Genesis 1-3 – The Persuader

GENESIS 1-3

Chapters 1-3

I. Introduction

1. The title: "Genesis" = beginning; origin; generation; this title was taken from the Septuagint = the ancient Greek translation of the OT.

A. The OT was primarily written in Hebrew with the exception of portions of Ezra and Daniel and a few other verses in Aramaic.

B. Hebrew is the language that is believed founded by Abraham in the land of Canaan, thus he did not bring it with him from the Ur of Chaldees. This is the language spoken by the Israelite nation during OT time.

C. Aramaic was an international language of business and diplomacy during the days of Babylonian captivity and adopted by the Jews who returned from Babylonian captivity. In the time of Christ, Aramaic was spoken by large numbers of the Jews in their conversation.

D. Greek was the language of the NT and also the common language of nations during Jesus' day. By God's divine hand the OT was translated into Greek in 285 BC. This translation was called the Septuagint because 70 translators, who knew Hebrew and Greek and were scholars, were chosen to translate the OT into Greek.

2. Who wrote Genesis?

A. God did. He breathed it from His very inner being. (II Tim. 3:16)

B. He used human instruments--holy men. (II Peter 1:21) Moses is the chosen human instrument who wrote this book also entitled "The first book of Moses called Genesis." Our Lord credited Moses as the human instrument used to pen this book and at least four more--Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. (Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:45-47)

II Outline of Genesis

1. Mankind in general. (Chap. 1-11)

A. The creation. (1-2)

B. The fall of man. (3-4)

C. Noah and the flood. (5-10)

D. The Tower of Babel (11)

2. The Patriarchs of Israel (Chap. 12-50)

A. The life of Abraham (12-25)

B. The life of Isaac. (21-28)

C. The life of Jacob. (25-49)

D. The life of Joseph. (30-50)

Note: their lives overlap each other.

III. Mankind in general. (Chap. 1-11)

A. The creation. (Chap. 1-2)

CHAPTER 1:

V. 1

1. "In the beginning" = that by which anything begins to be; man being the finite (having a limit) being he is must have a point of beginning so he can comprehend; therefore, the Word of God is written with man in mind, so the Word gives us a point of beginning.

2. "God" = Elohim; plural name of God--God the father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; means the strong one; plural name with a singular meaning; God is One yet manifested in more than One person (John 10:30); John 1:1-2, 14 verifies Jesus was present in the beginning and that He was God.

3. "In the beginning God" = this phrase tells us that He was Himself before the beginning, therefore eternal; this is the foundation truth of all real theology--God is the great Originator; therefore, He was there before the creation--before the foundation of the world (I Peter 1:18-20; Eph. 1:4); when you go back as far as time allows you to search and you open up the first page of that time, there is God, the eternal One.

4. "Created" = bringing into existence; to make something out of nothing; the Hebrew word is used only of the work of God (Heb. 11:3); men can "make" things or "form" things but they cannot create things; man can make a chair but he cannot create the wood; man can make a car but he cannot create the metal; God can make and form things also, but only He can create; the act of creation is that of speaking into existence something whose materials had no previous existence, except in the mind and power of God.

5. "Heaven" = this Hebrew word designates the entire creation constituting the universe outside of planet earth; the angels, cherubims, and seraphims, I believe, are included in this word:

A. Paul spoke of the third heaven in II Cor. 12:2 where he said he knew a man (himself) that was caught up to the third heaven. The third heaven is the place where God is, His throne is, and Jesus is at His right hand today. If there is a third heaven, then there must be a first and second heaven.

B. The second heaven is where the galaxies, constellations, stars, planets, and etc. are.

C. The first heaven is the atmospheric heaven which reaches about 500 miles high around the earth. This is the present abode of Satan who is called "the prince of the power of the air" in Eph. 2:2.

D. All three heavens are meant here. You may ask "If God already was why did He create the third heaven?" He needed a place for redeemed fallen man, (Isa. 64:4) so He created the heaven.

6. "Earth" = refers to the component of matter in the universe; what the earth was like at this time we can only speculate; I believe it reflected the perfections of their Maker; it must have been something to behold for Job 38:4,7 speaks of the sons of God (created angels) shouting for joy over the earth God created; what beauty and splendor; we know not what it was like, but we know it must have been different from its chaotic state as described in verse 2 = "without form and void."

7. This opening verse proves wrong:

A. Atheism = a belief that there is no God or God does not exist; this verse says God was present in the beginning.

B. Pantheism = the doctrine that God is not a personality, but that all laws, forces, manifestations, and etc. of the self-existing universe are God; but this verse says God existed apart, without, and before the Universe.

C. Polytheism = the doctrine of a belief in or worship of more than one god. But this verse says one God created all things.

D. Materialism = the doctrine that matter is the only reality in the world and that everything in the world including thought, will, and feeling can be explained only in terms of matter; but this verse said matter had a beginning.

E. Humanism = the doctrine that holds that man and man alone is capable of self-fulfillment without God; but this verse said God created, not man.

F. Evolutionism = the doctrine that all species of plants and animals developed from earlier forms by hereditary transmission of slight variations in successive generations; but this verse says God created all things.

G. Agnosticism = the doctrine that says the human mind cannot know whether there is a God; but this verse introduces us to a God we can know.

H. This verse teaches monotheism = the doctrine that there is one God, only one God, and as Eph. 3:20 states "He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think;" that is the God mentioned in this verse.

V. 2

1. "Was" = to be; to become; to come to pass; to be done; the earth had come to pass to be "without form and void."

2. "Without form" = desolation; a worthless thing, confusion; emptiness; wasteness.

3. "Void" = to be empty; an undistinguishable ruin.

4. God did not create the earth this way, so some catastrophe must have intervened between verses 1 and 2. This is what is known as the Gap theory--a gap between verse 1 and 2.

5. Isa. 45:18 states "God created the earth not in vain;" "vain" is translated from the same Hebrew word as "without form" = desolation; a worthless thing; confusion; emptiness; therefore, something happened.

6. It is believed that sin entered in by the fall of Satan. Ezk. 28:14-17 lets us know Satan was God's anointed cherub and perfect from the day he was created until iniquity was found in him. Isa. 14:12-15 reveals it was the sin of pride, wanting to be exalted above the throne of God, that caused Lucifer (Satan) to be cast down to this earth (atmospheric heaven) along with the angels he was in charge of. (Rev. 12:3-4)

7. Satan is at work in Gen. 3 soon after Adam and Eve were told to replenish the earth in Gen. 1:28. We know he came soon after Adam and Eve were joined together because there had been no conception yet. Therefore, Satan had to be cast down before Gen. 3 and the only place I can find for that to happen is between verses 1 and 2.

8. How long the period of time was, we know not and we need not worry over it. Titus 3:9 says "Avoid foolish questions....for they are unprofitable and vain." We do not need to get hung up here.

9. The main thing, there is a truth taught here that we need to get hold of. The Word of God is full of pictures and types and shadows. God used them in OT time to teach us truth. Here we see:

A. The earth was created in perfection. (verse 1)

B. Sin entered in between verse 1 & 2 which caused the earth to be without form and void and be in darkness. (verse 2) Sin brings a curse!

C. God moves to restore the earth which had fallen in ruin. This is the rest of chapter 1, which reveals what we refer to as the six day creation.

10. All of this is a type of mankind:

A. He was created in perfection and placed in the garden.

B. Man falls as he eats the forbidden fruit. Sin enters and brings a curse upon man and he is without form and void and in darkness spiritually. How complete the confusion! How profound the darkness which is compared to blindness. (II Cor. 4:4; Jer. 17:9; Eph. 4:18)

C. The entire Bible unfolds the redemptive work of Christ on the cross and how He moves to restore fallen man and make him a new creation. (II Cor. 5:17)

11. "Darkness" = refers to a state that is opposite of light.

12. "Face" = means not surface but presence; signifies that wherever the "deep" was, there was also darkness.

13. "Deep" = sea or subterranean water supply; here it probably refers to the earth existing in a fluid or liquid and that being the waters "God moved upon the face of." Pro. 8:24; 27 refers to the initial formless condition of this watery suspension; "compass" means circle as Isa. 40:22 uses this same Hebrew word; the fact that this "compass" had to be "set" on the deep shows that the face of the deep was without form.

14. The earth was in a terrible condition because sin had entered in.

15. "The Spirit of God" = the Holy Spirit; here is where hope begins to dawn; God did not abandon the devastated earth, and neither did He abandon fallen man.

16. Why should He even notice that which was now a desolate waste? But here is where sovereign mercy intervened. He purposed to restore the earth and also fallen man who believed. This shows Divine activity which was a prime necessity.

A. How could the earth restore itself?

B. How could that which lay under the righteous judgment of God bring itself into the place of blessing?

C. How could darkness transform itself into life?

D. How could fallen man save himself?

E. The answer to these questions is that "It can't be done." The ruined creation was helpless and fallen man is helpless. If there was to be restoration and a new creation, Divine power must intervene--the Spirit must move and He did.

17. "Moved" = the Hebrew word is translated "shake" in Jer. 23:9 and "fluttereth" in Deut. 32:11; the eagle "fluttereth" to knock the eaglet off the edge of the nest because she is about to show him something.

A. When the Spirit of God moved this chaotic earth shook--vibrated. If you could have stood on the edge of the earth at that time, you would have felt the movement but not saw anything because of the darkness.

B. A sinner, when the Spirit of God begins to move, will wiggle, squirm, shake, and vibrate but he doesn't understand why because he is still in darkness--has no understanding of his confused chaotic condition.

C. Some ask the question, "Why is it that ‘so and so’ who goes to a Baptist church says they know they are saved and they live like the devil and you can see their life doesn't match up to the Bible, but they are not bothered?" One answer--no moving of the Spirit of God--no power.

D. When the Spirit moves, you know something happened even though you may not understand.

18. You say, "I'm bothered but I don't know why. What do I do?" Ask God for light. Notice that light came in v. 3.

19. The time of this occasion is approximately 4000 years BC. A man by the name of Ussher dated it 4004 BC which is used in many Bibles. Another man, I do not know who, dated this as 3975 BC. I am inclined to agree with this date because all of the OT fits in 3975 years but does not fit 4004. So for the purpose of our lessons, we will use 3975 BC as the beginning of what we know as the six day creation of Gen. 1.

20. One thing you need to remember is that the dates we give are not set in concrete--we can only give an approximation of dates. The Lord did not want us to know exactly, or we would try to set the date of the Lord's return as some already have.

