2nd Narrative of Creation: Rule, Relationship, Responsibility

The Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 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. But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

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. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." Now, let's look to verse 15, the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it, and so forth.

Verse 18, and the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make and help meet for him. And then verse 21, Matthew is already reminded us of this, and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh.

Instead thereof, on the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. We'll just take time to read one verse then from the next chapter.

Verse number 6, and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes in the tree, to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. Now, as we first saw then in the initial study, we noticed that there are so many remarkable things about the first narrative of creation that showed to us that God is behind the universe that we look upon every day. We noticed that there was design, design at every level, whether it is the language of mathematics that governs the movement of the cosmos, or whether it is down to the level of the language of life, the four-letter code of the human genome and the DNA that forms the alphabet for every living cell.

Whichever way we look at it, biologically or mathematically, our universe can be described in language and in terms of design. That is because it is the product of design. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

I would say to young believers, do not be afraid of the sciences. True science will always take us one step closer to a knowledge of God. All that God has allowed in our generation to be unveiled is but what to that point was hidden and known only to the Creator.

And any further investigation, any further discovery will simply be to understand a little more of the glory of the design of the one who made it in the first place and sustains it, to whom it is all going to come to an end in His purpose. We discover that what God did, He did by divine decree, and we try just briefly to catch that lesson that we are constantly seeking to understand what God says, whether it is with His degree in creation or in our Christian lives, and as we gather as the Lord's people to function for Him, what does the Scripture say? You remember what the Lord did so often with the people of His day. He said, have you never read what it says in the Scriptures? And He was chiding them, that while they had read it, they had never truly got it, nor had they laid hold upon it to believe it and obey it.

Have you never read? We ought in our minds to hold high regard to what God says. And in our crazy world and generation, to come to appreciate what God distinguishes, what He calls certain things. In this first creation narrative, the thing that is distinguished among other things is the genders that God has assigned to humanity, and they are two.

Gender as from the hands of the Creator is a binary subject. It is either XX chromosome or XY. There are no others.

Male and female created He them. And while our hearts are open in grace to those around us who are confused as to their identity, we can never fudge from the fact that God has created us male and female. And that is something that we must constantly bear in mind.

People today say, well, these are not the kind of things that were emphasized by the Lord Jesus, but they are. And you will notice that the Lord Jesus, whenever He's answering questions with respect to marriage and divorce, He will constantly revert back to the teachings of these two creation narratives. First of all, Genesis 1 with respect to male and female, the binary nature of gender, and then the verses that we have read from the second creation narrative with respect to the definition of marriage being between one man and one woman joined together in one flesh.

So it is not correct to suggest that these things were not taught by our Lord. They were. And of course, they were affirmed in great detail by the apostles and particularly by Paul in the doctrines that he teaches in his letters.

So God distinguishes, and that is something we need to bear in mind because to feel to recognize that is to go against the manner in which we have been created and why we might think it is being gracious and accommodating. It will only make matters worse to try to believe that you're something that you are not. And so we come back to what God says and by what God calls, and we see these principles in the early chapters of our Bible.

We then move to consider man as he has been created. One of the things I would point out to younger believers is to consider just the manner in which the six days of God's creative activity are arranged. They are arranged in two groups of three.

Day one answers to four, day two to five, and day three to day six. And as you look at the first three, you're considering what God forms. And the second three, what God fills.

And so you begin by thinking upon the light. In day one, light bearers, in day four. When you think about God's division of the waters and the expanse, in day two you come to day five and God fills the waters and he fills the air with the creatures that are suited to those environments.

In day three, God divides off the dry land and causes the green and the herbs to grow. And in day six, he fills that same domain with the animals and then ultimately with man. But on day number three and day number six, there's something you need to notice very carefully.

Day number three and day six are the days when God speaks twice. Every other day he speaks but once. In day number three, the second time God speaks, he brings to bear upon this world an act, a power that it is to this point not known.

All of the arrangement of God, whether it is the division of light from darkness, whether it is the division of waters above and beneath, whether it is the division of the dry land from the earth, it is all inorganic. Why is there something rather than nothing is the first basic question of life. The answer is God.

But why in the midst of an overwhelmingly dead universe, at least that's what it appears to us, apparently they've been to the moon. I don't know how you sit on that, you good North Americans. It is your flag that's up there, so I'm sure you believe they were there.

I'm not going to question that at all, but they didn't find any life up there. No lunatics. You know, that's where you get that word lunatic from, the moon.

And they've sent a few probes to Mars, but they haven't seen any Martians. I don't think there's much life there either. And out there in the vastness of space, it is dark, it is dead.

