Intro:
1. How can we forget some of the final lines in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy keeps saying, "There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home."
2. There is no place like the Home that God originally created for Humanity. It was literally a paradise.
3. A Home for Humanity.
Trans: Gen. 2:4-25
In the first chapter we took a Chronological look at Creation; now we have a Topical look at the same thing.
I. FIRST, THERE WAS NOBODY HOME. 4-6
A. The Heading.
4 This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens - this is a typical introduction used throughout the book: 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10, 27; 25:12,19; 36:1; 37:1.
B. The Hindering.
5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground - God created plant life on the 3rd day, but hindered it from growing until both moisture and man was there to care for them.
Trans:There was a time when nobody was home on planet earth. It’s like going to Church hours before anybody gets there! This building is a lonely, almost scary place when nobody is here!
II. FURTHERMORE, WE HAVE HOME ALONE. 7
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 - we have already looked at this in chapter 1.
A. Our Significance.
It gives us significance that we come from God, today man tries to eliminate God as His source and as a result lives a meaningless life.
Sproul, "If human beings are considered alone, apart from God, then they remain alone and insignificant. If we are not creatures related to God, we are a comic accident. If we emerged from the slime by accident, and finally disintegrate into a void or abyss of nothingness."
B. Our Substance.
1. Body. "of the dust of the ground"
"Dust" in the Bible:
Sometimes dust is used metaphorically, such as, "The clouds are the dust of His feet" (Nahum 1:3); sometimes "dust" expresses an act of humility—Josh. 7:6; and often it denotes the actual dust of the ground.
1. Creation. "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground" (Gen. 2:7). Man’s lowly origin and frailty.
2. Confession. "Lord, what am I but dust and ashes?" (Gen. 18:27). To take a low place before God is to find a high place in Him.
3. Conversion. "He raiseth up out of the dust" (1 Sam. 2:8). From the dust of sin, and shame, and self, the Lord raises to the realm of His salvation, love, and grace.
4. Compassion. "He remembereth we are dust" (Psa. 103:14). In His love He remembers we are of lowly origin, and helps us in our weakness.
5. Consecration. "Shake thyself from the dust" (Isa. 52:2). Dusty garments are a disgrace, but the beautiful clothing of His grace beautifies us.
6. Consideration. "I exalted thee out of the dust" (1 Kings 16:2). What the Lord has done for us is worthy of our grateful consideration.
7. Conquest. "His enemies shall lick the dust" (Psa. 72:9). When Christ reigns all shall submit to Him.
[1000 Bible Study Outlines: Study Helps and Sermon Outlines]
The word for "formed" is used of a potter’s shaping clay, and implies that God became directly involved in the shaping and fashioning of man’s physical frame. From beginning to end in the creation story, everything is ascribed to direct acts of God no less than forty-six times. In that footnote the creation of the human body is especially stated to be the product of God’s direct activity. John Phillips Commentary Series
The clay cannot shape itself. If you are to reach your highest potential, you need God to shape your life. It requires an admission of powerlessness to come to the experience of His power. Isn’t this the real meaning of humility? Jesus said that being "poor in spirit" was the first step to entering the kingdom of God (see Matt. 5:3)." [Preaching Through the Year]
Calvin remarks here: "The body of Adam is formed of clay and destitute of sense; to the end that no one should exult beyond measure in his flesh. He must be excessively stupid who does not here learn humility."
"1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: 2 "Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words." 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the LORD. "Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!" Jeremiah 18:1-6 (NKJV)
A simple expression, prayed by an elderly woman at a prayer meeting one night, was the source of inspiration that prompted the writing of this popular consecration hymn, "Have Thine Own Way, Lord," in 1902.
The author of this hymn text, Adelaide A. Pollard, was herself experiencing "distress of soul" during this time. It appears that it was a period in her life when she had been unsuccessful in raising funds to make a desired trip to Africa for missionary service.
In this state of discouragement, she attended a little prayer meeting one night and was greatly impressed with the prayer of an elderly woman, who omitted the usual requests for blessings and things, and simply petitioned God for an understanding of His will in life.
Upon returning home that evening, Miss Pollard mediated on the story of the potter, found in Jeremiah 18:3-4.
Before retiring that evening, Adelaide Pollard completed the writing of all four stanzas of this hymn as it is sung today.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.
2. Spirit/Soul.
...and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being - we have already looked at this. Adam had the capacity to Know, love, and obey God.
He was to have uninterrupted intimacy with God.