V. 3

1. "God" = Elohim; implies God the Son, who is the living Word, who is the Creator.

2. "Said" = spoke; to utter; our Lord spoke this six day creation into existence; in John 7 officers were sent to arrest Jesus but they came back empty handed and said, "Never man spake like this man" (John 7:45-46); when the Lord spoke, things happened as He said.

3. "Let there be light" = illumination; if you could have been present that day before the light came, you would not have seen the formless earth, the confusion, or the emptiness of the earth because of the darkness; but when light came, it would have let you see the confusion and the chaotic condition of the earth and you would not have liked what you saw; it was not enough to be shaken or moved upon--the earth needed more Divine activity than the moving of the Spirit; therefore, the Lord spoke--Divine activity.

4. It is the same way in the work of the new creation (I'm speaking of man being saved). He must have the Divine activity of the Holy Spirit, but we cannot separate that from the ministry of the Word of God, which speaks to your heart and gives light. Light comes to the sinner through the Word applied by the Spirit. (Psa. 119:130; II Cor. 4:6)

5. You see, the entrance of sin has blinded the eyes of man's heart and has darkened his understanding. He is blinded so much that when man is left to himself he is unable to perceive:

A. The awfulness of his condition.

B. The condemnation which rests upon him. (John 3:36; Eph. 2:3--he is a child of wrath.)

C. The danger in which he stands.

D. The urgent need he has for a Saviour, who is the Lord.

6. Spiritually he is in total darkness and he cannot rid himself of that darkness by:

A. The affections of his heart.

B. The reasonings of his mind.

C. Nor the power of his will.

7. It takes light. And just as the shining of the light in this verse made clear the confusion, disorder, and emptiness of the earth, so the entrance of God's Word into the human heart reveals the awful ruin, disorder, and confusion that sin caused.

8. When the Spirit begins to move and the light begins to shine, the first thing that happens is that the preacher gets blamed for confusing people. No, no, for the first time the light was turned on and the confusion and disorder in their soul was seen. Confusion was there all the time, but darkness was upon it and it could not be seen until the light was turned on. People used to go to Camp Zion and come back home bothered and Camp Zion got blamed for confusing people. No, light was turned on and the chaotic condition of their heart was seen and they didn't like it, so they went to a preacher who turned the light off and they were satisfied for a while.

9. Man doesn't want the shaking or the light. (John 3:19) Man wants the preacher to prop them up and say everything is okay. If you have anything that's real, you won't have to be propped up.

10. Having light is not salvation. In fact in Genesis 1, the light came three days before the sun on day four. You must have the Son to be saved. (I John 5:12) Light must come before you are saved.

11. "There was light" = when the light was turned on the earth, it was still without form and void.

12. So we see the restoration of the earth parallels fallen man becoming a new creation. The main thing is to stay in light. (Pro. 21:16) If you willfully turn aside from light, God has a warning in II Peter 2:20-21.

13. If the Spirit has moved and the light has revealed your condition, you should thank the Lord. You may say, "There is not enough power to save here." Where will you go? Most places I know, there is not enough power to turn the light on. Stay put and allow Divine activity to make you a new creature.

V. 4

1. "And God saw the light, that it was good" = this light was approved by God; He saw it as "good" = pleasant; beautiful; excellent; lovely; delightful.

2. This light refers to our Lord Jesus. (John 8:12) The Scriptures (OT) testify of Jesus. (John 5:39-40) Paul spoke of Jesus in Heb. 10:7--the volume of the book in this context refers to OT Scriptures.

3. Now we have the NT as well. The complete Bible contains 66 books, 1189 chapters, 131,163, verses, 733,746 words, and 3,566,480 letters all which have one central character--Jesus, and one central theme--the redemptive work of Jesus for fallen man. He is in every book, in every chapter, on every page, and in every verse.

4. He is the light and God saw that it was good--beautiful. The Father's first audible words concerning Jesus was in Mat. 3:17. God saw the light that it was good.

5. Concerning fallen man, the Light is good when it shines in our hearts. (II Cor. 4:6) Light expels darkness and reveals the chaotic condition of our depraved nature.

6. When Light is turned on, we want to get the Light turned off so we can't see the confusion. We even say what we see is not good, so we label Light as not being good. But God said it was good. The gospel is good news but when it first comes, it is bad news. Most people want their feelings ministered to and not their soul and spirit. Oh, how we need the light turned on. God said the Light was good.

7. "Divided" = to separate; to distinguish; thus, God separated the Light from darkness. I want to look at this thought in three areas.

A. Concerning the restoration of the earth--in context. Darkness was not removed completely but just separated from the light. Light expels darkness.

B. Concerning Christ. The Holy Spirit is careful to guard the types in the Bible. He is careful to call our attention to the great difference between the Son of Man--Christ and the sons of men--the saved. He is separate from sinners. (Heb. 7:26) Christ robed Himself with flesh, thereby sharing our humanity. This is the Incarnation. But He did not share our depravity. He is separate from sinners. The light (Christ) was divided (separated) from darkness (fallen humanity--sinners).

C. Concerning fallen man (new creation). Heb. 4:12 speaks of dividing asunder of soul and spirit. This is not figurative but a statement of fact. I Thess. 5:23 says man is spirit, soul, and body. The spirit is capable of God-consciousness. The soul is capable of self-consciousness, and the body is capable of world-consciousness. The day Adam sinned, he died spiritually. This caused a separation between Adam and God or what we call the fall of man. His spirit fell to the level of the soul and ceased to function separately. All mankind is born with this fallen nature, therefore, he is not dominated by his spirit because it is dead. He is dominated by his soul which is the seat of lust, passion, and emotion. That is why man does what he does. When light (the Word) comes, it begins to divide (separate) the spirit and soul because it is sharpened by the Holy Spirit. When one is saved, the spirit is rescued from the lower level to which it has fallen and is brought in fellowship with God. The spirit is light since it is the part of man that is capable of communion with God while the soul, when it is not dominated and regulated by the spirit, is in darkness. So in the process of the new creation (being saved), God divided the light from darkness.

V. 5

1. "God" = Elohim.

2. "Called" = named; the name of a thing is the expression of its nature.

3. To keep down any misunderstanding God carefully defined His terms:

A. "Light" = Day; we usually think of this as being from sunrise to sunset and yet the sun is not yet placed in the heaven to be a sign for days (verse 14); not time measures but character descriptions.

B. "Darkness" = Night; again not time measures but character descriptions.

4. "Day" = the Hebrew word for day used in the scriptures can mean:

A. The daylight portion of the 24 hour period of time as it is used in the first part of this verse--"day" as distinct from night.

B. A period of time of unspecified duration as the phrase "day of the Lord" which is a duration of time when wrath will be poured out upon this earth. There are many other times "day" is used meaning a period of time--day of grace = a period of over 2000 years duration.

C. A day in a 24 hour sense. God's Word is careful to describe each of the first six days as such, to stop all mouths about a long segment of time for each of the six days of the restoration of this earth.

5. Note: The Bible says "the evening and the morning were the first day" = if we were speaking of a day we would say "morning and evening;" why was it written "evening and morning?" The OT is a Hebrew Bible written to the Hebrew people; therefore, it is based upon a Hebrew day which begins at 6:00 p.m. our time; thus, the evening comes first in the 24 hour day, then comes the morning; this phrase was put there to establish the fact that the first day (which really says in the Hebrew "day one") is a 24 hour day; the same holds true for all the six days of restoration of the earth.

V. 6

1. "God" = Elohim; implies God the Son, who is the living Word, who is the Creator.

3. Here God merely stated His desire and then in verse 7 He made the firmament.

4. "Be" = the Hebrew word does not imply the absolute creation on the second day of our present atmosphere--it merely indicates the constitution of it out of the materials at hand; denotes the commencement of a new adjustment of the atmosphere.

5. "Firmament" = "it" = expanse or spread out thinness; thin stretched out space; the great expanse over our heads, in which are placed the atmosphere and the clouds, and in which the stars appear to be placed and are really seen. (verse 14)

6. This is possibly a vapor canopy around the earth which God's Word called Heaven. (verse 8) This firmament (however it was) kept the waters from above separated from the waters below. This swaddling band around the earth:

A. Kept it from raining until the flood. (Gen. 2:5)

B. Allowed the sun's rays to filter through; therefore, you could see through.

C. Seems to have been such that contributed to good health and longer life. An example is Methuselah who lived 969 years.

D. The earth probably had uniform temperature and good growing conditions around the world, even in Siberia, Alaska, and the North Pole, for animal remains have been found in some of these places with grass in their stomachs.

V. 7

1. "Made" = taking something already in existence and making or forming something--not creating something out of nothing.

2. This verse states the fulfillment of what God desired in verse 6.

3. "And it was so" = this phrase is recorded six times in the six day creation; indicates the work accomplished took a permanent form in which it remained a standing monument of divine wisdom and power.

V. 8

1. "Called" = named.

2. "Heaven" = refers to the first heaven--the atmospheric heaven and the second heaven which is where the galaxies, constellations, stars, and etc. are as verse 14 reveals.

3. "And the evening and the morning were the second day" = "day" = the Hebrew word for day used in the scriptures can mean:

A. The daylight portion of the 24 hour period of time as it is used in the first part of this verse--"day" as distinct from night.

4. Note: The Bible says "the evening and the morning were the second day" = if we were speaking of a day we would say "morning and evening;" why was it written "evening and morning?" The OT is a Hebrew Bible written to the Hebrew people; therefore, it is based upon a Hebrew day which begins at 6:00 p.m. our time; thus, the evening comes first in the 24 hour day, then comes the morning; this phrase was put there to establish the fact that the second day (which really says in the Hebrew "day two") is a 24 hour day; the same holds true for all the six days of restoration of the earth.

5. This second day creation allows us to see a type of the redemptive work of Christ as the firmament foreshadows the cross.

A. The firmament was purposed by God before it was actually made. (verse 6-7) Long before the cross was erected on Golgotha's hill, it was purposed by God. Jesus Christ was no afterthought. (Rev. 13:8; I Peter 1:18-20)

B. The firmament was set in the midst of the waters. In scripture "waters" symbolize peoples and nations. (Rev. 17:15) This seems to signify that the cross was to be in the midst of the people and nations. This was fulfilled in two ways.

1) He was crucified between two thieves on Calvary. (John 19:18)

2) Calvary was in Jerusalem which geographically is the center or midst of the earth.

C. The firmament divided the waters and the cross divides people.

1) It divided the reviling thief from the believing thief.

