Combined Genesis 1-5 Lessons
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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens—
Creation 1 and 2 a house of life
The Genesis narrative gives us two creation stories of the earth we inhabit:
One begins as a watery, chaotic world, where the spirit of God hovers, and ultimately the spoken word of God creates land, animals, vegetation
A WORLD THAT NEEDS LIGHT:
A world that beings with the phrase “Let there be light” God separates light and dark, chaos from solid ground and there he builds a world for man to inhabit.
The second story begins in Genesis 2:5 and begins as a world in need of water, and it is water that “bubbles up from the springs of the deep”
“no shrub had yet grown up on the face of the earth” the bible says
A WORLD THAT NEEDS WATER:
THESE stories are sewn together in Torah, the early OT bible. We are meant to consider them together AS TWO POINTS OF ORIENTATION, LIKE LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE PERHAPS. If I only have one measurement, I don’t really know where I am. If I have Longitude, but not Latitude, I may go up and down the face of the earth, but never know where I am.
THE FIRST: A world overwhelmed with water, darkness and chaos. Drowning under its own chaos in a sense. Grief has been compared to this, sorrow, to ‘drown in sorrow’ is a common idea.
We use the idea of “drowning” as a metaphor for feeling out of control, like we cant make it, as though we were fighting for our lives. Drown our sorrows, drowning in work etc...Im “underwater” as a synonym for being very busy and overcommitted.
and of course darkness, a most common way of referring to confusion, fear, uncertainty, disorientation....the way the world was before there was LIGHT
THE SECOND: a sequel of sorts...terra firma POV
A WORLD too dry, without vegetation, only dust was there, arid, fruitless...incapable of life that we know
Then came the water, coming up from the spring of the “great deep”
as water came, so did plant life, and the dirt became clay, and man was formed from that
1: The earth is “filled with water” to be read as a sequel
2: That water, fills the ground and keeps it moist
3: from this mix of moisture and earth, God forms mankind
4: Breathes breath of life
5: God planted a garden
6: Trees for food, midst of a garden, they looked good as well.
7: guardian of the garden
bushes, plants, land, water-source, dust, ground, garden, spring up, tree, tree, rivers, metals adn stone, garden....
Genesis 1 is “total cosmos” all origin stories
Begins with disorder
tells the story of sacred function , the universe as a special place
Genesis 2 is almost a zoom lense....close focus on the place of man on EARTH, how man will live, the house that God has built
Genesis 2: Earth level view
Garden becomes “sacred space” God, Man, Food, Life.
These worlds function like compass points, like longitude and latitude: Two points, both of which are required for orientation;
When re consider them together they tell us about God and the world we are in. Just like it takes two compass points to navigate, to cell towers to triangulate, so we need both creation stories to orient toward GOD. (Like compass points, or GPS Coordinates)
43° 30' 0'' N 43 degrees, 30 minutes North
78° 0' 0'' W 78 degrees, 0 Minutes ROCHESTER, NY
When re consider them together they tell us about God and the world we are in. Just like it takes two compass points to navigate, to cell towers to triangulate, so we need both creation stories to orient toward GOD.
SO IT MAY COME WITH LITTLE SURPRISE THAT JESUS EMBODIES BOTH OF THESE QUALITIES WHEN HE BEGINS TO TALK ABOUT SPIRITUAL BIRTH, AND SPIRITUAL CREATION IN MANKIND.
The Gospel of John Jesus uses both of these creative powers in speaking of himself and of how we find HOPE when we are in the watery chaos of Grief and the Blinding darkness of loss.
John 8:12 I am the LIGHT of the WORLD, Walking with Jesus prevents darkness, blindness, and disorientation. Faith explains the loss, LIGHT illuminates and clarifies when the pain threatens to dull and Blind. Spending time with Jesus, talking with Jesus, walking with Jesus, considering the words of Jesus brings hope and light to the darkness of grief and loss.
John 4:10 , John 7:38
Jesus indicates that the water he gives will bring life, from spiritual death, and quench spiritual thirst. So Like the EARTH, WE NEED WATER AND LIGHT TO FLOURISH AND TO BE SUSTAINED.
God made A world that needs both WATER and LIGHT to LIVE AND SUSTAIN LIFE.
GOD HAS ALSO MADE MEN IN THE SAME MANNER, IN THE SAME IMAGE; WE NEED THE WATER OF LIFE AND THE LIGHT OF CHRIST TO SURVIVE.
Jesus is out house of Life!
