In The Garden / Genesis Is Real History (Genesis Chapter Two - Part 1)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. The title of this morning's message is The Garden of Eden. How many of you have heard a sermon on the Garden of Eden?

Genesis 2 and the Seventh Day

Okay, a few. Good. So as you might have guessed, let's turn in our Bibles to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis chapter 2. Last week, we began our sermon series from the book of Genesis, and we saw how in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And God, we pointed out, created all things out of what? Out of nothing. He created ex nihilo, out of nothing, simply by speaking the word. So we went through the six days of creation, and now we come to day number seven.

And many of you are probably aware that the number seven in the Bible represents perfection or completeness. You could say that the number seven is God's number. Man's number is six, because man was created on day six.

But seven is God's number, and the seventh day is God's day. Look at Genesis chapter 2, verse 1. It says, Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished. And on the seventh day, God ended his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made. Now, I think it's a common thing for people to look at this and say, yeah, the seventh day, this is the Sabbath.

Right here in Genesis 2, this is the Sabbath. Well, yes and no, because the Sabbath really doesn't show up until God gave his law to Moses thousands of years later in the book of Exodus. So I think it's more accurate to say that the Sabbath is actually based on this.

It's not that this at this moment is the Sabbath. Of course, Sabbath means what? Rest, right? And God is resting. Now, does God need to rest? No, God does not need to rest. Basically, what God is doing is he is establishing a precedent for man to work six days and then for one day to take a day off, to take a day of rest.

And that day of rest is also to be a day set aside unto the Lord for worship. Look at verse four says, this is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

The Creation of Man in the Image of God

So now the thing to understand about Genesis chapter two, because some have been confused, you're reading about the creation in chapter one. And then it's like, well, is this the same event in chapter two?

What's happening? We're going backwards. We're going back in the story and getting some of the detail. So right now, what we're reading about, we're going back to day six. Okay, so everything we're reading about now, day six, the creation of man.

Look at verse seven says, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathe into his nostrils, the breath of life and man became a living being. A few things about this verse. If you're paying close attention, you're going to notice we're starting to see another name for God.

In chapter one, it's G-O-D, that's Elohim in Hebrew. And that's the plural name for God. What's the other name that we're starting to see now? Lord, right. And you'll notice that Lord, I think this is reflected in all modern Bible translations, but Lord is in all capital letters.

Right? Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. So when you see Lord in all caps, that's the name of God, Jehovah, or as some people will say, Yahweh. But this is the name of God, Jehovah, which means the existing God or the self existing God.

Why is that important? Because God has life in himself. We're dependent on a lot of things, aren't we? We're dependent on God. God depends on nobody and nothing. He has life within himself. And now he is making a creature made in his own image according to his own likeness.

So God creates man out of what? What's the material? Yes, he creates all things, the heavens and the earth, out of nothing. But he creates man out of something. And that's the dust of the earth. So now it's stopping and giving some detail to point this out.

And God is shaping and molding man out of the dirt, out of the dust of the ground. Sort of like an artist would spend time painting his or her masterpiece. Now it's true that man came from the dirt. And that could give people, some people, the impression that man must not have all that much value if we came from the dirt and we're going back to the dirt.

Someone could draw that conclusion. And you know that might be true except for one thing. Man has value because God gave man value. You have value because God gave you value. And guess what? If there is no God or if evolution is true, what happens?

Man has no value. Man is an animal. And why are we surprised on the news when people treat man like he's an animal prepared for the slaughter? We have a spiritual problem in our country. We have a spiritual problem in our world where man is not seen as one made in the image of God.

And we're facing the effects all over. So mankind has value because God gave him value. God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. If you don't get that right, from this point on in the Bible, you're not going to get anything else right.

Do you have value? Look around at one another. You all have great value in the eyes of God and in our own eyes. We should view each other as someone of great value. So you could say that God breathed his spirit into man because the same Hebrew word for breath is the same word for spirit.

And this is what sets man apart. We have God's spirit. Now in the next chapter, when man sins, everything changes. But here in chapter two, man is blameless. Man is living in the perfect environment, the garden of Eden.

Look at verse eight. Then the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Who knows what the word Eden means? Does anybody know? Okay, well, it means pleasure.

