The Bible: One Bite at a Time Expository Sermon Series Notes Genesis to The Revelation Sid Galloway © 1999

Day Six: Continued ...Gen 2:1-17 Adam Before Eve: God's Way of Submissive Socialization

Tape # 12 - Jan 9, 2000         (Notes Updated ..... Jan 21, 2000)
(Some images are from http://www.answersingenesis.org)
Don't miss the pictures of my own zoo days. And Creation Creature Features soon.


Review: (Gen 1:1-31) Days 1-6 See the notes on the Web

Exposition and Commentary - Gen 2:1-17 (Strong's #'s in parentheses)

1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host (6635, tsabah) of them, were finished (3615, kalah).
2 And on the seventh (7637 shebiyiy) day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested (7673, shabath) on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
3 Then God blessed (1288, barak) the seventh day and sanctified (6942, qadash) it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created (1254, bara) and made.

- The first chapter of Genesis was given to us to serve as a generic outline of God's creative work. The second chapter is a personal account, a zooming in, to look at how God culminated His work by the crowning creation of man and woman.
- Gen 1:31 said that all of God's creative work was "very good". Consistent with the previous uses of "good", it means that it was completely ready for the purposes for which it was created.
- And here in 2:1-3, Scripture emphasizes not only the completion, but the "blessed" and "sanctified" (holy) responsibility it bore. Remember that the first use of "blessed" was the prelude to God's command to multiply and fulfill His purpose.
- The Fourth of the Ten Commandments is based upon this seventh "day" of rest. This fact, that the command is for man to work six days and rest on the seventh, proves the historical interpretation that the six days of God's work were also 24 hour periods.
- It is not consistent with the plain, normal wording of Genesis to try and say that the days were long periods of millions or billions of years (as Hugh Ross and others claim in their false theory of "Progressive Creation"). Remember, even the order of events contradicts evolutionary theory.

4 This is the history (8435, toledah = generations) of the heavens and the earth when they were created (bara), in the day (3117, yom) that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
5 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;
6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

- This use of the term for "generations" is used 10 x's in the book of Genesis to divide the book into eleven connected units: (Intro 1:1-2:3; Heaven & Earth 2:4-4:26; Adam 5:1-6:8; Noah 6:9-9:29; Sons of Noah 10:1-11:9; Shem 11:10-26; Terah 11:27-25:11; Ismael 25:12-18; Isaac 25:19-35:29; Esau 36:1-37:1; Jacob 37:2-50:26)
- See the notes on the "mist" that rose to water the earth, and the "vapor canopy" of water above the firmament on the Second Day of Creation.

7 And the Lord God formed man (120, adam) of the dust of the ground (127, adamah), and breathed (5301, naphach) into his nostrils the breath (5397, neshamah) of life (2416, chay); and man became a living (chay) being (5315, nephesh).
8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden (5731, = pleasure), and there He put the man whom He had formed.
9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant (2530, chamad) 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.

- See Day Six notes on the creation of man, and the third use of "bara" which demonstrates that man was a brand new, unique being with a dimension of that was created out of nothing. Therefore, man is not just another animal even though the terms for life (chay), breath (ruach), and soul (nephesh) are also used for animals.
- What is unique about man? He was personally created by God to personally reflect the God's image. (See the notes for "Man the glory of God - Woman the glory of Man").
- God has always provided all that man needed not only for life, but also for godliness (2 Pet 1:1-4). Eden was a real garden and the trees were literal trees used both for physical sustenence as well as spiritual testing and training.
- The tree of life was to provide eternal life both in quantity as well as quality (3:22-24), and will be available again in the new heaven and new earth (Rev 22:1-5).
- The tree of the knowledge of good and evil provided Adam with a choice of where he would get his knowledge of right from wrong.