2) The preaching of the cross is foolishness to some, while to others it is the power of God. (I Cor. 1:18)

3) It divides families. (Luke 12:51-53)

D. The firmament was designed by God. (Acts 2:23; Isa. 53:10) Jesus was no afterthought. Salvation's plan was designed by God before the foundation of the world.

E. Notice at the end of day two, God did not say it was good as He did all the other five days. He just said "it was so"--necessary in the plan of God. The type would have been marred if God said it was good. At the cross God was dealing with sin. His wrath was poured on the Just One who was dying for the unjust. It was necessary (it was so) that the sinless Son of God die for us but God could not say it was good.

7. The new creation (man being saved) is also pictured in this second day. Just as God continues His work on restoring the earth, the Holy Spirit continues to work on fallen man.

A. He gives light to recognize one's condition.

B. He brings conviction for one to realize his separation from God--lostness must be a reality not just a revelation.

C. He works godly sorrow that produces repentance. (II Cor. 7:10)

D. He produces faith in an individual so he can believe.

E. Then day three--the dead spirit is resurrected.

F. Then the fourth day came the sun. When you repent and believe, then comes the Son--the day star. (II Peter 1:19)

8. At the end of day two the earth still was in a chaotic condition or like a ball of water with no bounds on the ocean. When God begins to work on a sinner, He can do it anyway He wants to, taking as much time as He wants or as quick as He wants. The main thing is to let Him finish His work in you so that you are satisfied with Jesus and have that assurance forever. (I Thess. 1:5)

9. He'll finish what He has started if you will let Him (Phil. 1:6), and you have a promise to that effect. (John 8:31-32)

V. 9

1. "God" = Elohim; implies God the Son, who is the living Word, who is the Creator.

3. "Waters under the heaven" = refers to the waters on the earth; the earth was still a chaotic ball of liquid--a mass of water--a shoreless ocean.

4. "Be gathered together unto one place and let dry land appear" = this is what is referred to in Job 38: 4,8,11; when the Lord spoke, the elements obeyed and the dry land appeared as mountains began to rise, the deep valleys were formed and they were filled with waters as the waters were gathered together to form the seas and set the boundaries on the sea; this is what happened in Mark 4:37-41--the elements obeyed the Lord.

5. "One place" = all the seas, oceans, and rivers are connected.

6. "And it was so" = this phrase is recorded six times in the six day creation; indicates the work accomplished took a permanent form in which it remained a standing monument of divine wisdom and power.

V. 10

1. "Called" = named.

2. "The dry land" He named "Earth" and "the gathering together of the waters" He named "Seas" = they were not the same as present seas because they were changed at the flood.

3. "And God saw that it was good' = pleasant; beautiful; excellent; lovely; delightful.

V. 11

1. "God" = Elohim; implies God the Son, who is the living Word, who is the Creator.

3. "Let the earth bring forth grass" = the earth was fertile and had been prepared to bring forth life; with the firmament or water vapor canopy around the earth, it was a tropical paradise; the grass was full grown.

4. "The herb yielding seed" = herbs are plants that die each year but reproduce from seeds the next year; these herbs were mature, thus, having seeds in themselves.

5. "The fruit tree yielding fruit" = full grown trees with fruit on them; all of this without the aid of the sun and stars; science says this could not happen, but it did.

V. 12

1. It happened just as God said.

2. "After his kind" = God set a boundary upon His creation; this alone is enough to stop the mouth of the evolutionist; there may be different varieties of peaches but a peach tree brings forth peaches and not apples--after his kind; it always has and it always will; that is why "sons of God" in Gen. 6:4 does not refer to angels; in Mat. 22:30 Jesus made it plain that angels are not given in marriage--do not have sexual relations.

3. "God saw that it was good" = pleasant; beautiful; excellent; lovely; delightful; God could say the earth was good or beautiful in verse 4 even though it was chaotic because He could see the end before the beginning; He knew what He was going to make; now it is beautiful because dry land appeared in verse 10 and in this verse grass, herbs, and trees, which speaks of all types of plants and vegetation appeared and the earth was beautiful--good.

4. This day of creation is a type of the resurrection.

A. In verse 9: "Let the dry land appear" = previously the earth had been submerged, buried beneath the waters; but now the land is raised above the level of the seas; the earth appears--there is a resurrection.

B. In verse 11: "And let the earth bring forth" = before this time no life had appeared upon the surface of the ruined earth; but on the third day the earth is commanded to "bring forth" = resurrection; not on the second day, not on the fourth day, but on the third day was life seen upon the earth.

1) In Luke 13:31-33, Jesus basically said I will be on program today, tomorrow, and on the third day, I'm getting up. (Mat. 12:40)

2) According to the Scriptures, He arose from the dead on the third day. (I Cor. 15:3-4) What Scriptures? OT. (Gen. 3:15--the bruised head of the serpent was due to the resurrection.) In verses 9 and 11 we have a picture of the resurrection and God said it was good--beautiful.

C. Notice it was on the third day and the sun was seen on the fourth day. We have a lot of false teaching about the resurrection and crucifixion that has led many astray.

1) Pictures of Jesus (not really what He looks like) are painted to put in your minds that He didn't suffer and that prepares men to accept the Antichrist.

2) Good Friday is celebrated because false prophets say Jesus died on Friday and rose on Sunday. But Mat. 12:40 states clearly that Jesus was in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, not three portions of days. The reason they say He died on Friday is because Mark 15:42 states it was the day before the sabbath. But John 19:31 explains this was not an ordinary sabbath but a special sabbath (a holy gathering) observed on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread (Lev. 23:6-8) as Moses was instructed in Exo. 12:14-16.

3) Sunrise service? In Mat. 28:1 "dawn" means beginning and John 20:1 says "it was yet dark;" therefore, there was no sunrise service that day. The Jewish day begins (dawns) at 6:00 PM our time. Therefore, Jesus was taken off the cross and buried on Wednesday April 14th before 6:00 pm our time. Thursday was a high Sabbath and Saturday was a regular Sabbath. Thus sometime before 6:00 PM on our Saturday Jesus arose--thus, three days and three nights in the heart of the earth and He was seen on the fourth day--Sunday, on which we celebrate our Lord's resurrection as His first full day He was resurrected. And God said it was good.

5. This day of creation is also a type of the new creation--fallen man saved.

A. The earth was raised out of the waters which had submerged it and then it was clothed with vegetation. The sinner who was dead in trespasses and sins has been raised to walk in newness of life and he is clothed with God's righteousness. (II Cor. 5:17)

B. This was all a work of God.

1) Moving of the Spirit in your darkness--you will not know what is wrong because you're blinded and bound.

2) Then comes light but you are still in that chaotic mess--lostness--separated from God, and a hell deserving sinner.

3) Then the Holy Spirit completes His work of reproval in all three areas of John 16:8-11.

4) Godly sorrow produces repentance and the Holy Spirit gives you saving faith so that you might obey the gospel by repenting and believing. God's working on the earth on day two typifies the cross and when we see the cross and the reason for the cross (our sins nailed Jesus to the cross and the cross was necessary to satisfy holy God), then godly sorrow works repentance--change of mind, change of heart, change of attitude and a change of direction--a turning from sin and self to God to take up sides with Him against ourself.

5) Then when we believe from our heart, our spirit is resurrected to life and God imputes (puts on our account) righteousness--His.

V. 13

1. "Day" = the Hebrew word for day used in the scriptures can mean:

A. The daylight portion of the 24 hour period of time as it is used in the first part of this verse--"day" as distinct from night.

2. Note: The Bible says "the evening and the morning were the third day" = if we were speaking of a day we would say "morning and evening;" why was it written "evening and morning?" The OT is a Hebrew Bible written to the Hebrew people; therefore, it is based upon a Hebrew day which begins at 6:00 p.m. our time; thus, the evening comes first in the 24 hour day, then comes the morning; this phrase was put there to establish the fact that the third day (which really says in the Hebrew "day three") is a 24 hour day; the same holds true for all the six days of restoration of the earth.

V. 14

1. "God" = Elohim; implies God the Son, who is the living Word, who is the Creator.

3. "Lights" = luminous bodies; light givers; plural; on day one He said light--singular.

4. "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven" = the reason they were placed there is:

A. "To divide the day from the night" = to divide the light from the darkness, to continue and render permanent the separation and distinction which was effected on the first day.

B. "For signs, and for seasons, for days, and years" = God has His calendar in the heaven and also His clock and directions; signs tell you which way to go; if man will learn His stars and their positions, he will not get lost while upon the face of the earth (Ex. a sextant on a ship gives the precise location of a ship in the ocean by sighting on the stars always in their place); but pagan astrology has corrupted astronomy; God placed the stars in the heaven to tell time and locations not to foretell your future; the Devil has tried to corrupt everything God has done, but God is still God and the devil is a defeated foe; just read the last chapter; "seasons" are set times used of yearly returning periods; "days and years" are for the calculation of time.

V. 15

C. "To give light upon the earth" = to enable men to see distinctly and clearly.

1. "And it was so" = this phrase is recorded six times in the six day creation; indicates the work accomplished took a permanent form in which it remained a standing monument of divine wisdom and power; this stresses again that what God says, He also does; this established a sure foundation in the book of beginning that whatever God says it will come to pass and that holds true for everything else in the book that God has said--it will come to pass.

V. 16

1. "God" = Elohim.

2. "Made" = He took the elements He created in verse one and formed these two great lights and also the "stars."

3. "Two great lights" = He called:

A. "The greater light to rule the day" = the sun which is larger than the moon; made to regulate the duration of the day--light part of a 24 hour day; it actually generates light.

B. "The lesser light to rule the night" = the moon has no light of itself but placed in a position to reflect the light of the sun down to this earth as it regulates the duration of the night--the dark part of a 24 hour day.

C. It is interesting to note that the stars are mentioned as of only minor importance compared to the sun and moon even though many of them are much larger. The earth is in the center of God's creation and the Word deals with the activity centered around the earth. God deals with the sun and moon and their relationship upon this earth.

V. 17

1. "God" = Elohim.

2. "Set" = to give; to place.

3. "Them" = sun, moon, and stars.

4. "To give light upon the earth" = so man can see clearly.

V. 18

1. "To rule over the day and over the night" = to regulate the duration of each period.

2. "To divide the light from the darkness" = this is a repetition of verse 14 with a slight variation; to render permanent the separation and distinction which was effected on the first day.

3. "God saw that it was good" = pleasant; beautiful; excellent; lovely; delightful.

