Religion Scripture Readings

I wanted to share this short piece that mirrors my thinking on this subject

The Dead Sea Scrolls vs. the Gnostic Gospels

posted by GREG HANSON MARCH 6,2014 in BIBLE

Everyone loves a conspiracy theory. One that has gained prominence in recent years concerns the allegation that the early Church either lost or intentionally hid certain books that told an alternative version of the Jesus story. Most of the debate centres around a group of texts mostly discovered in the middle of the twentieth century, the Gnostic Gospels.

These documents, most of which were discovered near the Egyptian city of Nag Hammadi in 1945, initially appear to be of Christian origin. Yet they contain content that is irreconcilable with orthodox Christianity. They do not, however, pose any serious challenge. They were essentially forgeries dating from the second through fifth centuries.

Unfortunately, the Gnostic Gospels are often confused with another discovery that occurred at roughly the same time: the Dead Sea Scrolls. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was a major event in the mid-1900s (from 1947 to 1956). Including more than 800 documents, the unearthing occurred near the ruins of the city of Qumran along the Dead Sea. It is believed that these documents, dating from between 200 BC and AD 68, may have been hidden to keep them safe in anticipation of the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

About a third of the Dead Sea Scrolls were copies of the Hebrew Scriptures. When compared to later texts, these serve to show just how accurately the Old Testament has been preserved throughout the centuries. Another third were Jewish stories and commentaries on the Old Testament books. The remaining third dealt with the day-to-day life of the Essene/Jewish community who lived in the area.

Though disputed, one of the fragments (7Q5) is believed by some to contain text from the Gospel of Mark. If true, it would verify the early writings of the New Testament books. Though there are debates about this one fragment, there have been no major scandals connected with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Nag Hammadi library of Gnostic texts is a different story. Nag Hammadi, an Egyptian city of about 30,000, is located about 300 miles/500 km south of Cairo. In 1945, two brothers were looking for fertilizer in the vicinity of Nag Hammadi when one of them (named Mohammed Ali) threw a rock into a nearby cave. When he heard it hit something, he climbed in to see what it was. What he found was an ancient pottery container. He opened it, hoping to find gold, and instead found a collection of leather-bound codices (or books) that were later determined to be Gnostic writings.

There were 52 books in all (45 after eliminating the repeats) and only 5 of them would be considered "gospels". Though there have been other Gnostic texts discovered over the years as well, this was a major discovery.

Many of these documents had been known about for centuries, as several other ancient documents contain references to them. Though their titles suggest they had been authored by such Biblical names as Judas, Mary, John, and Thomas, it is believed that even the first of them—the Gospel of Thomas—was not written until the middle of the second century, well after Thomas would have died.

While the documents do contain some fanciful accounts of the life of Jesus, they appear to be nothing more than fables with no basis in actual history. Rather than complementing the Christian faith, they merge Christian beliefs with the spiritual philosophies of the Greeks and Romans.

Whether the Gnostics who wrote the texts were attempting to transform Christianity or create their own religion is unclear. What is clear, however, is that their writings are unreliable historically and were written much too late to present a viable alternative to the Christian documents regarding the life of Jesus. The New Testament Gospels, on the other hand, were written during the first century by disciples of Jesus or those associated with the disciples.

The Dead Sea Scrolls offer valuable insights into historical events, locations, and people; the Gnostic Gospels do not. Rather, the value of the Gnostic writings is in providing insight into the beliefs of a religious sect that splintered from Christianity by incorporating Greeks and Roman mythology. They should not, however, be viewed as an alternative truer account of Jesus that had somehow been suppressed in favor of the Biblical Gospels.

categories: BIBLE

 

Hey ABM, nice to see you posting a bit, you have been missed. Shoot me a PM and let me know what you have been up to.

 

The Top Three Heresies in the Gnostic Gospels

Yesterday the world learned of a newly-discovered early Christian text that depicts Jesus as a married man. Jesus’ wife may be big news today, but striking and unusual variations on Christian faith have been around for a very long time. Whether you call them the heretic gospels, the apocrypha, or Dan Brown’s raw material, the records left by some of Christ’s first followers make for pretty interesting reading. Pulling from a variety of early Christian texts, including the famous Gnostic Gospels, here are three particularly surprising heresies from outside the canon:

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas: Young Jesus the Menace

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas (not to be confused with the Gospel of Thomas; apparently there were a limited number of names in the Levant) depicts 5-year-old Jesus as a little temper-tantrum-throwing tyrant. I’m talking way beyond mischief: the word “demonic” springs to mind.

A neighbor messed up the brook that he was supernaturally playing in, so Jesus cursed him; “thou shalt be withered like a tree, and shalt not bear leaves, neither root, nor fruit. And straightway that lad withered up wholly” (III.2-3). Another boy bumps into him, and Jesus straight up killed the kid (IV.1). When that boy’s parents got mad at Jesus for, you know, murdering their child, he cursed them with blindness (V.1). Joseph tried to discipline him with some righteous ear-twisting, and Jesus said, “Vex me not” (V.3). Parents, keep your kids away from this gospel: they might get ideas.

I should mention that Jesus does eventually decide that his blinded, withered, and dead victims have learned their lesson, and he brings them all back:

Now let those bear fruit that were barren, and let them see that were blind in heart. I am come from above that I may curse them, and call them to the things that are above, even as he commanded which hath sent me for your sakes. And when the young child ceased speaking, immediately all they were made whole which had come under his curse.

But lest you think this is a happy, redemptive ending, check out the kicker:

And no man after that durst provoke him, lest he should curse him, and he should be maimed.

Yowza.



The Gospel of Judas: Judas was a good guy. No, really

You know that moment in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when Harry realizes, too late, that Severus Snape had been on the side of good all along? That eminently hateable villain was just doing what Dumbledore asked, and all he got was a bad reputation. Poor guy.

The Gospel of Judas is pretty much just like Deathly Hallows, except Dumbledore is Jesus, Snape is Judas, and we’re all Harry Potter. After two millennia of people using “Judas” as a synonym for traitor, this gospel tells us the poor man was just doing his job.

First, the text says Jesus was closer to Judas than any of the other disciples, and that he gave Judas some secret insider information on the nature of the universe: “Step away from the others and I shall tell you the mysteries of the kingdom,” he says to Judas, and, later, “Come, that I may teach you about secrets no person has ever seen.”

Jesus both warns Judas of the condemnation to come and promises him he will be rewarded later: “You will become the thirteenth, and you will be cursed by the other generations—and you will come to rule over them... you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.”

There are a lot of missing chunks, but it looks like Jesus and Judas—working together—plan the details of Judas’ betrayal and Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus needed his physical body to die in order to ascend to heaven, and he asked Judas to help him out.

This is drastically different from Jesus letting Judas betray him. Canonically, Jesus knew what was coming—“Verily I say unto you, that one of you will betray me”—and didn’t stop it, but that doesn’t mean he was happy about it. In fact, he said pretty clearly that “it had been good for that man if he had not been born,” which ain’t exactly friendly. (Matthew 26:21-24).

But as the Judas Gospel shows, not everybody was happy with that version of the story... Even in the 2nd century BC, some folks were still in love with Judas, baby.



The Gospel According to Philip: About that whole “virgin birth thing”...

The Philip Gospel, part of the Nag Hammadi codex, is most famous for the section that says “And the companion of the savior is Mary Magdalene. The savior loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her [word missing]” which, as you can imagine, has led to some truly delightful academic Mad Libs.

But an even more striking heresy occurs earlier in the Philip text, where the author lays out a nice, logical argument for why the virgin-birth business is nonsense—and in the process, directly contradicts Luke 1:35 and the Apostle’s Creed:

Some said, “Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit.” They are in error. They do not know what they are saying. Whenever has a female been impregnated by a female?

(Now might be a good time to point out that some Gnostic communities seem to have believed in a female Holy Spirit, a sort of Mother figure to go along with the Father and Son.)

Mary is the virgin whom no power has defiled... Whoever of the powers (attempts to) defile this virgin, such powers are merely defiling themselves. And the Lord would not have said “My Father who is in Heaven”, unless he had had another father, but he would have said simply “My father”.

To recap: Mary was always virgin, indefilable, and so was not impregnated by the Spirit—not to mention that the Holy Spirit is female, and a lesbian divine impregnation is just not believable. Instead, Jesus has two fathers, one in Heaven and one not-in-Heaven, and presumably the not-in-Heaven one is the inseminator, but despite having two fathers, Jesus’ mother was still a virgin. Glad we cleared that one up.



As the Smithsonian article takes care to point out, these non-canonical texts aren’t biographical evidence; the new document does not prove that Jesus was married any more than the gospels of Thomas, Judas, or Philip prove that Jesus was a terrible five-year-old, Judas was a secret Snape, or that the virgin birth was... whatever Philip is trying to say it was. Instead, all the non-canonical texts stand as evidence of the diversity of early Christian thought, showing (sometimes colorfully) that before Church orthodoxy was established, early Christian beliefs varied widely. There was no “canon” to defy when these non-canonical texts were written: while churches today call them heresies, to the gospel-writers who recorded them, these Christian texts were God’s own trut

 

The Historical Reliability of the Gnostic Versus the Canonical Gospels

Increasingly, the Gnostic Gospels and documents are being treated as a historical source for the life of Jesus that is as accurate or more accurate than the canonical Gospels. This claim has come and gone many times in the last 200 years. The most recent example is bestselling book, The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown. This is only the latest in a number of attempts to overturn the historical validity of the canonical Gospels by referring to Gnostic documents. Can these Gnostic works claim the same historical authenticity? Do they present an alternative history to the Bible that is at least as historical? Many Muslims and modern critics of Christianity would have us think so but the evidence is wanting. Here is why the Biblical Gospels are still to be regarded as the most reliable historical information concerning Jesus. This basic information and viewpoint is what more sensible minds have returned to as they have considered the full historical evidence concerning Gnostic texts:

1) The main reason why the Gnostic gospels are not to be regarded as authoritative or historically accurate is that these works are written considerably later than the canonical Gospels. The Gnostic works are 2nd century at the earliest whereas the Biblical Gospels were written in the 1st century by the Apostles and their close associates. For example, Basilides (died 140 AD), held to be the first great Gnostic theologian, is the first recorded exponent of the view that someone else died on the cross other than Jesus. He claimed to have received this teaching from a secret tradition going back to the Apostle Peter, but he offers no documentary evidence to support this claim.

2) The next reason they are not to be regarded as more reliable is that they were written with a theological agenda that is a syncretistic mix of many religious ideas and traditions. They drew on Christian biblical texts and other religious traditions to developed their own religious systems. They are therefore secondary sources to the more primary biblical ones.

3) A major feature of Gnosticism is a theological bias toward docetism. This is a belief that Jesus didn't actually become a man but only appeared to be one, or that the real, spiritual Son of God was using the human Jesus as a vehicle of expression. With this is an aversion to the belief that Jesus really died on the cross. This belief colours gnostic attitudes toward the biblical crucifixion accounts. There is variety as to how the crucifixion is viewed but all avoid the belief that Jesus actually suffered there as a man for mankind's sin. It is because of this difficulty with the biblical presentation of Christ's death that the gnostic alternatives were invented and offered. They are secondary interpretations of the more primary biblical accounts.

4) Also, the tenor of Gnosticism is not strictly tied to a historical worldview. Gnostic religions are based on the private revelations supposedly given to charismatic individuals that are then passed on secretly to a select few. They consciously do not base themselves on events that are publicly verifiable. They are secretive and elitist. They do not expose themselves to public scrutiny. The Biblical gospels, however, as well as Paul's writings are consciously historical in that they claim to be publicly verifiable. Luke 1:1-4; John 19:35; 21:24,25; Acts 26:25,26; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 are all statements that the biblical records of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection were historically verifiable when they were written.

5) The Gnostic records show great differences of opinion as to the details of Jesus' life. They do not present a coherent alternate historical view of Jesus' life and ministry. They instead show the differences one would expect from a diverse collection of private secret "revelations" given to many individuals who are drawing on a variety of religious traditions. Some present views more or less in line with the biblical accounts. Others deny that Jesus died on the cross. A basic idea of Gnosticism is that secret, revealed knowledge is the key to salvation. A variety of views of Jesus are presented to under gird this idea. The biblical Gospels, however, do present a coherent view.

6) The Gnostic accounts also are not confirmed by non-Gnostic and non-Christian historical sources such as Roman and Jewish histories. The biblical Gospels, however, are confirmed by these non-Christian histories.

In all, it is clear that Gnosticism developed later than Christianity and used much of the Bible in its development. It combined many other religious traditions and ideas with many from the Bible to create a variety of syncretistic systems that share broad similarities loosely called Gnosticism. There is no firm evidence that components of these systems contain material that is more historically reliable than the biblical Gospels. The accounts they have that differ from the canonical Gospels can be explained sufficiently in other ways.

Prepared by Keith E. Small, 24 April 1996.

 

Genesis 1

THE ACCOUNT OF GOD'S CREATION
A. Thoughts to begin with as we study the Bible: how do we approach the Bible?

1. We come to the Bible knowing there is a God.

a. The Bible does not make elaborate arguments for the existence of God. However, it does tell us how we can know God exists.

b. The Bible tells us we can know God exists because of what we see in creation.

i. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. (Psalm 19:1-4)

ii. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

c. Though many seek to deny the effectiveness of the teleological argument for the existence of God (the understanding that there must be a purposeful intelligence Who created this world), it still remains unanswered by the atheist or the agnostic.

2. We come to the Bible believing it is the place where God has spoken to man, perfectly and comprehensively.

a. We believe 2 Timothy 3:16-17: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

i. We can study God, but we can't put Him under a microscope. We can only confidently know about Him what He chooses to reveal to us. What He chooses to tell us is profitable and useful for us.

b. We believe the Bible must be understood literally, that is, as straightforward and true according to its literary context.

i. The Bible is much more than a book; it is a library of books, and books written in different literary forms. Some portions of the Bible give a historical account, others are poetic, and some are prophetic.

ii. We must understand the Bible literally according to its literary context. For example, when David wrote in Psalm 6:6 "All night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears," he used a poetic literary form. We understand he didn't literally mean he cried so much that he flooded his room and set his bed afloat.

iii. But when the Bible speaks in a historical narrative, we understand it as literal history, not as make-believe fables and myths meant only to tell a spiritual story.

iv. If we don't approach the Bible this way, then how will we approach it? Then it is all up to how anyone "feels" about the text. Though the teachings of Scripture may have infinite applications, they only have one true interpretation.

v. "The only proper way to interpret Genesis 1 is not to 'interpret' it at all. That is, we accept the fact that it was meant to say exactly what it says." (Morris)

c. We believe the Bible is not a book of science; yet where it touches science, it speaks the truth. After all, if the Bible is false in regard to science or other things that we can prove, then we cannot regard it as reliable in regard to spiritual matters that we cannot prove.

3. We come to the Bible knowing the copies we have in our hands are reliable duplicates (though not perfect duplicates) of the exact writings, which God perfectly inspired.

a. We can know this about the Old Testament by seeing the incredible care and reliability of the ancient Jewish scribes, demonstrated by the Dead Sea Scroll discoveries.

b. We can know this about the New Testament by knowing that because of earlier manuscripts, and a greater number of ancient manuscripts, the New Testament is by far the most reliable and exhaustively crosschecked ancient document we possess. Really, no more than one one-thousandth of the New Testament text is in question.

4. We come to the Bible knowing the unique importance of the Book of Genesis.

a. The Bible would be incomplete and perhaps incomprehensible without the Book of Genesis. It sets the stage for the entire drama of redemption, which unfolds in the rest of the book.

b. Almost all important doctrines and teachings have their foundation in the Book of Genesis: the doctrines of sin, redemption, justification, Jesus Christ, the personality and personhood of God, the kingdom of God, the fall, Israel, the promise of the Messiah, and more.

i. Genesis shows us the origins of the universe, order and complexity, the solar system, the atmosphere and hydrosphere, the origin of life, man, marriage, evil, language, government, culture, nations, religion. It is precisely because people have abandoned the truth of Genesis that society is in such disarray.

c. Genesis is important to the New Testament. There are at least 165 passages in Genesis either directly quoted or clearly referred to in the New Testament; many of these are quoted more than once, so there are at least 200 quotations or allusions to Genesis in the New Testament.

i. Jesus declared the importance of believing what Moses wrote: "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" (John 5:46-47) We can't say we believe in Jesus if we don't believe in the Book of Genesis.

d. "I beg and faithfully warn every pious Christian not to stumble at the simplicity of the language and stories that will often meet him there [in Genesis]. He should not doubt that, however simple they may seem, these are the very words, works, judgments, and deeds of the high majesty, power, and wisdom of God." (Luther, cited in Boice)

5. According to the New Testament, Moses wrote the Book of Genesis (Luke 24:27, Luke 24:44). We can surmise that he did this with help from actual written records from the past God had preserved. There are indicators of where these records begin and end. Note the phrasing of Genesis 2:4, 5:1, 6:9, 10:1, 11:10, 11:27, 25:12, 25:19, 36:1, 36:9, 37:2.

a. "Thus it is probable that the Book of Genesis was written originally by actual eyewitnesses of the events reported therein. Probably the original narratives were recorded on tables of stone or clay, in common practice of early times, and then handed down from father to son, finally coming into the possession of Moses. Moses perhaps selected the appropriate sections for compilation, inserted his own editorial additions and comments, and provided smooth transitions from one document to the next, with the final result being the Book of Genesis as we have received it." (Morris)

B. The first five days of creation.

1. The philosophical importance of knowing God as creator.

a. The philosopher Jean-Paul Sarte stated the essential problem of philosophy: there is something, instead of nothing. Why? Everything else in our life flows from the answer to this question.

i. If everything around us, including ourselves, is the result of random, meaningless occurrences apart from the work of a creating God, then it says something about who I am, and where I, and the whole universe, are going. Then the only dignity or honor we bestow upon men is pure sentimentality, because I don't have any more significance than an amoebae; then there is no greater law in the universe than survival of the fittest.

b. Some 100 years ago, there was a great German philosopher named Arthur Schopenhauer. By habit, he usually dressed like a vagrant, and one day he sat on a park bench in Berlin, deep in thought. His appearance made a policeman suspicious, so the policeman asked the philosopher "Who are you?" Schopenhauer answered, "I would to God I knew."

i. And the only way we can ever really find out who we are is from God. The best place to find out begins in Genesis.

c. There are many possible answers to the question of how everything came into being. Some say, once there was absolutely nothing, and now there is something. Others (including the Bible) say before there was anything created, there was a Personal Being.

d. One day, students in one of Albert Einstein's classes were saying they had decided there was no God. Einstein asked them how much of all the knowledge in the world they had among themselves collectively, as a class. The students discussed it for a while and decided they had 5% of all human knowledge among themselves. Einstein thought their estimate was a little generous, but he replied: "Is it possible God exists in the 95% you don't know?"

2. (1) A simple factual statement regarding God work as creator.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

a. God created: This summary statement will be detailed in the following verses, but the Bible simply and straightforwardly declares the world did not create itself or come about by chance. It was created by God, who, by definition, is eternal and has always been.

i. "It is no accident that God is the subject of the first sentence of the Bible, for this word dominates the whole chapter and catches the eye at every point of the page: it is used some thirty-five times in as many verses of the story." (Kidner)

ii. If you believe Genesis 1:1, you really have no problem believing the rest of the Bible.

b. God: This is the ancient Hebrew word Elohim. Grammatically it is a plural word used as if it were singular. The verbs and pronouns used with Elohim should be in the plural, but when Elohim refers to the LORD God the verbs and pronouns are in the singular.

i. Rabbi Simeon ben Joachi, commenting on the word Elohim: "Come and see the mystery of the word Elohim; there are three degrees, and each degree by itself alone, and yet notwithstanding they are all one, and joined together in one, and are not divided from each other." Clarke adds: "He must be strangely prejudiced indeed who cannot see that the doctrine of a Trinity, and of a Trinity in unity, is expressed in the above words."

ii. Leupold quoting Luther on Elohim: "But we have clear testimony that Moses aimed to indicate the Trinity or the three persons in the one divine nature."

c. God created the heavens: The simple fact of God's creation is even more amazing when we consider the greatness of God's universe.

i. A typical galaxy contains billions of individual stars; our galaxy alone (the Milky Way) contains 200 billion stars. Our galaxy is shaped like a giant spiral, rotating in space, with arms reaching out like a pinwheel, and our sun is one star on one arm of the pinwheel. It would take 250 million years for the pinwheel to make one full rotation. But this is only our galaxy; there are many other galaxies with many other shapes, including spirals, spherical clusters, and flat pancakes. The average distance between one galaxy and another is about 20 million trillion miles. Our closest galaxy is the Andromeda Galaxy, about 12 million trillion miles away.

ii. For every patch of sky the size of the moon, if you could look very deep, you would see about a million galaxies.

iii. But God did all this Himself: "Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has stretched out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand up together." (Isaiah 48:13)

iv. But God is bigger and greater than all His creation: Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? (Isaiah 40:12)

d. God created the heavens and the earth: If God created the heavens and the earth, then we must forever put away the idea that anything happens by chance. "Chance" merely describes the statistical probability of something happening. Chance itself can "do" nothing.

i. People who are otherwise intelligent often fall into this delusion. Jacques Monod, a biochemist, wrote: "Chance alone is at the source of every innovation, of all creation in the biosphere. Pure chance, absolutely free but blind, at the very root of the stupendous edifice of evolution."

ii. But assigning such power to "chance" is crazy. Chance has no power. For example, when a coin is flipped, the chance it will land "heads" is 50%; however, "chance" does not make it land heads. Whether or not it lands heads or tails is due to the strength with which the coin is flipped, the strength of air currents and air pressure as it flies through the air, where it is caught, and if it is flipped over once it is caught. Chance doesn't "do" anything but describe a probability.

iii. When Carl Sagan petitioned the federal government for a grant to search for intelligent life in outer space, how did he hope to find it? By using a super sensitive instrument to pick up radio signals from distant space. When he received those radio signals, he looked for order and pattern, which would demonstrate the signals were transmitted by intelligent life. In the same way, the order and pattern of the whole universe demonstrates that it was fashioned by intelligent life, not by "chance." Scientists detect "chance" in the radio signals constantly (in the form of unpatterned static), but it tells them nothing.

iv. Therefore, when someone says the universe or anything else came about by chance, they are extremely ignorant, superstitious, or just repeating a line they have heard before and have unthinkingly accepted.

e. God created: Inherent in the idea of God is that He is an intelligent designer. Only an intelligent designer could create a just-right universe, not "chance." Our universe is a just-right universe.

i. The universe has a just-right gravitational force.

