I will repent (turn away from), request forgiveness for, and accept His forgiveness for my sin. I will ask a fellow believer to pray in-agreement and to be my accountability partner. Echoes of this reality can also be found in the Creation accounts of other ancient cultures – accounts which refer, not just to sin in general, but to an actual, historical event. For an older discussion of science, genealogies, and age issues, I recommend Paul Zimmerman’s chapter “The Age of the Earth” in Darwin, Evolution and Creation (CPH, 1959). You designed Your Creation with each species unique, and that was Your perfect plan. If one takes them as introduction to a mere allegory or parable they have an impact upon ones understanding of the entire Bible. Humankind made a terribly-wrong choice and You graciously blocked the path (to the Tree of Eternal Life) to protect them from unrecoverable harm. Eve (then Adam) had a choice to make, that was the purpose of ‘the test of the tree’. Do we understand that when we choose temptation rather than holiness, when confronted with a test, that we enter into a conspiracy with Satan to disrespect the Lord God? You decided that the air and sea should have life, then You created it. Perhaps it is eating or drinking too much, going where I may view people in a way that is appealing to my fallen-flesh but offensive to God (e.g., driving by the beach to view partially-clothed people, surfing inappropriate sites on the Internet, watching television where people are demeaned, listening to music or watching movies that distort a holy view of man, abusing substances, avoiding activities that promote fitness of my body “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” or participating in thrill-seeking activities that “test the Lord my God”), and a place in your life where you find yourself deflecting blame to another or engaging in a pattern of avoiding accountability. 2:3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation. 2:4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created – when the Lord God made the earth and heavens. Try to imagine the importance of a genuine freely-chosen relationship to the Lord God - He gave Adam and Eve everything they needed, all in the context of a perfect creation, yet He still gave them the capacity to choose to be righteous or to be rebellious. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. This commentary leans toward the latter rather than the former understanding, though with a caveat or two. Adam replied, “I heard you moving about,” so the sound created by God in the Garden was not sensed by Adam as friendly. 2:14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. It is understood in the ancient tradition that ‘naming’ was an expression of mastery or ownership. When we think of Adam and Eve, “humankind” prior to the Fall, we cannot fully comprehend who they were because - other than Jesus - no other human has ever been as innocent. - The creation - the fall - the curse or consequences of that fall - and the glimmer of hope. 3:11 And the Lord God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Satan tried the same attack on Jesus that he used on Eve, and he is still using the same old lie on people today. Read more. 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. When have you observed a creative person at work and how they envision something in their mind and then create it with their body? Despite His righteous anger the Lord God still provided for His children, giving them garments made of animal skins. While we made a mess of things may I remember that Your work was flawless and Your unique and eternal flawlessness is to be praised. He created man and woman in His image and gave them dominion over the physical world (1:26)—all creatures were subject to them. 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. The Lord God selected from his collection of trees, which He had previously created, some suitable for an orchard and then set them in Eden, where He also placed man. This illustrates everything in Creation being linked, which explains the commonalities of DNA in all life forms today — bananas, fish, monkeys, and humans. May I listen closely to Your Holy Spirit so as to discover my purpose in Your great plan. 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.”. The Lord God placed humankind in the Garden of Eden to fulfill their purpose, caring for it, and He then instructed them as to His boundaries for them: “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”. 1:21 God created the great sea creatures and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds. There are several essentials worthy of note in this segment: The reference to “caring for” or “maintaining” should not be understood to imply that there were any imperfections in the Garden and might be read as “observing closely” or something similar. O n the sixth day of creation God created all the land animals and humans. I will then share that experience with a fellow Believer, asking for their prayers in-agreement that I will resist a return to the sin, and I will also pray for them as they follow my example. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless. Summary Principles of Creation, The Fall, and The Flood (Cosmology) In philosophy, the study of first things and origins has a host of words that include this concept: cosmology, ontology, metaphysics, ultimate reality, religion, worldview, ethic, metaphysics, epistemology, and other such terms. May my faith be in the perfection that I see in You, and may I desire that above all. January 5, 2015. Be Specific ________________________________________________, 1:6 God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters. PREV. In his suffering and death, all of the motifs are drawn together: the tree, the sweat, the thorns, and the dust of death (see Ps. Is the true measure of a faith-saving relationship with Christ the absolute surrender of our free will to His Lordship? Nothing that occurred after the end of the sixth day involved a new creative work. What has now become imperfect, a ‘machine’ barely held together with loose and broken parts, surrounded by debris flying through space, with dark comets all-but-invisible to detection threatening to slam into planet earth and wreak terrible havoc; this was once a beautiful and perfectly balanced galactic system of God’s design. It is uncertain if any of the alternative readings matter much to the story; though if one takes Adam to have been physically present throughout the test, temptation, and fall of Eve, one must ponder why he failed to intervene and why he was not also addressed in the story. The consequences of Satan dragging man into the spiritual warfare between himself and the Lord God, when he successfully recruited Adam and Even into a state of rebellion, have been terrible. 1:31 God saw all that he had made – and it was very good! The phrase, “without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface,” leads the reader to understand that the Lord God had not yet given definition and purpose to “the heavens and the earth” which He had just created. There is a good deal of debate in theological circles as to the precise meaning of the words, “In the beginning,” the resolution of which has some significant impact. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?”. Summer and winter, spring and fall, rain and snow, sunshine and darkness; each now far less perfect than the original pre-Fall creation, yet each is critical to the balance of the Created system; a miraculous work of God. Everything originated with water. and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years, 1:15 and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.”