The other day I opened my cell phone to make a call - it was dead! I had fogotten to plug it into the charger. We can break fellowship with God and become operationally dead. Adam did not have that problem - He was plugged into God 24/7.
III. THEN WE HAVE NO PLACE LIKE HOME. 8-14
A. The Place.
8 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.
1. God’s Presence was there! It was the Lord who planted this garden! He would walk in that garden in the cool of the day.
Whether in a perfect garden or a dangerous fallen world, the key is to realize that God is here. An old mariners’ chart of the east coast of North America and adjacent waters, drawn by an unknown cartographer in 1525, and now in the British Museum, has some interesting and fearful directions on it. The. mapmaker wrote across great areas of then unexplored land and sea the following inscriptions: "Here be giants," "Here be fiery scorpions," "Here be dragons." At some time in its career the chart fell into the hands of the scientist, Sir John Franklin. He scratched out the fearful old marking and wrote across the map, "Here is God."
2. God’s Protection and Provisions were there.
"The Hebrew word gan means "enclosure" or "garden." Gan possibly comes from an original verbal root that meant "to surround, to cover, or defend." God created a delightful garden setting for His first created pair, Adam and Eve. They were enclosed within it, protected from the outside beasts of the field, and covered by its physical features and environment. They were safe, living in peace and in the presence of their God (Gen. 2—3).
The Lord provided food, vegetables and fruit, and water in abundance for His newly created persons, His image bearers (Gen. 1:26-28; 2:10, 16). The Lord "planted" the Garden and gave people the privilege of living in it and caring for it (Gen. 2:8).
It was legendary in its beauty and its abundance of water (Gen. 13:10). In the end, it was not the environment that polluted all humanity, but human beings that corrupted their God-given paradise (Gen. 3:23).
People still love gardens. Kings of Israel tried to cultivate them (2 Kgs. 21:18, 26). Persian kings fostered them (Neh. 3:15). The great Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar majored in them, creating the fabulously lush "hanging gardens of Babylon."
When Isaiah pictures a restored Israel on Zion, her deserts are restored like "Eden" (Isa. 51:3; 58:11; Jer. 31:12). Ezekiel uses the term "Garden of Eden" to describe a renewed Israel (Ezek. 36:35; Joel 2:3). It is no wonder then that in the Song of Solomon, the Lover can describe his beloved as a "garden locked up" (Song 4:12), even a "fountain in a garden" (Song 4:15). The Lover used garden-like metaphors to describe the sensual delights of his beloved as well as her virginity and her exclusive devotion to him only, and he for her (Song 4:15, 16; 5:1; 6:2).
The writer of the book of Revelation recalls much of the imagery of the Garden in Genesis 2—3 to describe the new Heaven and Earth, the New Jerusalem, and the new "garden setting" of God’s people in the eternal state (Rev. 22:1-5). Significantly, the only thing missing in the new Garden is the curse that destroyed the peace of God’s original Garden of Eden (Rev. 22:3). [Holman treasury of key Bible words]
B. The Pleasant.
9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight - Philips, "Man’s first home was a garden; his final home will be a city. When Adam first opened his eyes to the light of day he looked out upon a scene of matchless beauty and tranquility. The fields were emerald green, the hedgerows ablaze with blossoms, the atmosphere laden with the fragrance of flowers, the forests ringing with joyous song. Strolling through his vast estates, Adams could pause to see a wolf play tag with a lamb, could stop to romp with a jungle lion or to inhale the perfume of the most perfect rose that ever gladdened the eyes of man. He could pause to pick a plum, to prop a burdened vine, to plant a peach tree, to gaze with awe and wonder at the tree of life—"
C. The Plenty.
1. Food.
and good for food - in a world of food shortages, Adam never missed a meal. He had an exhaustable supply of food.
One year, a tree on the campus of Green Acres Elementary School, near Santa Cruz, California, bore strange fruit—mostly sandwiches, but sometimes a cookie, a cupcake, an apple or an orange.
It came into full bearing from a seed planted by teachers Sophie Farrar and Sandra Enz, who were appalled at the quantities of uneaten sandwiches discarded by the youngsters. They suggested wrapped sandwiches be placed under what children began to call the free-food tree, for students who had come without a lunch, or who had lost or forgotten their lunches. The idea was quickly popular. Some youngsters asked their mothers to pack an extra sandwich so they’d have one to put under the free-food tree.
2. Freedom of choice.
The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - God did not create a robot that had to obey Him but a human being with the capacity to choose.