- If it were larger, the stars would be too hot and would burn up too quickly and too unevenly to support life
- If it were smaller, the stars would remain so cool, nuclear fusion would never ignite, and there would be no heat and light
ii. The universe has a just-right speed of light.

- If it were larger, stars would send out too much light
- If it were smaller, stars would not send out enough light
iii. The universe has a just-right average distance between the stars.

- If it were larger, the heavy element density would be too thin for rocky planets to form, and there would only be gaseous planets
- If it were smaller, planetary orbits would become destabilized because of the gravitational pull from other stars
iv. The universe has a just-right polarity of the water molecule.

- If it were greater, the heat of fusion and vaporization would be too great for life to exist
- If it were smaller, the heat of fusion and vaporization would be too small for life's existence, liquid water would become too inferior a solvent for life chemistry to proceed, ice would not float, leading to a runaway freeze-up
v. We could conclude that there is no chance that such a universe could create itself, apart from an intelligent designer.

f. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth: This tells us that God used no pre-existing material to create the earth. The ancient Hebrew word bara (created) is specific. It means to create out of nothing, showing that that God created the world out of nothing, not out of Himself. God is separate from His creation. Unlike Eastern and pantheistic perceptions of god, the Bible teaches the universe could perish yet He would remain.

i. Men cannot "create" in the sense the term is used in Genesis 1:1. We can only "fashion" or "form" things out of existing material. The closest we come to creating is in reproducing ourselves sexually. This is perhaps one reason why Satan wants to pervert and destroy God's plan and standard for sexuality; it is deeply connected to our being made in the image of God.

ii. Ginzberg has a fascinating legend on how the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet all wanted to begin the Bible, but in the end, the letter "bet" was allowed, because he said, "O Lord of the world! May it be Thy will to create Thy world through me, seeing that all the dwellers of the world give praise daily unto Thee through me, as it is said, Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen, and Amen." So, the Hebrew Book of Genesis begins, "Bereshit God created the heaven and the earth."

3. The Bible's clear teaching of God's creation and the uncertainty of modern science.

a. Some scientists often act certain in their knowledge about the origin of the universe, but their constant "revolutionary discoveries" prove they are really just groping in the dark. Honest scientists, those not puffed up with a proud arrogance, will admit this.

b. Some scientists may be arrogant when it comes to what can be known of the universe, but we do not have to accept such arrogance. The constantly changing scene of science is illustrated in a sidebar to a science article in the Los Angeles Times titled, "The Big Bang and What Followed It":

In the beginning, there was light - but also quarks and electrons. The Big Bang spewed out energy that condensed into radiation and particles. The quarks joined into protons and careened wildly about in a hot, dense, glowing goop as opaque as a star. Time (300,000 years or so) passed. Space expanded. Matter cooled. The electrons and protons, electrically irresistible to each other, merged into neutral hydrogen, and from this marriage, the first atoms were born. Space between atoms became as transparent as crystal - pretty much the way it looks today. The rest, as they say, is history. Atoms merged to form dust clouds, which grew into stars and galaxies and clusters. Stars used up their nuclear fuel, collapsed and exploded in recurring cycles, fusing elements in the process. Occasionally, a stable planet condensed around a second-generation star, where carbon-based life forms grew into, among other things, cosmologists, the better to contemplate it all.

c. In 1913, an astronomer in Arizona discovered stars appeared to be moving away from the earth at tremendous speeds, up to two million miles an hour. In 1919, another American astronomer named Edwin Hubble used this information to develop a theory of an expanding universe, which is the foundation of the "Big Bang" idea. Early on, other scientists discovered background radiation from all parts of the universe, which they suppose is the leftover "noise" from the first great explosion. But scientists are really not much closer at all to knowing anything about this instant beginning to the universe.

d. In fact, the more they find out, the more they discover how much they don't know. Astrophysicists are faced with another challenge: trying to figure out what "dark matter" is. Dark matter is a term scientists use to explain an enormous apparent excess of gravity in the universe. Dark matter may make up 99.9% of everything in the universe, but no one knows what it is. Though suggestions are offered, they are only suggestions. David O. Caldwell of the University of California at Santa Barbara says, "When it comes to dark matter, the only thing that we are convinced of at the moment is that it's there." But actually, scientists cannot even agree on that! Michael S. Turner, an astrophysics professor at the University of Chicago, said: "It's very humbling. The origin, composition, energy and mass of the most common matter in the entire universe is unknown."

e. This uncertainty is shown in a March 6, 1995, front-page article in the Los Angeles Times headlined, "Rethinking Cosmic Questions":

Ever since people first stood up amid the tall grasses and looked about the world in wonder, religion, mythology and science all have struggled to explain how the world came to be. But when it comes to creation stories, few can hold a candle to the tale cooked up by modern cosmologists. Dialing back the cosmic clock about 15 billion years, they depict a time before time, a place before space existed. Out of nothing and nowhere, all the energy and matter in the universe exploded into existence in an event that came to be called … the Big Bang. While masterfully spinning ideas out of faith and equations, cosmologists were pitifully short on data. They could not see or measure the phenomena they were trying to explain.

"Twenty-five years ago, cosmology was very close to religion," said physicist Roberto Peccei of UCLA.

Experimental cosmologist Chris Stubbs of the University of Washington, "You've got these things that are ridiculously far away and ridiculously faint, and … you've got to make sense out of it."

"At times, I miss the old days when I could just work in my office and not worry that someone would disprove my theory in a few weeks" said Rocky Kold of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois.

"Many of us who have worked in this field for decades still worry that the whole house of cards is going to collapse," said Princeton cosmologist David Wilkinson.

Recent observations, for example, suggest that the universe is younger than its oldest stars - an enigma that has astronomers scrambling for explanations. The biggest mystery, however, strikes even scientists as so astonishing as to be absurd: 99% of the universe, according to some estimates, is made of totally unfamiliar stuff. Commonly known as dark matter, it is actually mostly transparent; it neither shines nor casts a shadow. Whatever it is, it is not like us … According to some theories, it also is the glue that holds the universe together, and keeps it from expanding forever into endless space.

f. "The study of human origins seems to be a field in which each discovery raises the debate to a more sophisticated level of uncertainty." (Christopher Stringer of the Natural Museum of London)

4. One may doubt the ability of many modern scientists to answer the question of origins. But that does not automatically give us confidence to the answer in found in the Book of Genesis. Some believe that Genesis only records a "creation myth," meant only to show the greatness of God in poetic grandeur. Though there are poetic elements to the account, we believe it was still written to record a historical reality. Other Scriptures, in their approach to Genesis 1, demonstrate this.

a. Psalm 136 connects the Genesis account of creation with the rest of Israel's history in a seamless fabric. The creation account is not put in a category of "historical fiction."

b. Jesus quoted Genesis as if it were a purely historical record (Matthew 19:4-6 and 23:35).

c. C.S. Lewis wrote that when he heard a Biblical scholar say the Genesis creation account was a myth, he didn't want to know about the man's credentials as a Biblical scholar. He wanted to know how many myths the man had read. Myths were Lewis' business as a literary scholar, and he could see the Biblical account of creation was unlike mythical accounts.

d. It is true that Genesis was not written primarily as a scientific document. But if God gave us a truly scientific, detailed account of creation, written in scientific language, there would be no one who could understand it and no end to the length of such an account. Even if it were written in simple, 20th-century scientific language, it would have made no sense to all previous generations and no sense to future generations either.

e. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter (Proverbs 25:2). Scientific inquiry is the glory of man; yet it must all be done with utmost humility, realizing God conceals these matters for man to search out.

5. God did all this in the beginning, yet there was much before the beginning.

a. God Himself was before the beginning: Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting (Psalm 93:2). Some are troubled by the questions, "Where did God come from?" and "Who created God?" The answer is found in the definition of God - that God is the uncreated Being, eternal, and without beginning or end.

i. This is demonstrated in several passages of Scripture. LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. (Psalm 90:1-2)

ii. J. Edwin Orr used a memorable definition of God, which was thoroughly Biblical: God is the only infinite, eternal, and unchangable spirit, the perfect being in whom all things begin, and continue, and end.

b. God was in three Persons before the beginning, and the Persons shared a relationship of love and fellowship: "Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was … for You loved Me before the foundation of the world." (John 17:5, 17:24)

c. Before the beginning, there was an eternal purpose in the heart of God (Ephesians 3:11) to gather together in one all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10). God's purpose was to "resolve" or "sum up" all things in Jesus, as if Jesus Himself were the answer to a great and complex problem God wrote out on the "blackboard" of the universe.

d. Before the beginning, God had a specific plan to fulfill this eternal purpose, with many different aspects revealed to us:

i. The mission of Jesus was foreordained before the foundation of the world: He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. (1 Peter 1:20)

ii. Eternal life was promised before time began: in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began. (Titus 1:2)

iii. The mystery of the gospel (the cross) was foreordained before the ages: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory. (1 Corinthians 2:7)

iv. The grace given unto us was given before the world began: who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. (2 Timothy 1:9)

v. Believers in Jesus Christ were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world: just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. (Ephesians 1:4)

e. At some time before the beginning, God created the angels, because they witnessed the creation of the heavens and the earth (Job 38:7).

6. (2) The state of the earth before God organized creation.

The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

a. The earth was without form, and void: Some translate the idea in this verse as the earth became without form and void. Their thinking is the earth was originally created not without form and void, but it became without form and void through the destructive work of Satan. However, this is not the plain grammatical sense of the ancient Hebrew.

i. Those who follow this idea look to Isaiah 45:18: For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: "I am the LORD, and there is no other." The idea is God here says He did not create the world in vain (the Hebrew word is the same as the word for void in Genesis 1:1).

ii. Based on these ideas, some have advanced what has been called the "Gap Theory." It is the idea that there was a long and indefinite chronological gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. Most "Gap Theory" adherents use the theory to explain the fossil record, assigning old and extinct fossils to this indefinite gap.

iii. Whatever merit the gap theory may have, it cannot explain the extinction and fossilization of ancient animals. The Bible says plainly death came by Adam (Romans 5:12), and since fossils are the result of death, they could not have happened before Adam's time.

b. Darkness was on the face of the deep: This may describe a sense of resistance to the moving of the Holy Spirit on the earth. Some speculate this was because Satan was cast down to the earth (Isaiah 14:12; Ezekiel 28:16) and resisted God's plan, though his resistance was futile.

i. Leupold on the Spirit of God was hovering: "The verb … signifies a vibrant moving, a protective hovering … His was the preparatory work for leading over from the inorganic to the organic."

ii. "Any impression of Olympian detachment which the rest of the chapter might have conveyed is forestalled by the simile of the mother-bird 'hovering' (Moffatt) or fluttering by her brood. The verb reappears in Deuteronomy 32:11 to describe the eagle's movements in stirring its young into flight." (Kidner)

c. When God created the earth, He quite likely built an "old" earth, creating things in the midst of a time sequence, with age "built in."

i. For example, Adam was already of mature age when he was created; there was age "built in." Likewise, the trees in the Garden of Eden had rings in them, and there were undoubtedly canyons and sand beaches in Adam's world.

7. (3-5) The first day of creation: light is created and divided from the darkness.

Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

a. Let there be light: The first step from chaos to order is to bring light. This is also the way God works in our life.

i. Paul speaks about the light brought to us by the gospel: But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:3-6)

b. Then God said: God did not have to fashion light with His hands. It was enough for God to merely speak the words, "Light be!" and there was light.

i. Because God created things by speaking them into existence, some have said we can operate on the same principle, speaking things into existence by faith.

ii. This is based on a wrong understanding of Hebrews 11:3 (by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God), which is taken to say God Himself used faith in creating the world. Instead, it says it is by faith we understand God created the world.

iii. Also, some have a wrong understanding of Mark 11:22 which is taken to literally mean "have God's faith" as if we are to have the same faith God has. But the words Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God" cannot mean this, because faith, as Hebrews 11:1 tells us, is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. What does God "hope" for? What does He not see? An omnipotent, omniscient Being certainly does not need faith. He is the object of faith.

c. There was light: Genesis tells us that light, day, and night each existed before the sun and the moon were created on the fourth day (Genesis 1:14-19). This shows us that light is more than a physical substance; it also has a supernatural aspect. In the new heavens and the new earth, there won't be any sun or moon. God Himself will be the light (Revelation 22:5).

ii. The darkness God sent upon the Egyptians (Exodus 10:21) had a tangible quality to it, far beyond what we usually think of as being associated with darkness; it could be felt. This demonstrates a certain supernatural element, which can be related to light and darkness.

d. So the evening and the morning were the first day: Many wonder if this was a literal day (in the sense we think of a day) or if it was a geological age. Some say that God created the world in six days, and others say He created it in six vast geological ages. Though there is disagreement among Christians on this, the most plain and simple meaning of the text is that He created in six days as we think of days.

i. "If the days were not days at all, would God have countenanced the word? Does He trade in inaccuracies, however edifying? The question hinges on the proper use of language." (Kidner)

ii. "There ought to be no need of refuting the idea that yom means period. Reputable dictionaries … know nothing of this notion. Hebrew dictionaries are our primary source of reliable information concerning Hebrew words." (Leupold)

8. (6-8) The second day of creation: God makes an atmospheric division.

Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

a. Let there be a firmament: The idea of a firmament is of an expanse (NIV, NAS) or space (NLT). The waters of the land are separated from the water vapor in the sky.

b. The waters which were above the firmament: Here, the Bible recognizes the existence of water vapor in the sky. "The waters above the firmament thus probably constituted a vast blanket of water vapor above the troposphere and possibly above the stratosphere as well, in the high temperature region now known as the ionosphere, and extending far into space." (Morris) Such a vapor blanket would greatly change the ecology of the earth, and Henry Morris suggests several effects of a vapor blanket.

i. It would serve as a global greenhouse, maintaining an essentially uniformly pleasant temperature all over the world.

ii. Without great temperature variations, there would be no significant winds, and the water-rain cycle could not form. There would be no rain as we know it today.

iii. There would be lush, tropical-like vegetation, all over the world, fed not by rain, but by a rich evaporation and condensation cycle, resulting in heavy dew or ground-fog.

iv. The vapor blanket would filter out ultraviolet radiation, cosmic rays, and other destructive energies bombarding the planet. These are known to be the cause of mutations, which decrease human longevity. Human and animal life spans would be greatly increased.

v. A vapor blanket would provide the necessary reservoir for a potential worldwide flood.

9. (9-13) The third day of creation: the land is divided from the sea; plants and all types of vegetation are created.

Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day.

a. Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together: The idea is that before this, the earth was covered with water. Now the waters are gathered together into one place, and dry land appears.

b. Let the earth bring forth grass: All this happened before the creation of the Sun (the fourth day of creation, Genesis 1:14-19). This means the plants must have had sufficient nourishment because of the light God had created before the sun and the moon.

i. Those who propose these days of creation were not literal days, but successive "ages" of slow, evolutionary development have a real problem here. It is hard to explain how plants and all vegetation could grow and thrive eons before the sun and the moon. No modern evolutionist would argue plant life is older than the sun or the moon, but this is what the Genesis record tells us.

ii. Many wonder how the sun, moon, and stars were created on the fourth day when light (including day and night) was created on the first day. Many have suggested the problem is solved by saying these heavenly bodies were created on the first day, but were not specifically visible, or not finally formed, until the fourth. But Revelation tells us of a coming day when we won't need the sun, moon, and stars any longer (Revelation 21:23). There's no reason why God couldn't have started creation in the same way He will end it.

b. And it was so: This is the beginning of life on planet earth, directly created by God, not slowly evolving over millions of years.

i. Some scientists now say life on earth began when immense meteorites carrying amino acids impacted earth at a time when the sun was cooler and the earth was a watery ball covered with ice up to 1,000 feet thick. The idea is that a meteor hits the ice, breaks through, and "seeds" the water underneath with the building blocks of life, which assemble into an "organic soup." However the process was triggered, the scientists said life on earth began in "a geological instant." But by an instant, they mean 10 million years or less. It takes more faith to believe this than to believe in Genesis.

ii. The fossil evidence also demonstrates life exploded into existence on earth, instead of slowly evolving.

c. The earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed … and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself: The plants were created not as seeds, but as full-grown plants each bearing seeds. They were thus created as mature plants, having the "appearance" of age. The chicken really did come before the egg.

d. According to its kind: This phrase appears ten times in Genesis chapter 1. It means God allows variation within a kind, but something of one kind will never develop into something of another kind.

e. And God saw that it was good: God knows what is good. He is not some vague moral neutral. He knows what is good and organizes His creation to result in something good.

i. God does not call the earth good until it has become habitable, a place where man can live.

f. Let the earth bring forth … every herb that yields seed … the herb that yields seed according to its kind … And God saw that it was good: Some use this passage to justify the use of drugs (especially marijuana) because grass and every herb came forth at God's command. But certainly, not every herb is good for every purpose. Hemlock is natural, but not good.

i. In fact, the use of drugs in this manner is nowhere approved and is always condemned in the Bible. The wrong use of drugs is often associated with sorcery and the occult.

ii. Sorcery is universally condemned in the Bible (Exodus 22:18, Deuteronomy 18:10, 2 Chronicles 33:6, Revelation 21:8 and 22:15). In both the Old and New Testaments, the word sorcery was connected with the making and taking of drugs.

10. (14-19) The fourth day of creation: the sun, moon, and stars.

Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

a. Let them be for signs and seasons: God made the sun and the moon - these lights in the firmament of the heavens to be for signs and seasons. Since the beginning, man has used God's provision of the sun, moon, and stars to mark and measure time and direction.

b. God set them in the firmament of the heavens: God knew exactly how far to set the sun from the earth. A few million miles more or less and life as we know it would be impossible.

i. The intricate balance of our ecosystem argues strongly for the existence of a Creator. We live in a very complex world.

ii. Ginzberg quotes a Jewish legend connecting the movement of the sun to the praise of God (as in Psalms 113:3, 50:1, and 148:3): "The progress of the sun in his circuit is an uninterrupted song of praise to God. And this song alone makes his motion possible. Therefore, when Joshua wanted to bid the sun stand still, he had to command him to be silent. His song of praise hushed, the sun stood still."

c. Let them be for signs and seasons: When God set the lights in the heavens to be for signs, it probably includes what we commonly call the zodiac, but was called by the ancient Hebrews the Mazzaroth (Job 38:31-32).

i. Significantly, the sequence of the zodiac is the same in every language and culture, even if the specific names of the constellations change. Also, we know the figures of the constellations suggested to us don't look like those things at all, and, they never did. Yet the names for the figures of the constellations are the same in all cultures. This points to a common, pre-Babel beginning for all these things, before the truth of the constellations was corrupted.

ii. Luke 1:70 and Acts 3:21 speak of holy prophets since the world began. These prophets may be the stars themselves. Psalm 147:4 and Isaiah 40:26 tell us God has the stars all numbered and God has a name for them all. Psalm 19:1-6 tells us the heavens contain a message from God.

iii. Astrology is a satanic corruption of God's original "message in the stars," a message outlining His plan of redemption. Because astrology is a corruption, it is to be avoided always by man (Isaiah 47:12-15).

d. He made the stars also: With all the other stars in our universe, we often wonder if there is life on other planets.

i. When you take into account all that is necessary for the sustenance of life as we know it, there are few planets able to support life. Taking into account factors such as our galaxy type, star location, star age, star mass, star color, distance from star, axis tilt, rotation period, surface gravity, tidal force, magnetic field, oxygen quantity in atmosphere, atmospheric pressure, and 20 other important factors, the probability of all 33 occurrences happening on any one planet is one in 10 to the 42 power. The total number of possible planets in the universe is 10 to the 22 power.

ii. The U.S. government spends $100 million a year looking for extraterrestrial intelligence. It might be wiser to spend the money cultivating intelligent life in Washington.

