3rd Narrative of Creation: Righteousness and Rest — Leslie Craig

I've seen Iowa in both conditions. I do prefer these conditions, but the one thing that stays static is the warmth of the welcome of you dear folk, and to come to know many more that we didn't have the pleasure of meeting the last time.

So may God richly bless you, and may the assembly here in Garnevillo be richly encouraged. I'm sure you have been. I have thoroughly enjoyed the messages that our two brothers have brought to our attention, both informative and challenging, and I'm sure you have enjoyed them as well.

Genesis 5 and the Third Creation Narrative

Now, for this final session, let us take some readings from the book of Genesis and the third creation narrative, beginning in chapter 5. Chapter 5, Genesis chapter 5 and verse 1. This is the book of the generations of Adam.

You will notice that little expression is repeated. There are ten taladots. I'm quoting a word I have no knowledge of except reading it in a book. It's a Hebrew word for a book of generations. It is a little bookmark that the Holy Spirit uses throughout the book of Genesis, something for you to look at.

There are ten in number, and it's a useful study for you to see. It's one of the patterns. You've got to distinguish in Scripture as you study books and you see things recurring, you will see that they are patterns.

It's not the structure of the book. If you read through the gospel of John, there are patterns that emerge. He talks about signs. They form a repeating pattern. It's not the structure of John. He doesn't divide his book that way, but he will give to us here and there this recurring pattern of telling us of another sign that Christ does.

Watch for them because they're very instructive. And as you look through this book, you will notice that as you come to these recurring patterns of the generations that the Holy Spirit goes one way, and then He retraces back and He goes another way.

And so, for example, He will give to us the genealogy of Cain, but the line of promise does not go through Cain. And He'll retrace back and He'll go down through Seth, and He'll come that way because that's the way that the line of promise goes.

He will come, for example, and He'll tell us a lot about the genealogies of those that were born to Ishmael, but that's not the way the promise goes. He retraces back and He goes down the line of Isaac.

He will tell us a lot about those that come from Esau, but then retrace back and tell us of those that come through Jacob. And that is the pattern that emerges as we go through these books of the generations, these records of the families of these people.

But as we begin this third creation narrative, you will notice that we have that bookmark, and then we have the record of creation all over again, in the day that God created man. In the likeness of God made He Him, male and female, created He them and blessed them and called their name Adam.

Adam, Humanity, and the Scope of Christ's Atonement

Something, again, to notice for younger believers, the word Adam is used at least three different ways in the Scriptures. It is, first of all, the proper name for the first man. It is, secondly, a generic name for humankind.

That is how it is used here, their name, Adam. It is also the name of a little city or development, settlement, some miles north of where they crossed the River Jordan. There's a gospel in that, for what one individual man was responsible for has affected the whole of humanity.

But when the ark, which speaks of my Savior, touched the swollen waters of the river of death, the waters rolled back all the way back to Adam. Because I discover in the Bible there is no such a thing as a limited atonement.

The death of Christ reaches back to Adam and embraces every human within the human race. And so, when you come to deal with propitiation in the Bible, Christ is set forth twice, not once, in the book of Romans.

He set forth to show God's righteousness in the past as He passed over sin, as He remitted sin all the way back to Adam. And how did He do that? He did it on the principle we're going to talk about tonight, Abraham believed God and was counted to Him for righteousness.

That's the waters rolling back all the way to Adam. When that which speaks of Christ touched the waters, Christ entering into death for us, it rolls all the way back. But it rolls forward as well. And we today that know the name of Jesus, Christ is set forth a second time to show that God is just, even us Gentiles.

I don't know if you have any Jewish blood in your veins. I've none whatsoever. I have that on record now because my son here got his DNA sampled and there's not a bit. The most of me is Scottish. And the rest of me is Irish.

And that just explains everything you need to know about me. But I have no link, I have no claim to the promises that God gave to Abraham. And here I am a Gentile, one of the islands of the seas. And yet I have been justified.

I have been cleared of every charge and how can God do that? For I was guilty like all the rest. Because I have believed in Jesus. That's how God has done it. And God set forth Christ and His blood shed upon the cross to show that He is a just God and a justifier of me who have broken His law.

