're introduced to characters and their names are Justice or Mercy or anger you go. Wow, those names are trying to convey something. There's there's more than a name here. Right maybe if we read Genesis and we called humans and the second one is called life. That's what Adam means human. That's what he's means life. Maybe the author is trying to convey something important about these people that's more important than what their names actually were.
Did you understand why we got to look at this from a theological perspective the writers trying to tell us something. It's not scientific. It's be a logical. men Time & Life other mother this is how God is trying to speak to us. So let's let's look at the text. Genesis chapter 2. I'm going to read Verses 4 to 7. 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. We know Bush of the field was yet, no 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 was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground. 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
Black Converse for these are the generations. Of the heavens and the earth. I mentioned this a couple weeks ago that were there for Generations in the Hebrews toilet though. It's a this is a grammatical literary structure of the Book of Genesis. We find this expression. These are the generations of 10 other times in the Book of Genesis. It is the chapter division. It is the structure of the book as the author wrote it. In the word episode we go to Genesis chapter 5 verse 1 we said these are the generations totaled out of Adam 6:9. These are the generations of Noah 1001. These are the generations of the sons of Noah and in and what this word means how it's used is it indicates what takes place after that person? the results of that person's life Let's hope this is the grammatical structural layout of Genesis. It introduces it with his formula. These are the generations of and then it lays out what comes after that. We just look logically at how the book is laid out of Genesis chapter one tells us about the functional creation of the cosmos that all it is was created by God for God. Ben Genesis chapter 2 it in really you can look at Genesis chapter 1 up to 2 verse 3 as a prologue the real book of Genesis starts here in chapter 4, these are the generations and the only time in the book. We don't have a name of a person now. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that they were created. So unnatural reading of this verse the most natural reading of this verse is that what's going to follow in Genesis chapter 2 actually follows Genesis chapter 1 in other words what we're talking about is a sequel and that's going to be a challenge for probably most of us in this room because the most common reading and understanding of Genesis chapter 2 Is that it's a representation of Genesis chapter 1 specifically on day 6. Here's how the logic goes in Genesis 1 26 27 28. God said, let us make man in our image. In the image of God, he made them male and female he made it. I'm so we look at this in Genesis chapter 1 say see, this is when God made mankind God made mankind. In Genesis chapter 1 on day 6. So now we get to chapter 2 and we have God creating Adam we go. Well Adam must be the first person and so we must have been made on day 6, so we got to read chapter 2 now like it all fits in the chapter 1 And quite frankly the text does not let you do that very easily in order to do that. You got to deal with a lot of logical issues. The order is wrong or at least different you got these things created before these things. You got all sorts of challenges on how to fit that in not to mention. If you take seriously the claims of chapter 2 that when God made Adam and began to search for a helper for him and Adam went and named all the animals. That's a significant process. When do they think it might take you more than a 24-hour. To do including all the other stuff that's supposed to have happened on.
Mike my favorite reason For interpreting Genesis chapter 2 as a sequel to chapter one is that it helps us answer some of the really weird questions about Genesis kind of like where did Cain and Abel get their wives from?
Right. Well, they married their sister be like
I guess that must be okay back then but
Kane Kane, I know I'm jumping ahead of Cain kills his brother got catches them since you're kicking you out of your family. I'm sending you out as a Wanderer and Canes like people are going to kill me. What if he's been sent out from his family and they're the only ones who did worried about killing him and then in that chapter, what does he do? He founds a city and we're there for City. You know what I mean?
Now you got one dude hanging out in some rocks going Welcome To My City. It ain't much of a city.
When we see Genesis 2 as a sequel to Genesis chapter 1 it opens up a whole lot of opportunity.
But I know that some of you may be having some challenges with that. It's important.