11. (20-23) The fifth day of creation: birds and sea creatures are created.

Then God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens." So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

a. Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures: We see the great variety of birds and sea creatures were created at the same time, not evolving slowly over millions of years. Even though plant life was created before animal life, animal life was not created out of plant life.

i. Among the diversity of animals, many share similar structures: birds, reptiles, mammals, and so forth. This argues at least as persuasively for a common Designer as it does for a common life source. All life did not come from the same primordial cell, but it did all come from the same Designer.

b. According to their kind: Again, all animal life is created according to its kind. God deliberately structured plenty of variation within a kind, but one "kind" does not become another.

i. For example, structure among dogs is diverse. The teacup poodle is very different from the Great Dane, but they are both dogs. However, they won't become mice, no matter how much breeding is done.

ii. Evolutionists often give convincing examples of microevolution, the variation of a kind within its kind, adapting to the environment. For example, the ratio of black to white peppered moths may increase when pollution makes it easier for dark moths to escape detection; or finches may develop different beaks in response to their distinctive environment. But the moths are still moths, and the finches are still finches. There has been no change outside of the kind. Microevolution does not prove macroevolution.

12. Doesn't the fossil record show these creatures slowly evolved into existence, instead of suddenly appearing?

a. Most people are unaware that Darwin's strongest opponents were not clergymen, but fossil experts. Darwin admitted the state of the fossil evidence was "the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory," and because of the fossil evidence, "all the most eminent paleontologists … and all our greatest geologists … have unanimously, often vehemently, maintained" that the species do not change.

b. The fossil record is marked by two great principles: first, stasis, which means most species are unchanged in all their documented history. The way they look when they first appear in the fossil record is the way they look when last appearing in the fossil record. They have not changed. Second, sudden appearance, which means in any local area, a species does not arise gradually, but appears all at once and "fully formed."

i. Philip Johnson: "If evolution means the gradual change of one kind of organism into another kind, the outstanding characteristic of the fossil record is the absence of evidence for evolution."

c. The Bighorn Basin in Wyoming contains a continuous record of fossil deposits for what geologists say is five million years. Because this record is so complete, paleontologists assumed a positive trail of evolution could be found. Instead, "the fossil record does not convincingly document a single transition from one species to another." (Johnson)

i. Evolutionist Nile Eldredge writes: "We paleontologists have said that the history of life [in the fossil record] supports [the story of gradual evolution], all the while knowing that it does not." (Johnson)

d. Either evolution happened slowly, with each tiny change building on the last, over billions of years; or the changes came as quick leaps: something like a mouse coming out of a snake's egg.

i. The fossil record totally rejects the idea of millions of tiny changes; the quick leaps are a way of attributing miraculous power to "chance" or "nature" instead of God. While admiring the faith of those who believe in such hopeful monsters, it seems far more rational to believe in a wise, creating, designing God.

C. The sixth day of creation: the creation of man.

1. (24-25) God makes land animals.

Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

a. Let the earth bring forth the living creature: On the fifth day of creation, God made birds and sea animals, but now God turns His creative attention towards land animals of various types.

b. God made the beast of the earth according to its kind: When we look at the infinite variety of the animal kingdom (both living and extinct), we must be impressed with God's creative power, as well as His sense of humor. Any Being who makes the giraffe, the platypus, and the peacock is a God of joy and humor.

i. To a peahen, the most attractive peacocks are the ones with the biggest fans, but the big fan on the tail makes it difficult to escape a predator. Therefore, the peahen rewards the peacock with the least chance of survival. This is a great problem for the idea of "survival of the fittest."

c. According to its kind: Again, this important phrase is emphasized. God allows tremendous variation within a kind, but one "kind" will never become another "kind."

2. (26) God plans to make man in His image.

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

a. Let Us make man in Our image: The use of the plural (Let Us … in Our image, according to Our likeness) is consistent with the idea that there is One God in three Persons, what we know as the Trinity.

i. Leupold does a good job showing that the plurality of let Us make cannot be merely the plurality of royalty, nor can it be God speaking with and to the angels. It is an indicator of the Trinity, though not clearly spelled out.

b. In Our image: An understanding of who man is begins with knowing we are made in the image of God. Man is different from every other order of created being because He has a created consistency with God.

i. This means there is an unbridgeable gap between human life and animal life. Though we are biologically similar to certain animals, we are distinct in our moral, intellectual, and spiritual capabilities.

ii. This means there is also an unbridgeable gap between human life and angelic life. Nowhere are we told the angels are made in the image of God. Angels cannot have the same kind of relationship of love and fellowship with God we can have.

iii. This means the incarnation was truly possible. God (in the Second Person of the Trinity) could really become man, because although deity and humanity are not the same, they are compatible.

iv. This means human life has intrinsic value, quite apart from the "quality of life" experienced by any individual, because human life is made in the image of God.

c. In Our image: There are several specific things in man that show him to be made in the image of God.

- Man alone has a natural countenance looking upward
- Man alone has such a variety of facial expressions
- Man alone has a sense of shame expressing itself in a blush
- Man alone speaks
- Man alone possesses personality, morality, and spirituality
d. In Our image: There are at least three aspects to the idea that we are made in the image of God.

- It means humans possess personality: knowledge, feelings, and a will. This sets man apart from all animals and plants
- It means humans possess morality: we are able to make moral judgments and have a conscience
- It means humans possess spirituality: man is made for communion with God. It is on the level of spirit we communicate with God
e. In Our image: This does not mean that God has a physical or human body. God is a Spirit (John 4:24). Though God does not have a physical body, He designed man so man's physical body could do many of the things God does: see, hear, smell, touch, speak, think, plan, and so forth.

i. "It will hardly be safe to say that the body of man is patterned after God, because God, being an incorporeal spirit, cannot have what we term a material body. Yet the body of man must at least be regarded as the fittest receptacle for the man's spirit and so must bear at least an analogy that is so close that God and His angels choose to appear in human form when they appear to men." (Leupold)

f. In Our image, according to Our likeness: The terms for image and likeness are slightly different. Image has more to do with appearance, and likeness has more to do with an abstract similarity, but they both essentially mean the same thing here in this context.

g. Let them have dominion: Before God ever created man He decreed man would have dominion over the earth. Man's pre-eminence of the created order and his ability to affect his environment is no accident; it is part of God's plan for man and the earth.

i. In this sense, it is sin if man does not use this dominion responsibly, in the sense of a proper regard for stewardship on this earth.

3. (27-31) God's creation of man and initial commission to Adam.

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

a. So God created man in His own image: God created man according to His plan as described in Genesis 1:26. The concept of man being created in the image of God is repeated to give emphasis to the idea.

i. We are plainly told God created man fully formed, and created him in one day, not gradually over millions of years of progressive evolution. The idea that a slow, progressive evolution could produce a complex mechanism like the human body just doesn't hold up.

ii. It is said there would be at least 40 different stages of evolution required to form an eye. What possible benefit could there be for the first 39 stages? The mathematician D.S. Ulam argues it was highly improbable for the eye to evolve by the accumulation of small mutations, because the number of mutations must be so large and the time available was not nearly long enough for them to appear. Evolutionist Ernst Mayr commented: "Somehow or other by adjusting these figures we will come out all right. We are comforted by the fact that evolution has occurred." Johnson observes: "Darwinism to them was not a theory open to refutation but a fact to be accounted for." (Johnson)

iii. Darwin wrote: "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down." Professor Richard Goldschmidt, a geneticist at the University of California at Berkley, listed a series of complex structures (from the hair of mammals to hemoglobin) he thought could not have been produced by thousands of years of small mutations. "The Darwinists met this fantastic suggestion with savage ridicule. As Goldschmidt put it, 'This time I was not only crazy but almost a criminal.' … To suppose that such a random event could reconstruct even a single complex organ like a liver or kidney is about as reasonable as to suppose that an improved watch can be designed by throwing an old one against the wall." (Johnson)

b. Male and female He created them: This should not be construed to mean Adam was originally some type of androgynous being, being both male and female. This passage of Genesis gives us an overview of God's creation of man, and Genesis 2 will explain how exactly God created male and female.

i. In our day, many say there is no real difference between men and women. This makes sense if we are the result of mindless evolution, but not it is true that male and female He created them. To God, the differences between men and women are not accidents. Since He created them, the differences are good and meaningful.

ii. Men are not women, and women are not men. One of the saddest signs of our culture's depravity is the amount and the degree of gender confusion today.

iii. It is vain to wonder if men or women are superior to the other. A man is absolutely superior at being a man. A woman is absolutely superior at being a woman. But when a man tries to be a woman or a woman tries to be a man, you have something inferior.

c. Then God blessed them: the first thing God did for man was to bless him. Without the goodness of God's blessing, human life would be not only unbearable, but also impossible.

d. Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion: God also gives man a job to do: fulfill God's intention of man's exercise of dominion over the earth. Inherent in this command is that man should be fruitful and multiply andfill the earth. Man cannot fulfill God's plan for him on the earth unless he populates it.

i. Additionally, God gave mankind a desire for sex, which would make the populating of the earth quick and likely.

ii. However, many have thought that being fruitful and multiplying was God's only or main purpose for sex, but this isn't the case. The primary reason God created sex was to contribute to the bonding of a one-flesh relationship.

iii. Animals have sexual relations only for reproduction, but human sexual response is different from animal sexual response in many ways. Human ovulation has no outward sign; humans have sex in private; humans have secondary sexual characteristics (only in humans do females develop breasts before the first birth). Only humans demonstrate a constant availability for and interest in sex, as opposed to a "heat" season in animals. In humans, the duration of the sexual interlude is longer and the intensity of the pleasure of sex is stronger, and only humans continue to have intercourse after the end of fertility. None of these specifically human dimensions of sex are required for reproduction, but all of them are useful for sex as a tool of bonding.

e. To you it shall be for food: God gave man dominion over the whole earth, but only vegetation is specifically mentioned as being for food. Seemingly, before the flood, the human race was vegetarian, but after the flood, man was given permission to eat the flesh of animals (Genesis 9:3).

f. God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good: God's final analysis of His work of creation is that it was very good. God was pleased with His creation, and so are we!

i. When God pronounced the creation good, He really meant it. At the time, it was entirely good; there was no death or decay on earth at all.

4. The fossil discoveries of our "human ancestors" such as Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus africanus, Homo habilis, and Homo Erectus show that the search for our "human ancestors" has been one filled with dishonest science and wishful thinking.

a. Quoting Johnson: "The psychological atmosphere that surrounds the viewing of hominid fossils is uncannily reminiscent of the veneration of relics at a medieval shrine." In 1984, the American Museum of Natural History held an unprecedented showing of original fossils said to depict human evolution titled Ancestors.

b. From Johnson: "The 'priceless and fragile relics' were carried by anxious curators in first-class airplane seats and brought to the Museum in a VIP motorcade of limousines with police escort. Inside the Museum, the relics were placed behind bullet-proof glass to be admired by a select preview audience of anthropologists, who spoke in hushed voices because 'It was like discussing theology in a cathedral.' A sociologist observing this ritual of the anthropologist tribe remarked, 'Sounds like ancestor worship to me.' "

c. Solly Zuckerman is a committed evolutionist and one of Britain's most influential scientists. He also regards much of the fossil evidence for human evolution as nonsense. Zuckerman has subjected key fossils to years of biometric testing and declares that the idea that they walked and ran upright is flimsy wishful thinking. He remarked that the record of reckless speculation in the field of human origins "is so astonishing that it is legitimate to ask whether much science is yet to be found in this field at all." (Johnson)

d. "The story of human descent from apes is not merely a scientific hypothesis; it is the secular equivalent of the story of Adam and Eve, and a matter of immense cultural importance. Propagating the story requires illustrations, museum exhibits, and television reenactments. It also requires a priesthood, in the form of thousands of researchers, teachers, and artists who provide realistic and imaginative detail and carry the story out to the general public …. The scientific priesthood that has authority to interpret the official creation story gains immense cultural influence thereby, which it might lose if the story were called into question. The experts therefore have a vested interest in protecting the story, and in imposing rules of reasoning that make it invulnerable. When critics ask, 'Is your theory really true?' we should not be satisfied to be answered that 'it is good science, as we define science'." (Johnson)

e. Evolutionists are not interested in testing if their theory is true. They simply believe once you ignore the creating hand of God, it is the only explanation available, so their job is to figure out how it works, not if it is true.

5. Why is evolution so universally believed today?

a. In the 1920's, a former substitute teacher in a Tennessee school volunteered to be the defendant in a case meant to challenge a state law prohibiting the teaching of evolution in the public schools. The teacher wasn't even sure he had taught evolution, but the trial went ahead.

b. Prosecuting the case was William Jennings Bryan, former Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson, and a three-time Democratic candidate for President. Bryan believed in the Bible, but not literally. He thought the "days" of Genesis referred not to 24-hour days, but to historical ages of indefinite duration. Leading the defense was Clarence Darrow, a famous criminal lawyer and agnostic lecturer. Darrow maneuvered Bryan to take the stand as an expert witness on the Bible, and he humiliated Bryan in a devastating cross-examination. Once that purpose was accomplished, Darrow pleaded guilty on behalf of his client and paid a $100 fine.

c. The trial was therefore inconclusive, but the "Scopes Monkey Trial" was presented to the world by sarcastic journalist H.L. Mencken, Broadway, and Hollywood, and was a huge public relations triumph for Darwinism. People who believed in God's creation came to be thought of as fools and hicks, and evolution was given the veneer of respectability. Combine this with a strong anti-supernaturalism on the part of many scientists and educators, and today's acceptance of evolution is understandable.

d. The same attitude is used to squelch debate and questions about evolution today. "When outsiders question whether the theory of evolution is as secure as we have been led to believe, we are firmly told that such questions are out of order. The arguments among the experts are said to be about matters of detail, such as the precise time scale and the mechanism of evolutionary transformations. These disagreements are signs not of crisis but of healthy creative ferment within the field, and in any case there is no room for doubt whatever about something called the 'fact' of evolution." (Johnso

 

Does Genesis One Conflict with Science? Day-Age Interpretation
by Rich Deem

Genesis vs. Science
The most common Genesis interpretation promulgated in the U.S.A. is young earth creationism, which claims that the earth and the entire universe were created within the last 10,000 years. However, this interpretation suffers both biblical and scientific problems.

Rich Deem
Introduction
I believe in what has been called the "day-age" interpretation of Genesis one - that is, that each "day" is actually a long period of time during which God created life. This interpretation is not figurative in any way, but adheres to the scientific method in its analysis of the biblical texts. At its foundation is a literal translation of the Hebrew word, yom, which can mean a twelve hour period of time, a twenty-four hour period of time, or a long, indefinite period of time. The biblical basis for the translation of the word yom as long periods of time appear on another page.

Purpose of the creation account
I would first like to point out that God has not revealed the entire creation process in the Genesis creation account, but only that which is particularly relevant to mankind. Many events in the creation account of the Bible have been intentionally left out (unicellular life forms, dinosaurs, etc.), I believe, because they would have been difficult to express in the Hebrew language, and would have lead to confusion, since they would not have been understood through the vast majority of mankind's existence (i.e., only understandable in the last two centuries). The interpretation of the Genesis creation account should not be made independently of the remainder of the Bible, as many "young-earth" creationists do. The interpretation presented here is based upon the creation accounts found throughout the entire Bible (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, etc.1) as it relates to God's creation of the heavens and the Earth, and is consistent with all the biblical texts in addition to the revelations of science.

The Bible was the first written work to describe the expanding universe model for the universe (indicated by verses stating that God spreads out the heavens, 2), which is consistent with the Big Bang model.

Day-Age Genesis Interpretation
Interpretation Day Genesis text (NASB)
Most people read the Genesis creation account without using the scientific method and, therefore, make assumptions that are not supported by the text. For example, the first rule of the scientific method is to establish the initial conditions, or the frame of reference. Genesis 1:2 clearly states that the frame of reference is "the surface of the waters" of the earth. Most people have made the mistake of assuming the frame of reference of Genesis 1 is heaven or somewhere above the earth.
What does the text specifically say? The heavens (universe, solar system, sun, earth, etc.) were already created before the first "day" (Genesis 1:1, ~14 x 109 years ago). Science tells us that the entire planet was covered in a global sea soon after its creation (3). In other verses, the Bible says that the earth is controlled by the heavens, refuting geocentrism (4). In Genesis 1:2, God was "hovering or brooding" over the seas of the newly formed earth (4.4-3.8 x 109 years ago, 5). We know from science this is where the first unicellular life forms first appeared (6). The Hebrew word, rachaph, translated as "hovering or brooding" is used only twice in the Old Testament. The second reference is to an eagle caring for its young (7). Therefore, it seems likely that the use of the word rachaph in Genesis 1:2 may be referring to God creating the first life forms in the sea.

D
A
Y

1 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

1:2 And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
Both science and the Bible (8) have told us that at the earth's creation, it was covered with a dense layer of clouds and gases which would have made it dark at its surface. Genesis 1:2 says, "darkness was over the surface of the deep." Next, God removed much of the cloud cover, when He stated, "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3) This was the light of the Sun (already created) which now "separated light from darkness" (Genesis 1:4). It is very clear from the text that the sun had already been created and the earth was rotating on its axis, since there was light (day) and darkness (night) (Genesis 1:5). D
A
Y

1 1:3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.
1:4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

1:5 And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Genesis 1:6-10 describe the initiation of a stable water cycle (9) and formation of continents (10) through tectonic activity (~2.7 x 109 years ago) (11).
Continent FormationFormation of Continents
D
A
Y

2 1:6 Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."
1:7 And God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.
1:8 And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
1:9 Then God said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.
1:10 And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.
Plant life was created on the third day (Genesis 1:11-13, ~1.0 x 109 years ago). These verses are probably the strongest argument for the day-age interpretation. The verse says quite clearly that the earth sprouted (or brought forth) vegetation and fruit trees bearing fruit. The English word translated "vegetation" on the third day comes from the Hebrew word deshe', which refers to small plants, such as grasses and herbs. The other word, ‛eśeb, translated "plants" is even more generic, referring to any kind of green plant. So, the "day" encompasses the time from the formation of the first plants until the formation of the angiosperms. The process described is clearly similar to what we see today. Fruit trees take years to bear fruit, testifying that the third "day" could not possibly be just 24 hours long, as claimed by young earth creationists. Recent scientific evidence shows that plant life began on the land ~1 billion years ago (12) D
A
Y

3 1:11 Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth"; and it was so.
1:12 And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.
1:13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
Next the translucent cloud layer was removed so that the sun, moon and stars shown through. Notice the unusual construction in Genesis 1:14 which states, "Then God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;'" "Let there be" is an unusual way to describe de novo creation (see also verse 1:3). I believe that at this point God removed the translucent cloud cover from the planet to allow the stars, moon, and Sun to be seen from the surface of the earth (the frame of reference of all Genesis 1). The text then reiterates what God had already done in Genesis 1:1 regarding the creation of the sun, moon, and stars. The time frame describes events over days, seasons, and years - obviously more than 24 hours long. D
A
Y

4 1:14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;
1:15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth ";and it was so.
1:16 And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.
1:17 And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
1:18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.
1:19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
Birds (13) (~70 x 106 years ago), whales (14) (~50 x 106 years ago) and sea mammals ("swarms of living creatures," where "creatures" is the Hebrew word nephesh, referring to soulish animals - those that can form relationships with humans) were created on the "fifth" day (Genesis 1:20-21), which would correspond to the end of the Cretaceous period/beginning of the Tertiary.
The fifth day describes a period of time longer than 24 hours as swarms of living creatures are multiplying in the sea. D
A
Y

5 1:20 Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens."
1:21 And God created the great sea monsters, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
1:22 And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."
1:23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
On the sixth day God created the "beasts of the earth" (in Genesis 1:25 the Hebrew word is chayyah, which is best translated as "wild animal," usually referring to carnivorous mammals (15) (the extinct families Miacidae and Viverravidae, appeared ~50 x 106 years ago or current families Canidae, Felidae, Mustelidae, and Viverridae appeared ~30 x 106 years ago ) and the cattle (the Hebrew word is behemah, from which we get the word behemoth, the artiodactyls (large grazing mammals) appeared ~15 x 106 years ago) and the rodents (mammals that "creep on the ground"). Therefore, the wild and domesticated mammals and rodents were created on the sixth day. D
A
Y

6 1:24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind"; and it was so.