. When have you experienced the naming a child or a pet? Today I will pray, reflect, and study to apprehend what the Holy Spirit has unveiled to me and I will share what I have learned with a fellow Believer for shared edification and praise. The text teaches that it was not the original intent of the Lord God that man and woman be unequal and competitive in relationship; such only became the nature of things after the Fall. Note: Previously we observed that Adam named the animals but not his God-given “helper”; rather, he gave the title “woman” to her, illustrating her status as his equal partner in caring for Creation. How would you help people to understand the impact of “free will” - noting that from the beginning the Lord God did not guarantee humankind unlimited certainty of eternal life, regardless of their choices? Creation and Fall: Presence and the First Exile “The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed,” speaks of their integrity-via-innocence; pre-Fall they had no cause to be ashamed of anything. I will request and receive His forgiveness and allow Him to be my strength as He is Lord of my life. The Lord God leaves no room for doubt in His Word. How might you lead others to a greater appreciation of the Lord God through a comparison of attributes in real world application? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to look past the broken and imperfect world around you and instead dwell upon God’s amazing Creation and to invest the time to pause and to observe a land animal, either directly or via a live Internet cam, and as you do so to celebrate the beauty and incredible detail of the creature and the way that it interacts with its environment. 2:6 Springs would well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 2:7 The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. All of these selected and beautiful trees bore deliciously edible fruit, but even more unique were two, “the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” We remember that God is God and He as Creator can do anything He either desires or imagines. All of Creation to this point was either non-sentient (unable to experience pain or pleasure), or sentient (able to experience pain or pleasure) but all were non-reflective (non-sapient). 1:3 God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light! Are we appropriately amazed to see the connections across the entirety of the Word of God, from Genesis through Revelation, and how the themes and truths of God reign supreme? How would you help others to understand that when man ‘stole’ an attribute of the Lord God – one expressly forbidden to them - it was then that the trouble (estrangement and striving) began? Produced by Johns Hopkins University Press in collaboration with The Sheridan Libraries. Thus the happiness of man is also a purpose of creation. The name Eve was drawn from her role as the “life-giver,” the one who bears children, and the one from whom all future children would descend. Ask the Holy Spirit reveal to you a specific place in your life where you are stuck; stuck because you are trying to deal with a challenge in your own strength and wisdom and keep failing, or stuck because you have asked the Lord God for intervention while at the same time doubting that He has the power to meet and overcome that which challenges you. The goal is to eradicate them from my life; perhaps immediately, perhaps after some perseverance, but eventually permanently through the power of prayer and peer-accountability. He created the stars, galaxies, fish, cucumbers, trees, giraffes, and his greatest work of all, humankind. 1:17 God placed the lights in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth. The first is creation. 1:2 Now the earth was without shape and empty. [The NET translator notes list the characteristics which God breathed in to man as “spiritual understanding” (Job 32:8) and “a functioning conscience” (Proverbs 20:27). 3:21 The Lord God made garments from skin for Adam and his wife. 3:15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman. 29. 4/2018 adventist Biblestudies Christ Creation Fall kurt piesslinger Love Oneness Sabbath School. summary Creation and Fall originated in lectures given by Dietrich Bonhoeffer at the University of Berlin in the winter semester of 1932-33 during the demise of the Weimar Republic and the birth of … Jesus experienced it all, to have victory over it through the resurrection.”. The text uses the plural term “us” when the Lord God refers to Himself, it is the first of many occasions from Genesis through Revelation where the plurality of the “Godhead” or “Trinity” is expressly or indirectly testified. He set in place the rest of the cosmos in order to make it a self-sustaining yet highly interdependent system, though at all times it exists only as He empowers and permits. If one does not take the text to describe any part of pre-Genesis history and one takes the Creation narrative to refer in every detail to literal 24 hour days then it covers approximately 2400 years. 2:10 Now a river flows from Eden to water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams. Today I will make a change in my thinking, and in my actions, and rather than partner with the Enemy I will partner with the Holy Spirit as He makes this a real rather than merely an intellectual life-changing choice. In my 30's the Lord led me through some changes and challenges, and despite my resistance, He broke through and I finally came to faith in 1990. But first – some context. (Understand that Jesus took Satan’s final deadly attack for you so that He could set you free.) The Lord God then called the plants and trees into being, each also with a unique purpose, and each reproducing only its own kind. The Lord God reminds us in this text that, in the Garden, He had provided for Adam and Eve everything they would ever need, literally everything. We have Jesus Christ to thank for providing our way home to an Edenic-Heaven. 2:19 The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. 1:12 The land produced vegetation – plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. The story of Adam and Eve happens in Genesis chapter 2 and 3. In the course of these events, Bonhoeffer called his students to focus their attention on the word of God the word of truth in a time of turmoil. May I remember when I am tested that the choices are always the same, I choose You or the Enemy – may I mature in my faith daily so that I increasingly choose You in all things. 2:13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it runs through the entire land of Cush. Commentary text is from David M. Colburn, D.Min. Moses was the chosen author of God. As Moses recorded the story of Creation he used descriptive images and phrases from a primitive era, it is important as we read to not misunderstand his limited experience-based vocabulary as mere allegory, but rather allow the Holy Spirit to enhance our understanding. With a word God created the climate system: The cycle of moisture from the surface of the earth moves in to the upper atmosphere, around the earth, and is then deposited elsewhere – keeping the balance of humidity without occurrence of flooding or drought (prior to the ‘Fall’). Remember that Eden was sealed – so nothing of perfection is visible to us if we choose.! 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