It's important for us to understand this not just to help us explain some of these weird issues of where they find their wives and that sort of stuff. But what is Genesis to actually trying to tell us if we try to squeeze Genesis chapter 2 in the Genesis chapter one will get so caught up in the field logical and exegetical gymnastics. It takes to try to harmonize them cuz they're not meant to be harmonized that will actually miss the point of Genesis chapter 2 Genesis chapter 2 describes a functional role and not a material process.
This is Genesis 1 begin with a state of non order in the cosmos. empty and void Genesis chapter 2 starts with the terrestrial World empty and just like God brought order in Genesis chapter 1 to the cosmos in Genesis chapter 2 God begins to bring order to the terrestrial world the message. Is theological not scientific. Let's look at the text again stripers 5. There's a lot of clues in this text. The tell us what it's actually trying to tell us. Window bushing the field was yellow and the no small plans to the field to get sprung up for the Lord. God has not caused it to rain on the land and there was no man to work the ground. Let that sink in it. It almost seems like a throwaway line, but it ain't a throwaway line. And I miss was going up in the land and was watering the whole face of the ground. 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. Justice This is Genesis. 1 started with chaos and move to order Genesis chapter 2 starts with terrestrial plants. There's water there's Subs, but there's no order. There's no agriculture. There's no development the rule of God, which mankind is created in Genesis chapter 1 to spread. It hasn't started happening yet. It's so in the midst of this kind of chaotic description. We know that all of creation has been made to be Sacred Space the God wants to dwell with his people but Genesis one doesn't tell us where that's going to be or how that's going to be Genesis chapter 2 tells us where and how God plans to do that. It's a we get this description the Lord God formed the man of destiny. That sounds like material formation to me. See the Bible does tell us the God made man out of nothing. I just took a bunch of Dustin and he formed it.
You got to turn off your brains at that point. Cuz I don't know about you. but if you can form dust you're violating the nature of dust. Dust by its nature resist being formed. if this was functional material creation Foreman you expect to find that dust but clay. Clay, you can form clay you can moth dust.
That's just not what you use for forming so we can ask yourself. What is this word form mean? Is it talking about material function functional formation or is it talking about something else? When we look at that word in the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures, it's used about 42 times in in a bunch of different contexts. Some of them are talking about actual material for but many of them are not in other words. We have two extra G the Hebrew words, not the English word. Do you even go outside God form them? And I know what for mean is. Morning is when God took him in and he made it.
The word form doesn't necessarily mean that it means intention. It means causation. It means purpose in all of its usage of Zechariah Chapter 12 verse 1 This is the Oracle the word of the Lord concerning Israel best declares the Lord who stretched out the heavens and founded the Earth and farm here. We would expect him to say formed the body of a man out of the. But. What does it say and formed the spirit of man within him? By definition spirit is non material.
When we look at this text the Lord God formed the man. It's not telling us the guy got down on the ground and started fashioning mankind out of dust and breathe life into that's not what the word is trying to tell us. It's trying to tell us something theological not scientific that god-shaped and formed and directed and intended man for purpose.
But they're also there's more to it. There's more feel logical messaging. In this race, he formed the man of dust.
from the ground We share that and because of who we are and when we live and how we think. The old man were made out of dust. The ancient Israelites were not thinking about chemistry. They didn't know what chemistry was. If you wanted to make the argument that this is a a scientific chemical statement got were made out of dust. It's really bad chemistry cuz not much of us is actually made out of dust. What them better to stay out of water weigh more made out of water than we are to dust. The text is not trying to tell us the chemical composition of humanity. It's trying to tell us a theological truth. What is that truth? I'm glad you asked. The text actually tells us. In fact, if we jump ahead in the story to Genesis 319 we find this 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 will return.
Just in this text doesn't mean dust dust represents. Mortality man is made Mortal.