V. 19

1. "Day" = the Hebrew word for day used in the scriptures can mean:

A. The daylight portion of the 24 hour period of time as it is used in the first part of this verse--"day" as distinct from night.

2. Note: The Bible says "the evening and the morning were the fourth day" = if we were speaking of a day we would say "morning and evening;" why was it written "evening and morning?" The OT is a Hebrew Bible written to the Hebrew people; therefore, it is based upon a Hebrew day which begins at 6:00 p.m. our time; thus, the evening comes first in the 24 hour day, then comes the morning; this phrase was put there to establish the fact that the fourth day (which really says in the Hebrew "day four") is a 24 hour day; the same holds true for all the six days of restoration of the earth.

3. Day four is a type of the Lord's ascension.

Day 1 = Incarnation.

Day 2 = Death on the Cross.

Day 3 = Resurrection. The resurrection did not complete our Lord's redemptive work. In order for that to be completed:

A. He must enter the Heavenly Place not made with hands.

B. He must sprinkle His blood on the mercy seat.

C. He must take His seat on the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Heb. 9:24; 10:12) For this to happen, "Christ had to ascend back to Heaven" and this He did in Acts 1:9-11.

D. On this 4th day our eyes are removed from the earth and all its affairs and are turned to the heavens. The sun which generates light typifies the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Light.

4. Day four also typifies the new creation--man being saved. When one is saved the Day star arises (II Peter 1:19)--the Son and a heavenward look causes the earth to grow strangely dim. The lesser light of the moon represents the saints of God who need to reflect the light of the Son into a dark world; thus, a responsibility. We need to be basking in the light of the Son through His Word and prayer till we reflect the brilliance of the Son of righteousness. (Mat. 5:14-16; Phil. 2:12; Eph. 2:10) We have a responsibility to look heavenward and let the constitution (Bible) of our country (Heaven) rule our life while in this strange land.

5. Day 5 and 6 = Be fruitful and multiply = after their kind. 6. Day 7 = rest.

V. 20

1. "God" = Elohim; implies God the Son, who is the living Word, who is the Creator.

3. "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that hath life" = the Hebrew basically says when God said, then the waters suddenly swarmed abundantly with swarming creatures that had life or were alive; the English makes it appear that the "waters brought forth" = the water did not produce the life; the elements that were in the water and land are also in fish and birds; God produced life and only He can produce life.

A. The evolutionist says that the first sign of life was a fragile blob of protoplasm that happened to come together in response to electrical discharges over an ocean in prehistoric times.

B. The water did bring forth life in the Evolutionist's thinking. But God said let there be a swarm of living creatures in the waters.

4. "And fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven" = this speaks of all "winged fowl" (verse 21) that flies over the face of the earth in the atmospheric heaven.

A. Notice birds were brought forth at the same time as the fish--no evolution here.

B. The types of animals mentioned in this passage included every inhabitant of the waters and atmosphere.

V. 21

1. "God created great whales" = the Hebrew indicates great sea-monsters, not some one celled animals as the evolutionists think.

A. This also stops the mouths of the modernist who says Jonah wasn't swallowed by a whale.

B. The Bible says in Jonah 1:17 that the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Mat. 12:40 speaks of a whale which is translated from a Greek word meaning a huge fish or a sea-monster. Do you believe that a great fish (whale) swallowed Jonah? I do. In fact I would believe that Jonah swallowed a whale if the Bible said it.

2. "Every living creature that moveth" = in context refers to animal life in the waters--"which the waters brought forth abundantly" = the waters suddenly swarmed abundantly with swarming creatures that had life.

3. "After their kind" = "after his kind" = God set a boundary upon His creation; this alone is enough to stop the mouth of the evolutionist; there may be different varieties of peaches but a peach tree brings forth peaches and not apples--after his kind; it always has and it always will; that is why "sons of God" in Gen. 6:4 does not refer to angels; in Mat. 22:30 Jesus made it plain that angels are not given in marriage--do not have sexual relations.

4. The types of animals mentioned in this passage included every inhabitant of the waters and atmosphere.

5. "God saw that it was good" = pleasant; beautiful; excellent; lovely; delightful.

V. 22

1. "God" = Elohim.

2. "Blessed them" = to pronounce a blessing (benefit) upon them--the water creatures and the fowl of the air; even though they are not an object of God's love as man would be and is today, they are objects of His care and concern (Mat. 10:29; 6:26); this blessing included:

A. A command: "Be fruitful and multiply" = reproduce; be very many, so as to fill the waters of the sea and the fowl to be very many on the earth; a similar command was given to all animals when they got out of the ark in Gen. 8:17.

B. Provisions: Even though they are not mentioned in this verse, by this time all the necessities for living creatures were present on the earth--light, air, water, soil chemicals, plants, and fruits.

V. 23

1. "Day" = the Hebrew word for day used in the scriptures can mean:

A. The daylight portion of the 24 hour period of time as it is used in the first part of this verse--"day" as distinct from night.

2. Note: The Bible says "the evening and the morning were the fifth day" = if we were speaking of a day we would say "morning and evening;" why was it written "evening and morning?" The OT is a Hebrew Bible written to the Hebrew people; therefore, it is based upon a Hebrew day which begins at 6:00 p.m. our time; thus, the evening comes first in the 24 hour day, then comes the morning; this phrase was put there to establish the fact that the fifth day (which really says in the Hebrew "day five") is a 24 hour day; the same holds true for all the six days of restoration of the earth.

3. One thing that's important to note here--the evolutionary theory says that marine or water organisms evolved first, then land plants, and later birds. Genesis say that land plants came first, then marine creatures and birds simultaneously or at the same time.

V. 24

1. "God" = Elohim; implies God the Son, who is the living Word, who is the Creator.

3. "Let the earth bring forth" = the earth brought forth in the sense that the bodies of the land animals came from the elements in existence, just as the body of man was formed out of the dust of the ground. (Gen. 2:7; 3:19); the earth did not produce life, God did.

3. "The living creature" = in context refers to animal life upon the face of the earth; this included cattle, beast, and creeping things.

4. "Cattle" = refers to domestic animals.

5. "Creeping thing" = refers to all animals that crawl or creep close to the surface of the ground.

6. "Beast of the earth" = refers to large wild animals.

7. These categories of land animals:

A. Include all the land animals that were made during the early part of the sixth day.

B. Were made simultaneously because there is an inverted order of listing in verse 25.

8. "After his kind" = God set a boundary upon His creation; this alone is enough to stop the mouth of the evolutionist; there may be different varieties of peaches but a peach tree brings forth peaches and not apples--after his kind; it always has and it always will; that is why "sons of God" in Gen. 6:4 does not refer to angels; in Mat. 22:30 Jesus made it plain that angels are not given in marriage--do not have sexual relations.

9. "And it was so" = indicates the work accomplished took a permanent form in which it remained a standing monument of divine wisdom and power; certainly of execution. (Heb. 6:18)

V. 25

1. "God" = Elohim.

2. "Made" = taking something already in existence and making or forming something--beast, cattle, and creeping things.

3. "After his kind" = "after their kind" = God set a boundary upon His creation; this alone is enough to stop the mouth of the evolutionist; there may be different varieties of peaches but a peach tree brings forth peaches and not apples--after his kind; it always has and it always will; that is why "sons of God" in Gen. 6:4 does not refer to angels; in Mat. 22:30 Jesus made it plain that angels are not given in marriage--do not have sexual relations.

4. "And God saw that it was good" = beautiful; pleasant; excellent; lovely; delightful.

V. 26

1. "God" = Elohim; implies God the Son, who is the living Word, who is the Creator.

3. "Us" = "our" = refers to the Trinity--God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; all three were present in the beginning. (John 1:1; "was"--existence without origin which refers to the Word, who is the Son--Jesus. (John 1:14)

4. "Make" = taking something already in existence and making or forming something--man.

5. "In our image, after our likeness" = man was made a triune being--spirit, soul, and body; God being a Trinity--three co-equal, co-existant, co-eternal persons in the God head--made Adam a triune being (I Thess. 5:23); therefore, man is more highly developed than animals.

A. Body = is capable of world-consciousness through the senses--see, hear, feel, smell, and taste; man and animal has a body.

B. Soul = is capable of self-consciousness through emotions, desires, and affections; plants have an unconscious life, therefore, no soul; animals have a soul but the "soul" of man has a greater content and more highly developed "soul" than applied to beast life; man's soul will spend an eternity somewhere but not animal's.

C. Spirit = is capable of God-consciousness; only man has a spirit; only in man did God breathe into his nostrils the breath of life (Gen. 2:7); God imparted part of Himself into Adam that day and when Adam sinned the spirit of man died and man was separated from God; every man is now born with a dead spirit; therefore, we are born in the image of Adam (Gen. 5:1-3); when a person is saved, there a resurrection takes place inside--the spirit is quickened--made alive, and God in the person of the Holy Spirit moves on the inside to abide forever--thus a new creation--back in the image of God. (II Cor. 5:17)

D. Man has certain attributes that animals do not possess. Such as:

1) A moral consciousness

2) The ability to think abstractly when he is old enough--probably a teenager. God and faith are abstract.

3) An understanding of beauty and emotion

4) And above all, the capacity of worshiping and loving God.

5) These attributes are part of what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God. But lost man is separated from God and his spirit is dead, therefore there is no love, no fear, no worship, and no –senses of the spirit of man. But God! (Eph. 2:4)

5. "Let them have dominion" = the power of governing and controlling; man was to be God's steward over all the living creatures God made.

V. 27

1. This verse makes a summary statement that is explained in Gen. 2:7-25.

V. 28

1. "God" = Elohim.

2. "Blessed" = to pronounce a blessing (benefit) upon them--mankind--Adam and Eve.

3. "Said" = gave them their basic instructions and commission--command.

4. "Be fruitful" = reproduce; grow and increase; to bear offspring.

5. "Multiply" = be very many.

6. "Replenish" = to fill; fulfill; be filled; this command is opposite of the world's thinking today; they tend to look down on you if you have more than two children; God said fill the earth, be very many, grow and increase.

7. "Subdue" = to conquer; a military term.

8. "Have dominion" = to rule; also a military term; these two terms would suggest a conflict, but we see no conflict at this time; in fact, God pronounced everything good; where is the conflict to conquer? could it be in the foreknowledge of God? He knew the conflict that Satan would bring in the garden, and before conflict ever arose everything that man needed to subdue and have dominion or conquer and rule was already at his disposal and even a command from God to do so.