1:25 And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
The last creation of God was mankind, who was also created at the end of the sixth day. What about humans and three million year old fossil remains of bipedal primates? I believe in a literal Adam and Eve, although I do not believe they lived millions of years ago. The Bible indicates that Adam and Eve had a relationship with God (Genesis 2-3) and the text says that unique among all the animals, humans are endowed with a spirit (Hebrew, ruach, Greek, pneuma), by which they are able to communicate with and love God. Scientists have found no evidence of religious artifacts before about 25,000 to 50,000 years ago (16), which is the point at which I propose God created Adam and Eve. The Bible states that the covenant and laws of God have been proclaimed to a "thousand generations" (17). A biblical generation, described as being 40 years, would represent at least 40,000 years of human existence. However, since the first dozen or more generations were nearly 1,000 years, this would make humans nearly 50,000 years old, which agrees very well with dates from paleontology and molecular biology (see Descent of Mankind Theory: Disproved by Molecular Biology). Therefore, I believe that bipedal primates that existed before Adam and Eve, were just part of the animal kingdom, and were not endowed with the characteristics that make humans distinct from

 

Proverbs 4:20-22



My child, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh

 

The Lord's Prayer
(traditional)

Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
The power, and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen

 

Matthew Henry: A Paraphrase on the Lord's Prayer, in Scripture Expressions
The Lord's Prayer being intended not only for a form of prayer itself, but a rule of direction, a plan or model in miniature, by which we may frame our prayers; and the expressions being remarkably concise, and yet vastly comprehensive, it will be of good use sometimes to lay it before us, and observing the method and order of it, to dilate upon the several passages and petitions of it, that when we use it only as a form, we may use it the more intelligently; of which we shall only here give specimen in the assistance we may have from some other scriptures.

—Matthew Henry

OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN.
O lord our God, doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not; O Lord, thou art our Father, our Redeemer, thy name is from everlasting, Isa 63:16; and we will from this time cry unto thee, our Father, thou art the guide of our youth, Jer 3:4.

Have we not all one Father, has not one God created us, Mal 2:10? Thou art the Father of our spirits, to whom we ought to be in subjection and live, Hbr 12:9.

Thou art the Father of lights, Jam 1:17, and the Father of mercies, 2Cr 1:3, and the God of all consolation: the eternal Father, Isa 9:6, of whom, and through whom, and to whom, are all things, Rom 11:36.

Thou art the father of our Lord Jesus Chirst, Eph 1:3, whose Glory was that of the only begotten of the Father, who is in his bosom, by him as one brought up with him, daily his delight, and rejoicing always before him, Pro 8:30.

Thou art in Christ our Father, and the Father of all believers, whom thou hast predestinated to the adoption of children, Eph 1:5, and into whose hearts thou hast sent the Spirit of the Son, teaching them to cry, Abba Father, Gal 4:6. Behold what manner of love the Father, hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God, 1Jo 3:1. That the Lord God Almighty should be to us a Father, and we should be to him for sons and daughters, 2Cr 6:18; and that as many as receive Christ, to them thou shouldst give power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which are born, not of the will of man, but of God, Jhn 1:12-13, and his grace.

O that we may receive the adoption of sons, Gal 4:5, and that as obedient and genuine children we may fashion ourselves according to the example of him who hath called us, who is holy, 1Pe 1:14-15; and may be followers of God as dear children, Eph 5:1, and conformed to the image of his Son, who is the first-born among many brethren, Rom 8:29.

Enable us to come to thee with humble boldness and confidence, Eph 3:12, as to a Father, a tender Father, who spares us as a man spares his son that serves him, Mal 3:17; and as having an advocate with the Father, 1Jo 2:1, who yet has told us, that the Father himself loves us, Jhn 16:27.

Thou art a Father, but where is thine honour, Mal 1:6? Lord, give us grace to serve thee as becomes children, with reverence and godly fear, Hbr 12:28.

Thou art a Father; and if earthly parents, being evil, yet know how to give good gifts unto their children, how much more shall our heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him, Luk 11:13? Lord, give us the spirit of grace and supplication, Zec 12:10.

We come to thee as prodigal children, who have gone from our Father’s house into a far country; but we will arise and go to our Father, for in his house there is bread enough, and to spare, and if we continue at a distance from him, we perish with hunger. Father, we have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and are no more worthy to be called thy children, make us even as thy hired servants, Luk 15:13, 17-19.

Thou art our Father in Heaven, and therefore unto thee, O Lord, do we lift up our souls. Unto thee we lift up our eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. As the eyes of a servant are to the hand of his master, and the eyes of a maiden to the hand of her mistress, so do our eyes wait upon thee, O Lord our God, Psa 86:4; 123:1-2; a God whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, 1Ki 8:27, and yet to whom we may have access, having a High-priest that is passed into the heavens, as our fore-runner, Hbr 4:14.

Thou, O God, dwellest in the high and holy place, Isa 57:15, and holy and reverend in thy name, Psa 111:9. God is in the heaven, and we upon the earth, Ecc 5:2, therefore should we chuse out words to reason with him, Job 9:14; and yet through a mediator we have boldness to enter into the holiest, Hbr 10:19.

Look down, we pray thee, from heaven, and behold form the habitation of thy holiness, and of thy glory, Isa 63:15, and have compassion upon us, and help us, Mar 9:22.

Heaven is the firmament of thy power: O hear us from thy holy heaven, with the saving strength of thy right hand; send us help from the sanctuary, and strengthen us out of Zion, Psa 20:2, 6.

And, O that since heaven is our Father’s house, Jhn 14:2, we may have our conversation there, Phl 3:20, and may seek the things that are above, Col 3:1.

HALLOWED BE THY NAME.
And now, what is our petition, and what is our request, Est 5:6? What would we that thou shouldest do for us, Mat 20:32? This is our hearts’ desire and prayer, Rom 10:1 in the first place, Father in Heaven, let thy name be sanctified, Lev 10:3. We pray that thou mayest be glorified as a Holy God.

We desire to exalt the Lord our God, to worship at his footstool, at his holy hill, and to praise his great and terrible name, for it is holy, for the Lord our God is holy, Psa 99:3,5,9. Thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel, Psa 22:3.

We glory in thy holy name, and therefore shall our hearts rejoice, Psa 105:3, because we have trusted in that holy name of thine, Psa 33:21, to which we will always give thanks, and triumph in thy praise, Psa 106:47.

Lord, enable us to glorify thy holy name for evermore, by praising thee with all our hearts, Psa 86:12, and by bringing forth much fruit, for herein is our heavenly Father glorified, Jhn 15:8. O that we may be to our God for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory, Jer 13:11, that being called out of darkness into his marvellous light, to be to him a peculiar people, we may shew forth the praises of him that hath called us, 1Pe 2:9.

O that we may be thy children, the work of thy hands, that we may sanctify thy name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and fear the God of Israel, Isa 29:23, and may be to the praise of his glory, Eph 1:12.

Enable us, as we have recieved the gift, so to minister the same as good stewards of the manifold grace of God, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ: and if we suffer, enable us to suffer as christians, and to glorify God therein, 1Pe 4:10-11,16; for this is our earnest expectation and hope, that always Jesus Christ may be magnified in our bodies in life and death, Phl 1:20.

Lord, enable others to glorify thee, let even the strong people glorify thee, and the city of the terrile nations fear thee, Isa 25:3; but especially let the Lord be magnified from the border of Israel, Mal 1:5. Let them glorify the Lord in the fires, even the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea, Isa 24:15. O let all nations whom thou hast made, come and worship before thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name; for thou art great, and dost wondrous things, thou art God alone, Psa 86:9-10.

O let the gentiles glorify God for his mercy, let his name be known and confessed among the gentiles, and let them rejoice with his people, Rom 15:9-10. O let thy name be great among the gentiles, Mal 1:11, and let all the ends of the world remember and turen to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations worship before thee; and let the declare thy righteousness to a people that shall be born, Psa 22:27,31.

Lord, do thou thyself dispose of all things to thy own glory, both as king of nations, Jer 10:7, and as King of saints, Rev 15:3: do all according to the counsel of thy own will, Eph 1:11, That thou mayest magnify Thyself, and sanctify Thyself, and mayest be known in the eyes of many nations, that thou art the Lord, Eze 38:23. O sanctify thy great name, which has been profaned among the heathen, and let them know that thou art the Lord, when thou shalt be sanctified in them, Eze 36:23.

Father, glorify thine own name: thou bast glorified it, glorify it again, Jhn 12:27-28. Father, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify Thee, Jhn 17:1. O give him a name above every name, Phl 2:9, and in all places, and in all things let him have the pre-eminence, Col 1:18.

Lord, what wilt thou do for thy great name, Jos 7:9? Do this for thy great name; Pour out of thy Spirit upon all flesh, Joe 2:28; and let the word of Christ dwell richly in the hearts of all, Col 3:16. Be thou exalted, O Lord, among the heathen, be thou exalted in The earth, Psa 46:10; be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, let thy glory be above all the earth, Psa 57:11; be thou exalted, O Lord, in thine own strength, so will we sing and praise thy power, Psa 21:13. Do great things with thy glorious and everlasting arm, to make unto thyself a glorious and an everlasting name, Isa 63:12,14.

O let thy name be magnified for ever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel, 1Ch 17:24.

THY KINGDOM COME.
In order to the sanctifying and glorifying of thy holy name, Father in heaven, let thy kingdom come, for thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all: both riches and honour come of thee; thou reignest over all, and in thine hand is power and might in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all, 1Ch 29:11-12. And we desire to speak of the glorious majesty of thy kingdom, for it is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endures throughout all generations, Psa 145:12-13. Thou rulest by thy power for ever, thine eyes behold the nations. O let not the rebellious exalt themselves, Psa 66:7, but through the greatness of thy power let thine enemies submit themselves unto thee, Psa 66:3.

O make it to appear that the kingdom is thine, and that thou art The governor among the nations, so evident, that they may say among the heathen, The Lord reigneth, Psa 96:10; that all men may fear, and may declare the works of God, Psa 64:9, and may say, Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth, Psa 58:11. Make all the kings of the earth to know that the heavens do rule, even that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and to praise and extol, and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride be is able to abase, Dan 4:25-26, 37.

O let the kingdom of thy grace come more and more in the world, that kingdom of God which cometh not with observation, that kingdom of God which is within men, Luk 17:20-21. Let it be like leaven in the world, diffusing its relish till the whole be leavened, and like a grain of mustard seed, which, though it be the least of all seeds, yet when it is grown, is the greatest among herbs, Mat 13:31-33.

Let the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Christ. Take unto thyself thy great power, and reign, though the nations be angry, Rev 11:15,17. Set up thy throne there where Satan's seat is, Rev 2:13, let every thought be brought into obedience to thee, 2Cr 10:5, and let the law of thy kingdom be magnified and made honourable, Isa 42:21.

Let that kingdom of God, which is not in word, but in power, 1Cr 4:20, be setup in all the churches of Christ. Send forth the rod of thy strength out of thy Zion, and rule by the beauty of holiness, Psa 110:2-3.

Where the strong man armed hath long kept his palace, and his goods are in peace, let Christ who is stronger than he come upon him, and overcome him, and take from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divide the spoil, Luk 11:21-22.

O give to the son of man dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages may serve him, and the judgment may be given to the saints of the Most High, Dan 7:14,22.

Let the kingdom of thy grace come more and more in our land, and the places where we live. There let the word of the Lord have free course, and be glorified, 2Th 3:1, and let not the kingdom of God be taken from us as we have deserved it should, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof, Mat 21:43.

Let the kingdom of thy grace come into our hearts, that they may be the temples of the Holy Ghost, 1Cr 3:16. Let no iniquity have dominion over us, Psa 119:133. Overturn, overturn, overturn the power of corruption there, and let him come whose right our hearts are, and give them him, Eze 21:27; make us willing, more and more willing, in the day of thy power, Psa 110:3. Rule in us by the power of truth, that being of the truth, we may always hear Christ’s voice, Jhn 18:37, and may not only call him Lord, Lord, but do the things that he saith, Luk 6:46. And let the love of Christ command us, and constrain us, 2Cr 5:14, and his fear be before our eyes, that we sin not, Exd 20:20.

O let the kingdom of thy glory be hastened; we believe it will come, we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus, to come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, Mat 24:30; we hope that he shall appear to our joy, Isa 66:5; we love his appearing, 2Ti 4:8; we are looking for, and hasting to the coming of the day of God, 2Pe 3:12; make us ready for it, Mat 24:44, that we may then lift up our heads with joy, knowing that our redemption draws nigh, Luk 21:28. And, O that we may have such first-fruits of the Spirit, that we ourselves may groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, even the redemption of our body, Rom 8:23; and may have a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is best of all, Phl 1:23.

Blessed Jesus, be with thy ministers and people as thou hast said always even unto the end of the world, Mat 28:20. and then, as thou hast said, Surely, I come quickly; Even so, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, Rev 22:20: when the mystery of God shall be finished, Rev 10:7, make hast our beloved, and be thou like to a roe, or a young hart upon the mountains of spices, Sgs 8:14.

THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
And as an evidence that thy kingdom comes, and in order to the sanctifying of thy name, Father in heaven, let thy holy will be done. We know, O Lord that whatsoever thou pleasest, that thou doest in heaven, and in earth, in the sea, and in the deep places, Psa 135:6; thy counsel shall stand, and thou wilt do all thy pleasure, Isa 46:10: Even so be it, Holy Father, not our will, but thine be done, Luk 22:42. As thou hast thought, so it come to pass; and as thou hast purposed, let it stand, Isa 14:24. Do all according to the counsel of thine own will, Eph 1:12. make even those to serve thy purposes who have not known thee, Isa 45:4, and who mean not so, neither doth their heart think so, Isa 10:7.

Father, let thy will be done concerning us and ours: Behold here we are; It is the Lord, let him do to us as seemth good unto him, 2Sa 15:26; The will of the Lord be done, Act 21:14. O give us to submit to thy will in conformity to the example of the Lord Jesus, who said, Not as I will, but as thou wilt, Mat 26:39; and to say, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord, Job 1:21. Shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive evil also, Job 2:10?

Father, let the Scriptures be fulfilled, Mat 26:56; the scriptures of the prophets, which cannot be broken, Jhn 10:35. though heaven and earth pass away, let not one iota or tittle of thy word pass away, Mat 24:35. Do what is written in the Scriptures of Truth, and let it appear that for ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven, Psa 119:89.

Lord, give grace to each of us to know and do the will of our Father which is in heaven, Mat 12:50. This is the will of God, even our sanctification, 1Th 4:3. Now the God of peace sanctify us wholly, 1Th 5:23. O let us be filled with the knowledge of thy will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, Col 1:9, and make us perfect in every good work to do thy will, Hbr 13:21. O let the time past of our life suffice us to have wrought the will of the flesh, 1Pe 4:3, and to have walked according to the course of this world, Eph 2:2: and henceforth grant that it may always be our meat and drink to do the will of our Father, Jhn 4:34, and to finish his work, Jhn 6:38; not to do our own will, but his that sent us, that we may be of those that shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, Mat 7:21, and not those that shall be beaten with many stripes.

Lord give grace to others also, to know and do thy will; to prove what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God, Rom 12:2; not to be unwise, but understanding that the will of the Lord is, Eph 5:17; and then give them to stand perfect and complete in all the will of God, Col 4:12. And let us all serve our generations according to that will, Act 13:36. And when we have done the will of God, let us inherit the promises, Hbr 10:36; and let that part of the will of God be done; Lord, let the word which thou hast spoken concerning thy servants be established for ever, and do as thou hast said, 1Ch 17:23.

We rejoice that thy will is done in Heaven; that the holy angels do thy commandments, and always hearken to the voice of thy word, Psa 103:20, that they always behold the face of our Father, Mat 18:10: and we lament that thy will is so little done on earth, so many of the children of men being led captive by Satan at his will, 2Ti 2:26. O that this earth may be made more like heaven! And saints more like the holy angels! And that we who hope to be shortly as the angels of God in heaven, Mat 22:30, may now, like them, not rest from praising him, Rev 4:8; may now, like them, resist and withstand Satan; may be as a flame of fire, Psa 104:4, and fly swiftly, Dan 9:21, and may go strait forward whithersoever to Spirit goes, Eze 1:9,12; may minister for the good of others, and thus may come into communion with the innumerable company of angels, Hbr 12:22.

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD.
Thou, O God, who hast appointed us to seek first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof, hast promised that if we do so, other things shall be added unto us, Mat 6:33: and therefore, having prayed for the sanctifying of thy name, the coming of thy kingdom, and the doing of thy will, we next pray, Father in Heaven, give us this day, give us day by day our daily bread, Luk 11:3.

Remove far from us vanity and lies: give us neither poverty not riches; feed us with food convenient for us, Pro 30:8-9, lest we be full and dent thee, and say, Who is the Lord? Or, lest we be poor and steal, and take the name of our God in vain.

Lord, we ask not for dainties, for they are deceitful meat, Pro 23:3; nor do we pray that we may fare sumptuously every day, for we would not in our life time receive our good things, Luk 16:19,25; but we pray for that bread which is necessary to strengthen man's heart, Psa 104:15. We desire not to eat the bread of deceit, Pro 20:17, nor to drink any stolen waters, Pro 9:17, nor would we eat the bread of idleness, Pro 31:27, but that if it be thy will we may eat the labour of our hands, Psa 128:2, that with quietness we may work, and eat our own bread, 2Th 3:12; and having food and raiment, give us to be therewith content, 1Ti 6:8, and to say, We have all, and abound, Phl 4:18.

Bless, Lord, our substance, and accept the work of our hands, Deu 33:11; and give us wherewithal to provide for our own, even for those of our own house, 1Ti 5:8, and to leave an inheritance, as far as is just to our children's children, Pro 13:22. Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, prosper thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish thou it, Psa 90:17. Bless, Lord, our land with the precious things of the earth, and the fulness thereof; but above all let us have the good-will of him that dwelt in the bush, even the blessing that was upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the head of him that was separated from his brethren, Deu 33:13, 16.

But if the fig-tree should not blossom, and there should be no fruit in the vine; if the labour of the olive should fail, and the field should yield no meat, if the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there should be no herd in the stall, yet let us have grace to rejoice in the Lord, and to joy in the God of our salvation, Hab 3:17-18.

Father, we ask not for bread for a great while to come, but that we may have this day our daily bread; for we would learn, and the Lord teach us, not to take thought for the morrow, what we shall eat, or what we shall drink, or wherewithal we shall be cloathed, but we cast the care upon thee, our heavenly Father, who knowest that we have need of all these things; who feedest the fowls of the air, though they sow not, neither do they reap, and wilt much more feed us, who are of more value than many sparrows, Mat 6:31-32.

Nor do we pray for daily bread for ourselves only, but for others also. O satisfy thy poor with bread, Psa 132:15. Let all that walk righteously and speak uprightly dwell on high: let the place of their defense be the munition of rocks, let bread be given to them, and let their waters be sure, Isa 33:15-16.

AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS.
And, Lord, as duly as we pray every day for our daily bread, we pray for the forgiveness of our sins; for we are all guilty before God, have all sinned, and have come short of the glory of God, Rom 3:19,23. In many things we all offend every day, Jam 3:2. Who can tell how often he offends? If thou shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared, Psa 130:3-4. God be merciful to us sinners.

We have wasted our Lord’s goods, Luk 16:19,25, we have buried the talents we were entrusted with, Mat 25:18, nor have we rendered again according to the benefit done unto us, 2Ch 32:25, and thus we come to be in debt. The Scripture has concluded us all under sin, Gal 3:22; we have done such things as are worthy of death, Rom 1:32, things for which the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience, Eph 5:6. Our debt is more than ten thousand talents, it is a great debt, and -we have nothing to pay, so far are we from being able to say, Have patience with us, and we will pay thee all, Mat 18:24-26,32. Justly therefore might our adversary deliver us to the judge, and the judge to the officer, to be cast into prison, the prison of hell, till we pay the last farthing, Mat 5:25-26.

But blessed be God, there is a way found out of agreeing with our adversary; for if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins, 1Jo 2:1-2. For his salve, we pray thee, blot out all our transgressions, Psa 51:1, and enter not into judgment with us, Psa 143:2. He is our surety, Hbr 7:22 who restored that which he took not away, Psa 69:4, that blessed Days-man, which hath laid his hand upon us both, Job 9:33, through him let us be reconciled unto God, 2Cr 5:20, and let the hand-writing which was against us, which was contrary to us, be blotted out, and taken out of the way, being nailed to the cross of Christ, Col 2:13-14, that we may be quickened together with Christ, having all our trespasses forgiven us. Be thou merciful to our unrighteousnesses, and our sins and our iniquities do thou remember no more, Hbr 8:12.