Watchman Knee has an interesting observation, "Adam was created innocent; he had no knowledge of good and evil...without this knowledge Adam could not decide for himself on moral issues. Judgment of right or wrong resides not in him but in God, and Adam’s only course when faced with any question is to refer it to God. Thus you have a life in the garden which is totally dependent on God
The tree of life is God Himself, for God is life. He is the highest form of life, and He is also the source and goal of life.
And the fruit - what is that? It is our Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot eat the tree, but you can eat the fruit. No one is able to receive God as God, but we can receive the Lord Jesus. The fruit is the edible part, the receivable part of the tree. So - may I say it reverently? The Lord Jesus is really God in a receivable form.
If Adam should take of the tree of life, he would partake of the life of God. Thus he would become a son of God, in the sense of having in him a life that would be derived from God.
But if instead Adam should turn the other way, and take of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, then he would develop his own manhood along natural lines apart from God. As self-sufficient being, he would posses in himself the power to form independent judgment, but he would have no life from God."
3. Flowing water.
10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates - Water is a source of life, composing eighty percent of our bodies and the earth, given by God to sustain us. Modern science affirms that it is the major means of internal cleansing for the human body as well. All of those trees, etc., needed water also.
IV. FOURTHLY, HOME ON THE RANGE. 15
Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Genesis 2:16-17 (NKJV) - Sailhamer, "In most English translations of the verse the man is "put" in the Garden "to work it and take care of it." Although this interpretation is found in translations as early as the LXX, there are serious objections to it.
For one, the suffixed pronoun in the Hebrew text rendered "it" in English is feminine, whereas the noun "garden," which the pronoun refers to in English, is masculine. Only by changing the pronoun to a masculine singular, as the LXX had done, can it have the sense of the English translations, namely, "to work" and "to keep."
Moreover, later in this same narrative (3:23), "working the ground" is said to be a result of the Fall, and the narrative suggests that the author has intended such a punishment to be seen as an ironic reversal of humanity’s original purpose.
If such is the case, then "working" and "keeping" the Garden would not provide a contrast to "working the ground."
In view of these objections, which cannot easily be overlooked, a more suitable translation of the Hebrew text would be "to worship and obey." The man’s life in the Garden was to be characterized by worship and obedience...
A further confirmation of our translation "to worship and obey" is that in the following verse we read for the first time that "God commanded." The inference of God’s commands inn Gen. 2:16-17 is that God alone knows what is good for human beings and God alone knows what is not good for them. To enjoy the "good" we must trust God and obey him."
VI. FINALLY, HOME SWEET HOME. 18-25
18 And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." 19 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. 20 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. 21 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. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 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." 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Genesis 2:18-25 (NKJV)
We will save this for next time...
Con:
1. A Home for Humanity - Humanity has left its Home, but through Christ believers are ever homesick for our heavenly home.
2. Charles E. Fuller once announced that he would be speaking the following Sunday on "Heaven". During that week a beautiful letter was received from an old man who was very ill. The following is part of his letter:
"Next Sunday you are to talk about Heaven. I am interested in that land, because I have held a clear title to a bit of property there for over fifty-five years. I did not buy it. It was given to me without money and without price. But the Donor purchased it for me at tremendous sacrifice. I am not holding it for speculation since the title is not transferable. It is not a vacant lot.
"For more than half a century I have been sending materials out of which the greatest Architect and Builder of the Universe has been building a home for me which will never need to be remodeled nor repaired because it will suit me perfectly, individually, and will never grow old.
"Termites can never undermine its foundations for they rest on the Rock of Ages. Fire cannot destroy it. Floods cannot wash it away. No locks or bolts will ever be placed upon its doors, for no vicious person can ever enter that land where my dwelling stands, now almost completed and almost ready for me to enter in and abide in peace eternally, without fear of being ejected.
"There is a valley of deep shadow between the place where I live in California and that to which I shall journey in a very short time. I cannot reach my home in that City of Gold without passing through this dark valley of shadows. But I am not afraid because the best Friend I ever had went through the same valley long, long ago and drove away all its gloom. He has stuck by me through thick and thin, since we first became acquainted fifty-five years ago, and I hold His promise in printed form, never to forsake me or leave me alone. He will be with me as I walk through the valley of shadows, and I shall not lose my way when He is with me.
"I hope to hear your sermon on Heaven next Sunday from my home in Los Angeles, California, but I have no assurance that I shall be able to do so. My ticket to Heaven has no date marked for the journey—no return coupon—and no permit for baggage. Yes, I am all ready to go and I may not be here while you are talking next Sunday evening, but I shall meet you there some day."
Johnny Palmer Jr
StrugglingThruScriptures.ning.com
