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Muskegon SDA Church

Lessons from the Book of Genesis

Kameron DeVasher

The Eden Family

We're going through a sermon series this quarter about the book of Genesis.

Our textbook will be, of course, the Bible and the book of Genesis.

Along with that, if you'd like to read portions of Patriarchs and Prophets that correspond, that would be wonderful as well.

Last Sabbath, and I've already listened to it, Dan Friend did a fantastic job holding down Fort, teaching us about creation, and I appreciate that.

And now we're gonna be looking at a message today entitled The Eden Family, what God's ideal was for that institution of marriage and the family in the Garden of Eden.

But before we study God's Word, of course, we need to begin with prayer.

Thank you so much For giving us life at all for giving us safe traveling mercies here and Lord if there are any others on their way Please extend those mercies to them as well And now as we open your word to understand what your idea was for us in the beginning, help us to learn lessons that apply even now that we may reflect your character more perfectly for we pray it in Jesus' name.

You know, there are very few things in this world, today's a good reminder with our weather, that are not exactly as God had originally intended them to be.

In fact, there's very few things at all that remind us of Eden in this world, very few holdovers from that original ideal, but 2 institutions.

2 of God's gifts to man in Eden are still with us today, namely the seventh day Sabbath and marriage in the family unit.

These institutions were given for the health and growth of 2 different but critically important relationships.

The Sabbath was designed to preserve and strengthen man's relationship with his creator.

It was a day set aside for him and their communion together.

Marriage and the family, on the other hand, were designed to preserve and strengthen human society.

And it's fascinating that these 2 distinctions are actually embedded in the law of God.

The first 4 commandments, the first table of law, deal with the responsibility of the tended relationship between man and his creator, and it culminates with the Sabbath.

And then the very fifth commandment talks about honor your father and your mother, it roots it in the home and it opens up all of man's duties to his fellow man.

So you have the relationship between God and man and between between man and man, the human family, and these 2 institutions that God established in creation were designed to protect and grow those 2 important aspects of human life, our relationship with God and our relationship with our fellow man.

Now, both of these 2 institutions need to be remembered and kept holy, for they were both made holy by God in the beginning, but it's ours to keep them holy, And both are the special targets of Satan's attacks in these last days.

Anything that reminds humanity of their creator, of God's original plans, his ideals for them, Satan wants to make a special effort to tear down and distract from, discourage from, and decimate at all lengths.

So we want to give special attention to these 2 institutions.

Now I'm guessing that we hear more sermons on the first institution than we do on the second.

In fact, I've given them about the seventh-day Sabbath, and I know that you've listened in part because you're here.

Clearly, we understand that this is the seventh day as a Sabbath of the Lord thy God, and we are here to fellowship together.

And so while we could give an entire sermon on both of these 2 institutions, that would be monumentally long.

And if 1 were to have been neglected, it is probably the latter, that second institution of marriage and the family.

So that's what we're going to be looking at today.

If you would, please go back to Genesis chapter 1.

Our study begins in Genesis, and it's not just for this quarter, but all good Bible studies usually begin in the book of Genesis.

That was Christ's method, looking at the entirety of Scripture, and especially the original ideals God had established so we can recalibrate our lives to His expectations.

In Genesis chapter 1, we read in verses 26 through 28 these words, Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness.

Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

Then God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply.

Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the ground.

Clearly, 1 of the things that comes back in this dialogue that the Lord has with himself, which is only so many beings in the universe can have a dialogue with himself, but of course we understand that there is a plurality to the Godhead.

Individual members make up a singular God.

Thus God can say, let us make man in our image.

And so only a they and a them can reflect accurately an us and an our.

So when God makes man, he does not make a rigid singularity of an individual, he makes a family.

A man and a woman designed to reflect the character and the image of God.

Notice that, and I cannot highlight this enough, that in God's original intent, in his own discussion about the creation of mankind and in his execution of it we see in verse 27, when God created man, it was not just simply Adam, and then later on some other time came along Eve.

Which by the way, she wasn't even called Eve until after the fall, so it was man and woman, but it was God's original ideal that man and woman would function together in unity.

Furthermore, it says that God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea.

Was mankind the creator of heaven and earth?

No, but he was supposed to be the curator of heaven and earth.

