Alpha and Omega, Part 7
God’s perfect plan for life on Earth
Genesis 2:4-25
Introduction
- We’ve begun 2023 with “one purpose”: Knowing there is a God!
-- Continuing our series, “Alpha and Omega”; examining the beginning to the end
- This morning, we will pick up some speed having our foundation set
-- The foundation is: God created all that we see and gave it to us to care for
-- APP: We were intentionally created to have dominion over all the Earth
- Last week’s big ideas:
1. The events surrounding Creation are not “unexplainable”
-- God created to bring glory to Himself and even made us in His own image
2. God’s completion of creation put an exclamation mark on everything
-- It is a finished work, a completed effort of God’s work
3. In order to move forward, we must see & believe God’s work
-- This is our choice (freely offered), and where the last 6 weeks have taken us
- Let’s read our passage for today … Read Genesis 2:4-25 / Pray
- TR: First, we must see how we are able to live …
Point 1 – We have been given God’s breath of life
- Level set: Know at our basic level we were created to worship God (GROW)
-- CHALL: Worship is not just our praise but also our obedience to Him
• We must obey the one we call God; else we are not truly worshiping
• Worship is more than singing, hearing a sermon, and even giving
• It’s more than saying we are a Christian – state of living completely
- Life challenge (angels in heaven today): Revelation 4:11 says, “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.”
- NOTE: Genesis 2 is an expanding of the creation of man (for our understanding)
- God’s name is given to us as a reference of everything He is (v4)
-- Hebrew is Jehovah Elohim; Lord God Name & nature is very specific
-- Get this: The universe was created by a very physical/real person
- He’s a personal God … one invested in you, explicitly
-- And His desire is that we would have a personal relationship with Him
- He took dust from the ground and gave His breath so we would live (v7)
-- See this: Nothing else is given the breath of life from God
-- APP: You and I are not accidents or were created by an undeliberate force
-- Hebrew: yatsar; to form, or fashion (God specifically made you)
- Bigger: Man is the product of God’s mind, of His thoughts, of His heart
-- Man’s creation, his very existence, came from the heart & mind of God
- From the intelligence and power of God Himself; we are formed to live
-- And at the very beginning, His command was to reproduce, this means …
-- (EXP) At the start you, right here in this place, were always planned (EXP)
- TR: His plan is so specific, He provided man a place to reside …
Point 2 – The importance of the Garden of Eden
- FACT: The Garden of Eden was a real place!
-- It was created so that His masterpiece would have a place of safety to dwell
-- He even provided nourishment for the plants through underground springs (v5)
-- This means that all life could be support (re: plants/trees need water)
- Love how specific God’s word is about its location (GARDEN IMAGE)
• Planted in the East, in the land of Eden
• Three real lands are outlined: Havilah, Cush (Ethiopia), Asshur (Assyria)
• Four rivers are described: Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel (Tigris), and Euphrates
• All of this tells us … the Garden was in modern day, southern Iraq
- God knew man’s need, and that he needed a place to survive
-- He created the Garden, a most beautiful place, and charged us with its care
-- Hebrew: gan; an enclosure, protected, secure
-- This location would have been sheltered – secured from outside threats
- It was a place different from the rest of the Earth, a paradise that God secured
-- KEY: Man would have known it was special – why?
- Because it would have meet all of man’s physical needs (shelter, food, etc.)
-- And in the Garden, God put one tree that was special: the tree of life (v9)
-- Consider: God gave Adam a tree that he would have to choose to eat from
-- Understand this … with the choice to eat from this tree (tree of life) …
• He would be able to choose to have God’s presence in His life
• He would choose God’s peace instead of a life of division
• He would choose fulfillment over emptiness (what God gives)
• This tree would represent a life with only God’s presence
-- SEE: This tree could only exist in a perfect world … a world without sin
-- But man chose to eat of the forbidden tree (v17); get to this later
- Some historical info:
-- Ezekiel talked about trees being given in his prophecy about eternity
-- Ezekiel 47:12, “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing.”
- We also know overcomers in the Tribulation will have access to this tree of life
-- Revelation 2:7, “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God.”
- And … this tree will exist in the New Jerusalem at the end of time
-- Rev 22:1-2, “Then the angel showed me a river (ref Ezekiel 47) with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.”