And give us, we pray thee to receive the atonement, Rom 5:11, to know that our sins are forgiven us, 1Jo 2:12. Speak peace to us, Psa 85:8, and make us to hear joy and gladness, Psa 51:8. Let the blood of Christ thy Son cleanse us from all sin, 1Jo 1:7 and purge our consciences from dead works, to serve the living God, Hbr 9:14.

And as an evidence that thou hast forgiven our sins, we pray thee give us grace to forgive our enemies, to love them that hate us, and bless them that curse us; for we acknowledge, that if we forgive not men their trespasses, neither will our Father forgive our trespasses; Mat 5:44; 6:15 and, therefore, we forgive, Lord, we desire heartily to forgive, if we have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave us, Col 3:13. Far be it from us to say, that we will recompense evil, Pro 20:22, or that we should avenge ourselves, Rom 12:19, but we pray that all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking may be put away from us, with all malice; and that we may be kind one to another, and tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake we hope hath forgiven us, Eph 4:31-32. O make us merciful as our Father which is in heaven is merciful, who hath promised that with the merciful, he will shew himself merciful, Psa 18:25.

AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
And, Lord, forasmuch as there is in us a bent to backslide from thee, Hsa 11:7, so that when our sing are forgiven we are ready to return again to folly, Psa 85:8, we pray that thou wilt not only forgive us our debts, but take care of us, that we may not offend any more, Job 34:3. Lord, lead us not into temptation. We know that no man can say when he is tempted, that he is tempted of God for God tempteth not any man, Jam 1:13; but we know that God is able to make all grace abound towards us, 2Cr 9:8, and to keep us from falling, and present us faultless, Jud 1:24. We, therefore, pray that thou wilt never give us up to our own heart's lusts, to walk in our own counsels, Psa 81:12, but restrain Satan, that roaring Lion, that goes about seeking whom he may devour, 1Pe 5:8; and grant that we may not be ignorant of his devices, 2Cr 2:11. O let not Satan have us, to sift us as wheat; or however let not our faith fail, Luk 22:31-32. Let not the messengers of Satan be permitted to buffet us; but if they be, let thy grace be sufficient for us, that where we are weak, there we may be strong, 2Cr 12:7-10, and may be more than conquerors through him that loved us, Rom 8:37. And the God of peace tread Satan under our feet, and do it shortly, Rom 16:20. And since we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, let us be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, Eph 6:10,12.

Lord grant that we may never enter into temptation, Mat 26:41, but having prayed, may set a watch, Neh 4:9; let thy wise and good Providence so order all affairs, and all events that are concerning us, that no temptation may take us, but such as is common to men, and that we may never be tempted above what we are able 1Cr 10:31 to discern, resist, and overcome through the grace of God. Lord, do not lay any stumbling-blocks before us, Jer 6:21, that we should fall upon them and perish. Let nothing be an occasion of falling to us, Rom 14:13, but give us that great peace which they have that love thy law, whom nothing shall offend, Psa 119:165.

And, lead us, we pray thee, into all truth; lead us in thy truth, Jhn 16:13, and teach us, for thou art the God of our salvation. Shew us thy ways, O God, and teach us thy paths, the paths of righteousness; O lead us in those paths for thy name's sake, that so we may be led beside the still waters. Psa 25:4-5; 23:2-3.

And deliver us we pray thee, from the Evil One; keep us that the Wicked One touch us not, 1Jo 5:18, that he sow not his tares Mat 13:25 in the field of our hearts, that we be not ensnared by his wiles, or wounded by his fiery darts, Eph 6:11,16; let the word of God abide in us, that we may be strong, and may overcome the Wicked One, 1Jo 2:14.

Deliver us from every evil thing, we pray, that we may do no evil, 2Cr 13:7: O deliver us from every evil work, 2Ti 4:18, save us from our sins, Mat 1:21, redeem us from all iniquity, Tts 2:14, especially the sin that doth most easily beset us, Hbr 12:1. Hide pride from us, Job 33:17; remove from us the way of lying; let us not eat of sinners’ dainties; incline our hearts to thy testimonies, and not to covetousness; and keep us that we never speak unadvisedly with our lips: but especially keep back thy servants from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over us. Psa 119:29; 141:4; 119:36; 106:33; 19:13; 91:10.

Preserve us, we pray thee, that no evil thing may befal us; let thy hand be with us, and keep us from evil, that it may not hurt us, 2Ch 4:10. O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee, from those that rise up against them! Shew us thy marvellous loving-kindness, and keep us as the apple of thine eye, hide us under the shadow of thy wings, Psa 17:7-8. Keep that which we commit unto thee, 2Ti 1:12. Thou bast delivered, dost deliver, and we trust, and pray that thou wilt yet deliver, 2Cr 1:10, wilt deliver us from all our fears, Psa 34:4. O make us to dwell safely, and grant that we may be quiet from the fear of evil, Pro 1:33. And bring us safe at last to that holy mountain, where there is no pricking briar, or grieving thorn, Eze 28:24, nothing to hurt or destroy, Isa 11:9.

FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM, THE POWER, AND THE GLORY, FOREVER. AMEN.
Father in heaven, let thy kingdom come, for thine is the kingdom, thou art God in heaven, and rulest over all the kingdoms of the heathen, 2Ch 20:6; let thy will be done, for thine is the power, and there is nothing too hard for thee, Jer 32:17: let thy name be sanctified, for thine is the glory, and thou hast set thy glory above the heavens, Psa 8:1.

Father in heaven, supply our wants, pardon our sins, and preserve us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, and thou art Lord over all, who are rich to all that call upon thee, Rom 10:12. None can forgive sins but thou only, Mar 2:7; let thy power be great Num 14:17 in pardoning our sins: and since it is the glory of God to pardon sin, Pro 25:2, and to help the helpless, help us, O God of our salvation; for the glory of thy name deliver us, and purge away our sins for thy name sake, Psa 79:9.

We desire in all our prayers to praise thee, for thou art great, and greatly to be praised, Psa 145:3. We praise thy kingdom, for it is an everlasting kingdom, and endures throughout all generations, Psa 145:13; 45:6-7, and the sceptre of thy kingdom, is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness, Psa 62:12. To thee belongeth mercy, and thou renderest to every man according to his works. We praise thy power, for thou hast a mighty arm, strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand, and yet judgment and justice are the habitation of thy throne, mercy and truth shall go before thy face, Psa 89:13-14. We praise thy glory, for the glory of the Lord shall endure for ever, Psa 104:31. Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the Beginning, is now, and ever shall be. O let God be praised in his sanctuary, and praised in the firmament of his power; let him be praised for his mighty acts, and praised according to his excellent greatness. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah, Psa 150:1-2,6.

And forasmuch as we know that he heareth us, and whatsoever we ask, according to his will, in faith, we have the petitions that we desired of him, 1Jo 5:15, we will triumph in his praise, Psa 106:47. Now know we that the Lord hearth his Anointed, and for his sake will hear us from his holy Heaven with the saving strength of his right hand, Psa 20:6; and therefore, in token not only of our desire, but of our assurance to be heard in Christ’s name, we say, Amen, Amen.

 

"Pray without ceasing." This command does not require the incessant recitation of prayers. Rather, it is a call to a prayerful way of living: "continuing steadfastly in prayer" (Romans 12:12). Praying without ceasing is primarily an attitude of the heart. To pray without ceasing is to have the inner man humbly dependent upon the Lord, while consistently addressing actual prayers to the Lord.

Paul was such a man of prayer. The Lord was definitely the object of his expectations: "the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope" (1 Timothy 1:1). In addition, he consistently offered prayers unto the Lord: "without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers…do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers…without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day" (Romans 1:9; Ephesians 1:16; and 2 Timothy 1:3). Notice also, Paul's prayers included recurring prayer for others. Those who live by grace develop hearts of intercession, praying that others might enjoy the grace of God as well.

It is common among the spiritual examples of Scripture to find lives of prayer. David was clearly one who prayed without ceasing. A great portion of his Psalms are prayers to the Lord. Some Psalms testify of his habit of prayer. "Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice" (Psalm 55:17). Jeremiah was a man of prayer. "O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of affliction…Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved…Give heed to me, O LORD, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me!" (Jeremiah 16:19; 17:14; and 18:19). Daniel was also a man of prayer. "He knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days" (Daniel 6:10). Likewise, those who truly live by grace increasingly become people of prayer.

O God of all grace, I want to live in humble dependence upon Your abounding grace. Teach me to express humility and faith in a life of unceasing prayer. This I pray through Christ Jesus my Lord, Amen.

 

Psa 107:15 Oh that [men] would praise the LORD [for] his goodness, and [for] his wonderful works to the children of men!

Psa 108:4 For thy mercy [is] great above the heavens: and thy truth [reacheth] unto the clouds.

Psa 113:2 Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.

Psa 113:3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name [is] to be praised.

Psa 113:5,6 Who [is] like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high,

Who humbleth [himself] to behold [the things that are] in heaven, and in the earth

 

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, harmony;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life

This is referred to a The prayer of Saint Francis, although it can only be traced to 1918. Not a biblical writing, but inspired all the same.

 

Father in Heaven,
ever-living source of all that is good,
keep me faithful in serving You.
Help me to drink of Christ's Truth,
and fill my heart with His Love
so that I may serve You in faith
and love and reach eternal life.
In the Sacrament of the Eucharist
You give me the joy of sharing Your Life.
Keep me in Your presence.
Let me never be separated from You
and help me to do Your Will.

 

Genesis 2

CREATION COMPLETED; ADAM IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN
A. The completion of creation.

1. (1-3) The seventh day of creation.

Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which 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.

a. And He rested on the sevent day: God did not need rest on the seventh day because He was tired. He rested to show His creating work was done, to give a pattern to man regarding the structure of time (in seven-day weeks), and to give an example of the blessing of rest to man on the seventh day.

i. The seven-day week is permanently ingrained in man. Though some through history tried to change the seven-day week (a ten-day week was attempted during the French Revolution), those attempts have come to nothing. We are on a seven-day cycle because God is on a seven-day cycle.

b. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it: God sanctified the seventh day because it was a gift to man for rest and replenishment, and most of all because the Sabbath is a shadow of the rest available through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

i. Colossians 2:16-17 and Galatians 4:9-11 make it clear that Christians are not under obligation to observe the Sabbath today, because Jesus fulfilled the purpose and plan of the Sabbath for us and in us (Hebrews 4:9-11). Yet Christians do not lose the Sabbath; every day is a day of rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Every day is specially set apart to God.

ii. Though we are free from the legal obligation of the Sabbath, we dare not ignore the importance of a day of rest. God has built us so we need one. But we are also commanded to work six days. "He who idles his time away in the six days is equally culpable in the sight of God as he who works on the seventh." (Clarke) In our modern world of four or five day workweeks and generous vacation time, surely more "leisure time" can be given to the work of the LORD.

c. In it He rested from all His work: Though God rested on the sevent day of creation, He did not institute the Sabbath or show us His rest for His own sake. God does not take the Sabbath off. Jesus Himself said, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working" (John 5:17). God does not need a day off, but man needs to see the rest of God and know he can enter into it by the finished work of Jesus.

i. The description of each other day of creation ended with the phrase, "so the evening and the morning were the … day." However, this seventh day of creation does not have that phrase. This is because God's rest for us isn't confined to one literal day. In Jesus, God has an eternal Sabbath rest for His people (Hebrews 4:9-11).

ii. "God, having completed His work of creation, rests, as if to say, 'This is the destiny of those who are My people; to rest as I rest, to rest in Me.' " (Boice)

2. (4-7) The history of the heavens and the earth.

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, 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. 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.

a. This is the history of the heavens and the earth: This probably ends the "genealogy" of the heavens and the earth, a history given directly by God to either Moses or Adam, recording the history of God's seven-day creation. This was something no human was present to witness.

b. In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens: This is the first use of LORD (Yahweh) in the Bible. Our English word Lord comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for bread (as does our word loaf), because ancient English men of high stature would keep a continual open house, where all could come and get bread to eat. They gained the honorable title of lords, meaning "dispensers of bread."

c. Before any plant of the field was in the earth: This history begins before there was any vegetation on the earth at all (back to Genesis 1:1), a time when there was only space and a watery globe we know as the earth.

d. The LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth: When God first created vegetation (on the third day of creation, Genesis 1:11-13), man was not yet been created to care for the vegetation of the earth, and there was no rain. The thick blanket of water vapor in the outer atmosphere created on the second day of creation (Genesis 1:6-8) made for no rain cycle (as we know it) but for a rich system of evaporation and condensation, resulting in heavy dew or ground-fog.

e. The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground: When God created man He made him out of the most basic elements, the dust of the ground. There is nothing "spectacular" in what man is made of, only in the way those basic things are organized.

i. When the Bible speaks of dust, it means something of little worth, associated with lowliness and humility (Genesis 18:27; 1 Samuel 2:8; 1 Kings 16:2). In the Bible, dust isn't evil and it isn't nothing; but it is next to nothing.

f. And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being: With this Divine breath man became a living being, like other forms of animal life (the term chay nephesh is used in Genesis 1:21, 1:21, and here). Yet only man is a living being made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27).

i. The word for breath in Hebrew is ruach - the word imitates the very sound of breath - is the same word for Spirit, as is the case in both ancient Greek (pneuma) and Latin (spiritus). God created man by putting His breath, His Spirit, within him.

ii. "The implication, readily seen by any Hebrew reader, [is] that man was specially created by God's breathing some of His own breath into him." (Boice)

iii. The King James Version reads: man became a living soul. This makes some wonder if man is a soul, or if man has a soul. This passage seems to indicate that man is a soul, while passages like 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and Hebrews 4:12 seem to indicate that man has a soul. It seems that the Scripture speaks in both ways, and uses the term in different ways and in different contexts.

B. Adam in the Garden of Eden.

1. (8-9) Two trees in the Garden of Eden.

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.

a. The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden: Eden was a garden specifically planted by God; it was a place God made to be a perfect habitation for Adam (and later, Eve).

b. There he put the man whom He had formed: The details in the creation of Adam and Eve teach us something. After reading Genesis 1, we might assume man and woman were made at the same time, but the text doesn't specifically say so. We assume it. We don't know the details about man's creation until Genesis 2.

c. Out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow: The rest of Genesis chapter 2 does not present a different or contradictory account of creation. Rather, it is probably the history of creation from Adam's perspective. This is Adam's experience of creation, which does not contradict the account of Genesis 1:1-2:7 - it fills it out.

i. In Matthew 19:4-5, Jesus refered to events in Genesis 1 and to events in Genesis 2 as one harmonious account.

d. The tree of life … the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: These two trees were among all the other trees God created and put in the Garden of Eden.

i. The tree of life was to grant (or to sustain) eternal life (Genesis 3:22). God still has a tree of life available to the His people (Revelation 2:7), which is in heaven (Revelation 22:2).

ii. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the "temptation" tree. Eating the fruit of this tree would give Adam an experiential knowledge of good and evil. Or, it is possible that it is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil not so man would know good and evil, but so God could test good and evil in man.

2. (10-14) Rivers in the Garden.

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 which goes around the whole land of Cush. 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.

a. Now a river went out of Eden: The whole feel of this account gives the sense that it was written by an actual eyewitness of the rivers and surroundings. Adam probably wrote this himself.

b. The name of the first is Pishon: These rivers are given specific names which answer to names of rivers known in either their modern or ancient world. However, the names of these rivers can't be used to determine the place of the Garden of Eden because the flood dramatically changed the earth's landscape and "erased" these rivers.

i. We know modern rivers today such as the Tigris or Euphrates because some rivers in the post-flood world were named after familiar pre-flood rivers by Noah and his sons.

3. (15-17) God's command to Adam.

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."

a. Put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it: God put Adam into the most spectacular paradise the world has seen, but God put Adam there to do work (to tend and keep it). Work is something good for man and was part of Adam's perfect existence before the fall.

i. "The ideal state of sinless man is not one of indolence without responsibility. Work and duty belong to the perfect state." (Leupold)

b. Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat: The presence of this tree - the presence of a choice for Adam - was good because for Adam to be a creature of free will, there had to be a choice, some opportunity to rebel against God. If there is never a command or never something forbidden there can then never be choice. God wants our love and obedience to Him to be the love and obedience of choice.

i. Considering all that, look at Adam's advantages. He only had one way he could sin and we have countless ways. There are many trees of temptation in our lives, but Adam had only one.

ii. God made this command originally to Adam, not to Eve; God had not yet brought woman out of man.

c. In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die: God not only made His command clear to Adam, but He also clearly explained the consequences for disobedience.

C. God creates the first woman.

1. (18) God declares He will make a helper comparable to Adam.

And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him."

a. It is not good that man should be alone: For the first time, God saw something that was not good - the aloneness of man. God never intended for man to be alone, either in the marital or social sense.

i. Marriage, in particular, has a blessed "civilizing" influence on man. The most wild, violent, sociopathic men in history have always been single, never under the plan God gave to influence men for good. This is not good!

b. I will make him a helper comparable to him: God's "blueprint" for creating this companion to Adam was to make a helper comparable to Adam.

i. Different versions of the Bible translate this idea in a variety of ways, but the idea is essentially the same in each of them:

- Helper meet (suitable, adapted, completing) (Amplified)
- A companion … a helper suited to his needs (Living)
- A helper such as he needs (Beck)
- A helper correspondent to himself (Septuagint Bible)
- A helper suitable (NIV, NASB)
- A help meet for him (KJV)
c. A helper comparable: In reference to the marriage relationship, God created woman to be a perfectly suitable helper to the man. This means God gave the plan and agenda to Adam, and he and the woman together work to fulfill it.

i. The phrase "in reference to the marriage relationship" is used because God has not ordained women to be helpers to men in authority (instead of being in authority themselves), except in marriage and in the church (1 Timothy 2:12-13).

ii. God gives to man the responsibility (and the accountability) to be the leader in the home and gives to the woman the responsibility and the accountability to help him.

iii. This does not mean there is to be no help from the man to the woman (though in many cases this is sadly true). It means when God looks down from heaven upon the family, He sees a man in leadership, good or bad, faithful or not, to the calling of leadership. A true leader will, of course, help those helping him.

iv. We only see "helping" as a position of inferiority when we think like the world thinks. God considers positions of service as most important in His sight (Matthew 20:25-28).

d. A helper comparable: Not only was the woman to be a helper, but also she was made comparable to the man. She should be considered and honored as such. A woman or wife cannot be regarded as a mere tool or worker, but as an equal partner in God's grace and an equal human being.

2. (19-20) No helper was found comparable for Adam among the animals.

Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

a. Brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: If Adam had the capability to intelligently name all the animals, it shows he was a brilliant man. Since at this time Adam's intellect had not yet suffered from the fall, he was probably the most brilliant man who ever lived. Adam was the first and greatest of all biologists and botanists.

b. So Adam gave names: Adam did not name any other animal after himself, calling any other animal "man" or "human." By this, we see he understood that he was essentially different from all the animals. They were not made in the image of God.

i. Mark Twain had a joke where he described Adam coming home to Eve after naming all the animals. Eve looked at an elephant and said, "What did you name that big animal?" Adam replied, "I called it an elephant." Eve asked, "Why did you call it an elephant?" Adam answered, "Because it looked like an elephant!"

c. But for Adam there was not found a helper: It was obvious to Adam that the animals came in pairs and he had no mate. Since God deliberately had Adam name the animals after seeing his need for a partner (Genesis 2:18), God used this to prepare Adam to receive the gift of woman.

3. (21-22) God makes the first woman from Adam's side.

And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

a. God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam: This is the first "surgery" recorded in history. God even used a proper anesthetic on Adam.

b. The rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman: God used Adam's own body to create Eve to forever remind him of their essential oneness. As Adam came to know Eve he would see many ways that they were different, but he must never forget that they are essentially one and that they are made of the same substance. They are more alike than they are different.

i. What exactly did God take from Adam's side to make Eve? We don't really know, and it doesn't really matter. Modern research into cloning and genetic replication shows every cell in our body contains the body's entire genetic blueprint. God took some of Adam's cells and changed their genetic blueprint in the creation of Eve. Nevertheless, the story that women have one more rib than men because of the way Eve was created is a myth.

ii. We also know the Bride of Christ comes from the wound made in the side of the second Adam, Jesus Christ.

iii. There is a beautiful Jewish tradition saying God made woman, not out of man's foot to be under him, nor out of his head to be over him, but "She was taken from under his arm that he might protect her and from next to his heart that he might love her." (Barnhouse)

c. He made into a woman: It is important to realize that there are not two beginnings to the human race, one in Adam and one in Eve. There was one beginning of the human race in Adam.

d. And He brought her to the man: God brought Eve to Adam and created Eve out of Adam. He was first - the source and the head. She was created to be a helper perfectly suited to him. Thus the subordinate relationship of wives to husbands is found before the curse, not only after it.

