Genesis 2:1 “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the
host of them.”
Verse 1 of chapter 2 tells us a lot. Heavens is plural meaning more
than one. When you are speaking of all the host, you are speaking of many
stars and the sun and the moon. It also states that there was no more work
to be done. Finished means nothing else remains to be done. Just as Jesus
said on the cross “It is finished” the work was and is completed.
Genesis 2:2 “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had
made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.”
In verse 1 and 2 God is Elohim. Remember Elohim is a plural word. Some
writers insert the sixth day in verse 2, so that there will be no mistaking
that the work was finished on the sixth day, and that no work at all was
done on the seventh day. Some of the translators change “ended” to “had
finished” to indicate no activity on the seventh day. As we mentioned in the
last lesson, 6 days of work, 6 years the land works, 6 hours on the cross
for Jesus, and 6000 years of work on earth for mankind. Six has to do with
mankind. (work for mankind, if you will).
Shavath is one of the words translated “ended”. Shavath is the primary
idea of the (rested from all His work) and it means total cessation from
work.
This is also the rest that God speaks of for the Christian. Total
cessation from the struggles of life.
Genesis 2:3 “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it:
because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and
made.”
God blessed that seventh day for mankind, to give mankind rest as well
as God. Jesus said “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the
Sabbath” in Mark 2-27. You see, even in the day of rest that God set up; He
still had the needs of mankind at heart. He knew our bodies would wear out,
if we did not have 1 day in 7 for rest.
“Seven”, as we have mentioned over and over again means spiritually
complete.
Sanctified just means that God Himself made it holy. He set the seventh
day aside and declared it holy. When we are sanctified, it means we have
been set aside by God and made holy by Him. We are not made holy by what we
have done, but by what He has done.
When We see the example that God did not rest until His work was
finished, we see what He expects from us. When He returns. He expects to
find us working. Trying to get one more saved before the trumpet blows.
In verse 4 of chapter 2 of Genesis we just see the message emphasized
again that the Elohim God created all and everything.
Many writers believe that Moses’ information for the first book of the
Bible came from various ancient writings, and they also believe that there
is a contradiction on the creation of man and woman in chapters 1 and 2.
They believe one writer spoke of a miracle creation of both man and woman in
chapter 1, and that another writer said in chapter 2 that man was made
first.
As I said in a previous lesson, I do not believe there were any earlier
writings. My own personal belief is, when Moses was on the mountain top, God
put the knowledge to write the history into Moses’ head (the glowing head).
The creation of man and woman in Chapter 1 was a brief statement that God
made them. Chapter 2 could be a description of how it came about. Just as
when you read the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew, it doesn’t mean that it
happened then, it is just explaining how it came about.
Genesis 2:4 “These [are] the generations of the heavens and of the
earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth
and the heavens,”
Jehovah Elohim was first used here.
Genesis 2:5 “And every plant of the field before it was in the earth,
and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused
it to rain upon the earth, and [there was] not a man to till the ground.”
Can’t you see this is an unfolding of the short statement said about
the creation in verse 1?
Genesis 2:6 “But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the
whole face of the ground.”
Maybe, I can give an example that will make it a little more clear. I
might just state that I made a glass of grape jelly. However, if you asked
how, I might go into detail about how I picked the grapes, washed them, put
them on the stove to boil, added sugar, and strained it into a jar. Even if
I had not gone into detail on how I made it, the fact remains; it is still a
jar of grape jelly.
Genesis 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living
soul.”
So many religious people of our day are confused about this one verse.
Somehow they seem to overlook the break between the words “breath of
life” and “man became a living soul”. You see if that statement had ended at
life, man would be alive. Man is in fact that breath of life that God
breathed into Him. This breath of life that God breathed into the body is
what man is. It is the spirit. The body is the house for the spirit to live
in.
Right now you are probably thinking, “well, where does the sentence
(man became a living soul) come in?”
If the spirit of man lived in this house called a body and had no soul,
there would be no conflict; but you see, there is a conflict.
The spirit wants to be in control, and the body wants to be in control.
Control of what? The soul which is the will of man.
The Bible says there is a war going on constantly between the flesh and
the spirit. Why would that be, unless they were trying to take control of
something? That something is the soul or will of mankind.
We are a spirit, housed in a body and either the spirit or the flesh
(body) controls the soul (will).
Mankind did not just slither into existence by evolution, but was
rather created by a loving God in His own likeness.
The difference between man and beast is the power to reason and have a
will.
We went into that in a former lesson, so we will not elaborate further
here. Genesis 2:8 “And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and
there he put the man whom he had formed.”
We see again; Jehovah Elohim here planted a garden. He is always
concerned about the needs of man. This garden was a protected place where
God could fellowship with man, and where the needs of man would be met, (a
heaven on earth).
Some believe this garden was in the Holy Land we know today. It really
doesn’t matter where it was. Just know it existed and was made by God for
man. God has always prepared a special place for mankind so that He might
fellowship with his people.
Genesis 2:9 “And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree
that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in
the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”
God, not only thought of physical needs of mankind, but wanted him to
be happy as well. The trees were beautiful as well as functional.
Nothing is more beautiful than a peach or apple tree in full bloom.
The Garden of Eden became the highest form of heaven on earth. It was
beautiful to the eye and took care of all man’s needs.
Just as the center of our life must be God for us to have a fulfilling
life, the central figure in the garden was the Tree of Life (symbolic of
Jesus). The forbidden tree in the garden was the tree of knowledge of good
and evil.
Even in this beautiful, wonderful garden, man’s will was to be
perfectly active. As we said before, the thing that separates mankind from
the animals is the fact of his will. He can choose to do good, or choose to
do evil.
Jesus called Himself the Tree of Life. And certainly if we partake of
Him, we will have eternal life. It seems that the innocence of man was the
factor in making this garden truly heaven on earth.
We read in our Bible, that we can not break the law until there is a
law to break. It seems Adam was in a blissful state of no temptation at this
point.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil perhaps had something to do
with opening our eyes to the law of God, (it made us aware of Him).
It is interesting to me as we move on down in chapter 2, we will find
out that Adam had never eaten of the Tree of Life, even though it was in the
garden for him. It might be symbolic to make us see that we must partake of
Jesus Christ’s salvation and eternal life for ourselves. It can be
available, but if we do not partake of it for ourselves, we will lose out,
too, the same as Adam did.
He was partaking of the fruit on the outer edge, but never partook of
the Tree in the center (Jesus), which would give him eternal life. We
Christians must be careful not to just nibble around the edges of
Christianity. We must get to the center and eat of this Tree of Life to be
pleasing to God. Part time religion will not get us into heaven. We must
have Jesus as the very center of our lives to make it to heaven.
We learn in our A.C.E. training that even in school, the world does not
revolve around us. We are not God. The world revolves around God, Himself