- This tree represented access to God; and one that we chose to not want - SO
-- It is where the Messiah’s story begins (shows we need to be given access again)
- Teach: It is in the Garden we are presented with a choice on how we will live
-- Will we choose to know God, to be devoted to Him, to serve Him forever
-- God never wanted to coerce us, but gave us opportunity to know Him, intimately
-- HUGE: It’s why He is so deliberate with Jesus: to show us His unending love
- Our purpose in the Garden was simple: care for what God has made
-- We were created to be responsible, to be active, to be intentional in how we live
-- To have a strong sense of purpose and self-worth – given charge to work
-- And, to choose to live with God’s fellowship as our central theme
- But … to live in a way that honors God requires following the simplest rule
-- See simplicity of this: You can have everything except this one tree (v16-17) …
-- Obedience means choosing God, and choosing that God’s ways are priority
- Note: Adam is given this command, Eve is not created yet, so this is on “us”
-- God says, “You can have it all, if you’ll only obey this one thing”
-- When God told man he would die - it is a spiritual separation from God
-- To be separated from God’s peace, which we all desperately need
- TR: Must see this: We need His boundaries in every facet of our life
-- But we also needed something else in order for our life to be complete
Point 3 –God gives man a partner to complete his need
- Obvious: the creation of woman is given special attention in this chapter
-- The reason: to provide a clear, distinct, relationship between man & woman
- Man and woman are different persons, they are distinct individuals
-- But they were individually created with the same purpose: to worship God
-- Additionally, they were created to fulfill the purpose of populating the Earth
- See here (v18) God discusses, out loud again, His intention to create
-- Woman was not an afterthought, or an inferior plan, or of less importance
-- The passage shows us that great care and concern is given to this creation
-- Why? Because, by God’s own word, it was not good for man to be alone
- Without woman, man would not have a suitable companion for his life
-- Every animal that has been created, which man named, is not fit for this role
-- Additionally, without woman, man would not be able to reproduce
- Science says they can make an embryo … great, from what sperm/egg?
-- We cannot reproduce without the basic components from man and woman!
- Consider: every plant & animal created could reproduce its own kind
-- They are given seeds and the genetic makeup to make more of themselves
-- But man is not one of those, and thus reproduction would be impossible
-- Look – this is not ground-breaking … it is basic biology (science backed)
-- APP: Man is only ½ of God’s plan for humanity … woman is the other
- God’s plan for woman was because man was incomplete
-- We needed a partner, someone to walk with us and share the responsibility
-- Woman was planned as a counterpart to man; to compliment and comfort
- The creation of woman is a picture of how close she is to be with man
-- It shows a companionship and partnership for all of life’s challenges
-- So, why did God use a rib from man as the building block of a woman?
-- To show that from one came the other; that we are of the same makeup
- Woman was also to be man’s desire
-- She was to become one flesh with man, to have matching natures (biology)
-- They were to value and cherish one another by being brought together
- Before this moment, man had no companion that was suitable for him
-- But now, there stood Eve, a perfect image of what man was missing
- I want you to just imagine this scene:
-- Together, in God’s paradise, naked and unashamed, they’re brought together
-- Just take a look at the response of Adam (read verse 23) (Etta James)
-- Need to see this critical moment in history, from the very beginning (v24)
-- Man and woman were designed to be brought together; to be joined as one
-- SEE: Man was to desire her more than his own parents!! (words on handout)
• Hebrew: ish; man
• Hebrew: dabaq; to cling, to keep close (be joined)
• Hebrew: ishshah; woman, wife, female
• Hebrew: echad; one
• Hebrew: basar; flesh
• Hebrew: hayah; to come to pass, become
- APP: Man being joined to his wife is a picture of God’s plan for marriage
-- Get this: Society doesn’t get to claim or steal this one away from God
-- Before society ever was, God instituted what and how life should be
-- They were to be brought together, and given a blessing to reproduce (Gen 1:28)
- She was to be like him in every aspect: a physical, mental, and spiritual being
-- And she was brought to him by God as a perfect picture of completion
- Visualize this (v25): Man and woman both able to stand before a Holy God …
-- Perfectly innocent, without fault or the need to understand what shame is
-- How? Because there was no failure, no fault to be seen, and no guilt
-- APP: They were unified as a perfect picture of what God intended
- And in a very short time … they (we) would mess it up royally
-- So much so, that it would cost God’s Son’s life to redeem us (back next week)
- Pray for:
• A willingness to see what God has done for us
• He has given us creation, rest, partnership, and full community with Him
• Give us understanding that ‘now’ perfection is only possible through Jesus
• Make us desire Him more, and want to see Him glorified in our lives