4. (23) Adam's brilliant understanding of who Eve is and how she is related to him.

And Adam said:
"This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man."

a. This is now bone of my bones: Adam recognized that Eve was both like him (bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh) and not like him (woman … taken out of man).

b. Flesh of my flesh: Adam understood the essential oneness in his relationship with Eve. This point is so important that it is referred to several times in the New Testament, including the great marriage passage in Ephesians 5:28-29: so husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it (Ephesians 5:28-29).

i. No one walks into a room and seeks the most uncomfortable seat. The natural concern we have for ourselves causes us to take care of ourselves. In a healthy marriage relationship the husband realizes the essential union he has with his wife, that he cannot bless her without blessing himself and he cannot mistreat or neglect her without mistreating or neglecting himself.

c. She was taken out of Man: Adam recognized that though he and Eve were one, she was not the same as him. He understood that two different people were becoming one. 1 Peter 3:7 tells husbands to recognize that they are one with someone different, someone whom they must understand: Likewise you husbands, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel.

i. If men and women are different, are they equal? Elisabeth Elliot, quoted in Boice: "In what sense is red equal to blue? They are equal only in the sense that both are colors in the spectrum. Apart from that they are different. In what sense is hot equal to cold? They are both temperatures, but beyond this it is almost meaningless to talk about equality."

d. She shall be called woman: "Woman has been defined by many as compounded for wo and man, as if called man's wo because she tempted him to eat the forbidden fruit; but this is no meaning of the original word, nor could it be intended, as the transgression was not then committed." (Clarke)

5. (24-25) The marriage of Adam and Eve.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

a. They shall become one flesh: The marriage principle stated here is based upon the dynamic of oneness yet distinction. A man and wife can truly come together in a one-flesh relationship, yet they must be joined. It is a spiritual fact, but the benefits of that oneness are not appropriated by accident or by chance.

b. They shall become one flesh: This passage forms the foundation for the Bible's understanding of marriage and family. Both Jesus (Matthew 19: 5) and Paul (Ephesians 5:31) quoted it in reference to marriage.

i. "The institution of monogamous marriage, home, and family as the basic medium for the propagation of the race and the training of the young is so common to human history that people seldom pause to reflect on how or why such a custom came into being." (Morris)

ii. Many want to believe that the monogamous, two-parent family was invented in the 1950's by American television icons Ozzie and Harriet, but Adam and Eve are the original family. This is God's ideal family. This isn't polygamy. This isn't concubinage. This isn't the keeping of mistresses. This isn't adultery. This isn't homosexual co-habitation. This isn't promiscuity. This isn't living together outside the marriage bond. This isn't serial marriage. This is God's ideal for the family, and even when we don't live up to it, it is still important to set it forth as God's ideal.

c. One flesh: The idea of one flesh is taken by many to be mainly a way of expressing sexual union. While sexual union is certainly related to the idea of one flesh, it is only one part of what it means to be one flesh. There are also important spiritual dimensions to one flesh.

i. Paul makes it clear the sexual union has one flesh implications even when we don't intend so, as when a man has sex with a prostitute (1 Corinthians 6:16). Husband and wife become "one flesh" under God's blessing. In extramarital sex, the partners become "one flesh" under God's curse.

ii. In this sense, there is no such thing as "casual sex." Every sexual relationship at least begins a one-flesh bond. The bond will either be something beautiful (like the beautiful dancing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers) or it will be something grotesque (like Siamese twins).

iii. It depends on whether the bonding takes place in a relationship with the right conditions: committed love, demonstrated by the marriage commitment, and a pursuit of true intimacy. Just because sex is taking place in marriage doesn't mean it is truly fulfilling God's purpose of bonding together a one-flesh relationship.

d. They shall become one flesh: Though an initial bond in a one flesh relationship can be formed at the first sexual relationship a couple has, the fullness of what God wants to do in the one flesh relationship takes time. It has to become.

e. They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed: Before the fall, Adam and Eve were both naked … and not ashamed. The idea of "nakedness" is far more than mere nudity. It has the sense of being totally open and exposed as a person before God and man. To be naked … and not ashamed means you have no sin, nothing to be rightly ashamed of, nothing to hide.

i. Adam and Eve knew they were physically naked - nude - before the fall. What they did not know was a sinful, fallen condition, because they were not in that condition before their rebellion.

ii. We often feel uncomfortable when someone stares at us. This is because we associate staring with prying, and we don't want people to pry into our lives. We want to remain hidden and only reveal to other people what we want to reveal.

iii. When we want to be most attractive to someone else, we do the most to change our normal appearance. We have the thought, "If I really want to impress this person, I have to fix myself up." None of this feeling was present with Adam and Eve when they were naked … and not ashamed.

 

Genesis 3

MAN'S TEMPTATION AND FALL
A. The temptation from the serpent.

1. (1) The serpent begins his temptation.

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"

a. The serpent: The text here does not, by itself alone, clearly identify the serpent as Satan, but the rest of the Bible makes it clear this is Satan appearing as a serpent.

i. In Ezekiel 28:13-19 tells us that Satan was in Eden. Many other passages associate a serpent or a snake-like creature with Satan (such as Job 26:13 and Isaiah 51:9). Revelation 12:9 and 20:2 speak of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan.

ii. The representation of Satan as a serpent makes the idea of Moses saving Israel by lifting up a bronze serpent all the more provocative (Numbers 21:8-9), especially when Jesus identifies Himself with that very serpent (John 3:14). This is because in this picture, the serpent (a personification of sin and rebellion) is made of bronze (a metal associated with judgment, since it is made with fire). The lifting of a bronze serpent is the lifting up of sin judged, in the form of a cross.

iii. Ezekiel 28 tells us Satan, before his fall, was an angel of the highest rank and prominence, even the "worship leader" in heaven. Isaiah 14 tells us Satan's fall had to do with his desire to be equal to or greater than God, to set his will against God's will.

b. The serpent was more cunning than any beast: Satan's effectiveness is often found in His cunning, crafty ways. We can't outsmart Satan, but we can overcome him with the power of Jesus.

i. It was the craftiness of Satan that made him successful against Eve: as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness (2 Corinthians 11:3).

c. And he said to the woman: Apparently, before the curse pronounced in Genesis 3:14-15, the serpent was different than what we know today as a serpent. This creature didn't start as a snake as we know it, it became one.

i. "The creature that tempted Eve became a serpent as a result of God's judgment on it, and it went slithering away into the bushes to the intense horror of Adam and Eve." (Boice)

ii. Demonic spirits evidently have the ability, under certain circumstances, to indwell human or animal bodies (Luke 8:33). On this occasion, Satan chose to indwell the body of a pre-curse serpent.

iii. Poole says the woman wasn't surprised at the serpent's speaking because Adam and Eve had free conversation with angelic beings that often appeared in the form of men. If this is true, it wasn't so strange to Eve that an angelic being might appear to her in the form of a beautiful pre-curse serpent.

iv. Perhaps Satan made the voice supernaturally seem to come forth from the serpent, or perhaps Satan "said" this to Eve in her thoughts. What Satan said is more important than how he said it.

d. To the woman: Satan brought his temptation against the woman because he perceived she was more vulnerable to attack. This is because she did not receive the command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil directly from God but through Adam (Genesis 2:15-17).

i. Perhaps Satan knew by observation Adam didn't do an effective job in communicating to Eve what the LORD told him. This failure on Adam's part made Eve more vulnerable to temptation.

ii. Satan will often attack a chain at its weakest link, so he gets at Adam by tempting Eve. The stronger ones in a "chain" must expect attack against weaker links and support them against those attacks.

iii. It was also in God's plan to allow Satan to tempt Eve this way. If Adam would have sinned first, and if he had given the fruit to Eve, she might have a partial excuse before God: "I was simply obeying the head of our home. When he gave me the fruit, I ate of it."

e. Has God indeed said: Satan's first attack is leveled against the Word of God. If he can get Eve confused about what God said, or to doubt what God said, then his battle is partially won.

i. From the beginning, Satan has tried to undermine God's people by undermining God's Word. He can undermine just as effectively by getting us to neglect God's Word as by getting us to doubt it.

f. "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" Satan took God's positive command (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 [Genesis 2:16-17]) and rephrased it in a negative way: "God won't let you eat of every tree."

2. (2-3) Eve's reply to the serpent.

And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' "

a. And the woman said to the serpent: Eve's first mistake was in even carrying on a discussion with the serpent. We are called to talk to the devil, but never to have a discussion with him. We simply and strongly tell him, "The Lord rebuke you!" (Jude 9)

b. We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: Eve's knowledge of what she should not do is partially correct, but what she doesn't seem to know makes her all the more vulnerable to deception.

i. Eve does not seem to know the name of this tree; she only calls it the tree in the midst of the garden, instead of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17).

ii. Eve misquoted God's command to Adam. Her words, "you shall not eat it" and "lest you die" are close enough, but she added to the command and put words in God's mouth when she said, "nor shall you touch it." Of course, it was a good idea to completely avoid the temptation; no good could come from massaging the fruit you're not supposed to eat. But it is a dangerous thing to teach the doctrines of man as if they are the commandments of God (Matthew 15:9).

iii. Clarke on nor shall you touch it: "Some Jewish writers … state that as soon as the woman had asserted this, the serpent pushed her against the tree and said, 'See, you have touched it, and are still alive; you may therefore safely eat of the fruit, for surely you shall not die.'"

c. God has said: Eve's ignorance of exactly what God said was really Adam's responsibility. He did a poor job of relating to his wife the word God gave him.

i. We can almost picture Adam telling Eve, "See that tree in the middle of the garden? Don't touch it or God says we'll die!" While this is better than saying nothing, what Adam didn't explain made a vulnerable place where Satan could attack.

d. Lest you die: This may seem like a small thing to hinge the destiny of the human race and all creation on. But the tree was nothing more than a restraint on Adam and Eve. It reminded them they were not God, that God had a legitimate claim on their obedience, and that they were responsible to Him.

3. (4-5) Satan's direct challenge to God's Word.

Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

a. You will not surely die: Satan effectively laid the groundwork. He drew Eve into a discussion with him and planted the seed of doubt about God's Word, and he exposed Eve's incomplete understanding of God's Word. Now he moves in for the kill, with an outright contradiction of what God said.

i. Satan can only effectively work when he has established a foothold. No one falls like Adam and Eve will fall, "all of a sudden." A foundation has been laid.

ii. This is why we are called to never give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:27). This shows how remarkable it is that Jesus could say, "Satan has nothing in Me." (John 14:30)

b. You will not surely die: Satan first wanted Eve to forget all about what God said about the consequences of sin. When we know and remember the consequences of sin, we are more likely to give up the passing pleasures of sin (Hebrews 11:25).

i. In Satan's direct challenge, he tries to get Eve to doubt the goodness of God. If God lies to her, how can He be good?

ii. In Satan's direct challenge, he tries to get Eve to doubt the badness of sin. If this fruit is something good for her, why doesn't God want her to have it?

iii. Satan wants us to see sin as something good that a bad God doesn't want us to have. His main lie to us is "sin is not bad and God is not good."

iv. "Satan and the flesh will present a thousand reasons to show how good it would be to disobey His command." (Barnhouse)

c. In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened: Satan's temptation was all the more powerful because there was truth in it. It was true your eyes will be opened, and this was fulfilled (Genesis 3:7). But their eyes were instantly opened to their own sin and rebellion.

i. It is as if a deaf person was promised to be able to hear again, but all they could hear was screaming.

ii. Their eyes were opened, they did know good and evil, but not as gods. "Pure lie" is rarely effective in temptation. If Satan doesn't couple it with some truth, there is little power in his temptation.

d. You will be like God, knowing good and evil: The final enticement is the most powerful, because it was how Satan himself fell, wanting to be equal with God. Eve tried to become a god herself by her rebellion against God.

i. Jewish rabbis embellish on Satan's temptation to Eve: "Nothing but malice has prompted God's command, because as soon as you eat of it, you will be as God. As He creates and destroys worlds, so will you have the power to create and destroy. As He does kill and revive, so will you have the power to kill and revive. God Himself ate first of the fruit of the tree, and then He created the world. Therefore, He forbids you to eat of it, lest you create other worlds … Hurry now and eat the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, and become independent of God, lest He bring forth still other creatures that will rule over you."

ii. The goal of becoming God is the center of so many non-Christian religions, including Mormonism. But in our desire to be gods, we become like Satan (who said, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God … I will be like the Most High [Isaiah 14:13-14]) instead of being like Jesus, who came as a servant (Matthew 20:28).

iii. The New Age movement and the desire to be "god" are just as strong as ever. According to a 1992 survey, as many as 12 million Americans can be considered active participants in the New Age movement, and another 30 million are avidly interested. If all these people were brought together in a church-like organization, it would be the third largest religious denomination in America. More than 90% of the subscribers to New Age Magazine are college graduates, compared to half the general population.

iv. In 1995, New Age influence made it all the way to the White House. New Age author Marianne Williamson (writer of A Course In Miracles), guru to many of Hollywood's spiritual seekers, spent a night at the White House as the personal guest of Hillary Clinton. And Anthony Robbins, motivational guru and king of late-night infomercials, consulted with President Clinton at Camp David. Robbins is also recognized as a leader in the New Age movement.

B. The sin of Adam and Eve and the fall of the human race.

1. (6) Adam and Eve both disobey God in their own way.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

a. So when the woman saw: Eve surrendered to this temptation in exactly the way John describes in 1 John 2:16. First, she gave in to the lust of the flesh (saw that it was good for food), then she gave in to the lust of the eyes (pleasant to the eyes), then she gave in to the pride of life (desirable to make one wise).

i. Jesus was tempted in the same three-fold way: an appeal to the physical appetites, an appeal to covetous and emotional desires, and an appeal to pride (Matthew 4:1-11).

b. The woman saw that the tree was good for food: Eve's perceptions were partially true and partially false. The tree was not really good for food, though Eve was deceived into thinking it was so. The fruit probably was pleasant to the eyes, though that shouldn't mean much. And it was only true in Eve's mind that the tree was desirable to make one wise.

i. We can see the total truth of Paul's statement in 1 Timothy 2:14, that Eve was deceived when she sinned. In her mind, she thought she was doing something good for herself.

c. She took of its fruit and ate: Satan could tempt Eve, but she didn't have to take it. The taking was all her doing. Satan couldn't cram the fruit down her throat. Eve was responsible. She couldn't rightly say, "the devil made me do it."

i. As with every temptation, God had made for Eve a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). She could have simply run from Satan and the tree, but Eve didn't take God's way of escape.

d. She also gave to her husband with her: Not only did Eve sin, but she became the agent of temptation for Adam. But when Adam ate, he was not deceived as Eve was. Adam sinned with his eyes wide open, in open rebellion against God.

i. Therefore, it is Adam, not Eve, who bears the responsibility for the fall of the human race and for the introduction of death into the created order (Romans 5:12, 1 Corinthians 15:22). Eve was tricked into sinning; Adam knew exactly what he was doing (1 Timothy 2:14).

ii. Many have speculated that Adam sinned because he didn't want Eve to be alone in the fall, and he ate of the fruit out of a romantic impulse. This may well be true, but it makes Adam's sin not one bit less rebellious. Rebellion against God is not "better" when motivated by a romantic impulse.

iii. "Take and eat" will one day become verbs of salvation, but only after Jesus had lived in the world of Adam's curse and surrendered to death.

2. (7) The nakedness of Adam and Eve.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

a. Then the eyes of both of them were opened: Seemingly, it was only after the sin of Adam that they knew of their sinful state. They knew they were naked, in the sense of having their shame exposed to all creation.

b. They new that they were naked: Psalm 104:2 and Matthew 17:2 suggest that light can be a garment for the righteous. It may be that Adam and Eve were previously clothed in God's glorious light, and the immediate loss of this covering of light left them feeling exposed and naked.

i. "It is more than probable that they were clothed in light before the fall, and when they sinned the light went out." (Barnhouse)

c. The eyes of both of them were opened: The way they saw themselves changed, but also the way they saw the entire world was now different. After the fall, everything looked worse.

i. Was it good or bad that Adam and Eve saw their nakedness and felt terrible about it? It was good, because it is good to feel guilty when you have done something wrong.

d. They sewed fig leaves together: Their own attempt to cover themselves took much ingenuity, but not much wisdom. Fig leaves are said to have a prickly quality, which would make for some pretty itchy coverings.

i. Every attempt to cover our own nakedness before God is just as foolish. We need to let Jesus cover us (Revelation 3:5, 18), and put on Jesus Himself as our covering garment (Galatians 3:27). The exhortation from Jesus is for us: Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. (Revelation 16:15)

ii. Obviously, they covered their genital areas. In virtually all cultures, adults cover their genital areas, even though other parts of the human body may be more or less exposed from culture to culture.

iii. This is not because there is something intrinsically "dirty" in our sexuality, but because we have both received our fallenness and pass it on genetically through sexual reproduction. Because of this, God has implanted it in the minds of men that more modesty is appropriate for these areas of our body.

3. (8-9) Adam and Eve hide from God; God calls out to them.

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"

a. They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: Adam and Eve knew that when they heard the LORD coming, He would want to be with them. This was how the LORD had fellowship with Adam and Eve, in a very natural, close, intimate way.

i. Leupold on walking in the garden in the cool of the day: "The almost casual way in which this is remarked indicates that this did not occur for the first time just then … There is extreme likelihood that the Almighty assumed some form analogous to the human form which was made in His image."

ii. We can assume this is God, in the Person of Jesus Christ, appearing to Adam and Eve before His incarnation and birth at Bethlehem, because of God the Father it is said, "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him" (John 1:18), and no man has ever seen God in the Person of the Father. (1 Timothy 6:16)

iii. "Cool of the day" is literally "the breeze of the day." From Hebrew geography and culture, we might guess this means late afternoon.

b. Adam and his wife hid themselves: This shows that Adam and Eve knew that their attempt to cover themselves failed. They didn't proudly show off their fig-leaf outfits; they knew their own covering was completely inadequate, and they were embarrassed before God.

c. Where are you? This is not the interrogation of an angry commanding officer, but the heartfelt cry of an anguished father. God obviously knew where they were but He also knew a gulf had been made between Himself and man, a gulf that He Himself would have to bridge.

C. God confronts Adam and Eve with their sin.

1. (10-12) Adam tries to explain his sin.

So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."

a. I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid: Sin made Adam afraid of God's presence and afraid of God's voice. Ever since Adam, men run from God's presence and don't want to listen to His Word.

i. We are still made in God's image, so we want to be in the presence of God and hear His voice, while at the same time, we are afraid of Him.

b. Who told you that you were naked? God knew the answer to this question. He asked it because He allowed Adam to make the best of a bad situation by repenting right then and there, but Adam didn't come clean and repent before God.

i. We all sin, but when we sin, we can still give glory to God by openly confessing without shifting the blame onto others (Joshua 7:19-20).

ii. There is often nothing you can do about yesterday's sin (though in some cases you may be able to make restitution). Yet you can do what is right before God right now by confessing and repenting.

c. Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? God confronted Adam's problem squarely. This wasn't primarily a wardrobe problem or a fear problem or a self-esteem problem. This was a sin problem and Adam's wardrobe, fear, or self-understanding could not be addressed until the sin problem was addressed.

d. Then the man said: Notice that to this point, God has not addressed Eve at all. Adam, being the head, is the problem here.

e. The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate: Adam's attempt to blame Eve is completely consistent with human nature. Few of us are willing to simply say as David did, I have sinned against the LORD (2 Samuel 12:13)

i. Significantly, if there is any blame, it is on Adam, not Eve. Not only does Adam unjustly accuse Eve, but also he refuses to accept proper responsibility for his part in her sin.

ii. By saying "the woman whom You gave to be with me," Adam essentially blames God for the sin saying, "You gave me the woman, and she is the problem." Adam wasn't content to blame Eve; he had to blame God also.

2. (13) Eve's reply to God.

And the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

a. The serpent deceived me, and I ate: When confronted by God, Eve doesn't necessarily shift the blame when she admits the serpent deceived her and then she ate. This much was true, she had been deceived, and she did eat.

b. Deceived me: The only problem comes when we fail to see that being deceived is sin in itself. It is sin to exchange the truth of God for the lie (Romans 1:25).

D. The curse and its aftermath.

1. (14-15) God's curse upon the serpent.