When he has dominion, it's not though he had the rights to it by creation, he was given stewardship over this planet and his responsibility was to caretake that which God had already made.

So In this caretaking of the earth, God intended for man, both male and female, to have part in that work.

When God governs his creation, Does it just mean the physical world only, or does he also govern the affairs in the spiritual and moral realms as well?

Likewise, Adam, in connection with his helpmate wife, was supposed to care not only for the plants and animals, but also to tend and keep the world in its moral perfection.

White helps us out in Patriarchs and Prophets, page 46.

Marriage was 1 of the first gifts of God to man, and it is 1 of the 2 institutions that after the fall, Adam brought with him beyond the gates of paradise.

When the divine principles are recognized and obeyed in this relation, marriage is a blessing.

Notice it guards the purity and happiness of the race.

Not just of the family, not just the individuals in that family, but apparently upon the institution of marriage, the entire race is supposed to be protected.

It elevates the physical, the intellectual, and the moral nature.

So again, marriage, while phenomenal for the man and the woman actually covenanted together, is designed to have broader significance.

Marriage was designed to be the laboratory in which the next generation of healthy people were to be born and raised.

The Lord made the first 2 and then he commanded them to make more.

He didn't just make the whole earth already filled with people.

He started them, gave them the principles, and then said, you procreate, and I want you to pass on, not just physically, but morally, this image of God.

And it says to fill the earth and subdue it, And obviously fill it with what?

And he says, fill it, but it also says and subdue it.

Now I don't know if you've ever had this thought pass through your mind, and maybe I'm alone.

But somehow, he says, I've often wondered why the earth, which came from God's hand in Edenic perfection, would need to be subdued.

Is he talking about keeping the weeds in check and keeping the wild animals at bay?

And by the way, we have biblical evidence for that.

For instance, Genesis chapter 3, verses 17 and 18, it's right there in your Bible.

Genesis chapter 3, verses 17 and 18, it specifically states that wild, harmful plants like thorns and thistles and the like, were not part of God's original creation order.

There were plants, but they weren't toxic, they weren't noxious, they weren't harmful.

By the way, we'll have an extended study today.

The Fallen Family

Last Sabbath we looked at the Eden family that God set up in the beginning in those first 2 chapters where everything was ideal, everything was exactly according to God's original order.

He established the man and the woman and told them to be fruitful and multiply and he gave family to be a blessing on the earth, each individual doing their part.

And as they worked together, they would sustain and uphold the society at large in the image of God and remain faithful.

But as of course we know, Genesis chapter 2 quickly turns into Genesis chapter 3.

And we had the fall of mankind into sin, and that's where we pick up the story today, is now that man fell, what does the fallen family look like according to the scripture record?

But Before we get started in this study, as always, let's begin with a word of prayer.

We thank you so much for life at all, and particularly we can be here right now today in your house now studying your word.

Lord, we ask that the same Holy Spirit who moved on the waters in the beginning, who moved on the hearts of these authors to write these words, will now move on the hearts of our hearers today.

Let these words be inscribed not only in our minds, but Lord, in our very characters.

Genesis chapter 4 picks up the story after Genesis 3 leaves off.

Genesis chapter 3, of course, is the fall of humanity and descent.

And though we don't know the exact timetable, it is clear that Adam and Eve had yet to have children before the fall occurs.

And that happened now in Genesis chapter 4 that the husband and wife make their first family.

And it says here in Genesis chapter 4 starting with verse 1, now Adam knew his wife Eve and she conceived and bore Cain and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord.

And I believe we can see in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, If you go back there, I'm sorry, not Genesis 3.15, well, Genesis 3.15, he said, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed, and that seed is with a capital S, and he shall bruise your head, speaking to the serpent, and you shall bruise his heel.

It is quite likely that Eve here in the birth of her first child, a boy, a man from the Lord, that perhaps this very 1 will be the sought-for Redeemer.

But we're going to see that the character that Cain develops is quite unlike the Savior that Christ would have later on.

It goes on in Genesis chapter 4 and verse 2, Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel.

Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

Tending for animals and tending to the ground, no problem.

But the problem comes now in verses 4 and 5.

Abel also brought of the, I'm sorry, verse 3, and in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of fruit of the ground to the Lord.

Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fats.

And the Lord respected Abel in his offering, but he did not respect Cain in his offering.

