GENESISGENESIS

• PART THREE

BOOK OF BEGINNINGS

GOD AS CREATOR

SIX DAYS OF CREATION

EVOLUTION VERSUS CREATION

GENESISGENESIS

PART THREE

BOOK OF BEGINNINGS

GOD AS CREATOR

SIX DAYS OF CREATION

EVOLUTION VERSUS CREATION

EVOLUTION

GEOLOGICAL COLUMN FOSSIL RECORD GENETIC BARRIERS IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY INTELLIGENT DESIGN

CREATION OF MAN

Made in God’s “image” (shadow)

• Triune being – spirit, soul, body (Hebrews 4:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:23)

• Neither male nor female, but both

• Both father and mother

THE NATURAL IMAGE

“I AM”

I know that I exist – animals do not.

I am a dependant “I am”.

God is the independent “I AM”.

THE NATURAL IMAGE

OMNISCIENCE

I have the ability to know.

I can retain/remember some knowledge – with some effort.

God knows ALL things – effortlessly.

THE NATURAL IMAGE

CREATOR

I am a finite creator - my imagination designs things which do not exist, and my body builds them from existing materials.

Animals have no imagination – they build what is genetically imposed on them.

God creates things from nothing.

THE NATURAL IMAGE

WORK

I work because God works (Exodus 20:9-11).

Man creates order from chaos.

NOTE: Adam was given work to do before he was given a wife.

Eve was given to Adam to help him with his work, and to keep him from being lonely (Genesis 2:18, 20).

THE NATURAL IMAGE

COMMUNICATION

I communicate because God communicates

Genesis 1:26, Genesis 3:8-11

Luke 3:21, 22

John 17

We are social beings.

THE NATURAL IMAGE

LOVE

God is Love (1 John 4:8).

Man is created with the capacity and desire to love and be loved.

THE NATURAL IMAGE

SOVEREIGN

It was God’s will to create man with a free will.

You are not a robot – you can choose to do good or evil.

Every choice you make illustrates the fact that you made in God’s image.

THE MORAL IMAGE

HOLINESS

God is Holy (Isaiah 6:3) and expects us to be holy (Leviticus 19:2).

When my spirit is “alive”, listening to God’s Spirit, then I can trust my natural image to do the right thing.

THE MORAL IMAGE

CHILDREN

My behaviour in the world should reflect the character of my Father.

I should represent God to the world and make my Father glad (Zephaniah 3:17).

THE MORAL IMAGE

At the end of Day 6, God declares that His creation was “very good” (Genesis 1:31).

Adam was a very good image of God!

EDEN

Eden: “delight”.

Adam was placed in a paradise but was expected to look after it (Genesis 2:15).

EDEN

Adam was a vegetarian (Genesis 1:29, 2:16)- there has still been no death.

Even animals were vegetarian/herbivorous(Genesis 1:30).

EDEN

TWO TREES

In the middle of the garden were two trees(Genesis 2:9):

(1)Tree of Life

(2)Tree of knowledge of good and evil

EDEN

TWO TREES

Adam was given one instruction: “Do not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:16, 17).

Adam had a choice: To obey, or not to obey!

TWO TREES

Jesus was crucified on a wooden Cross, sometimes referred to as a Tree (Acts 5:30, 1 Peter 2:24).

The two trees (tree of the knowledge of good and evil; the cross) can be contrasted as follows:

TWO TREESTREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF

GOOD AND EVIL

•Planted by God.

•Pleasant to look at (Genesis 3:6).

•Man forbidden by God to eat of this tree.

•Satan desires man to eat of this tree.

•Eating this fruit brings sin and death.

•Adam driven out of paradise after eating.

CROSS OF CHRIST

•Erected by man.

•No beauty (Isaiah 53:2); cloaked in darkness (Matthew 27:45).

•Man invited to partake of this tree by God (Matthew 26:26-28).

•Satan prevents man from eating of this tree.

•Eating this fruit brings life and salvation.