9. This command to rule covered everything that moveth upon the earth.

V. 29

1. God gave man provision for man's most essential need--that of food.

2. Man needed energy to fulfill the commission that God gave him; therefore, He gave him a vegetarian diet. No animals were eaten until after the flood.

3. "Herb" = includes all the grasses, and numerous plants used for cooking purposes.

4. "Meat" = food.

V. 30

1. In this verse God tells that the animal diet would be the same as man's. The animals did not eat each other until after the flood.

2. "Green herb" = living grasses and plants.

3. "And it was so" = what God said in verse 29 came to pass just like He said; therefore, you can mark it down, what God says to you shall come to pass also.

V. 31

1. "God" = Elohim.

2. "It was very good" = very beautiful; this is how God referred to all He had made during these six days of creation; it was now complete when man the highest of His creation was created; this concluded the sixth day.

3. "Day" = the Hebrew word for day used in the scriptures can mean:

A. The daylight portion of the 24 hour period of time as it is used in the first part of this verse--"day" as distinct from night.

4. Note: The Bible says "the evening and the morning were the sixth day" = if we were speaking of a day we would say "morning and evening;" why was it written "evening and morning?" The OT is a Hebrew Bible written to the Hebrew people; therefore, it is based upon a Hebrew day which begins at 6:00 p.m. our time; thus, the evening comes first in the 24 hour day, then comes the morning; this phrase was put there to establish the fact that the sixth day (which really says in the Hebrew "day six") is a 24 hour day; the same holds true for all the six days of restoration of the earth.

5. We applied the creation work of God to man:

A. How he was created perfect.

B. Sin entered in and man fell in ruin and darkness and lostness.

C. Then Day 1-- the Spirit of God moved and Light came.

D. Day 2--godly sorrow and conviction worked repentance and faith.

E. Day 3--our dead spirit was resurrected to life--clothed with righteousness.

F. Day 4--saw the sun--looked heavenward. (Titus 2:11-13; He is coming)

G. Day 5-6--till the time He comes there is work to be done and a command to be fruitful and multiply--keep your bags packed and your tool chest open.

H. "After his kind" = we are saved by grace through faith and will want to see others saved the same way--the only way.

CHAPTER 2:

V. 1

1. "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished" = this refers to God's six day restoration (creation) work.

2. "Were finished" = complete; polished to the highest degree of excellence; ended; done; perfected.

3. "Host" = refers to all the array of luminaries, plants, animals, and man by which the darkness, waste, and loneliness were removed, has now been called into unhindered action or new existence.

4. The creative work of the six days is accordingly called the "making" or fitting up for man "the skies and the land and the sea, and all that in them is."

V. 2

1. "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made" = this does not mean that God worked on this day as some would try to read in our English translation; instead it simply means when the seventh day arrived the work of creation was already finished--ended.

2. In the absence of any work on this seventh day, God is occupied with the day itself and does four things in reference to it:

A. First: "Ended his work which he had made" = He ceased His work.

B. Second: "He rested" = not because He was tired but because He had finished His work--there was not one thing that could be added to it or one thing taken away.

V. 3

C. Third: "God blessed the seventh day" = blessing results in the best bestowment of some good on the object blessed; the only good that can be bestowed on a portion of time is to dedicate it to a noble use.

D. Fourth: "Sanctified it" = to set apart for the service of God; he hallowed it or set it apart to a holy rest.

Note: There are several kinds of rest the Bible speaks of.

1. Creation Rest = "In it (seventh day) he had rested from all his work" = this is called the creation rest and it is speaking of God.

2. Sabbath day of rest given to the children of Israel.

A. In Exo. 12:15-16 the seventh day of the feast of unleavened bread was to be a day of rest. This day was given to the children of Israel after they were delivered from Egypt (bondage) by the blood.

B. Exo. 20:8-11 the Sabbath was incorporated into the Law as a command of God given to Israel. The Law was given to protect the Sabbath day. No man was to violate the Law, and if he did he died. (Exo. 31:12-17)

3. Redemption Rest = when saved you have rest.

A. Jesus said in John 17:4, "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." This means He fulfilled the OT law and the OT day of atonement. He was also a fulfillment of the OT types, pictures, signs, and shadows. He came as a lamb to the slaughter. (John 1:29) On the cross Jesus said, "It is finished." (John 19:30) Nothing else can be added and nothing can be taken away from it.

B. Heb. 9:12 states that Jesus the High Priest entered into heaven having obtained eternal redemption for us. He then set down on the right hand of the Father because His work was finished, and He rested not because He was tired or lazy but because He had finished His work. (Heb. 10:12)

C. He invited us to come unto Him and He would give us rest. (Mat. 11:28) We enter into His rest by faith. When we come to Jesus for salvation there must be a cessation of self-effort--finished with our work and just rest in the work Christ has done. Creation rest was a sign that when we believe (saving faith) we enter into rest--His rest. Therefore, when we become a new creation (saved), He'll give rest and when rest comes, it is on the inside--in your heart.

D. What was typified through the Sabbath day through the pages of the OT is now a condition of heart. Col. 2:13-17 makes it clear that the Sabbath belongs to the "shadows" of the Law and OT. Gal. 4:9-11 indicates that the keeping of Sabbaths is a reverting back to the legalism and bondage. Rom. 14:4-13 suggests that Sabbath keeping is a mark of a weak conscience and an immature Christian life.

E. Jesus was a fulfillment of all those shadows, signs, types, and pictures. When He died on the cross, the veil was rent in the Holy of Holies--thus, a new day dawned--a day of grace.

F. We now have the real. Why would we want to embrace a picture when we have the real. Jesus is the real! There is rest in Him and that rest is on the inside--a condition of heart.

G. Just as a man could do nothing on the Sabbath (not even pick up sticks) even so there is not one thing you can do for your salvation except to believe (saving faith). Then comes rest on the inside not just on Saturday but every day of the week--rest in the finished work of Calvary. It is not a matter of being holy one day a week but every day.

H. The saved are living every day in rest--it's over, it's complete, it's done. There is a desire to come to the Lord's house on the Lord's day and keep that day holy but not just Sunday. The saved want to keep every day holy.

I. Salvation is of the Lord. And when our labors cease, then we rest in Him - not just a justification rest but a sanctification rest. (Mat. 11:28-30) Rest in the leadership of the Lord. Rest in obedience. Rest in the midst of persecution and tribulation. It is His battle. I am fighting from victory not for victory. The war is already won. Therefore, we can rest seven days a week.

J. Sunday is not the Sabbath. Thank the Lord it isn't. If it was and you cooked on Sunday, then on Monday we'd have to stone you. Also if you ate the food cooked on Sunday, then on Monday we would have to kill you too. Why? Because you broke the Law of the Sabbath. But the Lord fulfilled the type of that day and the Sabbath has been nailed to the cross and now it is a condition of heart.

K. Some say they are under grace and they are free to do what they want. If you are really saved you will want to live right not only on Sunday, but Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. You will want to live godly. You will not want to offend your brother. You will want to come to the meeting house of God because of the Holy Ghost's drawing.

L. Many are working to be holy one day a week--on the Sabbath day. But if God does not make you holy and righteous, you will not be holy even on one day a week. However when He does make you righteous and holy, you will rest and be holy every day of the week.

4. Glorification rest = (Heb. 4:9) Then you will be saved from the presence of sin. This is speaking of Heaven. (Rev. 21:4; John 14:1-3) This is only promised to those who are at rest in this life--saved.

5. The Sabbath was God's sign in the OT that one day He would give His people rest. This was and is through believing in the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the Cross of Calvary. When sinners come and believe on Him, He'll give them rest--condition of heart.

6. God rested the seventh day because He was through with His work in Creation, and when you repent and believe (takes a completed work of Holy Ghost conviction; John 16:8-11) you will enter into rest--your work is over as far as salvation is concerned. When you have that rest, you want to live right and holy every day of the week.

7. Thank God for the rest He has given His saints.

8. God finished His work and rested.

9. Christ finished His work and rested.

10. When you quit working for salvation and come to Jesus and trust in His finished work, you can have rest seven days a week, 365 days a year, all the rest of your life and then throughout eternity.

V. 4

1. "Generations" = descent; history; that which comes from any source as the child from the parent, the record of which is history; some would translate this the history of the heavens and the earth.

2. "The generations of the heavens and the earth" = just as the generations of Noah (Gen. 6:9-10) are not the genealogical list of the patriarch's ancestry, but a register of his posterity, so the generations of the heavens and the earth refer not to their original creation in Gen. 1:1 but to their outward movements from creation downward.

3. "When they were created" = in their creation; this stands at the commencement of the section in which the forward progression of the universe is tracked.

4. "In the day" = period of time referring to the six days of creation.

5. "LORD God" = Jehovah Elohim; the first time these two names are used together; means the strong One; the self-existent One who stands alone with no aid from anybody or any other being in this world or out of this world; the self-existent One who wants to reveal Himself to man.

6. "Made" = taking something already in existence and making or forming something; refers to the six day creation.

V. 5

1. "Made" of verse 4 applies to plants and herbs in this verse.

2. "Every plant of the field before it was in the earth" = this seems to mean that even the plants had not sent down a single root of growth into the land; if they had dropped a seed, it was only on the land, and not in the land, as it had not yet struck root; this is the history (generations) concerning day three.

3. "Every herb of the field before it grew" = some history of day three concerning the herbs; not an herb had exhibited any signs of growth or sent forth a single blade beyond the immediate product of creative power.

4. "LORD God" = Jehovah Elohim; means the strong One; the self-existent One who stands alone with no aid from anybody or any other being in this world or out of this world; the self-existent One who wants to reveal Himself to man.

5. "Had not caused it to rain upon the earth" = in fact it did not rain for 1656 years until Noah's day; God is just giving the history of His six day creation.

6. "There was not a man to till the ground" = this was before He created man on day six.

V. 6

1. "But" = introduces what the Lord did to keep the plants watered.

2. "There went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground" = God knows what is best.

V. 7

1. "LORD God" = Jehovah Elohim; means the strong One; the self-existent One who stands alone with no aid from anybody or any other being in this world or out of this world; the self-existent One who wants to reveal Himself to man.

2. "Formed" = to mold into a form; to make a form (body) from the elements already existing on the earth--"of the dust of the ground."