We're made of the Earth. We come from dust we come from the ground. We work the ground into the ground. We will return without God and His intervention mankind is mortal. Oh, we don't like to think about that. You don't like to think about your death. We don't like to think about that. All our culture has mastered and maximized not thinking about that last night when I couldn't sleep. I'm going through some news articles. I see this interesting headline scientist discover human brain hardwired to not think about its own mortality. I read this article fascinating the way the brain works. We make comparisons we make guesses about what's coming next you can you can watch this happen in the brain. They hook up the sensors. They watch the brain get triggered that you see a picture of an orange a picture of an orange a picture of orange and then you give banana and this highlight section of your brain will light up who I'm surprised. But the moment they try to do those kind of test dealing with our own mortality. They don't know why they don't know how but the brain goes not going to think about that. I like the Articles gone scientists are not sure what evolutionary Advantage this had. And I'm sure they'll come up with something creative. But here's my point. He has put eternity within our hearts. What does text is trying to tell us is something profound? We are mortal.
We are dependent upon God. 4life the point of Adam being formed from dust is not that Adam was formed for dust. The point is we are dust.
We are mortal.
Not just true. Adam is true of us all look at Psalm 103. As a father shows compassion to his children. So the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him for he knows our frame he remembers. That we are. As for man, his days are like grass pee flourishes like a flower of the field for the wind passes over it and it is gone and its place knows it no more.
We are mortal.
How can I be I thought Adam and Eve were immortal. I thought it was good and it was perfect in there was no death and there was no that and I thought that almost all my life. That guy probably preached that here's the only problem the text doesn't say that anywhere.
anywhere In fact what the text is telling us is the exact opposite of that Adam and Eve were not created Immortal. They were created mortal out of dust, but they were also given the breath of life. We are mortal physical and spiritual. Two were made for eternity, but our physical limitations and dependencies. We are mortal.
Let's keep going in the text Genesis to let's pick up in verse 8. Make some out of dust. And the Lord God then planted a garden in Eden in the East and there he put the man who me at Farm chaos order.
And out of the ground the Lord God made the spring up every tree that is Pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life is a tree of life.
The tree of life was in the midst of the garden in the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. The whole bunch of trees, there's two really important trees. Let me just ask you this simple question if Adam and Eve were immortal. And there was no such thing as death. Why did they need a tree of life?
The messaging of Genesis chapter 2 is that we are made Mortal that were made for more and in order to not experience our mortality. We are to live in functional interdependence upon God is the author and creator of life. We do not have to fear death when we are with God because he gives life.
Let the text speak to you this morning. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden and they're divided and became Four Rivers. We have God now bringing life to the rest of creation out of eating this river flows and she verses talk about those Rivers. I want to jump the verse 15 and it says the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to keep it. I spent some time a couple weeks ago talking about these words. These are words. There are really only used in the Hebrew scriptures in the temple narrative. Offering sacrifice mediating interceding prophetically speaking.
Adam's not a Gardener He's a priest. Adam's not just playing around in the dirt atom is made by God. f a priest-king To extend Rule and glory and imaging of God through Humanity to the rest of the world.
Lord God commanded the man saying you make sure they eat from every tree of the garden. What's nobody says here? Every tree of the garden except the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. He mentions two trees specifically the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. He says you can eat from all of them except for the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, which means Adam was eating from the Tree of Life.
But on the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.
The day that you disobey the day that you move away from God the day that you try to be independent and you move away from God you will lose access to the tree of life and you will suffer the natural consequences of your mortality.
Man was made to rule.
Not independent of him. But interdependent functionally with him, all of mankind is created as God's image is all of us have the mandate to spread order out of chaos, but God now in Genesis chapter 2 forms this one man.
Search for a specific this man is placed in the garden. The garden is where God dwell. It is the beginning place of Sacred Space. And so Adam is placed as a priest king. This is what the text is telling us that we re didn't go I don't see that unsafe priest. That's a king. But any ancient Israelite any ancient Canaanite any ancient Egyptian any ancient Babylonian. Would read this ago. Oh, yeah Adams.