So the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."

a. And the LORD God said to the serpent: When God spoke to Adam and to Eve, He asked them each questions. God didn't ask Satan (the being animating the serpent) any questions, because there was nothing to teach him.

b. You are cursed more than all cattle: The first part of the curse is directed at the animal that Satan used to bring the temptation. God commanded the serpent to slither on the ground instead of walking on legs like any other animal.

i. Adam and Eve must have been terrified as this once-beautiful creature called a serpent was transformed into the creeping, slithering, hissing snake we know today. They must have thought, "It's our turn next!"

ii. I will put enmity between you and the woman: In addition, there is a natural aversion between mankind and serpents, especially on the part of women.

c. You shall eat dust all the days of your life: This was true of the serpent as an animal, but it is also true of Satan. To eat dust has the idea of total defeat (Isaiah 65:25, Micah 7:17). God's judgment on Satan is for him to always know defeat. He will always reach for victory, but always fall short of it.

i. Satan was, in his own thinking, majestic and triumphant over Jesus on the cross, but he failed. In attacking Jesus, Satan made his own doom certain.

ii. In Jesus, we share in the victory over Satan: And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. (Romans 16:20)

d. Enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed: The second part of the curse is directed against Satan himself. God placed a natural animosity between Satan and mankind. Enmity has the idea of ill will, hatred, and a mutual antagonism. Satan's hatred of Eve was nothing new; it was already present - but now man will, generally speaking, have antagonism towards Satan.

i. The "friendship" Eve and the serpent seemed to enjoy earlier in the chapter is finished. There is now a natural fear of Satan in the heart of man.

ii. If we are born naturally rebellious against God, we are also born cautious and afraid of Satan. One must be hardened to willingly and knowingly serve Satan. Instinctively, we don't serve God or Satan; we serve ourselves (which is fine with Satan).

e. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel: In this, God prophesies the doom of Satan, showing that the real battle is between Satan and the Seed of the Woman.

i. There is no doubt this is a prophecy of Jesus' ultimate defeat of Satan. God announced that Satan would wound the Messiah (you shall bruise His heel), but the Messiah would crush Satan with a mortal wound (He shall bruise your head).

ii. The heel is the part within the serpent's reach. Jesus, in taking on humanity, brought Himself near to Satan's domain so Satan could strike Him.

iii. This prophecy also gives the first hint of the virgin birth, declaring the Messiah - the Deliverer - would be the Seed of the Woman, but not of the man.

iv. Genesis 3:15 has been called the protoevangelium, the first gospel. Luther said of this verse: "This text embraces and comprehends within itself everything noble and glorious that is to be found anywhere in the Scriptures." (Leupold)

f. He shall bruise your head: For God to see the defeat of Satan at Satan's first flush of victory shows God knew what He was doing all along. God's plan wasn't "set back" when Adam and Eve sinned, because God's plan was to bring forth something greater than man in the innocence of Eden. God wanted more than innocent man; His plan is to bring forth redeemed man.

i. Redeemed man - this being who is greater than innocent man - is only possible because man had something to be redeemed from.

2. (16) God's curse upon the woman.

To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."

a. I will greatly multiply your sorrow: God first cursed the woman with multiplied sorrow. Men and women have each known sorrow throughout history, yet the unique sorrow of women is well known.

i. Under Jesus, some of the effects of the curse are relieved, and it has been the Christianizing of society that brought rights and dignity to women.

ii. "It is difficult for women in Christian lands to realize the miseries of their hundreds of millions of sisters in pagan lands, where the lot of women is little above that of cattle. Where the gospel has gone, the load has been lifted, and woman in Christ has become the reflection of the redeemed Church, the bride of Christ." (Barnhouse)

b. Your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children: The first curse upon women is a broad one. It has the idea that women would experience pain in regard to their children in general, not just in the act of giving birth. God ordained that the pain with which women bring children into this world be an example of the pain they experience more generally in life.

i. It has been observed that women bring forth children with more pain than just about any other creature.

c. Your desire shall be for your husband: This is true of women in a way that it is not true for men. "This verse will be understood better when it is realized that the desire of man toward his wife alone is solely by God's grace and not by nature." (Barnhouse)

d. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you: The idea is to contrast the woman's desire and the husband's rule over her. This speaks of an inherent challenge in embracing the husband's role as leader of the home and family.

i. This same word for desire is used in Genesis 4:7 of the desire of sin to master over Cain. Because of the curse, Eve would have to fight a desire to master her husband, a desire that works against God's ordained order for the home.

ii. The principle of Adam's headship as a husband was established before the fall (see Genesis 2:18 and 2:22). Now the curse on Eve makes it much harder for her to submit and flow with God's institution of male headship in the home.

iii. "As a result of the fall, man no longer rules easily; he must fight from his headship. Sin has corrupted both the willing submission of the wife and the loving headship of the husband. The woman's desire is to control her husband (to usurp his divinely appointed headship), and he must master her, if he can. So the rule of love founded in paradise is replaced by struggle, tyranny and domination." (Susan T. Foh, cited in Boice)

3. (17-19) God's curse upon the man.

Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return."

a. Because you have heeded the voice of your wife: It wasn't just as if Adam took Eve's advice. He chose to be with Eve intead of obeying God. There is a sense in which idolatry of Eve was an aspect of Adam's disobedience against God.

b. Cursed is the ground: Because of Adam, there is a curse upon all creation. Before the curse on man, the ground only produced good. After the curse, it will still produce good, but thorns and thistles will come faster and easier than good fruit.

c. In toil you shall eat of it: Adam worked before the curse, but it was all joy. Now work has a cursed element to it, with pain and weariness a part of work. Is there not a time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man? Like a servant who earnestly desires the shade, and like a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages (Job 7:1-2).

d. Dust you are, and to dust you shall return: The final curse upon man promised there would be an end of his toil and labor on the earth - but it was an end of death, not not an end of deliverance.

i. The curse of death shows that the result of Adam's sin extended to the entire human race. Because of Adam, sin entered the world (Romans 5:12), death came to all mankind (Romans 5:15, 1 Corinthians 15:22), death reigned over man and creation (Romans 5:17), all men were condemned (Romans 5:18), and all men were made sinners (Romans 5:19).

ii. The principle of Galatians 3:13 is established as we consider that Jesus bore each aspect of the curse upon Adam and Eve in its totality: Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.

- Sin brought pain to childbirth, and no one knew more pain than Jesus did when He, through His suffering, brought many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10)
- Sin brought conflict, and Jesus endured great conflict to bring our salvation (Hebrews 12:3)
- Thorns came with sin and the fall, and Jesus endured a crown of thorns to bring our salvation (John 19:2)
- Sin brought sweat, and Jesus sweat, as it were, great drops of blood to win our salvation (Luke 22:44)
- Sin brought sorrow, and Jesus became a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, to save us (Isaiah 53:3)
- Sin brought death, and Jesus tasted death for everyone that we might be saved (Hebrews 2:9)
4. (20) The naming of Eve.

And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

a. Adam called his wife's name Eve: Up to Genesis 3:20, the woman has never been called Eve. We are so used to saying "Adam and Eve" that we assume she already had her name. But to this point, she was called a female (Genesis 1:27), a helper comparable (Genesis 2:18), a woman (Genesis 2:22, 23), and a wife (Genesis 2:24, 25; 3:8). This does not mean God did not have a name for Eve, but we are told what the name is in Genesis 5:2: He called them Mankind.

i. The idea that the woman takes her name from the husband, and the idea that both genders are encompassed in terms like mankind, humanity, and chairman. Our use of these terms is not merely cultural, it is Biblical.

ii. A woman gains more of her identity from her husband than the man does from the wife. For this reason, women should take special care in which man they marry.

b. Because she was the mother of all living: Adam named her Eve, even though she was not a mother at all at the time. She was not even pregnant yet. Adam named her in faith, trusting God would bring forth a deliverer from the woman, because God said He would defeat Satan through the Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15).

5. (21) God clothes Adam and Eve in the skins of animals.

Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

a. The LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them: God wanted Adam and Eve clothed, not naked. "God gave His approval of the sense of shame which had led our first parents to cover their nakedness." (Leupold)

i. The world's oldest profession is not prostitution, but the clothing business (Genesis 3:7).

b. Tunics of skin: In order for Adam and Eve to be clothed, a sacrifice had to be made. An animal had to die. Without shedding of blood there is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22)

i. There are only two religions; there is the religion of fig leaves and there is the religion of God's perfect provision through Jesus.

ii. Covering ourselves with our good works is like Adam and Eve trying to cover themselves with fig leaves. Our good works are like monopoly money - great for monopoly, but not legal tender. Your good works are essential to what it takes to live out your life, but they are not legal tender before God.

iii. Adam and Eve were clothed in a garment that was purchased with the life of another. We are clothed with a garment of righteousness that was purchased with the life of another, Jesus Christ.

c. And clothed them: This indicates that Adam and Eve were saved. Adam had faith in God's promise of a Savior, and God provided a covering for them through a sacrifice. We will see Adam and Eve in heaven.

6. (22-24) God sets cherubim to guard the Tree of Life.

Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"; therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

a. Behold, the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil: The idea behind this phrase is difficult to understand. Perhaps there is a note of sarcasm by God here (as Elijah used in 1 Kings 18:27), regarding Satan's empty promise to become like gods. Or, perhaps the idea focuses on man's greater knowledge (though in a bad sense) now that he has the experiential knowledge of evil.

b. And take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: In mercy, God protected Adam and Eve from the horrible fate of having to live forever as sinners by preventing them from eating from the tree of life.

c. The LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden: We don't know if Adam and Eve wanted to stay in the garden of Eden. Perhaps they felt if they left the garden, they might never see God again because it was the only place where they met Him.

d. He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden: Cherubim are always associated with the presence and glory of God (Ezekiel 10, Isaiah 6, Revelation 4). When cherubim are represented on earth (such as in the tabernacle, Exodus 25:10-22), they mark a meeting place with God. Though Adam and Eve and their descendants were prevented from eating the fruit of the tree of life (by God's mercy), they could still come there to meet God. This was their "holy of holies." Therefore it was important to send a cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life.

i. "Any angel of the lowest rank could have dealt with Adam. The flaming sword was pointed against Satan to keep him from destroying the way of access to the altar, which God had set up." (Barnhouse)

ii. This is the last historical mention of the garden of Eden in the Bible. We can speculate that God did not destroy it, but left it to the effects of the curse and suppose that it generally deteriorated from its original condition, blending into the surrounding geography.

 

FOR GOD A THANKFUL PRAYER
A THANKFUL PRAYER JUST BECAUSE... THANK YOU GOD FOR BEING ALWAYS NEXT TO US.


Today is a special day. Today I feel connected to my source. Today I feel that I am a step closer to what I should and will become. No need to ask for favors, for I know everything comes when the timing is perfect. TODAY, LET US THANK GOD TOGETHER!
Thank you God for giving me another day, another chance to become a better individual, another chance to give and experience love. Thank you God for giving me health, for the food you provide, for the awareness you have awaken in me...Thank you for the energy that feeds my soul, the sun that warms our bodies and the air that fills our lungs... Because of you I believe in the good without the bad and the ugly, because of you I am learning to love and accept myself, because of you I believe in believing. My source, stay connected to me today and always, for I need you in order to fullfil my spiritual tasks...God, show me how to love myself, to be able to love others. Help me become the type of person that I would like to befriend, help me forgive myself and forgive others... God, make me a channel of your energy and help me understand. I thank you God for giving me another day, another unused opportunity to do it right. Keep us all close to you and listen to our prayers.Amen.

 

Genesis 4

CAIN AND ABEL
A. Cain's murder of Abel.

1. (1) The birth of Cain.

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, "I have acquired a man from the LORD."

a. Now Adam knew Eve his wife: This is the first specific mention of sex in the Bible. The term "knew" or "to know" is a polite way of saying they had sexual relations and the term is used often in the Bible in this sense (Genesis 4:17, 4:25, 38:26, Judges 11:39, 1 Samuel 1:19).

i. There is power in this way of referring to sex. It shows the high, interpersonal terms in which the Bible sees the sexual relationship. Most terms and phrases people use for sex today are either coarse or violent, but the Bible sees sex as a means of knowing one another in a committed relationship. "Knew" indicates an act that contributes to the bond of unity and the building up of a one-flesh relationship.

ii. We have no reason to believe Adam and Eve did not have sex before this. Adam and Eve were certainly capable of sexual relations before the fall, because there is nothing inherently impure or unclean in sex.

b. And bore Cain, and said, "I have acquired a man from the LORD": The name Cain basically means, "I've got him" or "here he is." It is likely Eve thought that Cain was the seed that God promised, the deliverer who would come from Eve (Genesis 3:15). There is a sense in which Eve said, "I have the man from the LORD."

i. Under normal circumstances, parents want good things for their children. They wonder if their children are destined for greatness. Adam, and especially Eve, had these expectations for Cain, but it went farther than normal parental hopes and expectations. Adam and Eve expected Cain to be the Messiah God promised.

ii. Eve thought she held in her arms the Messiah, the Savior of the whole world, but she really held in her arms a killer.

c. A man from the LORD: Eve had faith to believe that the little baby she held would be a man. No baby had ever been born before. It is possible Adam and Eve wondered if their descendants would come forth fully mature, as they did.

2. (2-5) The birth of Abel and the offerings of Cain and Abel.

Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

a. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground: We see agriculture and the domestication of animals were practiced among the earliest humans. Adam and his descendants did not spend tens of thousands of years living as hunter-gatherer cave dwellers.

b. Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD: We can surmise that Cain brought his offering to the tree of life because cherubim guarded the tree of life (Genesis 3:24), and cherubim are always associated with the dwelling place or meeting place with God (Exodus 25:10-22). Cain and everyone else on the earth at that time probably met with God at the tree of life, where the cherubim were.

c. The LORD respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering: Abel brought an offering of blood (the firstborn of his flock) and Cain brought an offering of vegetation (the fruit of the ground). Many assume that this was the difference between their offerings, but grain offerings were acceptable before God (Leviticus 2), though not for an atonement for sin.

i. "The word for offering, minchah, is used in its broadest sense, covering any type of gift man may bring …. Neither of the two sacrifices is made specifically for sin. Nothing in the account points in this direction." (Leupold)

ii. The writer to the Hebrews makes it plain why the offering of Abel was accepted and the offering of Cain was rejected: By faith Abel offered up a more excellent sacrifice than Cain (Hebrews 11:4). Cain's offering was the effort of dead religion, while Abel's offering was made in faith, in a desire to worship God in spirit and in truth.

d. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat: This shows Abel's offering was extra special. The fat of the animal was prized as its "luxury," and was to be given to God when the animal was sacrificed (Leviticus 3:16-17; 7:23-25). The burning of fat in sacrifice before God is called a sweet aroma to the LORD (Leviticus 17:6).

i. The offering of Cain was no doubt more aesthetically pleasing; Abel's would have been a bloody mess. But God was more concerned with faith in the heart than with artistic beauty.

ii. Here, it is one lamb for a man. Later, at the Passover, it will be one lamb for a family. Then, at the Day of Atonement, it was one lamb for the nation. Finally, with Jesus, there was one Lamb who takes away the sin of the whole world (John 1:29).

e. Respected … did not respect: We don't precisely know how Can and Abel knew their sacrifices were accepted or not accepted. Seemingly, there was some outward evidence making it obvious.

i. There are Biblical examples of having an acceptable sacrifice consumed by fire from God (Judges 6:21; 1 Kings 18:38; 1 Chronicles 21:26; 2 Chronicles 7:1). Perhaps an acceptable sacrifice, brought to the cherubim at the tree of life, was consumed by fire from heaven or from the flaming swords of the cherubim (Genesis 3:24).

f. Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell: Cain's anger was undoubtedly rooted in pride. He couldn't bear that his brother was accepted before God and he was not. It is even possible that this was public knowledge, if God consuming the sacrifice with fire indicated acceptance.

i. The epidemic of sin is quickly becoming worse. Cain now commits the rather sophisticated sins of spiritual pride and hypocrisy.

3. (6-7) God's warning to Cain.

So the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."

a. Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? God dealt with Cain in terms of loving confrontation instead of automatic affirmation. He made it clear that he would be accepted if he did well.

i. Of course, God knew the answers to those questions, but He wanted Cain to know and stop what was happening inside himself.

b. If you do not do well, sin lies at the door: God warned Cain about the destructive power of sin. Cain can resist sin and find blessing, or he can give in to sin and be devoured.

c. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it: We prevent sin from ruling over us by allowing God to master us first. Without God as our master, we will be slaves to sin.

4. (8) Cain murders Abel.

Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

a. Now Cain talked with Abel his brother: The sense is that Cain planned to catch Abel by surprise, lulling him with pleasant conversation. This shows that Cain committed premeditated murder, and therefore clearly ignored God's way of escape.

b. Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him: No human had ever died or been killed before, but Cain saw how animals were be killed for sacrifice. He extinguished Abel's life in the same way.

i. The downward course of sin has progressed quickly. Now the hoped-for redeemer is a murderer, and the second son is the victim of murder. Sin wasn't "nipped in the bud," and it could not be contained.

B. God confronts Cain.

1. (9) God questions Cain.

Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"

a. Where is Abel your brother: God knew the answer to this question. He asked Cain because He wanted to give him the opportunity to confess his sin and start to do right after doing wrong.

i. How futile it was for Cain to lie to God! It was madness for him to think God didn't know where Abel was, or that he could actually hide his sin from God.

b. Am I my brother's keeper? This reply of Cain is famous. The fact of the matter is that he was supposed to be his brother's keeper, but was instead his brother's murderer, and he murdered him for the lowest of reasons. Able had not injured Cain in any way. Cain's murderous rage was inspired purely by a spiritual jealousy.

i. Jude 11 warns of the way of Cain, which is unbelief, empty religion leading to jealousy, persecution of those truly godly, and murderous anger.

ii. There is no greater curse on the earth than empty, vain religion, those who have a form of godliness, but deny the power of God (2 Timothy 3:5). Many are deathly afraid of "secular humanism" or atheism, but dead religion sends more people to hell than anything else.

2. (10-12) God's curse upon Cain.

And He said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth."

a. The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground: The idea of blood crying out to God from the ground is repeated in the Bible. Numbers 35:29-34 describes how the blood of unpunished murderers defiles the land.

i. The blood of Abel spoke, and it spoke of judgment. The blood of Jesus also speaks, but of better things, of grace and of sin having been judged (Hebrews 12:24).

b. So now you are cursed from the earth: The curse upon Cain was that Adam's curse would be amplified in regard to him. If bringing forth food from the earth would be hard for Adam (Genesis 3:17-18), it would be impossible for Cain (who was a farmer). If Adam were driven from Eden (Genesis 3:24), Cain would find no resting-place on all the earth (a fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth).

3. (13-15) Cain complains of the severity of God's judgment.

And Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear! Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me." And the LORD said to him, "Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

a. My punishment is greater than I can bear! Cain didn't feel bad about his sin, but only about his punishment. Many are like him.

i. "One of the clearest marks of sin is our almost innate desire to excuse ourselves and complain if we are judged in any way." (Boice)

ii. "One of the consequences of sin is that it makes the sinner pity himself instead of causing him to turn to God. One of the first signs of new life is that the individual takes sides with God against himself." (Barnhouse)

b. Whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold: As significant as God's judgment against Cain was, God did not want Cain killed by others. This is possibly because the population of the earth was precariously low anyway.

c. The LORD set a mark on Cain: Therefore, God set an identifying and protective mark upon Cain. Despite the speculation of some, nobody really knows what this mark upon Cain was.

C. Cain and his descendants.

1. (16-17) Cain moves away and marries.

Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son; Enoch.

a. And Cain knew his wife: We don't know where Cain got his wife. Genesis 5:4 says Adam had several sons and daughters. Cain obviously married his sister. Though marrying a sister was against the law of God according to Leviticus 18:9, 18:11, 20:17, and Deuteronomy 27:22 (which even prohibits the marrying of a half-sister), this was long before God spoke that law to Moses and the world.

i. Here, necessity demanded that Adam's sons marry his daughters. And at this point, the "gene pool" of humanity was pure enough to allow close marriage without harm of inbreeding. But as a stream can get more polluted the further it gets from the source, there came a time when God decreed there no longer be marriage between close relatives because of the danger of inbreeding.

ii. Even Abraham married his half-sister Sarah (Genesis 20:12). God did not prohibit such marriages until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18:9). Marrying a brother or sister was not forbidden until God forbade it.

b. And he built a city: Here we see the beginning of industry and of urbanization - and that it is strongly man-centered (and called the name of the city after the name of his son), not God-centered. The fall of the human race continues to pick up speed.

2. (18-22) The generations following Cain.

To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech. Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

a. To Enoch was born Irad: The picture is one of rapid advancement. Succeeding generations quickly made progress in areas such as the founding of a city (Genesis 4:17), home building, music and the arts, and metalworking.

i. The idea that mankind actually advanced very quickly goes against most modern theories, but archaeology can only evaluate on the basis of what is preserved, and thus is rather speculative.

b. Methishael begot Lamech: The name Lamech may mean, "conqueror." He was the seventh from Adam on Cain's side. Lamech's arrogance (Genesis 4:23-24) is a contrast to Enoch, who was the seventh from Adam on Seth's line (Jude 14).

c. Lamech took for himself two wives: Lamech was the first bigamist in history, going against God's original plan for one man and one woman to become one flesh (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:4-8). The names of his wives and daughter show the emphasis in his heart: Adah means, "pleasure, ornament, or beauty." Zillah means, "shade" probably referring to a luxurious covering of hair. His daughter's name was Naamah, which means, "loveliness." Lamech's culture was committed to physical and outward beauty.