3. "Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man become a living soul" = this explains Gen. 1:26-27; now man (history of) has a part of God imparted into him and he has become a living soul; that soul will live with feeling and consciousness for all eternity:

A. If lost, the soul will suffer in a devil's hell for eternity.

B. If saved, the soul will enjoy the glory of heaven forever.

V. 8

1. This verse is a summary of the history (generations; verse 4) of day six of the six day creation. Verses 9-14 give the details.

2. "The LORD God" = Jehovah Elohim; means the strong One; the self-existent One who stands alone with no aid from anybody or any other being in this world or out of this world; the self-existent One who wants to reveal Himself to man.

3. "Planted a garden eastward in Eden" = it seems that man was created somewhere west of the garden because God planted the garden eastward; the planting seems to have been done directly by God, just as He had formed man's body and breathed into his nostrils; it seems that this garden did not come into existence on the third day as the other plants.

4. "Eden" = means delight--how delightful this garden must have been.

5. Adam was able to observe God in this special work preparing this beautiful garden for his home. So his first knowledge of his Creator would be of One who loved him and carefully and abundantly provided for him.

6. "There" = in the garden of Eden.

7. "He put the man whom he had formed" = the Lord God placed Adam in the garden He had prepared for him.

V. 9

1. This verse gives some details (history) concerning the garden the Lord had just planted and put Adam in.

2. "LORD God" = Jehovah Elohim; means the strong One; the self-existent One who stands alone with no aid from anybody or any other being in this world or out of this world; the self-existent One who wants to reveal Himself to man.

3. "Out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree" = out of the soil the trees came forth already loaded with fruit; two things about these trees:

A. "Pleasant to the sight" = beautiful in form and color; lovely to see.

B. "Good for food" = the fruits of the trees would satisfy man's appetite; every species of vegetation that could minister to man's necessities were provided.

4. Also two trees are mentioned by name:

A. "The tree of Life" = the fruit of this tree, if eaten regularly, would have enabled even mortal dying man to live forever (Gen. 3:22); the fruit of this tree will be in abundance in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 22:2); this tree was planted in the midst of the garden.

B. "The tree of the knowledge of good and evil" = whether the fruit of this tree was harmful or not, it would certainly become a tree of knowing evil, as soon as man disobeyed God's Word concerning it; it also was pleasant to the sight and good for food. (Gen.3:6)

V. 10

1. "River" = literally, a flowing water.

2. "Went out of Eden to water the garden" = literally going out (went out); therefore, the source of the river was within Eden and proceeded throughout the garden to irrigate the soil.

3. "From thence" = from Eden.

4. "It" = the river.

5. "Was parted, and became into four heads" = the river was divided into four separate streams.

V. 11

1. "The first is Pison" = "it" = the name means "the full-flowing" = a broad-blossomed stream.

2. "Compasseth the whole land of Havilah" = skirting in a circular fashion the country of Havilah--a country all we know about is its three productions:

A. "Where there is gold" = it was a gold producing country.

V. 12

A cont. "And the gold of that land is good" = of the purest quality and largest quantity.

B. "There is bdellium" = believed to be a precious stone; Josephus, a Jewish Historian, thinks it was an odorous and costly gum indigenous to India, Arabia, and other countries of that region.

C. "And the Onyx stone" = from a root word signifying to be pale or delicate in color.

1. From these descriptions, it appears that Havilah must be sought among the gold producing countries of Asia.

2. This stream had been associated with the Persian gulf. One must remember when studying these verses that this description of the garden of Eden was given 1656 years before the Flood. Thus, the geography described in these verses does not exist in the present world, nor has it ever existed since the Flood. They were all destroyed, and the topography and geography completely changed and have no physical connection with their counterparts in the present world. The garden of Eden was destroyed in the Flood and it is not possible to locate it now in terms of modern geography.

V. 13

1. "The name of the second river (head) is Gihon" = means deep flowing.

2. "The same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia" = skirting in a circular fashion the country of Ethiopia which describes the region between Arabia and the Nile, particular the southern district of Arabia lying between the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea; this river has been associated with the Nile River--again remember today's geography is completely different from the description given here.

V. 14

1. "And the name of the third river is Hiddekel" = "it" = means "the darting" from a sharp and swift arrow, referring to its rapidity; it is identified with the Tigris.

2. "That is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria" = it seems this river actually runs west to a location just east of the country of Assyria where it probably emptied into another body of water.

3. "And the fourth river is Euphrates" = means "the sweet" referring to the sweet and pleasant taste of its waters; further description of this great water was unnecessary, being universally known to the Hebrews as "the great river" (Deut. 1:7); this is one border of the land promised to Abraham. (Gen. 15:18)

4. There is today a garden in Iraq where the Tigris and Euphrates run together. I had the privilege in 1976 to set on a rock wall in this garden with one foot in the Tigris and one in the Euphrates. The two joined rivers then emptied into the Persian Gulf. That garden does not fit the description given of Eden in these verses. These come together in Eden while the Scripture says Eden is the source of these rivers.

5. Therefore, we have to remember that the flood completely changed the topography and geography of the garden of Eden as recorded in this history (generations; verse 4) of the garden.

V. 15

2. "Took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden" = He did not physically lift him up and put him down in the garden; man went into the garden by Divine leading; He put man there for two reasons:

A. "To dress it" = to till, cultivate, and work it; this did not require much because the curse was not yet on it--no weeds; even though the earth was perfect, work was necessary for man's good.

B. "To keep it" = to guard; to protect; this may suggest the existence of that adversary (the Devil) against whom he was appointed to watch.

V. 16

1. "The LORD God" = Jehovah Elohim; means the strong One; the self-existent One who stands alone with no aid from anybody or any other being in this world or out of this world; the self-existent One who wants to reveal Himself to man.

2. "Commanded" = to order; implies authority and power to control and requires obedience.

3. "The man" = the woman had not yet been created; this is still the history of the sixth day.

4. "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat" = Adam was able to partake of all the trees of the garden to satisfy his appetite, except one which He speaks of in verse 17.

V. 17

1. "But" = reveals the contrast between what he could eat and what he could not eat.

2. "The tree of the knowledge of good and evil" = what this tree was we know not nor was it's fruit poison for Gen. 3:6 states "it was good for food."

3. "Thou shalt not eat of it" = this was God's command--God's law; God only put one tree in the garden and that was off limits to Adam--he was not to eat of it.

4. God's law had teeth in it = "for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" = this is referring to spiritual death--separation from God--not physical death for Adam lived 930 years physically after he ate the fruit, but died spiritually the day he ate of it.

5. Would to God we had laws today that had teeth in them.

V. 18

1. "LORD God" = "I" = Jehovah Elohim; means the strong One; the self-existent One who stands alone with no aid from anybody or any other being in this world or out of this world; the self-existent One who wants to reveal Himself to man.

2. "It is not good that the man should be alone" = man was incomplete without woman and this was not good--this does not mean it was evil, but only that it was unfinished and therefore, imperfect; this statement does not contradict Gen. 1:31 which was stated at the end of the day six which was after woman was created, thus after this verse was stated.

3. "Help meet" = a helper like man; a completer; thus in man's need is laid the foundation for the Divine institution of marriage, which was afterwards prescribed not for the first pair alone, but for all their posterity.

V. 19

1. This verse deals not with the time but simply the fact these animals were formed.

2. "Formed" = similar to "made" which means taking something already in existence and making or forming something.

3. "Brought them to Adam" = it is the obvious intent of this passage to tell us that certain of the animals, already in existence, were now brought at this time to be inspected by Adam; it is not likely that all these animals actually lived in the garden of Eden, though they may have had access to it.

4. "To see what he would call them" = the reason for God bringing the animals unto Adam.

5. "And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof" = as the animals passed in review, Adam gave each a quick appraisal and an appropriate name.

V. 20

1. Adam was not playing zoo but who--looking for an help meet; God knew what He was going to do but Adam had to find out what would not work so he could find out what would.

2. "But for Adam there was not found an help meet for him" = none of the animals could provide fellowship or companionship for him; it was abundantly clear and certain that he had not recently evolved from them.

3. He alone, of all creatures, was really alone and that was not good. Before God could declare His creation "finished" and "very good" this all-important deficiency must be eliminated.

V. 21

1. "The LORD God" = "he" = Jehovah Elohim; means the strong One; the self-existent One who stands alone with no aid from anybody or any other being in this world or out of this world; the self-existent One who wants to reveal Himself to man.

2. "Caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept" = this was God's way; the reason He put him to sleep we know not; it was not to prevent pain that would be inflicted upon Adam as we might think; after all sin had not entered yet; therefore, there was no knowledge of pain and suffering at this time.

3. "He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof" = the Lord performed the first operation.

V. 22

2. "Made" = formed (verse 7); means taking something already in existence and making or forming something; this was done in the garden on day six; she, too, was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27) and she, too, had a living soul. (verse 7)

3. "Woman" = means bride; female as opposed to male.

4. "Rib" = the Hebrew refers to the side; it has been said that she was taken from man's side, not from his head (which would suggest superiority to him) nor from his feet (suggesting inferiority) but from his side indicating equality and companionship.

5. "He brought her unto the man" = He led, conducted, and presented her to Adam; this implies the solemn bestowment of her in the bonds of the marriage covenant; this implies that God is the author of this sacred institution.

V. 23

1. "And Adam said" = Adam's statement in this verse indicates that God explained to him what He was about to do and he understood clearly how God had formed and created Eve.

2. On awaking from his slumber, Adam at once recognized the Divine intention and joyfully welcomed his bride.

3. Here is the first marriage and God was the best man as He presented the crown of His creation unto man. The woman was created for the man, not the man for the women. Her role is a completer (help meet). Man is a semicircle but when he is joined in Holy matrimony to his bride, then they together are complete in the Lord.

4. I believe a woman will be judged at the judgment seat by how well she fulfilled her responsibility as a completer.

5. "Women" = means "because she was taken out of man."

V. 24

1. This verse seems to be added by the Holy Spirit as He moved on Moses, the human instrument used to pen down the book of Genesis.

2. "Therefore" = in view of holy matrimony Adam spoke of in verse 23; this should be viewed as an inspired declaration of the law of marriage.

3. "Shall a man leave his father and mother" = this applies to the woman as well as the man; means a forsaking of father and mother, not in respect of duty to take care of them if and when the need arises, but in respect of habitation and affection--one's mate should come before their parents.

4. "Cleave" = to stick together like glue.

5. "They shall be one flesh" = be as one; this could be defined as weaving.

6. Thus, in a marriage, one should and must:

A. Leave.

B. Cleave.

C. Weave.

7. Jesus quotes verse 23 and 24 to the Pharisees in Mat. 19:5-6 and added "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

V. 25

1. "They were both naked" = completely destitute of clothing; they were clothed with the glory of God.