And so the death of Christ and the propitiation that was there made, it reaches back all the way to Adam and it reaches right down to you and me. Praise God for that. And so that was not on the list of things to preach by the way.

It's kind of on the list of things that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind when you're up here. So that's the next thing that we discover. And then it says this, that Adam lived 130 years and begat a son in his own likeness after his image.

The Fall, the Image of God, and the Reign of Death

And we pause and we ponder. Now what has happened? What has happened between verse 1 and verse 3? Well, chapter 2 happened and chapter 3 happened and chapter 4 happened. Man was put into a garden. He was given a commandment and he broke the commandment and he fell.

And sin came into the world. And so man that was created in the image of God, that crisp and perfect image of God, the imprint of God upon humanity, that man has fallen and now a fallen man begets in his fallen image.

And so as parents we pass on to our children an imperfect, a marge impression of what God had originally intended humanity to be. And that is why my kids suddenly come to me in their mid-twenties and they say, I know now what sinus pain is.

I say, I'm sorry, I didn't intend to give it to you. I had no choice in the matter. And many other things beside. Because the image that we pass on has been marred. And so this then becomes the record of death.

He died and he died and he died and he died and he died. And so it goes on and it seems this monotony is going to go on forever until at last it says and he was not for God took him. And should we at the end of this conference pause for a moment and think the sky not the grave is our goal.

There is coming a day and a generation and those that live in planet earth that love the Lord and seek to serve him and they will not die. Rekindle that hope within your heart and live with it every day.

For one of these days in a moment in the twinkling of an eye we shall be changed. One of these days we shall hear his voice and shall rise to meet him in the air. It is our hope. It is that that ought to govern our lives every single day.

Noah, Judgment, and the Meaning of Rest

But this record then of death that speaks of the death of individuals leads now to the death of all humanity. And that is the story that we're going to consider just briefly today. Verse 28, Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two years and begat a son and called his name Noah saying this same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord had cursed.

What we need to understand is that the word Noah means rest or comfort. Chapter 6 verse 1 came to pass when man began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them that the sons of God saw the daughters of man.

Now I don't know what your translation is but we need to be specific here the daughters of mankind. This is not describing those who are spiritual being beguiled by those who are worldly. This is quite specific that spirit beings are mingling with those that are human.

The Hebrew is very clear about that and the Greek of our New Testament as well when we come to the books that reflect upon this, Peter and Jude. This is a satanic spirit attack on what it is to be human.

We are living in days when what it is to be human is again under attack. Now in the laboratories and in many other places what does it mean to be human? I believe in that sense we are living in days that are marked like the days of Noah.

And another translation of verse number 3 is that the Lord says my spirit shall not remain in man. This is not the idea of the Holy Spirit leaving people and never speaking to them again. We should never preach that for many have been stumbled by that and think to themselves that because they are not moved anymore they can never be saved.

The Bible never says that. So don't preach it. God is gracious. God oftentimes speaks again after many years. Of course we must preach that the Bible says behold now is the accepted time. We can never guarantee another opportunity.

There could be a semi coming around the corner and you're gone. Of course that is something we must preach. But God is going to put the breath out of man. That's the point in all of this. It's all about the fact that God is going to drown the life out of people.

He's going to drown the breath out of them. He's going to do it in a flood. He's going to destroy all flesh. Let's look down to verse number 8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah.

Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations and Noah walked with God and so forth. God calls him to make the ark. God shuts him in. Chapter 8, God remembered Noah and every living thing and all the cattle that was with him in the ark.

And God made a wind to pass over the earth and the waters assuaged. Verse 4, and the ark rested. Then we have the story of the two birds, the raven and the dove. And the dove had, verse number 8, no rest for the sole of her foot.

And then we come to the end of the story. Verse number 20, and Noah built an altar unto the Lord and took every clean beast and of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar and the Lord smelled a sweet savor or a savor of rest.