And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

Why did the Lord respect 1 and not the other?

Well, also the roots of this is found in Genesis chapter 3 as well.

The first sacrifice is intimated here in the Bible after the fall of man into sin.

It says in verse 21 of Genesis 3, also for Adam his wife the Lord made tunics of what?

Now, pop quiz, if you go back earlier in Genesis chapter 3, after the man and woman realized they were naked in their guilt and shame before God, had they tried to clothe themselves?

But the Lord did not look upon their coverings with any kind of respect.

You can't clothe yourself with your own works.

And the Lord provides clothing for them and it takes the death of an animal.

Sacrifice is instituted right there at the doorposts of Eden.

And now apparently it was to be continued on and Abel dutifully brings the firstborn of the flock as God had asked, but Cain reverts back again to bringing something which the Lord had not asked for.

And the Bible specifically says, and the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering.

Abel brings the firstborn of his flock and puts it on the altar exactly as the Lord directs and the Lord respects it and you it's demonstrative, it's clear.

Lightning flashes from heaven, fire consumes the altar.

It's clear that the Lord has accepted the offering of Abel.

Then Cain comes and sets up his offering.

Notice he's coming to the right place, he's going through the right motions, except he's bringing something the Lord had not asked for, and he's doing something in his own strength.

He didn't want the Lord's provision, He wants his own.

And he sets it up on the altar, steps back, and nothing happens.

And it says, and Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

You know, when you're happy, your mouth points up.

But when you're sad, your whole face just kind of goes down.

The Lord had acknowledged that by not respecting his offering, by not consuming it with fire, and now his reaction is not merely conviction that he did something wrong, but it's anger.

And we often think of God's conversation with Cain after he commits the murder against his brother Abel.

But I want to draw your attention to the first conversation the Lord has with Cain, as we continue now.

Verse 6, so the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry?

By the way, any time you ask the question, does the Lord know, the answer is always yes.

He understands the circumstance, but he comes and asks him anyway, why are you angry?

And notice the simple logic that the Lord employs.

Verse 7, if you do well, that is, if you do what's asked of you, if you obey, will you not be accepted?

Turn from your wicked way and you'll be accepted.

But if you do not do well, sin lies at the door, and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." Its desire is for you and you should rule over it.

By the way, I'll just, on a quick aside here, it's always bugged me a little bit.

The Lord cannot commune face to face with sinful man, so how is the Lord speaking to Cain here?

Well, the good thing is, we have a clear answer in the spirit of prophecy.

Notice this now, Patriarchs and Prophets, page 74.

Notwithstanding Cain's disregard of the divine command, God did not leave him to himself, but he condescended to reason with a man who had shown himself so unreasonable.

By the way, isn't it so nice that a God comes to reason with us when we're clearly so unreasonable?

But he still wants to win us back, and he comes here, and he conveys a message to Cain.

Then again, quoting Scripture, And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art Thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen?" Now notice carefully, through an angel messenger, the divine warning was conveyed.

So the Lord sends a messenger to Cain to speak these words to him.

If thou doest well, should there not be accepted.

The Flood

In the first couple chapters of Genesis, it tells us the story of creation, how the world was physically made, and the Lord's designs, and its original ideal.

And everything was great for those first 2 chapters, until Genesis chapter 3, and the fall comes along.

And we saw that man was plunged into sin and with him humanity as a whole and all of his descendants would have that inclination towards sin.

Genesis chapter 4 and 5 was the focus of our study last Sabbath when we looked at the 2 lines from that fallen family.

We had the line of rebellious Cain and his descendants reflecting the character of their forefather.

And you also saw the line in Genesis chapter 5 of the faithful through Abel and eventually through his replacement Seth and their lineage there, and how the Lord maintained a people on the earth who were faithful to him.

And so you had these 2 lines going forward, but now we come to Genesis chapter 6 where those 2 lines come together.

And you would love to think that yes the faithful line of Seth would win the hearts and minds of that unrepentant unfaithful line of Cain and they would come up to that high standard and join them on the high road but in fact what we see is quite the opposite, that the good is out won by the evil, and thus we have the flood.

The flood is the story that we're going to be studying this morning, but before we study, let's begin with a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for this day.