2. "The man and his wife" = this is equivalent to "husband and wife" --the first pair of human beings were recognized in their relationship as husband and wife.

3. "And were not ashamed" = afflicted by shame due to some gross error or misconduct; negated by "not;" this is due to the fact they were in a state of innocence--no sin had entered in; therefore, they were not ashamed that they did not have on any clothes.

4. This verse is placed here to show the condition they were in. When Adam sinned, we sinned in him and have sunk below the normal condition--clothed with the glory of God. (Rom. 3:23)

CHAPTER 3:

A. The temptation and fall of man.

V. 1

1. How much time passed from Day seven of creation till the events of Chapter 3 we do not know. Evidently, it was not long because God had given a command to Adam and Eve in Gen. 1:28 to be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth. The reason I say it was not long is because there had been no conception that children might be born to Adam and Eve. This tells me that the devil did not waste time to corrupt that which was very good.

1) The Temptation. V. 1-6

a. The tempter.

2. God is not the author of sin nor does He tempt man as far as solicitation to evil. (James 1:13)

3. Identified as "the serpent" = refers to an artful malicious person; called great dragon in Rev. 12:9--refers to the fierce one; also called the Devil--false accuser, slanderer, one who falsely accuses and divides people without any reason; also called Satan--an adversary, opponent; Satan never appears in his true character; therefore, he used one of the beast of the field--serpent--as a vehicle to tempt Eve.

A. Where did Satan come from? He was created in Gen. 1:1. He was a beautiful angel originally rejoicing over God's creation. (Job. 38:7) Pride entered him because of his beauty (Ezk. 28:13-15) and sin entered and caused chaos in the earth. (Gen. 1:2) And he did not waste time in coming to tempt the woman.

B. Notice the serpent is not listed as a creeping thing but a "beast of the field" = this implies it was created to walk upright and when God cursed it, it became a creeping thing. (Gen. 3:14)

C. It was more "subtil" = subtle; skillful, clever, cunning, crafty, sly.

b. The target.

4. The target was really God; therefore, he attacked the woman who was created in God's image and in God's likeness.

5. Notice he came to the woman when she was alone without Adam, her head, to give her counsel and warn her. I Peter 3:7 calls her "a weaker vessel" = this does not mean to look down on her. The Devil knew that she was the weaker vessel and she became his target--channel through which he was trying to get to God.

c. The tactic.

6. He began in the negative as he questioned the Word of God = "Yea, hath God said" = did He really say "ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden" = this statement seems to indicate that the Devil was present when God told Adam what trees to eat of and what tree he was not to eat of; the first thing the Devil did was to put a question mark on what God said--negative and you'll find that is the tactic throughout the Bible. God motivates with the positive while the Devil operates in the negative.

7. The voice of the tempter was heeded as God's Word was challenged. Instead of saying:

A. Get thee behind me Satan or,

B. Go talk to my husband, my head because he is the one God talked to.

8. Instead of that Eve listened to the evil one challenge the Word of God.

V. 2

1. Next God's Word was tampered with by Eve.

A. Eve took away from the Word of God, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden" = she left out "freely" (Gen. 2:16) thus implying God was less generous that He really was.

V. 3

B. She added to the Word of God. She spoke of the tree "in the midst of the garden" they were not to eat of. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden (Gen. 2:9) and there was not given an exact location of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Also she said "neither shall ye touch it" = the Lord never said that, in fact Gen. 2:15 said to dress the garden which included the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

C. She twisted the Word of God. She said "lest ye die" = "lest" = chance; question; doubt; therefore, you might die if you eat it but God said, "Thou shalt surely die." (Gen. 2:17) To tamper with God's Word leads to reproof or death. (Deut. 4:2; Pro. 30:6; Rev. 22:18-19)

V. 4

1. Satan openly denies God's Word calling God a liar. The name Devil implies "accuser" = which is what he is; he is not content with merely altering God's Word, he wants to deny it.

V. 5

1. Satan substituting his own lies said "Ye shall be as gods" = spelled with a little "g" in English; same Hebrew word is translated "God" in this same verse--Elohim, plural name for God; in other words the Devil said to Eve, you will be as God and the reason God doesn't want you to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is because you will be like Him when you do.

2. Now Eve knew something of God because He had Bible classes in the cool of the day. (verse 8) Therefore, the Devil was implying to Eve that God was withholding something good from her. This caused her to question the goodness of God. When you question God's goodness and doubt His love, you are playing right into the hands of the Devil.

3. God wants us to know what is right and wrong by revelation not by experience. We need to accept what God says and not question it. But temptation comes to us today, the same way as it came to Eve--tempted to want to know right from wrong experimentally. When God says something is wrong, then we know it is wrong by revelation. Why should we experiment with sin and have to suffer the consequences?

V. 6

d. The trap.

1. We now see Eve after having her mind and emotions influenced by Satan's suggestion--she looked at the food = "saw."

2. Now we see Satan's three-fold temptation:

A. "Saw that the tree was good for food" = lust of the flesh; something good to satisfy one's appetite.

B. "That it was pleasant to the eyes" = lust of the eyes; "pleasant" = to desire; to covet; to long for; to lust after.

C. "A tree to be desired to make one wise" = pride of life.

3. We need to watch Satan's traps, thus, be like Paul in II Cor. 2:11.

4. All three of these traps, as far as Eve was concerned, were a result of a look--the eye gate. Before she looked she listened--ear gate. Our eyes and ears are gates into the real you and are the easiest to enter and influence you.

5. Eve listened, looked, lusted, and took of the forbidden fruit and fell into Satan's trap. (I John 2:15-16)

6. Jesus was tempted by these same three traps of the Devil in Mat. 4:3-10 but He did not yield--He did not sin.

7. Many quote James 4:7b, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" as a way to victory but that is not all the verse says. The first part is a must before we can ever do the last part--"Submit yourselves therefore to God." The only way you can resist is to submit.

e. The tragedy.

8. Eve lost what she had. Sin entered in and she died spiritually.

9. She "gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat" = the tragedy of sin is that it loves company; when sin enters there is something inside that makes us want to share sin with others.

A. Eve took the fruit and came to Adam urging him to eat as well. No doubt she used the same arguments the serpent had used but she added the personal testimony that she had eaten the delicious fruit herself without any harmful effects.

B. She had been deceived and was now blinded. But Adam was not deceived. (I Tim. 2:14) Adam's sin was willful. He was fully aware of what he was doing. Adam, I believe, saw his wife's condition--separation from God and really from him as well. She would have died and went to hell because there would not have been a Saviour, a deliverer born if they remained separated. So because of Adam's love for Eve he ate of the fruit, partook of sin so that Eve might live. This sets the first picture and type of the Lord Jesus Christ that because of His love for fallen man, He willingly took our sin that we might have life. (John 3:16)

V. 7

2) The condemnation. V. 7-19

a. Internal.

1. "The eyes of them both were opened" = there was a loss of innocency as soon as man partook of the forbidden fruit--he became conscience of his wrong doing and his eyes were opened to see his fallen condition.

2. "They knew they were naked" = they had lost the Shekinah glory covering they had in Gen. 2:25 where they were not ashamed, but now they are.

3. "They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons" = they were ashamed and a sense of guilt came upon them, which resulted in them trying to cover the guilt with crude aprons of fig leaves; this is the first picture or type of man trying to save himself--they were trying to hide the guilt of their rebellion against God with the works of man's hand; our self-made righteousness will not cover our sinful hearts nor hide us from the all seeing eye of God. (Mat. 5:20)

V. 8

1. They lost the desire for fellowship with God.

2. "They" = Adam and Eve.

3. "Heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day" = they heard the sound of the Lord God approaching where they were; this was not the first time God had met Adam and Eve in the garden; no doubt He had instructed them every day from the sixth day of creation to this day--how many days this was we do not know.

4. "The LORD God" = Jehovah Elohim; means the strong One; the self-existent One who stands alone with no aid from anybody or any other being in this world or out of this world; the self-existent One who wants to reveal Himself to man.

5. "Adam and his wife hid themselves" = this was due to a sense of guilt; sin will cause you to try to hide from the Lord.

6. "From the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden" = from this it is apparent they expected a visible manifestation.

V. 9

2. "The LORD God called unto Adam" = Adam's absence was a clear proof something was wrong, for no doubt before this he had always welcomed the Divine approach; notice He spoke directly to Adam and not to Eve; the head is responsible.

3. "Where art thou? = this is the first question God asked that is recorded; He is not asking for information but for Adam's benefit--Adam did not know where he was at, he knew he was naked but did not know really where he was spiritually; God is omniscient, has all knowledge, and He knew before He created man what He was going to do, in fact before He created man He already had a plan to redeem him. (I Peter 1:18-20)

4. Man who is morally wrong with God does not know where he is. (Jer. 17:9) You will never know God until you realize where you are and that you are morally wrong and He is the only One who can help you. This shows that God makes the first move. He sought Adam and Eve before they sought God. (Rom. 3:11; Isa. 64:7) God came seeking lost, fallen man. I'm glad He did!

V. 10

1. "He" = "myself" = Adam.

2. Adam "heard the voice" and "was afraid" = phobia not reverence; fear; guilt will make you afraid of God; therefore, you'll become afraid of anybody who has the least bit of light and want to hide from them.

3. "Because I was naked" = Adam's reason for hiding; Adam mentioned the nakedness but not the disobedience from which the sense of nakedness arose.

V. 11

1. "He" = "I" = The Lord God.

2. "Thou" = Adam.

3. The Lord asked two more questions, but again not for His information, but to wake up the conscience of Adam so that he might recognize his sin and give him the opportunity to confess his sin and ask forgiveness.

V. 12

1. Instead of confessing his sin, Adam began self-defense by trying to pass the buck, so as to say.

2. "The man" = "me" = "I" = Adam.

3. "The woman" = "she" = "whom" = Adam's wife, Eve.

4. "Thou" = the Lord God.

5. It seems at first, Adam was blaming Eve because she gave him the fruit. But remember I Tim. 2:14 says Adam was not deceived. He ate willingly and knowingly. But when confronted with the question, he began to blame someone else. Really Adam is blaming God = "Whom thou gavest to be with me" = instead of confessing his willful sin and praising God for His goodness, he blamed God for his troubles--if you hadn't given me that woman, I would not have eaten of the tree.