It's from the same group of words as Noah and the ark resting and the bird finding no rest and the Lord finding rest and comfort in the sacrifice that Noah offered. So running right through this is the idea of Noah being a comfort and rest not only to the world, but to God because God repented himself.

He regretted looking upon the wickedness of this world. There is a pain in the heart of God as he looks down and sees just how wicked it has become. And I do believe it's still the same today. As God looks into our world, it pains him to his very, very heart.

And the Hebrew word for pain is just playing off against the Hebrew word for comfort. And God is pained, but there's a man called Noah who comforts God. And in the midst of a painful world for God to look in, you and I are those who bring him comfort as we bow our knees at the side of the bed and we seek to honor him in our lives.

You and I are the Noahs of our day. God finds comfort in us in the wickedness of a godless generation. Now that's what I want us to get to in a little while. But before we do that, there's so much that I would like to say, but time, of course, is always against you when you're up here.

I need to draw a few things together because I've mentioned them and it would be remiss of me not to bring them to their conclusion. So I've said that there are three creation narratives. The first creation narrative deals with our relationship with God.

The First Creation Narrative: Humanity as God's Image-Bearers

God has placed us at the very pinnacle of the physical creation and we are in his image. We are the image bearers of God. We are God's representatives to this world. And the key thought in that whole section is rule.

God has made certain things to rule the day, the night, and so forth, but he has given humanity to rule this world. That's story number one. Story number two. It is now not our relationship with God, it is our relationship with the ground, the earth.

The Second Creation Narrative: Humanity, the Ground, and Relationship

We came out of it. By the artistry of God, we were created and God breathed into us the breath of life. Note that. But we continue with the idea of the ground and God made man to work the ground and to bring fruit out of the ground.

Because of sin, the ground was cursed. Because of wickedness, the ground received the blood of Abel. The voice of his blood cried for vengeance from the ground. God cursed the ground because of sin that Adam had committed.

God cursed Cain from the ground because of his wickedness. It's all about our relationship with the earth and we have a part in this physical world. Because of sin, we'll go back to the dust, but that's not the end.

Because the body that you have right now that perhaps is causing you so much pain and perplexity, so many issues going on within the physical frame that is yours, that if the Lord has not come, will one day go into the ground, it will be sown.

But praise God, it shall be raised. You will have a physical body, a glorified body like His body of glory forever. We will inhabit a physical universe forever. That's why there's a new heaven and a new earth.

Don't think you're going to be up there in the clouds or away off there in the spirit world forever. Not a bit of it. We have been created to be complete as spirit, soul, and body. And your physical body is going to be raised again, and it will be brought into that new heaven and physical universe that God is going to create.

So that's something to hold on to, that God has made something from the dust of this earth that is going to last forever. You and me are going to last forever in physical bodies, because don't you believe that Christ has a physical body today?

Of course you do. You could hardly call yourself a Christian and not say that. And if Christ is going to be a man forever, a glorious, risen, exalted man forever, you will be a risen man, woman forever.

Enjoying all that God ever intended for glorified humans to enjoy. And what I'm saying is this, from the dust of the ground, God has made something that will last forever. When the Milky Way galaxy is done and gone, the materials of this world will last forever.

And so the whole part of that story revolves not around rule, but relationships. We noticed it is the Lord God, the relational God, the covenant God, who breathes into man in that intimate way. And He makes man, and then man looks around and he sees all the animals, and ah, there's a mate for that, and there's a mate for that, and oh, I'm alone.

And Adam had enough time. I have no idea how long it was. I somehow doubt it was 12 hours. I think it took an awful lot longer than that. For Adam to come to the realization, I am alone. God has made for every animal a male and a female, and I'm alone.

And when he felt that ache, and that sense of being incomplete, God makes equal to him, and suitable to him, a companion. And so humanity is seen as man and woman, not just as male, but male and female.

And that whole idea of relationship forms the central part of the second story. The third story that we're going to think about is the idea of righteousness. Here's the only just man, the only righteous man in the whole of the earth.