And yet you could barely lift a stone out there, but you would find a living creature, a little critter that just wriggles away. Our world is pulsating with life. Why is it so? It is not the inevitable consequence of a universe existing at all.

It is a miracle of divine power. Darwin would be horrified today. He believed at base that life was very simple, that somehow or other, out of some spark in some murky pond in some primordial soup that was not made by hinds.

Some spark created the first cell and then it all happened. But science knows different today. The simplest living cell is a highly complex thing with many, many layers of complexity that best represent today what we would know as a production line and a sophisticated factory.

And how all that came to be is in the second statement of God in day three, and God spoke again and the first organic life was created in this world, setting day three aside as distinct and unique when God spoke life into existence. Day six, he speaks twice again. Having created creatures for the sea and creatures for the air and creatures for the land, God pauses.

And now we have a conversation recorded, the like of which you have never heard before. Let us make man in our image. And you and I are not some higher evolved lower creature.

You and I have been created distinct and with dominion, dignity, and the ability to develop this world that God has invested humanity with. That is what it means to be created in the image of God. Now, that's something that we need to hold to so very firmly.

And however science interacts with the revelation of Scripture, we must hold to this, that humanity is created by the Word of the Creator and that we have been created distinct from all other creatures and invested with a dignity and an image that no other creature possesses. Now, in all of that then, we can see the purpose, the wonderful purpose of God. And now, I'm just very briefly moving to apply that to our Christian lives, and particularly with regards our function within a New Testament assembly.

For within that, God also has purpose that we can learn from these early chapters of our Bible. And I cannot take the time to give you the references, but they are plenty that refer back to this opening chapter of our Bible. The first I would point out is this, with relation to day one and day four, it is the whole issue of light and light bearing.

In this creation that God has made, while there are worlds that are utterly dark and perpetually in that condition, God allowed the light to first shine upon this world, and the light He called day. And then on day number four, He appointed the light bearers, the sun to rule the day, the moon to rule the night, and then those stars that were set for the signs and for the seasons. And how the New Testament draws upon this and teaches us that it is God's purpose that within any and every New Testament church that we are to be light bearers to the world.

It is for that reason, for example, that the churches that the Lord addresses in Revelation chapters 1 through 3 are called lampstands, for they bear witness to the Lord in the dark world. And it is, I would suggest to you why, those who are the responsible teachers and shepherds, whether they are elders or pastor-teachers that our brother was referring to in Ephesians chapter 4. So whether local shepherds or teaching shepherds, they, I believe, are represented by the seven stars that are held in the right hand of Christ, seven lampstands that are guided by seven stars, and God intends that we in a dark world will be light bearers for Him. That calls a very real responsibility to you, brothers, that teach and to every overseer that leads the Lord's people.

Those fixed stars were to be distinguished from what they called the wandering stars. You set your course according to a wandering star, and of course, the easiest one that we know is Venus. They looked upon it as a wandering star.

It appeared there, and then it appeared over there. It just kept moving as the year went on. It appeared in the sky like any other star, but it just kept shifting.

And if you set your course according to a wandering star, you'll be pulled off direction. Dear brother, are you a fixed star? Are you a faithful teacher of the Word? Are you dependable as the Lord's people look to you to give light? Are you a light bearer? First of all, the truth that you teach, do you exemplify in your life? Can they see it as a very part of you? And are you fixed and faithful in the teaching of the Word of God? That's what the Lord's people need in times like this, light and light bearers. In relation to the second day and the fifth, it is that division between the earth and the heavens.

And the wonderful thing is, if you think about it practically, we are on earth, but we are in the heavens. The atmosphere that we breathe through which we walk every day is called here in the early verses of our Bible, the heavens. That's what God called it.

And that's where he put us. And if we didn't have it, we'd be dead because we needed to breathe. So God has created the atmospheric heavens that we are in.

Today's a quite a heavy day. That's the way we would call it anyway back home. It's clammy with a good bladder of thunder this morning and a flash of lightning and the rain came on.

And you can kind of feel the weather, can't you? It's quite heavy. And then there are other days and they're lovely and crisp and clear. While we can't see the air, we can feel how it changes around us.

That's the atmospheric heavens. Then there's the stellar heavens where he put the stars and the galaxies. And then the New Testament tells us there's the third heaven.

That's where God dwells. But he calls it all the same word. And you think about it.

We are on earth, but there's only two feet on earth. The rest of us is up in heaven in the atmosphere. Some creatures like snakes, they're always on the earth.