•Man brought into paradise after “eating” (Luke 23:42, 43).

THE SERPENT

• Very beautiful creature.

• Probably a common sight in Eden.

• Inhabited by Satan in order to deceive man.

SATAN

• First actions revealed.

• He uses the beautiful things of God and twists them to his own ends.

• He appears as an angel of light in order to deceive mankind (2 Corinthians 11:14).

SATAN

His lies are half-truths:

•Questions God’s word (Genesis 3:1)“Has God said …?”

•Contradicts God’s word (Genesis 3:4)“You will not die.”

•Twists God’s word into a half-truth (Genesis 3:5)“You will be as God, knowing good and evil.”

SATANTempted Eve in 3 areas (Genesis 3:6):

•Physical – fruit was good for food.

•Aesthetically – fruit was pleasant to look at.

•Spiritually – fruit was something to be desired, to make one wise, to make one like God.

1 John 2:16 reiterates this.

Satan tempted Jesus in the same way! (Matthew 4:1-11)

TEMPTATION

God’s instructions were given to Adam, not to Eve (Genesis 2:16,17).

Satan tempted Eve, not Adam (Genesis 3:1).

Adam was most likely with Eve during the temptation (Genesis 3:2 “… we may eat …” and Genesis 3:6 “… gave to her husband with her”).

Eve was deceived – Adam ate knowingly (1 Timothy 2:14).

TEMPTATION

Satan works from the outside to within body soul spirit

God works from the inside out spirit soul body

THE FALL

Consequences of disobeying God:

•Loss of innocence – creation of conscience.Man is able to discern the difference between right and wrong – but does not have the ability to naturally choose right. Man now has a natural bias to do wrong (Romans 3:23).

•We sin because we are sinners – not the other way around.

•We are inherently evil, needing an internal fix.

THE FALL

BROUGHT DEATH

•Man’s spirit is separated from God.

•Decay sets in bringing death to all living things – animals and man.

THE FALL

DIFFUSION OF RESPONSIBILITY

•Adam and Eve blamed others (Genesis 3:12, 13).

•They tried to hide from God (Genesis 3:8).

•They tried to deceive God by attempting to cover the effects of their sin (Genesis 3:7).

They lost their godly covering (aura/light) when they sinned and were immediately aware of that loss.

THE FALL

• God is clothed with majesty and honour and light, just as we are clothed with garments (clothes) (Psalm 104:2,3).

• Adam was also clothed with God’s glory.

• Genesis 2:25 “… were both naked …”.

• Naked arom, means partially naked.

THE FALL

• Genesis 3:7,10,11 “… knew they were naked…”

• Naked erom, means totally naked.

• They were aware that they had lost God’s covering, and made their own covering of fig leaves.

THE FALL

• Man’s covering for sin is inadequate.

• Jesus cursed only one thing while living on earth (Mark 11:20,21) – a fig tree.

THE FALL

THORNS AND THISTLES

•Life becomes hard and difficult (Genesis 3:17,18).

•Man no longer commands nature to obey him (Genesis 1:28,29).

THE FALL

The serpent loses his legs, and will crawl on his belly from this day on (Genesis 3:14).

THE FALL

Pain in childbearing.

Eve (and her descendants) would suffer pain in giving birth (Genesis 3:16).

THE FALL

BIAS TOWARDS WRONG

From now on Adam’s descendants would know the difference between right and wrong, but because their spirit was dead (separated from God) they would be unable to resist the wrong (Romans 3:10-12, 23, 5:12,19).

GOD’S RESPONSE

CLOTHING

God covered man and his sins (temporarily) by His choice of clothing – the skins of animals (Genesis 3:21).

GOD’S RESPONSE

MAN’S COVERING

•Man’s own (good) works.

•Short-lived.

•Ineffective, uncomfortable.

•From the ground, which was cursed.

GOD’S COVERING

•Innocent blood shed.

•Longer lasting.

•Effective, comfortable.

•From life, which is from God, a blessing.

