Transcript Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s And unto God

IN THE BEGINNING
Genesis from the Creation
to Abraham
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• v.1-3
• Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the
host of them, were finished. And on the
seventh day God ended His work that He
had done, and He rested on the seventh day
from all His work, which He had
done. Then God blessed the seventh day
and sanctified it, because in it He rested
from all His work, which God had created
and made.
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• The Lord rested on the seventh day,
and this makes this day special
• Although the Lord rested from His
original creative work, but He
continues to oversee, maintain,
restore and repair His creation
• We are challenged to enter into
God’s rest in Christ
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• Heb. 4:9-11
• There remains therefore a rest for the
people of God. For he who has entered
His rest has himself also ceased from
his works as God did from His. Let us
therefore be diligent to enter that rest,
lest anyone fall according to the same
example of disobedience.
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• We are currently in the seventh day of
God’s creation
– This provides further evidence that
God’s seven days are His days, not
human, not 24-hour days
• God rested from His creative work
– And is resting still—from de novo,
ex nihilo, creation
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• There have not been any brand new
creations since Adam
• That is, the earth has not seen the
development of brand new plant and
animal species) in the seventh day
– Variation within species
(microevolution), yes
– The evolution of a very different type
of creature? (macroevolution). No.
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• What about creative miracles?
– Perhaps they are part of the
“maintenance” of the earth by God
– Or better explained by God the
Father existing outside of space and
time
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• v. 4
• This is the history of the heavens
and the earth when they were
created, in the day that the Lord
God made the earth and the heavens
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• The focus of Chapter 2 is the creation of
man
– The “second account”
• These verses are not in chronological order
like Gen 1
– This chapter stresses the creation of
man—and the creation in relation to man
– Even the name of God changes from
Elohim to Jehovah as Genesis progresses
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• The Hebrew term for God in this
verse is Elohim-YHVH (Yahweh with
vowels; Jehovah in Latin)
– English, the Lord God is used here
• Jehovah (Yahweh) is the God who is
in covenant with his people
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• Different Jehovah names of the Lord in the
OT: Jehovah:
– jireh: the Lord will provide
– rapha: the Lord who heals
– nissi: the Lord my banner (in battle)
– shalom: the Lord our peace
– tsidkenu: the Lord our righteousness
– shammah: the ever-present Lord
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• Other commonly used Hebrew words
for God:
– Adonai – Master, Lord
– El Elyon: the most high God
(possessor of heaven and earth)
– El Shaddai: the all-sufficient God
– El Olam: the everlasting God
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• v. 5-6
• ...before any plant of the field was in the
earth and before any herb of the field had
grown. For the Lord God had not caused
it to rain on the earth, and there was no
man to till the ground; but a mist went up
from the earth and watered the whole
face of the ground.
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• No rain was falling...just a mist covered
the earth
• The soil needs a man to cultivate it
– This it the point here, not creation
order
• This verse refers to the early part of the
“third day” in the first account, the
desolate condition of the earth
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• v. 7-9
• And the Lord God formed man of the dust of
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living
being. The Lord God planted a garden
eastward in Eden, and there He put the man
whom He had formed. And out of the ground
the Lord God made every tree grow that is
pleasant to the sight and good for food. The
tree of life was also in the midst of the garden,
and the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil.
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• God formed man from the dust
• The Spirit is breathed into man to make
him different than the animals
• God is the Potter; Adam is the clay
• Is. 64:8
• But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we
are the clay, and You our potter; and all we
are the work of Your hand.
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• God made man lower than Himself and the
“sons of God” (the angels), but man was still
commanded to rule over creation
• Ps. 8:4-6
• What is man that You are mindful of him, And
the son of man that You visit him? For You
have made him a little lower than the
angels, and You have crowned him with glory
and honor. You have made him to have
dominion over the works of Your hands; You
have put all things under his feet
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• God planted a Garden in Eden and placed
man there
– A special creation of man in a special
place 6000 + / - ago
• These verses (7-9) are not to be interpreted
as describing the creation of vegetation, but
it only mentions the planting of a particular
garden (Eden) that Adam and Eve were to
manage
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• v. 10-14
• Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden,
and from there it parted and became four
riverheads. The name of the first is Pishon; it is
the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah,
where there is gold. And the gold of that land is
good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The
name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one
that goes around the whole land of Cush. The
name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one
that goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth
river is the Euphrates.
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• The four rivers
– The Euphrates flows into Iraq past Baghdad
– The Hiddekel is thought to be the Tigris River
(which also flows by Baghdad)
– The Tigris and the Euphrates both flow into the
Persian Gulf
– The Havilah is perhaps the Persian Gulf itself
– The Pishon headed for Ethiopia (?)
• The delta where the Tigris and Euphrates flow into the
Persian Gulf is likely where the Garden of Eden was,
not Ethiopia)
• Ancient excavated cities in the region include Ur and
Eridu
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• v. 15-17
• Then the Lord God took the man and put
him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep
it. And the Lord God commanded the man,
saying, "Of every tree of the garden you
may freely eat; 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.”
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• Man is to cultivate. He is given an occupation.
– He was asked to work (but not toil).
– The only prohibition: he could not eat from
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
• There are three important trees in the Bible:
– The tree of the knowledge of good and evil
– The “tree,” the cross Jesus died on
– The tree of life—in Eden and in heaven
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil
• Adam and Even knew “good” already
– They knew perfection and holiness in God’s
presence.
• They did not need to know evil because they were
at risk of choosing to partake of it (unlike God).
• Adam and Eve will die if they disobeys God.
– Death equals separation from God
– Death is spiritual death now, physical death
later.
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• There really were these two famous trees in the
Garden
• The consequences of eating from the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil were not
magical or physiological, however
– (As if the tree’s fruit did something to the
couple)
• The consequences were due to disobeying the
Lord, starting down the path to human rule of
our decisions (excluding God’s perfect
guidance)
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• The issue: would Adam and Eve, when given the
choice of accepting God and His provision and
holy conditions, choose God or self
– God gave our forefather and mother free will
– They rebelled and fell from their initial,
perfect, blessed, “good only” state
• But because of God’s holiness, this
automatically led to separation from God
• This separation from God led to spiritual then
physical death without the presence of God’s
constant moment-by-moment nurturing of man’s
spirit, soul, and body
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• Love involves letting the loved one freely choose
– And love and relationships always involve
obedience to the wishes of the other
– It is not strange that God, who loves Adam and
Eve and was in relationship with them, asked
for some degree of obedience and gave them
choices
• There is no genuine relationship without one party
asking something of the other, and giving them the
opportunity to refuse
– Without choices, love is meaningless. It is not
love
GENESIS CHAPTER TWO
• Further, our relationship with God is more like
parent to child
– As a child grows, the only hope she has for
surviving a perilous world is to learn from the
parent right vs. wrong, safe vs. dangerous, wise
vs. unwise
– The maturation of a child occurs as it trusts and
obeys a more experienced parent
• Finally, good relationships involve both
responsibility and affection
– Successful families demonstrate both