3. (23-24) Lamech's chest-thumping boast.

Then Lamech said to his wives: "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech! For I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold."

a. I have killed a man for wounding me: The way Lamech boasts about his murder of another, and the way he believes he can promise a greater retribution than God, shows a progressive degeneracy among humanity. Things are going downhill fast, a true devolution.

b. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold: This is all a picture of humanism. The city is Cain's city; the focus of Lamech is his beautiful wives and his own perceived strength. But for all of Lamech's boasting, neither he nor his descendants are ever heard of again in the Bible. He came to nothing.

4. (25-26) Seth is born to Adam and Eve.

And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, "For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed." And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.

a. And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son: Adam and Eve had many children who are not specifically named, but Seth is worthy of mention because he "replaced" Abel and was the one to whom the promise of a deliverer from the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15) would be passed.

b. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD: Even in those wicked days, the worship of God was not unknown. Some have called Genesis 4:26 "the first revival," because it is the first indication of a spiritual resurgence after a clear decline.

 

Genesis 5

THE DESCENDANTS OF ADAM
A. Introduction to the genealogy.

1. (1-2) Adam's "signature."

This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created.

a. This is the book of the genealogy of Adam: There is good reason to believe this is the end of Adam's direct account, which was preserved and passed down to Moses who acted as an editor.

i. The history of the heaven and earth comprises the things regarding creation that no man witnessed, (and was given by revelation to either Adam or Moses). This history ended at Genesis 2:4 and from there to this point is Adam's "account."

b. And called them Mankind: The human race - mankind - was given the name "man" by God from the beginning. It is not sexist or gender biased to call the human race by the general heading "mankind," because God does this.

2. Thoughts on genealogies.

a. One can arrange the following genealogies in a sequential manner and chart out a time line. However, one cannot establish an absolutely reliable timeline with this method, becase Biblical genealogies are not always complete. Sometimes generations are skipped over.

b. If one takes the genealogies as being without omission, the time of Adam comes to be some 4,000 to 5,000 years before Christ. Even with omissions, it is hard to imagine that the time of Adam was significantly more than perhaps 10,000 years before Jesus.

i. This puts the Biblical record at incredible variance with the assertions of modern science. Yet there are good reasons to believe God created the earth with age "built in," even as Adam and the trees of Eden had age "built" into them.

c. We are also confronted with the problem of extremely long life spans. In this chapter, no one lived less than 365 years (and this is Enoch, who was a special case), and Methuselah lived a total of 969 years. How is this possible?

i. Some have thought this is speaking figuratively or counting months as years (but then Enoch fathered Methuselah when he was five and one-half years old).

ii. It is more likely that people did live much, much longer before the flood. This is because the degenerative effects of the fall on the human gene pool had not yet accumulated greatly, and because the environment in the pre-flood world was so different, with the blanket of water vapors surrounding the earth (Genesis 1:6-8). In the post-flood world, life spans quickly came down to the life-spans we are familiar with today.

d. During this period, the world would be populated quickly. One writer has estimated that if Adam, during his lifetime, saw only half the children he could have fathered grow up, and if only half of those got married, and if only half of those who got married had children, then even at these conservative rates, Adam would have seen more than a million of his own descendants.

i. Using these calculations, we can say that by the time of the flood, there could have been seven billion people on the earth.

e. Genealogies can be very instructive. They speak to us of both the absolutely historical character of the Scriptures, and are a powerful testimony to the end of every person on this earth.

i. "Have you never heard of one who heard read, as the lesson for the Sabbath-day, that long chapter of names, wherein it is written that each patriarch lived so many hundred years, 'and he died'? Thus it ends the notice of the long life of Methuselah with 'and he died,' The repetition of the words, 'and he died,' woke the thoughtless hearer to a sense of his mortality, and led to his coming to the Savior." (Spurgeon, The Word a Sword)

B. The descendants of Adam through Seth.

1. (3-5) Adam.

And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters. So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.

a. And begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth: Even as Seth was in Adam's fallen image and likeness, so also are every one of us. We are all sons and daughters of Adam, born fallen even as Adam was fallen. It would be redundant to say it, but every other person has been born in Adam's image and likeness except Jesus.

b. And he had sons and daughters: This tells us that Adam had many other sons and daughters who are not specifically named in the Scriptures. These daughters became the wives for the sons of Adam.

2. (6-17) From Seth to Mahalaleel.

Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh. After he begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died. Enosh lived ninety years, and begot Cainan. After he begot Cainan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died. Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalalel. After he begot Mahalalel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died. Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared. After he begot Jared, Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.

3. (18-27) From Jared to Methuselah.

Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died. Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.

a. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him: Enoch, the son of Jared, was carried away to God in a miraculous way.

b. Enoch walked with God: Walking with God means walking by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7), walking in the light (1 John 1:5-7), and walking in agreement with God (Amos 3:3). After walking like this with God, it is as if one day God told Enoch, "You don't need to walk home. Why don't you just come home with Me?"

i. Hebrews 11:5 tells us the foundation of Enoch's walk with God: By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, "and was not found, because God had taken him"; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. You can't walk with God, or please God, apart from faith.

c. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God: It seems Enoch began to walk with God in a special way after the birth of Methuselah. The name Methuselah means, "when he is dead, it shall come." At the birth of Methuselah, Enoch had a special awareness from God that judgment was coming, and this was one of the things that got him closer in his walk with God.

i. Jude 14 also tells us Enoch was a prophet; even from his vantage point long ago, he could see the second coming of Jesus (Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly …).

d. So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died: Methuselah's long life was no accident. It was because of the grace of God. When Methuselah died, the flood came. God kept him alive longer than anybody to give people as long as possible to repent.

4. (28-32) From Lamech to Noah.

Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son. And he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed." After he begot Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died. And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

a. Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son. And he called his name Noah: If these genealogies are consecutive, Seth died when Noah was 14 years old. Noah could have known Adam's son.

b. And he died: The overwhelming emphasis of Genesis 5 is that all these men died. They were all under sin and all subject to death. Some of them - many of them - were great men, but none of them was the deliverer God had promised.

i. "This is the greatest glory of the primitive world, that it had so many good, wise, and holy men at the same time. We must not think that these are ordinary names of plain people; but next to Christ and John the Baptist, they were the most outstanding heroes this world has ever produced. And on the Last Day we shall behold and admire their grandeur." (Luther, cited in Boice)

 

compared to the Koran


In Bible and Qur’an, the first human being was created from mud or dust and was therefore named after the Hebrew word for earth: Adam = Men. God breathing His spirit into man to make him come alive is also found in both books. The Qur’an relates how God gave man beautiful forms. According to Genesis, God blessed humankind and saw that what He had created was good.
In the Bible, both men and women are said to have been created in God’s image. The concept of God in the Qur’an is more abstract. Nobody can be equal to or like God, although humans are destined to return to God after death.

In both books, man is appointed God’s caretaker on earth. He is to rule wisely over creation. He has, regarding the rest of creation, both exceptional power and an exceptional responsibility.
In the Qur’an, God explains to the angels his plan to create man. They are shocked. They warn God that men will use their powers to shed blood. But God went ahead with his plan. He even ordered the angels to bow down to Adam, which they did obediently. But one called ‘Iblis’, or Devil, who was created from fire, refused. Because of his disobedience to God, he was called ‘the unbeliever’ and driven from paradise. But he was temporarily given the power to seduce man to evil, a role he was eager to accept. A comparable story about angels and the devil does not appear in Genesis. Elsewhere in the Bible, there is mention of a Satan who fell from Heaven, a Satan who seduced human beings to stray from God’s path.

A typical human trait that plays a role right from the start is his power of speech. In Genesis, it was the (first) man who gave names to all things. In the Qur’an, it was God who taught man the names of everything. Angels lack this power of language, as became clear when God put them to the test. So angels must bow down before man.
In the Qur’an, the diversity in languages and colors of peoples is a Divine gift, a stimulus to become acquainted with one other. But the colorful variety in languages can also lead to confusion and discord, as shown by the story of the Tower of Babel further on in Genesis.
The story about the creation of humankind has implications for the relation between the sexes. Well-known from the Bible is the story of the woman, Eve, (mother of life) created from the rib of Adam, (man from earth), to be his helper. There is a second story of the creation in Genesis, related both before and after the rib version, in which men and women were created simultaneously and as equals, both in the image of God. In Genesis 5 both men and women were named Adam (KJV), or Mankind (NKJV).

The Qur’an emphatically denies that man resembles God. Nobody can be like Him for He is the creator of everything.
The story about the rib does not appear in the Qur’an. Man and woman were created as equals, from a single soul; as couples with kindred spirits. The Arabic verses in question are difficult to translate accurately. An example is verse 39 The Crowds, 6, in Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s translation:

He created you (all) from a single person: then created, of like nature, his mate;

This issue centers on two Arabic words:
nafs = soul, female, at least grammatically;
and zawj = partner, male, at least grammatically.

Thus an alternative translation given by Dawood is:

“He created you from a single soul, then from that soul He created its spouse.”

 

Genesis 6

MAN'S WICKEDNESS; GOD CALLS NOAH
A. The wickedness of man in the days of Noah.

1. (1-2) Intermarriage between the sons of God and the daughters of men.

Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

a. When men began to multiply on the face of the earth: During these days of rapid population expansion (especially because of long life spans in the pre-flood world), there was a problem with ungodly intermarriage between the sons of God and the daughters of men.

b. The sons of God saw the daughters of men: Many have believed the sons of God were those from the line of Seth, and the daughters of men were from the line of Cain, and this describes an intermarriage between the godly and the ungodly, something God specifically prohibits (Deuteronomy 7:1-4, 2 Corinthians 6:14).

i. But this approach leaves many unanswered questions: Why did this make God angry enough to wipe out almost all the earth's population? Why was there something "unnatural" about the offspring of these unions? The text in no way offers answers to these important questions.

c. The sons of God saw the daughters of men: It is more accurate to see the sons of God as either demons (angels in rebellion against God) or uniquely demon-possessed men, and the daughters of men as human women.

i. The phrase "sons of God" clearly refers to angelic creatures when it is used the three other times in the Old Testament (Job 1:6, 2:1, and 38:7). The translators of the Septuagint translated sons of God as "angels." They clearly thought it referred to angelic beings, not people descended from Seth.

ii. Jude 6 tells us of the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own habitation. Jude goes on (Jude 7) to tell us they sinned in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh. Here in Genesis 6, as in Sodom and Gomorrah, there was an unnatural sexual union.

iii. It is useless to speculate on the nature of this union. Whether it was brought about by something like demon possession, or whether angels have power permanently to assume the form of men is not revealed. But we should understand the occult is filled with sexual associations with the demonic, and there are those today who actively pursue such associations.

iv. Jude 6 also makes it clear what God did with these wicked angels. They are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness from the judgment of the great day. By not keeping their proper place, they are now kept in chains. Their sinful pursuit of freedom has put them in bondage.

v. 1 Peter 3:19-20 tells us Jesus went to these disobedient spirits in their prison and proclaimed His victory on the cross over them.

vi. An objection offered to this understanding is found in Matthew 22:30, where Jesus said angels neither marry nor are given in marriage; but Jesus never said angels were sexless, and He was also speaking about faithful angels (angels of God in heaven), not rebellious ones.

vii. From the book of 1 Enoch, which is not inspired scripture, but may still contain some accurate accounts: "And it came to pass that the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children … [They] took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments … And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants … And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways."

d. And they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose: We can deduce why Satan sent his angels to intermarry (either directly or indirectly) with human women. Satan tried to pollute the genetic "pool" of mankind with a satanic corruption, to put a genetic "virus" to make the human race unfit for bringing forth the Seed of the woman - the Messiah - promised in Genesis 3:15.

i. "The Savior could not be born of a demon-possessed mother. So if Satan could succeed in infecting the entire race, the deliverer could not come." (Boice)

ii. And Satan almost succeeded. The race was so polluted that God found it necessary to start again with Noah and his sons, and to imprison the demons that did this so they could never do this again.

2. (3-4) God's response to this great wickedness.

And the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

a. My Spirit shall not strive with man forever: God did not allow the human race to stay in this rebellious place forever. This means there is a "point of no return" in our rejection of God. God will not woo us forever; there is a point where He will say "no more."

i. All the more reason for us to say today is the day we will respond to Jesus instead of waiting for another day. We have no promise God will draw us some other day.

b. Yet his days will be one hundred and twenty years: This is not the outside life span of man but the time left until the judgment of the flood. The flood happened 120 years after this announcement.

c. Giants on the earth in those days: This refers to the unnatural offspring of the union between the sons of God and the daughters of men, though there were people of unusual size on the earth both before and after the flood (and also afterward). These ones before the flood were unique because of the demonic element of their parentage. They were the mighty men of old, men of renown.

3. (5-8) The great wickedness of man in Noah's day.

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

a. Every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually: This says a lot. It means there was no aspect of man's nature not corrupted by sin.

i. "A more emphatic statement of the wickedness of the human heart is hardly conceivable." (Vriezen, quoted in Kidner)

ii. Jesus said, "as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matthew 24:37). In other words, the conditions of the world before the coming of Jesus will be like the conditions of the world before the flood:

- Exploding population (Genesis 6:1)
- Sexual perversion (Genesis 6:2)
- Demonic activity (Genesis 6:2)
- Constant evil in the heart of man (Genesis 6:5)
- Widespread corruption and violence (Genesis 6:11)
b. The LORD was sorry that He had made man … He was grieved in His heart: God's sorrow at man, and the grief in His heart, are striking. This does not mean that creation was out of control, nor does it mean that God hoped for something better but was unable to achieve it. God knew all along that this was how things would turn out, but our text tells us loud and clear that as God sees His plan for the ages unfold, it affects Him. God is not unfeeling in the face of human sin and rebellion.

c. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD: While God commanded all the earth to be cleansed of this pollution, He found one man with whom to begin again: Noah, who found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Noah didn't earn grace; he found it. No one earns grace, but we can all find it.

i. It was true then, and it is true today: But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more (Romans 5:20).

B. God calls Noah to build the Ark.

1. (9-10) Noah and his sons.

This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

a. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations: This description of Noah - unique to him - not only refers to the righteous life of Noah, but also to the fact he was yet uncorrupted by Satan's attempt to sow a "virus" among the genetic pool of mankind. We could translate "perfect in his generations" as, "Noah was pure in his genetic profile."

b. Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth: Noah's three sons will figure into the account in a significant way. God will use them as a foundation for the rest of the human race.

2. (11-13) The corruption of the earth and the grace of God.

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

a. The earth also was corrupt … and the earth was filled with violence: Because of the corruption and violence on the earth, and the extent of the corruption, God told Noah that He would judge the wicked along with the earth.

b. I will destroy them with the earth: Some wonder if this is too harsh a judgment, or if is shows God to be cruel or a monster. However, since the fall in Genesis 3, every human being has a death sentence. The timing and method of that death is completely in the hands of God.

i. "On what grounds would God be told that He can bring death to millions of people at the end of a 'normal' life span, but that He may not do it in any other way?" (Barnhouse)

c. And God said to Noah: God told all of this to Noah with the intention of saving Noah and his family. In the midst of such corruption and judgment, there is also grace. Instead of wiping out the entire race, God preserved a remnant.

3. (14-16) God tells Noah to build an ark.

"Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks."

a. Make yourself: This means this was Noah's project. He was not to simply contract it out to someone else.

b. This is how you shall make it: The ark was as long as a 30-story building is high (about 450 feet or 150 meters), and it was about 75 feet (25 meters) wide and 45 feet (15 meters) high. What is described is not really a boat, but a well-ventilated barge, meant only to float and not to sail anywhere. After all, an ark is a chest, not a ship; this refers to the "shoebox" shape of the vessel.

i. The ark, roughly the shape of a shoebox, was plenty large enough (about the size of the Titanic), and had a cubit-wide opening (18 inches) all the way around the top.

ii. It was not until 1858 that a boat bigger than the ark was built. The ark was certainly big enough to do the job. If the ark carried two of every family of animal, there were around 700 pairs of animals; but if the ark carried two of every species of animals, there were around 35,000 pairs of animals.

iii. The average size of a land animal is smaller than a sheep. The ark could carry 136,560 sheep in half of its capacity, leaving plenty of room for people, food, water, and whatever other provisions were needed.

c. You shall make it: God had not yet told Noah why he must build an ark. At this point, all Noah knew was that God will judge the earth, and he was supposed to build a big barge. Since it had not rained yet on the earth, it is reasonable to suppose Noah didn't know what God was meant yet.

d. You shall make it: And Noah did make it. Beyond the Bible, there is rich historical evidence for the reality of Noah's Ark.

i. In 275 B.C. Berosus, a Babylonian historian, wrote: "But of this ship that grounded in Armenia some part still remains in the mountains … and some get pitch from the ship by scraping it off."

ii. Around 75 A.D. Josephus said the locals collected relics from the ark and showed them off to his very day. He also said all the ancient historians he knew of wrote about the ark.

iii. In 180 A.D. Theophilus of Antioch wrote: "the remains [of the ark] are to this day to be seen … in the mountains."

iv. An elderly Armenian man in America said that as a boy, he visited the ark with his father and three atheistic scientists in 1856. Their goal was to disprove the ark's existence, but they found it and became so enraged they tried to destroy it, but could not because it was too big and had petrified. In 1918 one of the atheistic scientists (an Englishman) admitted on his deathbed the whole story was true.

iv. In 1876 a distinguished British statesman and author, Viscount James Bryce, climbed Ararat and reported finding a four-foot long piece of hand-tooled timber at an altitude of more than 13,000 feet (4,300 meters).

vi. Six Turkish soldiers claimed to see the ark in 1916.

vii. In the early part of this century, a Russian aviator named Vladimire Rokovitsky claimed the discovery of Noah's ark. He was stationed in southern Russia near the Turkish border and Mount Ararat. As he tested a plane he and his co-pilot flew over Ararat and discovered on the edge of a glacier what he described as a boat the size of a battleship. He said it was partially submerged in a lake, and he could see there was an opening for a door nearly 20 feet (7 meters) square, but the door was missing. Rokovitsky told his commanding officer and an expedition was dispatched to find the ark and photograph it. The report was forwarded to the Czar, who was soon overthrown and the photos and the report perished.

viii. In 1936 a young British archaeologist named Hardwicke Knight hiked across Ararat and discovered interlocking hand-tooled timbers at a height of 14,000 feet (4,600 meters).

ix. During World War II two pilots saw and photographed something they believed was the ark on Mount Ararat.

x. There have been many more recent attempts to find and document the ark, but they have been hindered by politics and surrounded in controversy.

e. Cover it inside and outside with pitch: The pitch worked to waterproof the wood. God told Noah to cover it with pitch inside and outside, which makes it possible that the ark was preserved for a long time. It is possible God still has a purpose for the ark, to use it to remind the world of a past judgment shortly before a future judgment.

i. Peter, in 2 Peter 3:1-7, relates the future judgment to the judgment of the flood saying, unbelievers willfully forget … the world that then existed perished being flooded with water. Perhaps, before Jesus returns, God will make it even more necessary for people to willfully forget these things.

ii. Because of this mention of pitch (a petroleum product) in what most people think is the Middle East, John D. Rockefeller looked for (and found) oil in that region based on this verse.

4. (17-21) Why the ark must be built and what Noah must do.

"And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark; you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them."

a. Everything that is on the earth shall die: We can only wonder what Noah felt when he heard this remarkable announcement from God. God called Noah to an essential role in the greatest judgment - and greatest salvation - the world had seen.

b. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark: Despite the dramatic judgment coming, God will make a covenant with Noah, and he and his family will be saved. God will also use Noah to save a remnant of each animal so the earth could be populated with people and animals after the flood.

c. Take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself: God also commanded Noah to take all the food he could. There must be a lot of food for Noah and all the animals.

5. (22) Noah's obedience.

Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.

a. Thus Noah did: When given this staggering job to do, Noah did it. We don't hear of him complaining or rebelling; he simply obeyed.

i. The words, "so he did" cover an awful lot of material and years; yet Noah did not shrink from what God told him to do.

b. According to all that God commanded him, so he did: The Bible presents Noah as a great hero of God. He was an outstanding example of righteousness (Ezekiel 14:14), a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), and Noah condemned the world by offering salvation in the ark that the whole world rejected (Hebrews 11:7).

i. Noah was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), yet in his 120-year ministry it seems that no one was saved.

ii. "The work of building the ark was laborious, costly, tedious, dangerous, and seemingly foolish and ridiculous; especially when all things continued in the same posture and safety for so many scores of years together; whereby Noah, without doubt, was all that while the song of the drunkards, and the sport of the wits of that age. So it is not strange that this is mentioned as an heroic act of faith." (Poole)