GOD’S RESPONSE

MESSIAH

God promised a deliverer (Genesis 3:15) who would destroy Satan (“bruise his head”) while being wounded by Satan (“bruise his heel”).

Fulfilled in Colossians 2:14,15 when Jesus broke Satan’s power on the Cross.

MESSIAH

Almost all ancient civilisations have a story of a god-man (the child of a chief god) who kills a serpent or dragon, and who generally suffers as a result of the serpent.

THE MESSIAH

GREEK MYTHS•Apollo – sun god – slays the serpent, Pytho.

THE MESSIAH

GREEK MYTHS

Hercules – son of Zeus, chief god, and a mortal woman – while still in his cradle, strangles serpents.

THE MESSIAH

GREEK MYTHSAchilles – the only son of a goddess – is invulnerable except for his heel: he dies when an arrow strikes his heel.

THE MESSIAH

EGYPT

The great god HORUS is frequently depicted piercing the head of a snake – which represents all of his enemies.

THE MESSIAH

INDIAKrishna is depicted dancing on the head of the evil serpent, Kalyia. Subsequently, Krishna dies as a consequence of having been shot in the foot by the arrow of a hunter.

THE MESSIAH

SCANDINAVIAThor, son of the chief god Odin and the earth goddess, Gaea, slays the giant Midgard (earth) serpent with his hammer, but is killed by the death-throes of the serpent.

THE MESSIAH

SCANDINAVIAAsgard, home of the gods, has a tree of life, Yggasdral, which grows in a number of realms, or dimensions, giving life to all.

THE MESSIAH

MEXICO

The embodiment of all evil, a serpent, is crushed by the great spirit Teotl.

THE MESSIAHEXPULSION FROM EDEN

•Sin causes separation from God.

•Man’s spirit was now dead and he was ruled by his soul and physical desires.

•To prevent this lasting forever, God closed the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:22,23).

•Man’s body would eventually die, but a redeemer, a promised one, a Messiah, would buy back man by paying the price for sin, i.e. death, and destroying Satan.

•Adam and Eve lived with the hope of this promise (Genesis 3:15).

THE MESSIAH

•Satan caused mankind’s downfall through a woman.God would bring about Satan’s downfall (and man’s upliftment) through someone born of a woman.

•Woman had been responsible for the curse.Woman would be responsible for Him who would break the curse.

THE MESSIAH

SATAN’S PLANS

From that time on Satan has tried to destroy the family line of the Messiah.

•Abel killed by Cain.

•Noah’s flood.

•Pharaoh's attempt to destroy Israel.

•Haman’s plot to destroy Israel.

•Herod’s plot to destroy baby Jesus.

THE MESSIAH

ADAM – 1ST MAN

•Tempted – rejected God’s words.

•Chose his own way.

•Aspired to be like God.

•Brought a curse on the universe.

•Caused thorns to grow.

•Made to sweat in order to live.

CHRIST – 2ND MAN

•Tempted – obeyed God’s words.

•Chose God’s will.

•Chose to be a servant.

•Became a curse (Galatians 3:13) to undo Adam’s damage.

•Wore a crown of thorns.

•Produced sweat drops of blood when dying.

THE MESSIAH

ADAM – 1ST MAN

•Body returned to dust when he died.

•Caused a flaming sword to bar the way to eternal life.

•Adam hid when God came to seek him.

CHRIST – 2ND MAN

•Body remained incorruptible and returned to heaven.

•Had a spear piercing his side to open the way to eternal life.

•Christ was rejected by God (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

THE MESSIAH

CAIN

•Eve conceives and gives birth to a son whom she names “Cain” (acquisition), saying she has acquired a son (from) God.

•It appears that Eve (and Adam?) believed that this son was the promised one of Genesis 3:15, the Messiah.

Note: The mother chooses the son’s name; a patternwhich follows (with rare exceptions) throughout scripture.