But it is Jesus who connects all mankind, provides life and light for all mankind, and who will never die, will never pass away and in whom we will never experience the pain of separation.
A House of Life
Easter 2020: New Earth, The Earth has a story to tell.
Genesis 2:4-12
Lord God, Earth as protagonist, as storyteller..earth POV.
shrub, field, plant, sprung up, rain, earth, ground, streams, watered, ‘head of the ground” “face of the earth” a face, shows emotion, a face mirrors imagery.
Mankind: Formed from dust (me), then God “breathed into his nostrils”
God “planted a garden” all kinds of trees, ground, food, two trees, life and understanding.
List of rivers
list of assets and ores
Then the dialogue from YHWH to man, all about the trees
verse 19 we learn “from what” god made animals described in chapter Gen 1:24-25
and the relationship between man and “earthly things” all seems to be narrated by the earth.
So what makes this significant: ANE people saw the earth as filled with spirit and spirits, adn they fashioned many of their Gods after elements, earth, water, sun, moon, crops and animals as well....
They understood the intimate connection between earth adn humans, between earth and life, Mother earth, fertility religions abounded in ancient times, adn some persist today.
The biblical authors understood these ideas as well.
Earth gets a sabbath Lev 25:2, and when Israel did not allow for that, and went into captivity, the land “took its vacation” so to speak. Lev 26:34.
So what does it all mean for us today: Right now, the entire world is in a period of significant turmoil, a time of rest from our usual labors...and the earth is healing.
Am I suggesting that God brought this time for that purpose, I am not.
Am I suggesting that that is “the only thing” God might be doing? I am not.
What I am suggesting is that in times of great death, suffering, and disruption, Gods plan for his creatures and his creation continues, often in spite of us and our choices.
The earth has spoken before and is still speaking.
The heavens declare the glory of God
If they remain silent the stones will cry out. Luke 19:40. The day I am writing this lesson and speaking to you, is Lent, its two weeks until Easter Sunday, and people are Longing for a resurrection, already waiting....cant wait for this time to end, but much like the time we are in, it appears that more suffering and death are ahead of us, that the pain is just beginning.
The earth groans waiting for the redemption that is to come.
Romans 8:18-23
2 Cor 5:1-10 Earth groans, and we also groan...we are all waiting for the]same thing....the glorious return of Christ so that we can be back together in the Garden with God adn each other forever. This....is the promise of the resurrection, its not just FROM death, but FOR Life that we are saved.
The world to come is not “out there” but a perfected and re-fashioned world “right here” Earth has the final word...the earth will be our forever home, adn God will be with us here.
Revelation 21 The culmination
A garden city, a river in the center, trees on all sides, trees filled with life, and with knowledge, and God will be the light, as it was at the beginning, so it will be at the end. God was light before the stars, and will be when they are no more....
1: Earth speaks Genesis 2:4
The first time LORD GOD is used, Genesis 1 is God=elohim, a description of non physical being.
Genesis 2 it becomes “LORD GOD” Yahweh Elohim, the personal name, its not just a God, but he is named.
The earth calls God by name.
Psalm 19:1-2
This is poetry, so we presume its allegorical. In one sense of course, the earth does not speak in words that we hear.
But if creation is something living creatures do, if replication is something living creatures do, if reproduction is something living creatures do, then perhaps....just perhaps....earth is more ‘alive’ than we imagine. Im not suggesting the earth has personhood, or personal identity, but its clear that earth is very much alive, very much created to sustain and produce living creatures.
Let’s work backward a little to the Jewish law of Sabbath, something we know to be very sacred. God made sabbath by resting in Genesis 1, so later in the time of Moses, there are some laws written about it.
Lev 25:2-5
2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord.
3 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops.
4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.
5 Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.
Lev 26:33-35
I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins.
34 Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths.
35 All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.
It seems like God is suggesting that the land, the earth have a right to the sabbath, have a need for rest, are even entitled to it and so God will give Sabbath to it if Israel does not.
Finally, in Luke 19:35-40 the triumphal procession....jesus also suggests that if humans do not praise their king, the stones would do it in their place!
SO, what might all of this have to do with Easter?
Both earth and humans are in desperate need of a resurrection promise.
Romans 8:18-23 a passage common to many of us, but lets consider it in light of the easter hope.
there is extreme suffering in our world, but the Christian is not to compare suffering with the absence of suffering/or the suffering of others, but with the glory that God promises us.
Verse 20 , there it is...creation is waiting for its bondage to decay to be over.