The Third Creation Narrative: Righteousness Through Grace and Faith

God is going to save him because he's righteous. How's he righteous? Because he finds grace in the eyes of the Lord. That's how you get righteous. You find grace, and there's grace for us all, amazing grace, how sweet the sound we sing, that saved a wretch like me.

Here's a man who, in grace, he had a relationship with God. He found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Just checking what time I've got to be done. Righteousness is the central key to this third story. And now, it's not my relationship in story number one with God, or my relationship with the ground, but it's my constitution, the way that I'm made.

You can have a body, but if you have that body in a position where it doesn't get any air, the body will remain, but it will die. And it will still be there sometime after, but it will go into corruption.

We need breath. And this is something, and I don't go down this line, this is something that's taken and magnified in the teaching of the New Testament, because the New Testament will tell us, just in that same sense, that for us to have the life that we now have in Christ, we need to be in the Spirit, and the Spirit in us.

David taught us that yesterday. We need the Spirit of God. But in the physical, God is going to show, I'm not going to allow men to continue in the wickedness that they're practicing day and daily. I'm not going to leave my Spirit in them, I am going to drown them.

And so he delivered one man, the only man, who was righteous before the Lord. Now I've said that those three stories, they reflect upon the closing three stories of this book. The fourth story of the book is the building of the Tower of Babel.

Babel, the Nations, and God's Redemptive Plan

So if you can imagine the book hinging around the peak of that ziggurat that they built in the land of Babel. And if you take those two chapters in which that story is found, what you're discovering is how the earth was divided.

There was even a boy named after it, his name is Peleg, for in his day the earth was divided. It was such a catastrophic thing that they named the next boy that was born after the occasion. They were all one people and now they're scattered, there's 70 nations.

God did it. He did it as an act of judgment. All one people scattered throughout the world. And God now has created the nations. Why? Because of the building of the Tower of Babel. That is the pivot, that is the point where we now get the nations of the world.

And then for the rest of the book, God is going to take one man and make of him a nation. From here on it is Jew and Gentile. That's how key this watershed becomes in Genesis chapter 11. From that point on, God is taking one man and from him He promises a seed and a nation and a blessing and a land.

And God segregates and takes him and blesses him and He speaks through him so that God's words to the world are in Hebrew. And it's only when God moves in discipline against that nation that He speaks in any other language.

Whether it's down in the land of Babylon, He speaks in Chaldean, why? Because God is disciplining His people. He brings them back, He speaks in Hebrew again. But when they kneel His Son to the cross, God never speaks in Hebrew again.

He speaks in the language of the nations. He takes the gospel to the world. We need to get these pivotal moments in our mind, especially young believers. So it's around that story that the whole thing turns and then we have three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.

The story of Jacob, let's start there. And what's it all about? Rule. You have it in chapter 1. The sun, moon, stars, they're set to rule. You have it in the dream. The sun, the moon, the eleven stars, they all bow down.

Why? Because there's a man who's going to rule. So those parts answer to each other. The second story was all about relationship. When we come to the story of Isaac, that's what it's all about. He's a son who's loved of a father, and the father doesn't spare him.

And two chapters later, he gets a bride from a far country. Isn't that just the answer to God giving Adam a bride suited to him? Relationship. What about the third story? It's one man, the only man who's righteous on the earth.

His name is Noah, and he walks with God. Well, the fifth story, which is the story of Abraham, is a man who, well, he believed God and God counted it to him for righteousness, and God says, walk before me and be thou perfect.

It's all about righteousness. And it's on the basis of the life and the experience of Abraham that we get the thing expounded in our New Testament, that the just shall live by faith, and it's the principle beyond all principles that show us that salvation has always been the same, and it always will be that it is through faith alone that God justifies.

There are no two ways of salvation, one in the old and one in the new. No, it's all the same. And it's all based upon the one act and the one sacrifice of Christ. And so here is a man, Noah, he's righteous, and on the other side, there's a man, Abraham, and he's righteous.

And how were they made righteous? Noah found grace, Abraham believed God, and that's how we can be righteous with God. And so I just put that there for you so that you can understand how it is structured.