So Eden means pleasure. Of course, this is paradise. This is a place of pleasure and delight. Of course, that doesn't mean carnal pleasure, and neither is Adam just sitting back fanning himself eating grapes.

It's not that kind of pleasure either. What does God do? He puts man in the garden to do what? To work, right? Yeah, Adam has a job to do. He is to keep and tend the garden. We see that in verse 15. Look at verse nine.

It says, and out of the ground, the Lord God may... And by the way, by putting Adam here to work, this also sets a precedent. Man finds his value to some degree in his work, or he finds his purpose, I should say, in his work.

Verse nine says, and out of the ground, the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. And the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

So we see two trees being described, and there's a contrast between the two. Something that we had mentioned last week that it's necessary, I think, to get into a little bit of apologetics. What's apologetics?

Being an apologist is not apologizing for your faith, right? It's defending the faith. We're trying to defend the faith here. So as evangelical Bible-believing Christians, we believe this is literal.

Okay, there's a literal tree called the tree of life. There's a literal tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is not a parable. This is not an allegory. There's a lot of people who will say it is, but there's nothing in the language, nothing in the writing at all, to suggest that this is anything but literal.

You know, you need to look at the writing of Scripture. When there's poetic, and there are poems in the Bible, when there's poetic language, you allow for symbolism. When something is seen in visionary form, I think you have to allow for some symbolism.

What is this writing, though? This is historical narrative. That's the genre of writing that we're looking at. And look at verse four. Go back to verse four. What does it say? This is the history of the heavens and the earth.

So there's nothing at all to suggest that this shouldn't be taken literally. And I also pointed out last week how Jesus of Nazareth believed in a literal Adam. Right? So Adam was a real person. These are real trees, real garden.

And also Jesus' Apostle Saul of Tarsus, also known as the Apostle Paul. In Romans chapter five and first Corinthians 15, it's very clear he believed in a literal Adam. So while many of the modern mainline churches view this as an allegory, there's nothing to suggest that whatsoever.

Or this is what they do. They say, well, the tree is symbolic. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, this whole thing is symbolic. And what do they do after that? Then they move to Noah's Ark. Well, this seems impossible.

This is symbolic, too. And then the Tower of Babel. Well, that's, how did this work? This must be symbolic, too. And they keep on with that all the way. Eventually they get to the cross in the resurrection where many of them will teach that that is symbolic.

The virgin birth is symbolic or they'll just flat out deny it. That amounts to a denial of the faith. So don't even start down that road because that's where it leads. So a literal tree of life. Amen?

Literal tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Okay. And along those lines, let's not forget the devil's temptation to Eve. What's the first thing that he said to her? Has God indeed said tree of life?

Did God really say, is this really true? Is this really literal? Did this really happen? That's the devil's lie. He hooks you with that. He's got you. So they're literal. Literal. Okay. You know, the Bible is not a hard book to understand.

Parts of it are. I acknowledge that. The prophetic books, some of it can be difficult. But here in Genesis, the Bible is actually very easy to understand. You read it. Take it at face value. It means what it says.

It's that simple, right? Okay. At the end of chapter three. So what then is the tree of life? What is this all about? It is a tree that kept Adam alive. Do you realize, Adam, if he continued to eat of this tree, he could live forever?

Even after he sinned, he could live forever by eating from this tree. And the next chapter, when Adam and Eve sin, they are banished from the garden. You know why? So that they wouldn't eat of the tree of life.

Because then they would live forever in their sin. And that is not God's will for us to live forever in our sin. Do you realize? Because nobody really wants to die. But if you live forever in the current state you are in, you don't want that.

What do we want? We want to go be with the Lord where we have that glorified body. Where there is no presence of sin at all. So in some ways, kicking them out of the garden was what they needed. But then there is this other tree.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told Adam not to eat of that tree. Look at verse 17. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Now again, this is all straightforward information.

Where it gets a little more challenging, or where interpretation comes in, is when you start asking questions like, how? Or why? This is what kids ask all the time. You need to do this, or here's what we're going to do.

And they say, what? What do they say? Why? And then you explain it to them, and they come back with another question. Why? And that's really frustrating. Hey listen, sometimes we don't always have the answer why.

Sometimes we're not given the answer. We need to trust. It's the same thing. A little child, all they really need to know is trust mom and dad. And that's what we need to do. Trust. Trust dad. Thanks for listening.

I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.