10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there.
13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush.
14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

- The current, exact geographic location of these riverheads has been likely altered by the catastrophic effects of the great flood of Noah's day.
- However, the river Euphrates will play a major role in the end time scenario involving the middle east (Israel especially) and a huge army from the far east. In fact, Rev 9:13-16, says that this far east nation will have an infantry of 200,000,000 men, which is amazingly the very number the CIA estimates today for China.

15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend (5647, abad = serve) and keep (8104, shamar = guard) it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat [literally - "eating you may eat"]; 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 (literally - "dying you shall die").” New King James Version

- God created man to work, not to sit on clouds and dream. Man is a creature made to serve. To serve Yahweh God is to be His child and share in the blessings and joys of His life and love.
- The Way of the Son (Jesus) is submissive faith under the authority of God the Father's Word. Jesus is the very embodiment of God's Way, and this way was offered to Adam along with the alternative. The alternative is rebellious, selfish competition.
- Adam was given the choice to depend on God's Word alone, or on God's Word plus some "extra" source of knowledge about spiritual, relational right and wrong. This is the crucial, foundational issue called "epistemology", meaning one's authoritative source for knowing truth about a specific subject. In this case the subject is THE spiritual truth. (John 13-17).
- ** Please notice that God did not prohibit man from looking outside of God's Word for knowledge about the physical workings of the material creation (i.e., sciences such as biology beginning with Adam's naming of the animals, physics, chemistry, mechanics, astronomy). In fact, virtually every major arena of science was started and/or developed through the influence of Christians in the field.
- What God prohibited was the seeking of spiritual knowledge apart from God's Word alone. Spiritual knowledge is how to have abundant soul life and relationships through loving God and your neighbor the Way God commands (that is, knowledge about moral and relational principles involving God, your spouse, children, parents, friends, division/reconciliation, bitterness/forgiveness, depression/joy, anxiety/peace, addiction/self-control, etc.).
- This is the realm of the soul and its relationships with other persons (The Greek term for soul is psyche. Psychotherapy means the "healing of the soul and its relationships"). Therefore to seek such knowledge from the world's theories about the soul (psychotherapy) in addition to God's sufficient Word is actually another attempt to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Pro 19; 30:5-6; Jer 6-8; Col 1:27-2:10).

Colossians 2:8 "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to traditions of men, according to the elementary principles of this world, rather than according to Christ".

Application:
  © The Great Sub-Mission?
(Our Mission Under Authority: Disciplined Discipleship)
Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.'" The New King James Version [Emphasis added]

Many wonderful opportunities are potential in the months and years ahead. Matthew 28:18-20 is often called the Great Commission, but is really The Great Sub-Mission. Remember, our Father has left us here on a mission under (sub) the authority of His Son, our Lord Jesus. Authority implies an expectation of faithful, obedient, submission. Therefore, making disciplined disciples for the glory of our Father is the primary purpose of His church in this world.

"In the beginning, God . . . " the Father was the ultimate authority over all. Peaceful, submissive cooperation was the character of His creation. Then Lucifer, Eve, and Adam rebelled in selfish competition with God and one another to become their own, independent authority. But for 6,000 years of His-story, God has called out a people to be different from this rebellious world of competition and survival of the fittest. And He has commanded us (especially the men) to go and fight the good fight, rescue the suffering, and multiply His Kingdom family. Jesus, our elder brother, promises to be with us as Commander to the end of the age, "when He delivers the Kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all [rebellious] rule and all [unsubmissive] authority and power", so that God will again be "all [authority] in all" (1 Cor 15:24-28). Until then, we are responsible to prayerfully plan strategies so that our lives, families, and churches cooperate with His Mission. For example:
- Feeding on His Word individually and daily read, memorize, meditate, study, practice . . . .
- L.E.A.D. others in the practice of His Word by Loving, Equipping, Accountability, Discipline . . . .
- Open our homes to the lost in humble hospitality as Hospital clinics for the spiritually suffering . . . .
- Financing the distribution of His Word through tracts, books, radio, evangelistic and counseling seminars . . .
- Using your spiritual gifts to teach, counsel, serve, administrate, coordinate, etc.....