No other book in the bible creates more debate than Genesis. Today we look at the first two chapters. Some say they describe two different accounts of creation. I don’t believe so. Genesis 2 is merely a summary of the creation account of Genesis 1and a Segway into the next part of the story – man and the garden.
Genesis 1: The Creation of the World
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."
7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so.
8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
9 And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so.
10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so.
12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
14 And 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,
15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so.
16 And God made the two great lights---the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night---and the stars.
17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
20 And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens."
21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."
23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
24 And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds---livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so.
25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
29 And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.
30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so.
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 2: The Seventh Day, God Rests
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
The Creation of Man and Woman
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up---for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground,
6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground---
7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.
11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.
13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush.
14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
18 Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."
19 Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.
21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
23 Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
Things to think about…
1. What do you make of light being created on the first day and yet the sun being created on the fourth day? What about the earth being created first and then the sun, moon and stars created afterwards. You can see why this first chapter is relegated to the works of myth where there is a strong long age/big bang/evolutionary explanation for the creation of the cosmos and life on earth. Creation Science has been a wonderful tool for Christians to understand Genesis 1 from both a scientific framework as well as maintaining the literal truth and power of the scriptures and this first chapter of God’s word.
2. We read about ‘waters’ being gathered above the waters on earth. We do not read of ‘clouds’ here. In fact it says a mist rose up from the earth and watered the earth, because the Lord had not caused it rain on the earth, Gen 2:5, 6. No rainbow would have been seen because rainbows require direct light being refracted and seen by the observer in front of the direct light source. This account in Gen 1 means that there was a significant gathering of waters above the earth, Gen 1:6-10. This would have created a temperate environment over the entire earth. Should those waters fall, say in a world-wide flood, the likely outcome would be temperature extremities at the poles. This is what we see of course what we see today. There are coal deposits and warm weather animals (fossils) found in both the Arctic and the Antarctic poles. These of course are pre-flood animals.
3. Man is made on the sixth day. Adam and Eve were created and given the commandment to multiply Gen 1:28. Gen 2 are where the issues lie because on this sixth day Adam would have had to name all the animals, before noting that he was without a helper. Do you believe this is possible? There are a lot of animals on the earth. Note that Adams brain capacity and ability would have been far beyond what we would call intelligent in our day, being the direct creation of God and without sin. Our ability to process today is greatly limited. In fact rather than evolving we seem to be losing valuable DNA and it being corrupted through our environment and disease.
4. There are four rivers mentioned which flow out of the garden, Gen 2:10-14. These rivers were pre flood and are not part of the world’s present topography. Rivers are often re-named with the same names in newly discovered countries as those known from an original country – like towns (There is an Ipswich in England). Hence we also have the Euphrates and the Tigris as rivers today. Note that the Pishon and the Gihon are spoken of in the past tense. I.E they were rivers that once flowed and were not around anymore from the writers perspective – whom we know is Moses, writing long after the flood. Some have said the Gihon is the Nile as the text says it flowed into the land of Cush which is identified with Egypt. But pre-flood topography would have been vastly different to what we see today, hence we are able to accurately say where these rivers were prior to the flood and the original land mass being broken up into the continents we see today.
5. Note that only sin makes being naked a problem. Originally it was not so, Gen 2:25. What do you say to those that would say that we were created naked originally and so this is natural; why can’t we then go back to all being naked as we were in the beginning? Remember the man released of a ‘Legion’ of demons in Luke 8. The testimony is that he was “clothed and in his right mind” Luke 8:35. Sin has changed our focus and the way we look at nakedness. Indeed today we pervert it in many ways and hence the need to cover our bodies. More on this in tomorrow’s reading.
Vision Point
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Questions for Cell groups
Sunday’s sermon, “Jesus prays for His disciples” came from John 17:1-26 by Ps Jay.
1. Have you ever had anyone pray for you where their prayers for you have been answered? In John 17 Jesus prays for believers. What are some of the things He is praying for? Have any of these been answered in your life?
2. Jesus doesn’t pray for the world, but only those who would believe in Him, why? Doesn’t God love the world, Jn 3:16. Why wouldn’t Jesus pray for all people?
3. We are told that Jesus is praying for us right now. He is interceding for us before the Father, Rom 8:34 and Heb 7:25. If we are saved because of what He did on the cross, why does he need to still intercede for us?
4. Ask the Lord to give you focussed prayers, praying for His will in your life and in the life of the church. Give thanks for His salvation.
Prayer Points
1. Pray for those who heard the gospel on Sunday. Pray for Christ to grant them salvation.
2. Pray for Queensland that we do not see any more Corona virus cases as restrictions are lifted. Pray for Victoria and NSW as borders are closed, but virus cases continue to rise. Victoria has grown in numbers even while in lockdown.
3. Pray for our church services now meeting together and our streaming that both can continue to be done well every Sunday.
4. Continue to pray for our government for wisdom and economic management.
5. Sunday’s fb live messages and for Kids church. The message this week – “Look out for your bro” Gen 4 – Pr Jay.
6. Church finances to meet our expenses and to put a roof over our café.
7. Our City and Country – Pray for revival over our city and the leadership of our country even through these challenging times.
Praise Points.
1. New visitors on Sunday. New folk have been following us on fb over quarantine, now attend our church.
2. Wonderful spirit of joy in our church. Thankyou Jesus.
3. Mallacoota fire relief donations. Praise God for the help we have been able to give.
4. Finances being maintained and donation to Café roof. Thankyou!
7. Praise God for worship and technical team – amazing individuals.
Announcements
1. One service at 9:30am Every Sunday morning. This service will also be live streamed. No kisses, hand-shakes or hugs are allowed. Hand sanitizer is to be used, tables will be wiped and chairs arranged for appropriate distancing. Families can of course sit together. CBC is allowed up to 50 people inside, then we will have an overflow into the café.
2. Cell groups – Ask for details as to how and what is required.
3. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
4. Kids Church will be run in the house when the message starts.