And now as we turn our attention to a study of your word, I would ask that you would teach us as you've promised to do and lead us into truth, not just of history, Lord, but of personal application to the days in which we're living just before your coming.

Again, Genesis chapter 6, if you would turn there, brings together those genealogies that were recorded in Genesis 4 and 5.

Starting with verse 1, we read, Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, and now it outlines 2 lines, 2 groups, that the sons of God, that is a representation of that faithful line of Genesis 5, saw the daughters of men, it's a reference to the unfaithful line there we saw in Genesis 4, that they were beautiful and they took wives for themselves of all whomever they chose.

And the result in verse 3, and the Lord said, My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh, yet his days shall be 120 years.

The Lord looks ahead and sees where this is going that the wickedness is fastly multiplying on the earth In fact it look at verse 5.

What was the extent of the wickedness that was the result?

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth now notice carefully the language and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually every only always that's repetition repetition over and over again what's he trying to say that wickedness has flourished and the wickedness apparently has triumphed in the earth that God created just such a seemingly short while ago in Edenic perfection.

But Every inclination, intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, continually.

So what do we find in verse 11 as we go through here?

The earth also was corrupt before the God and the earth was filled with violence.

So God looked upon the earth and indeed it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

Sin was ubiquitous, it was universal, it spanned the globe.

Now Genesis chapter 6, 7, 8, and then 9 record the story of the flood and all of its details.

And we don't have time to go through all of those chapters, but briefly you understand that there was a hundred and 20 years of probation given to the people on earth at that time and Noah Who found grace in the eyes of the Lord was so well read was instructed to build an ark and he was instructed to build that ark for the protection not only of himself and his family and also all the animals that would repopulate the earth after it was destroyed with a flood, but also to anyone else who would be willing to come in if they would turn from their ways and join Noah and his family on the ark.

Now it has been it has been suggested by of course secular non-believing science that the flood described here in Genesis 6-9 was merely a local flood affecting only a small portion of the ancient Near East.

It was not really the worldwide event that we've kind of made it out to be.

We've kind of blown it up into a caricature, but it's actually just a high water time or high season of water in some particular part of the world.

But I want you to demonstrate from the text that what we're describing here is not just a few bad apples and the Lord is correcting a local issue, but this was a worldwide global event.

For example, here in Genesis chapter 6, again look at verse 7.

So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I've created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made him." Now go to verse 17 of the same chapter.

Let's see the extent of this destruction.

And behold, I myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth to destroy from under heaven, what's that next word?

All flesh which is in the breath, which in which is the breath of life, everything that is on the earth shall die.

For after 7 more days I will cause it to rain on the earth 40 days and 40 nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made." Going down to verse 17 of the same chapter.

The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.

The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters.

And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills unto the whole heaven were covered.

The waters prevailed 15 cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.

And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the Spirit of life, all that was on the dry land died.

So he destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground, both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air.

Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.

Is it clear that the Bible is not trying to describe high water or flooding in the springtime?

This is talking about a worldwide, global, life-ending catastrophe.

Now what's interesting about this, by the way, I want to drop this in here, in Patriarchs and Prophets, page 99, speaking of how big and how bad and how scary this flood event was, we read these words.

As the violence of the storm increased, Trees, buildings, rocks, and earth were hurled in every direction.

The terror of man and beast was beyond description." Then she adds, "'Satan himself, who was compelled to remain in the midst of the warring elements feared for his own existence.

It was not only ending the life of every animal, and every man, and everything on the earth.

It was so big and bad that Satan had an inkling for a moment that this might be his final end.

Also, by the way, there are several Hebrew words that are translated into English as flood, they're used throughout the Bible.

But, There's 1 Hebrew word that's used specifically and exclusively to describe this event.

Now, I don't know Hebrew, but that 1 word is used only 13 times in the Bible.

12 of those 13 times are right here in the Genesis account of the flood.

Every time you see the word flood in there, that word is being translated as Mabul.

It's a unique word that's only used 1 other time in scripture, and that is in Psalm 29, which was our call to worship this morning, where the Lord is looking back on the flood.

David is looking back on the work of the Lord at the flood.

And he mentions it, capital F, the Flood, the Maboul.

It's a distinct word that doesn't just mean it can't be mistaken for high water at a certain season or flooding of a particular river.

It means a catastrophic, life-ending, world-altering event.

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