6. Adam made an appeal to lessen the offense by shifting the responsibility upon others.

V. 13

1. The Lord then turned to the woman and asked her a question, not for information but to cause her to examine herself and give her an opportunity to confess. But instead she blamed the serpent saying he beguiled me.

2. "Bequiled" = to seduce; lead astray; deceive; in a sense that is true; the woman was deceived but in essence she was saying "the Devil made me do it."

3. Folks, the devil doesn't make us do anything. When we blame others for our wrong, our sin, it is just our pride that does not want to say I'm wrong. I have sinned, Lord, forgive me.

4. The Devil will try to make you think it is a weakness to say, "I'm sorry, I've sinned, forgive me." Instead our nature is to blame someone else and pass the buck. But the buck will stop at the judgment seat of Christ or the Great White Throne, which ever may be the case, and the Judge of the Universe will point his finger and say "thou art the man."

V. 14

b. External--the curse came.

a) Upon the Serpent.

2. "Serpent" = "thou" = "thy" = one of the beast of the field (verse 1) whose body the Devil used to deceive Eve; this serpent was without a spirit and really did not have a choice in the devil using his body.

3. "Because thou hast done this" = hast allowed the Devil to use your body to deceive Eve.

3. "Art cursed" = to call evil or injury down on; God made the serpent crawl upon the earth on its belly in the dust and even feed on it; man would always regard him as a symbol of the degradation of the one who had slandered God, even in the 1,000 year reign of Christ. (Isa. 65:25)

4. "All the days of thy life" = the degradation should be perpetual; the curse upon the serpent is a perpetual reminder to man of the instrument of his fall; every time you see a snake creeping, eating dust, it ought to remind us of Satan and his work in the fall of man.

5. Did you ever wonder why John the Baptist and Jesus called the Pharisees a generation of vipers (snakes) or serpents?--they were controlled and motivated by the Devil.

V. 15

c. Eternal

1. "I" = the Lord.

2. "Enmity" = "it" = hostility; to be an enemy; to treat as an enemy; to hate.

3. "Thee" = "thy" = the serpent--representative of the Devil.

4. "The woman" = "her" = represents the one who birthed Christ into the world; there is a two-fold application.

A. The woman is Israel--the woman from whom the promised seed came (Rev. 12:3-6); the appointed channel through which the Messiah was to come; the promised seed became the object of Satan's continued enmity and assault:

1) Famines = mentioned in Genesis, were the first efforts of the enemy to destroy the fathers of the chosen race.

2) Pharoah's destroying all the male children.

3) The Egyptians attack at the Red Sea.

4) The assault of the Canaanites when in the land.

5) The plot of Haman. All are examples of the enmity between Satan and the Woman, Israel.

B. The woman is speaking of Mary and here is prophesied the first time of the virgin birth, because this verse refers to the seed as "her seed" and not man's seed. Biologically an offspring is the result of man's seed. Christ is who her seed refers to and He was virgin born. (Jer. 31:22--"a new thing" = an ordinary conception would not be a new thing; Isa. 7:14; Gal. 4:4)

5. "Thy seed" = Satan's seed; biologically Satan cannot produce seed because he is a created being (Mark 12:25); but he is an imitator and copycat and just as God the Father had a son called the seed and in whom dwelt the fullness of the Godhead, Satan also will put forth a man called the Antichrist, in whom will dwell the fulness of Satan; he is called the son of perdition in II Thess. 2:3 and he gets his power from Satan like Christ got his power from God.

6. "Her seed" = "it" = "his" = refers to Christ, the virgin born Son of God.

7. "Thou shalt bruise his heel" = this is the promise of the gospel given here; this speaks of the sufferings and death of Christ on the cross (Isa. 53:5); He suffered in his flesh but also suffered our hell by taking our place--this he did from 12:00 to 3:00 pm; this is the worst thing about the cross; He died and was buried and the Devil said, "I've won. I killed the Son of God;" but he only bruised His heel--a temporary wound for I Cor. 15:3-4 also says He "arose again the third day."

8. "It shall bruise thy head" = the seed of the woman shall bruise (crush; destroy) Satan; the head contains the vital organs; therefore, when bruised, it is a permanent wound.

9. When Christ arose from the dead, it was like D-day in World War II. D-day sealed and assured that victory day was coming. And because Christ arose the Devil is a defeated foe and one day his head will be bruised--crushed and he will be cast in the lake of fire. (Rev. 20:10) This is a fulfillment of the third part of the gospel.

V. 16

b. External (cont.)

b.) Upon the woman.

1. "He" = "I" = the Lord God.

2. "The woman" = "thy" = "thou" = Eve; applies to all women.

3. "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and conception" = conception leads to grievous labor and pain for a child to be delivered; before the fall, had there been children, there would have been no pain; but now God said, "In sorrow (pain) thou shalt bring forth children" = also this seems to indicate the bitterness of spirit she would feel when the fruits of disobedience would discover themselves in her little ones, and in some of them perhaps, gather strength from year to year.

4. "Thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee" = this does not refer to sexual desire but to the determination of her will--it shall be yielded to thy husband, and accordingly he shall rule over thee; woman's relation to the man from the first was a constituted one of dependence and it was the reversal of this Divinely established order that had led to the fall (next verse); therefore, woman was relegated to and fixed in her proper sphere of sub-ordination; from now on God said she must exercise her desire to her husband--follow him willingly, knowing that she will have to answer to God for how she submitted to her husband as unto the Lord.

5. The husband as head and place of authority is not to rule with a rod of iron but of love. Along with this authority goes a responsibility to nourish and cherish her using Christ's relationship, example, and model to the church as the husband's guide lines. (Eph. 5:23-25, 28-29)

V. 17

c) Upon the man.

1. "Because" = introduces the reason "cursed is the ground for thy sake" = this resulted "in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life" = the paradise condition of the garden was replaced by ground (earth) that was cursed.

2. "Sorrow" = worrisomeness; labor, and pain.

V. 18

1. "Thorns also and thistles shall it (earth; ground) bring forth to thee" = speaks of unwanted growth such as weeds; includes worms and insects, fighting man every step of the way; the construction indicates these shall be a spontaneous production; if man desires anything he must labor for it.

2. "And thou shalt eat the herb of the field" = not the fruit of the garden of Eden.

V. 19

1. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread" = labor and toil with pain and sweat was the curse; work was not the curse for God said in Gen. 2:15 for man to dress and keep the garden--that required work; before the fall there was no pain nor sweat.

2. "Till thou return unto the ground" = this let Adam know his actions (eating of the forbidden tree) would bring about his physical death.

3. "For out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" = (Gen. 2:7) this was to remind Adam that in consequence of his transgression he had forfeited the privilege of immunity from death and at physical death he must now return to the soil from whence he came.

4. This is speaking of the body, but the soul is living and will have consciousness in heaven or hell. Example in Luke 16--the rich man (his soul and spirit) was conscience in hell.

5. Now all creation was cursed and in bondage because of sin and would be until God redeems man and the earth.

3) Salvation

V. 20

1. "And Adam called his wife's name Eve" = the construction seems to indicates the time this occurred was not before the fall, nor after the birth of Cain, but right after the promise of the woman's seed in verse 15.

2. "Called" = named.

3. "Eve" = living or life-giving.

4. "Because" = introduced the reason he called her name Eve--"because she was the mother of all living" = from her all mankind came forth; by calling his wife the mother of all living, he indicated his faith in God's promise of Gen. 3:15.

5. Since faith comes after repentance (Mat. 21:32), it is evident that Adam had repentance; therefore, his heart and attitude had changed toward Satan, sin, self, and the Saviour.

V. 21

1. Adam and Eve believed the promise of God about the birth of a Saviour through the woman and that resulted in their salvation. Then they received the picture or type of salvation that all have in Christ = "coats of skins."

3. "Made" = fashioned or prepared.

4. "Coats of skins" = probably from two sheep or lambs slain in sacrifice; no doubt Adam and Eve watched sorrowfully as God selected two of their animals friends and slew them; they learned in type:

A. That an atonement (covering) could only be provided by God. Salvation is of the Lord. (Eph. 2:9)

B. That there must be shedding of blood.

C. That an innocent life had to be given for the guilty.

5. "Covered them" = God Himself was concerned about providing clothing to cover the nakedness of the first man and woman; this had a spiritual significance and also a physical significance.

A. Spiritually, this was a picture or type of our Lord covering one that is saved with a robe of righteousness.

B. Physically, the Lord's standard is always modest apparel. It is always a sign of degeneration when people reverse God's order and plan and go back to nakedness.

6. In essence He clothed Adam and Eve with righteousness so that one day they will not have to stand naked before God.

V. 22

2. "Behold" = it is a command to fix the attention upon an object; spoken to the God-head = "us" = this involved a council meeting of the triune God just as was said in Gen. 1:26.

3. "The man is become as one of us, to know good and evil" = he was accountable to God (reached the knowledge of accountability--knowledge of good and evil); implies an acquaintance with good and evil which did not belong to him in the state of innocence.

4. The rest of this verse gives the reason of the Lord's action in the next verse.

V. 23

1. "Therefore" = in view of what the Lord just said in verse 22.

3. "Him" = Adam; Eve, his guilty partner is included in this also.

4. "Sent him forth from the garden of Eden" = why? to keep him from partaking of the tree of life and live forever with a body that had been introduced to sin, hurt, and pain.

5. "To till the ground from whence he was taken" = refers to the soil outside the paradise of the garden of Eden which needed to be tilled to break the curse man's sin had placed upon it.

V. 24

1. "So" = and.

2. "He" = the Lord God.

3. "He drove out the man" = equivalent to verse 23--"sent him forth" but perhaps a little stronger phrase; seems that the man (Adam and his wife) were reluctant to leave their home which they had known, to go to the unknown and harsh world outside, even though they had truly repented of their sins and believed; He did this to keep man from eating of the tree of life and living forever with a body that had been introduced to sin, hurt, and pain.

4. "He placed" = caused to dwell; to permanently stay.

5. "Cherubims" = actual beings of the angelic order; they seem to have to do with the vindication of the holiness of God as outraged by sin; these are different from Seraphims; they have wings (Exo. 25:18-20) while regular angels do not.

6. "A flaming sword which turned every way" = not banished by the Cherubims but existing separately, and flashing out from among them; an emblem of Divine glory in its attitude towards sin.

7. "To keep" = to watch over or guard.

8. "The way of the tree of life" = implies that all access to it was to be stopped until the end time when all saints will be able to eat of it. (Rev. 2:7; 22:14)