THE MESSIAH

GOD’S ORDER

1 Corinthians 15:46 shows God’s order.

First the natural, then the spiritual:First Cain, then Abel.First Ishmael, then Isaac.First Esau, then Jacob.First Saul, then David.

CAIN AND ABEL

Eve then gives birth to Abel, Cain’s brother.

(Abel means “exaltation”, or “that which ascends”.)

There is no mention of another conception so it is possible that the two boys were twins.

CAIN AND ABEL

OFFERING

Genesis 4:3 seems to indicate there was a specific time (of the week, month or year) when offerings were made to God.

CAIN AND ABEL

OFFERING

It is possible there was also a specific place where the offering was to be made.

Genesis 3:24 states that angels guarded the entrance to the garden of Eden and the flaming presence of God stood there in the form of a fiery sword. It is most likely that offerings to God were made here.

CAIN AND ABEL

OFFERING

From Hebrews 11:4 and the context of Genesis 4, it is clear that both men were expected to bring offerings to God.

They also knew what type of offering to bring.

CAIN AND ABEL

OFFERING

Cain’s offering was from the ground which he tilled as a farmer.

Abel’s offering was from the flocks he looked after as a shepherd.

CAIN AND ABEL

OFFERING

God accepted Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s. There must have been some visible manifestation to indicate this – possibly fire from heaven?

Clearly Abel had been obedient to God’s word, but Cain had not.

CAIN AND ABEL

DIFFERENCES IN THEIR OFFERINGS

ABEL

•Living animal – blood had to be shed; an innocent one had to die.

•Fat of the flock – the best he had to offer.

•Firstling of the flock – showing how important God was.

CAIN

•Fruit of the ground – which God had cursed; product of Cain’s labour.

•Fruit of the ground – not his best.

•Fruit of the ground – not the first of his harvest/crop.

CAIN AND ABEL

CAIN’S SIN

Cain becomes angry because his offering is not accepted by God. God reasons with him to do the right thing and bring the “sin offering” which is crouching at the door.

This is probably over 120 years after the Fall.

There are a few hundred people on earth and offerings and sacrifices are probably a fairly common occurrence – yet Cain rejects God’s way.

CAIN AND ABEL

CAIN’S SIN

Anger turns to murder, and Cain kills Abel.

A double victory for Satan – one brother has been corrupted by evil, and the uncorrupted one has been killed.

This is Satan’s method from now on in an attempt to prevent the Messiah from being born.

CAIN AND ABEL

CAIN’S SIN

Cain then lies in order to try and cover his sin (Genesis 4:9).

There is no acknowledgement of wrongdoing and repentance.

Cain is more concerned with the severity of his punishment – exclusion from society – than with apologising for his actions.

CAIN AND ABEL

CAIN’S PUNISHMENT

God marked Cain (clearly a visible marking that would be obvious to all who met him) to prevent him from being killed by other family members seeking revenge. This was to give him time to repent.

However, he ran from the presence of God into a land called Nod (“wandering”). Here he married, built a city, had a son, and named both the city and his son “Enoch” (teacher, or teaching).

His wife had to be a sister, niece or cousin!

CAIN AND ABEL

CAIN’S DESCENDANTS

One of Cain’s descendants, Lamech (means “destruction”) had two wives – the first record of a plural marriage.

It is from Cain’s (sinful) line that God’s ordinances are destroyed and the image of God shattered.

All future polygamous marriages recorded in scripture are marked by disunity, disharmony or disaster.

CAIN AND ABEL

CAIN’S DESCENDANTS

This group of people are marked as distinct from the rest of Adam’s family.

In Genesis 6:1 and 2, reference is made to the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men”.

Some commentators believe Cain’s descendants to be the “daughters of men”.

CAIN AND ABEL

ABEL AS A TYPE OF CHRIST

• Abel was a shepherd who presented his offering to God.

• Abel’s offering was a firstborn animal, and accepted by God.

• He was hated by his brother through no fault of his own.

• He did not die a natural death, but met with violent death at the hand of his brother.

• After his death, his blood cried out to God.