Eastwood priest God is choosing this man. So now work with and work through Adam was made.
the federal head of humanity As the functional point the tip of the spear.
He's made as the leader. He is to partner with God and he has to partner with the rest of humanity to be the images of God in all of creation Now if we jump ahead we learn that Adam does a pretty poor job of that. He fails. You violates. The one thing I told him not to do he strikes out on his own he and Eve together.
And access to the Tree of Life Is Lost mortality becomes. real And death becomes the Ultimate Enemy. for every single one of us
So we need another atom. And that is who Jesus is.
Challenge of preaching Genesis is I got to preach Jesus every week and that it's really not that much of a challenge cuz he's everywhere and they were all written about him. Hit here's the reality Adam our first Adam failed the second Adam succeeded. Jesus is the true Adam. I know I'm probably overtime but I'm not going to keep going for a couple minutes cuz I want you to catch this when you read through the Gospels. Probably that the most prominent and and favored phrase that Jesus uses to describe himself.
Is what I think it's the son of man. That's the most common occurrence. Jesus will say things like that Luke 19:10. The son of man came to seek and to save the Lost Matthew 20:28. The son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many Jesus over and over and over again calls himself the son of man. We call him the Son of God, but he called himself the son of man. Did Jesus get that from thank you for asking Daniel chapter 7. There's this prophecy Daniel has his prophecy about coming Messiah anointed one. The one who will deliver the one who will be
Another atom which is actually what the text says. I saw the night visions and behold with in the Clouds Of Heaven bear came one like a son of man. You know what, bro?
Literally the son of Adam one who is like the son of Adam one who is like the son of man? Any time before the Ancient of Days and was presented before Amanda him was given dominion and glory in a kingdom that all peoples and All Nations and languages should serve him. His Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which shall not pass away in his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed Adams kingdom was supposed to be an everlasting king of but he failed God promises another son of Adam son of man, and he will be faithful where Adam failed will succeed.
What Adam lost? He will restore what Adam broke.
And he will overturn. the catastrophic results of sin Which is death. Why did Jesus have to die cuz he came to defeat death? Jesus is the true and greater Adam. I'm not making this up. Paul said it first Corinthians 15. Just listen to this text. So it is with the resurrection of the Dead. What's our hope What are we longing for? What do we need more than anything?
We need something to deal with the Ultimate Enemy that's talking every single one of us right now. I sat in the room this week with Woody degrees an hour before he passed into the presence of the Lord.
Weeping and praying as he gasped for breath. We all face death.
You don't have to think about it. You need to hear it this morning. You're going to die. Unless God intervenes you're going to die.
So the resurrection of the Dead what is sown is perishable. What is raised is imperishable? It is Sona Dishonored is raised in glory disowned and weaknesses is raised and power it is so Natural Body. It is raised a spiritual body if there is a natural body. There's also a spiritual body. Best it is written the first man Adam became a living being the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. It is not the spiritual that is first the natural then the spiritual the first man was from the earth a man of dust. The second man is from Heaven as what the man of dust so also are those who are of the dust and as is the man of heaven so also are those who are of Heaven just as we have borne, the image of the man of dust we shall also barely image of the man of Heaven. I tell you this brother flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable I tell you a mystery we shall not all sleep. We shall not all die, but we will be change.
A moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised him perishable that doesn't mean non-physical, but it does mean more than dust.
And we shall be changed for this perishable body must put on the imperishable. Oh how I long for that the older I get.
This perishable body must put on the imperishable in this Mortal body must be put on immortality when the perishable puts on the imperishable in the Mortal puts on immortality, then she'll come to pass the same. That is written death. Is swallowed up in Victory. Oh death. Where is your Victory? Oh death. Where is your Sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the second and last the true and great Adam rules and will reign over the kingdom of God with his people forever and ever he has beaten death. He will destroy death and we will reign with him in a new Heaven and a new Earth forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever. Amen.