Righteousness and Rest in the Life of the Church

Now, just to bring my thoughts into a focus, I want us to pick up upon this theme of righteousness and rest, because it has been just a subplot of my burden to think about how this affects us today. And it's one thing to know how Genesis is structured, and that's an important thing because all of the rest of the Bible flows out of it.

In fact, there are questions that are asked in the book of Genesis, and they're not answered to the book of Revelation. What was the tree all about? Well, Revelation will tell us. Why did God put man in a garden?

Well, Revelation will tell us. Who was the serpent? Revelation will tell us. You need to read your Bible as a complete revelation of God. But as we come to this, we have discovered in that first creation narrative that God values good and glory.

We have discovered that God values in that second narrative fellowship and food. And now we come to realize that God values in our lives and as we gather as the Lord's people, righteousness and rest. This brings just together the two messages that you've listened to.

How should I approach and deal with those that differ from me? God desires rest in that. That I come to appreciate that we are of equal value to the one who died for us both, for whom Christ died. And far too much fighting and tearing apart is over the things that are secondary, that are mere opinions and preferences.

And God is seeking in that assembly of which you form a part and the one in which I form a part that we work with all of our endeavors and strength and sensitivities that we bring rest. It is one of those things that is the burden of every shepherd to see to it that the sheep are not agitated.

Did we not hear yesterday that the perfect shepherd, the Lord, He makes us to lie down in green pastures. Dear overseer, that is your number one priority, to feed, to water, and therefore to give rest.

To lead that flock away from things that unsettle them so that together they are resting in harmony, rest. But we have been thinking about being sanctified and sanctified by the truth. And all that leads us to this second great principle that God seeks to find among us and that is the principle of righteousness, doing the right thing.

For there are things that are primary things. There are things over which we cannot fudge. It's in that equivalent passage in Romans that Paul says when he's dealing with these things about what we eat and what we don't eat, he says the kingdom of God is not eating or drinking.

Those are secondary things. He says it's but righteousness and peace and joy. Those are the primary things. Doing the right thing. And so we're called upon to read the Scriptures. For Paul says to Timothy, all Scripture is inspired by God.

It's profitable for teaching, yes, for rebuking, for correcting, but for training in righteousness. God seeks us to be righteous. And if we're going to understand how to live righteous lives, we need to read the Scriptures for they will show us how to be righteous.

The Bible says in James chapter 1 that human anger does not accomplish God's righteousness. Oh, I give them a piece of my mind. I didn't hold back. They weren't left wondering where I stood in it. I didn't miss and hit the wall.

I don't know if you have those expressions over here. We do. And it's usually said by somebody that thinks they've won the battle. They spoke their mind. Human anger does not accomplish God's righteousness.

Another thing that doesn't accomplish righteousness is being unequally yoked one to the other. What fellowship is there between righteousness and unrighteousness? But James will tell us that the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those that cultivate peace.

And the two things come together again, righteousness and rest. And so we think of them in the story of Noah. Noah himself brought comfort to the people of his day. Can you imagine living in a world where God has said He's going to destroy it?

Those that believed in God knew that was going to take place. That's why they called Methuselah His name. After me it shall come. Can you imagine what it was like when Methuselah first took a head cold?

He got a bit of a temperature. Is this it? Is he going to die? I don't know. Maybe he never took sick all his life. I have no idea. All the kids know the answer. Who was the man that lived the longest?

That's not a mere trivia. That's a measurement of the longsuffering of my God. The longest man ever to live, he measures the heart of God. God waited longer than anyone, any other human lifespan before He would come and judge the world.

God doesn't want to judge. But those that believed in God knew that He would judge. And this whole thing was going to end. But Noah brought them comfort. Why? Because it's not for nothing. It's not for nothing.

It's not for nothing to go out into the fields and sow your crop. It's not for nothing to go into your work and do your day's job. It's not for nothing to bring up the kids in the fear of God. This world is passing away, but what you do here is not for nothing.

That's the point. We can day and daily serve the kingdom, and in that way seek first God's righteousness. Because what we do here matters for the other world. And Noah brought over from the one world that God was going to destroy, he brought over and he made worthwhile what others had labored for before the judgment fell.