Like childbirth, it is painful, but it is filled with hope, the possibility of new life. Its not pain for nothing. but pain in the hope that something beautiful, and alive is coming even in the suffering.
We groan, WITH THE EARTH.....
REV 21: BACK TO THE GARDEN
Its not a heavenly realm we inhabit, but a beautiful regenerated earthly paradise. Its not the same old earth, that has been liberated by the resurrection of Christ
The description:
God dwells with men (again)
Plenty of water
filled with gems and precious stones (verse 11)
surrounded by protection
gold, glass
God is the temple
God is the light
no sun, or moon
Gates are always open, because there are no enemies here, only family.
water of life,
trees for healing and plenty of food....
everything we need will be there.....this is the promise of the resurrection, it is what heaven and earth has been waiting for.
Easter Morning fulfills this promise.
Tree of Life, middle of the garden
Garden Trees, trees seen by ancient cultures are seen as signs of divinity, the fruit, the shade, the ancient ages that many reach in the ancient world. Genesis 2-3
That tree becomes the source of life, but for those who disobey, it becomes a tree of death.
Oaks of Mamre as place of Abrahams sacrifice Genesis 13:8
Burning Bush as tree on a high place in Exodus 3
When at war, Dt 20:19 do not kill trees
When the temple is built, the inner chambers are carved with fruit trees
The lamps in the temple are designed like branches of a tree, that are illuminating the path to the altar, to God.
Nebuchadnezzars Tree as a symbol for his kingdom in Jeremiah
Roots determine the fruit on the tree.
Jeremiah 17:5-8
A man without fruit is a salt dweller. Arid, dead
Isaiah 5, Israel as a fruit tree
John 15 ‘fruitful’ is a way of saying that we should be alive with Jesus, filling the world with Gods presence, that life should come from us, shelter should be found in our home.
Jesus cursing the fig tree...when tress have no fruit, they are not raising up God and the things of God.
Tree of Life in Revelation 22:2 The vision of eternal life is a tree with unlimited crops, without harvest season,,,,life everlasting
Trees as a place of testing for humans
God makes trees “be fruitful”
People are also to bear fruit” we are like trees, men are supposed to be like trees, by rivers, listening to God, learning to drink, to put down roots.
When the root is bad, the tree is bad, when the theology is bad, the fruit is bad. The understanding is limited, so the fruit is no good.
Interdependence from early on, God wanting us to “eat” that which is producing fruit, to learn to appreciate the old age, the continual fruit-bearing nature of God, to keep growing, to continue to produce,
even as we ‘go to seed’ as we age, there is more fruit, much more seed, we need to pass on the wisdom, especially to a soil that is in desperate need of nutrition.
Humans are filled with the ability to give the gift of life that reproduces in and of itself. perpetual life....seed bearing seed
Matthew 3:10
Matthew 7:17
Matthew 21:19
Luke 6:44
Acts 5:30
Acts 10:39
1 Peter 2:24 The tree was killed, the tree was green...so what happens when it is dry...
Jesus is the Tree of Life, who dies upon the tree, he took the curse that we rightly earned by his death adn leads us back to the tree of life.
1: What comes out of us when we are under pressure? Is it life? is it death? curses? or Blessing?
2: How are my roots...when weather gets heavy and winds blow, the roots are tested. How deep are our roots right now, we need those roots. Prayer, bible study, meditation on the greatness of God.
3: Examine our fruit. My speech, what I talk about, what I fixate on. Am I engaged in the business of bringing life, or am I consumed with death, with drama, even in pandemic, the disciple must be a house of life.
What are you reading, watching, Life or death?
What is driving your decision making, fear or faith. Death or life.
Christians must choose life, the tree of Life, Jesus Christ.
A Tale of Two Trees April 26, 2020
Genesis 2:9-17
shows the trees of life and understanding
An odd place to put the tree of knowledge if we are not supposed to eat of it?
1: One for knowledge, what is it doing there if it is not to be eaten, why put it there?
Proposition: If man cannot know good and evil, how can he be expected to choose between them. How in fact can he follow any command ? “to know good and evil” must mean something other than what we think it does, or the entire narrative is inconsistent and makes little sense.
2: It seems we had some understanding prior, because God expected us to be able to follow his command not to eat of the tree...so there was some kind of basic moral compass that we had....
· So where does this leave us now?
· Shouldn't this understanding be good?! Unless we can’t handle the distinction. That level of judgment coupled with a lack of omniscience is deadly. We cannot see consequences....we lack WISDOM and perspective.
· Our linear thinking betrays us. we can’t see around the corner...