He was a comfort to them. His name means comfort, and when at last the ark rested, it's the same word. And the little bird, again, same word. And then speaking of God, same idea. God received rest. I love to put those all together.

Christ the Greater Noah and the Rest of Calvary

It's a beautiful picture, isn't it? The rest of Christ, the ark coming down at last, having gone through Calvary. Oh, those inside the ark, they felt the movement, but they were safe. But that ark, it felt every wave, it felt every blow of divine judgment, until at last it came to rest.

And I hear the words of my Savior, It is finished. He lays His head to rest upon His breath and He breathes His last. Christ has rested. The ark is secure. The Spirit, of course, that's the picture of the dove, isn't it?

There was no one else that the dove could rest upon. The dove rested in Christ at His baptism. But the dove has no place in this wicked world. But the second time it goes out, it brings back an olive leaf plucked.

And I know you think I'm gone on a flight of fancy, but that's okay. I'll just keep my little flight of fancy, because the Spirit of God is going to achieve from this world, this wretched, wicked world, because of the death of Christ, He's bringing back a bride.

The first token of the work of Christ. But when He goes out, the third time He stays. Why? Because when Christ comes back, the Spirit can rest in this world. You read the opening verses of Isaiah 11, you'll see the sevenfold plenitude of the Spirit in the kingly grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as He comes to set up His kingdom in this world.

The Spirit will rest in this world. Christ resting. The Spirit resting. The Father resting. As Noah offers a sacrifice that is a savor of rest unto God. And God looks down and is comforted. As I've said, God finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

And God certainly finds no pleasure in the wickedness of this world. We are His comfort now. And in that day, when Christ shall come again and restore all things, He shall smell from our heavenly Noah a savor of rest.

For Christ will do what Noah did. Let me say this and then sit down. The Bible divides the history of this world into three parts. You'll find that in 2 Peter chapter 3. From the creation of the world to the flood, the world it was.

The world it now is from the flood to the fire. That's why incidentally on day number 2, God never says it's good. Because God put up there on day 2 what He would bring down to destroy the earth. It's the only day God doesn't say it's good.

Because He's put up there a mechanism of judgment. And He brings it down and He ends the world it was. But underneath the earth is fire. We flew into Iceland. We could see it bubbling up. It's kind of frightening to see what's in there bursting out of the ground with ferocity.

This is a dangerous world. And underneath us. I don't want to frighten you. Go home and sleep. It's fine. But one day it won't be. God is going to take of the fire that's in the middle of this earth and destroy the earth.

Noah, the Mayflower, and the New Creation

That's phase 2. But phase 3 is the new heavens and the new earth. In which righteousness shall dwell forever. Now listen to this. Noah bridged the first two. Noah, he brought comfort because all that was in that world was not lost.

He brought from that first world into the second world. He brought and he became a comfort. Now Christ is going to do the same. But listen to this. You folks will not be annoyed at me when I say this.

When those good godly folks got on board the Mayflower and set sail for these parts. And when they landed over near Boston where they landed. They got down on their knees and they thanked the Lord. And they sought to set up colonies for the glory of God.

Because they were leaving a world that had become so ingrained with many vices and difficulties. They wanted a new world. But they brought to this world, godly and all as they were. What Noah brought into the new world.

They still brought the sinful nature. And it's hard to imagine those early people that came. God-fearing people that worshiped God. And they sought to set up a civilized Christian society. And then some of the things that are happening in the states today.

How can it get to there? Because they brought with them the same sinful nature. That's what Noah did. He bridged the first two worlds from the world it was to the world it is. But he still brought over the principle of sin.

But Christ, our heavenly Noah. Who will take us from this world. And plant us eternally in that new heaven and earth. In a physical paradise forever. He will take us there. Without the principle of sin.

And there righteousness shall dwell. We will never ever sin again. Isn't that a wonderful thing to think of? Just as we conclude the teaching part of this conference. That we have a Savior. Who is greater than Noah.

And He will bring righteousness to dwell forever. And rest in that eternal day. May God bless His Word.