God knows all the angles AND is eternal. Those qualities belong to him. We are not able to know all the angles and be eternal. If we know all the angles, (wisdom) and know all the consequences (understanding) and live forever but LACK THE POWER AND SELF CONTROL to mete them out, then what happens?
It seems that maybe Adam and Eve had a conditional immortality, they could eat from the tree of life AS LONG AS they did not have all the same conceptual understanding of the nature of evil.
Imagine a human that knew all about evil, understood all the angles of his or her decisions, but lacked the moral compass or experience to wield that knowledge benevolently, them let them live for a thousand years....what kind of damage might they do?
you kinda get what you got......a bunch of sociopathic, self-destructive, self-deluded little gods and goddesses running the world into the ground...and does that not sound about right
Lets keep reading
Genesis 2:17
another troubling thing: they did not drop dead….so what is it that ‘died” that day?
I want to suggest two things; two things die.
“on the day you eat of it you will surely die” so what was it that died....
Genesis 3:2-6 verse 5 is a false promise, we will indeed know good and evil, but we will not be like God, for we will also become mortal. With this new understanding of “reality” comes certain death.
innocence. That’s what dies that day. Now they know, now Adam fears, now they run and hide…
Teens: think about disobedience, to a teacher, to a parent...the first time you cross a line? Maybe its alcohol? or stealing? Or lying? or the first time you cheat on schoolwork, or maybe you betray a friend....? You post something mean spirited....how do you feel? after the rush of social reinforcement....guilt, sadness...something has changed in that relationship. Even if the other person does not know it. YOU know it....something dies when we make that choice.
The Mark Embry bubble gum stolen, moms view of me was different that day, made me return it, make amends, but trust was gone...
so sin creates both a burden to be carried...and now a debt to be paid. The feelings and emotional consequences of wrong choices AND the loss of innocence, the loss of life and hope that also dies when we choose our own way over Gods.
immortality died that day.
Genesis 3:24
Something has been taken that God meant for us to have. The way is now guarded by cherubs
Do you remember the first time you knew you would end? I mean really knew it? Maybe you lost a friend to suicide?
My friend Mark Stockman....I was in college...he was gone, gone for good....
We were not made to ever know those feelings, those fears, that kind of loss. We are made to live forever, without fear and without loss and without shame and guilt.
ONE STEP FURTHER: Cherubs Guard
Now go one step farther. What treasure was this second pair of cherubs guarding - these only other cherubs in the entire Five Books of Moses? They were, of course, guarding the Ten Commandments that were inside the ark. They were guarding the Torah. Those who attend synagogue on the Sabbath will be familiar with the words I am thinking of right now. You say them every week, as the Torah is raised aloft from the bima for all to see: “It is a tree of life to all who grab hold of it” (Proverbs 3:18).
Fohrman, Rabbi David. The Beast That Crouches At The Door . HFBS Press. Kindle Edition.
CONCLUSION: As long as you eat from the tree, you can live forever....The tree still stands
Steven Stills “got to get ourselves back to the garden”
Prov 3:17-18
Deut 30:14...Life must be chosen, we can choose....when we assume, when we choose disobedience, when we choose our own way, sometimes we call it “timing” but really its our own way. Sometimes we call it “freedom” but its our own way, sometimes we even say “I had no choice, the pressure was just too great” but we always have a choice between life and death.
John 4:34?
John 6:51-54
We can still choose life: Choose to read and follow Gods word. Choose to obey Gods way, to deny our own interests and choose the tree of life. Gods word is a tree of life
TREE HUGGERS! MAY 17.2020
CHOOSE RIGHT TREE
(Mom and Caul’s Bradford)
GENESIS 3:1-6
SINK DEEP ROOTS
Psalm 1
Jeremiah 17:5-8
INSPECT THE FRUIT (Dad and Tim have an Orchard) Pears Trees did not make it...runoff?
Matt 7:13-17
Galatians 5:22
We need a TRIM: (HAIRCUT, DOING MY OWN....
John 15
Galatians 5:22
BUT ALSO THE ROSE BUSH, THE FIG TREE
TRIMS ARE NOT FOR SHAPING LIKE HUMAN HAIR, BUT THEY
ENCOURAGE NOURISHMENT TO GET THE FRUIT, TO THE ENDS OF THE BRANCHES SO FRUIT
CAN BE BORNE.
BE A TREE HUGGER:
Proverbs 3:18, when we embrace wisdom, we are tree huggers, hug the tree of Life
Prov 11:30