Little critters, they wriggle around it all the time. But God has designed us physically to teach us a lesson that while we belong to this planet, we stand on it every day, we actually are created for a different sphere. We are created for the heavens.

Again, I cannot believe just how closely Matthew's thinking has been to mine as he has prepared. For that book of Ephesians speaks of us in the heavenlies in Christ. And how our identity, as David has been teaching us, is only and ever in Christ.

But in Christ we are, while two feet on earth, we are also in the heavenlies. And isn't that a wonderful lesson for us as we gather? Not to be fixated with the physical and the things that are merely tangible. But that our deepest burden as we gather in witness to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is to enjoy the spiritual blessings, while our feet are on the earth, that we are those that are connected with the heavens.

It has been said, but I do not believe it to be true, that on the one side, yes, you can be too earthly minded to be of any heavenly use. That is true. But I've heard someone claim that you could be too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use.

I do not believe that to be the case. To be truly heavenly minded will be to realize that our feet are still on earth, and that we are called in light of the heavens, in which is now our sphere of life. Our life is hid with Christ in God.

From Him we derive all of our strength and our status before God. That every day as we move and live, whether as a mother raising children, as an overseer guiding the flock, as a business person out there in the business world, as a student in the college, that our lives every day are marked by the sphere that we inhabit as believers. And so, we have the truth of light and lightbearers, the truth of heaven on earth.

We have the further truth that I'm going to speak more of in the second narrative, and that is the truth of fruit and dominion. The first lesson I've tried to draw for those that are called to be lightbearers is the lesson of stability. The second lesson from day number two and day number five is the lesson of spirituality, realizing that we're called to a higher sphere of living than those among whom we live.

But the third from day three and day six is the lesson of stewardship. God has given us as humans a stewardship of this world, of the things and the blessings that God has endowed us with. And it is ours to, as I say, bring that under dominion and to develop it for the glory of God.

The final thing I would say is this. Although it is not stated, I do believe that behind the purpose of God in Genesis 1 is the purpose of God in human destiny. God ordained man.

He gave to him the dominion. He gave him his likeness, invested him with his image, so that the world would be brought under his subjection. Again, we have been reminded of those beautiful words in Hebrews chapter 2, but we see Jesus, that one who for a little time was made lower than the angels.

He's been crowned with glory and honor. Why? Because he has tasted death for every man. And the Scripture points forward to that day when he shall come, the last Adam, and shall raise this ruined creation at the end of his glorious reign of dignity and majesty, when the benefits of his redemption have spread to every part of the world, and every part of the world has become as lush and as fruitful as the fields of Iowa.

And then he hands it back to the Father, that God may be all in all, and in Christ, who remains eternally a man, God's destiny for humanity will have been fully realized, and God will be honored and glorified through it all. Just one or two things in the few moments that I have remaining on this principle that's introduced to us in the second creation narrative, and it is the idea, not now of rule, but of relationship. So, as we build up in the first story, we go from day one to day six, and on day six we have man, and then God rests, because the work is complete.

The highest point has been achieved. But now in the second creation narrative, we're thinking of relationships, and it is here that the name of God is changed. All the way down the first creation narrative, it says, and God said, and God called, and so forth, God created.

And there it is, the term in Hebrew elohim, which speaks of the eternal plenitude of God's being, the infinite, indescribable God, who has brought this universe into existence. But now you will notice rapidly the change. Genesis 2, verse 4, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

And God now in this story is constantly called the Lord God. Why is this the case? Well, here we have the covenant name of God, describing this second work of God's creation in the manner of one who is making man to have a real and developing relationship with. And you will see this instantly is different from the first creation narrative.

God spoke and man was created. That's how it appears in the first story. But in the second story, it's very different.

It's like a potter or a craftsman creating a body with all the features, with all the organs, but there is no life in that body. And then the Creator, with a sense of intimacy and closeness, He embraces that being that He has made and breathes into his nostrils the breath of life. And you can see the image of God breathing life into this man.

There is a closeness that is indicated in that. Man becomes a living being. He begins to pulsate with the life of God.

And so this term, the Lord, it is the covenant name of God, Yahweh, or in the old translations, Jehovah. And here it is brought to bear upon this story to indicate to us that what God did with the nation of Israel when He revealed the meaning of the name Yahweh, I am that I am, that He was a relational God. He says, Moses, I'm the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.

I'm going to be your God, Moses. I'm not some dim, distant God that's disinterested in His universe. No, I am a personal God.

I am a God who wants to know you. And I want you to know me. So God, in this second story, He embraces man.

He breathes life into the man, and He forms an intimate relationship with him. And so I want in this story of relationship to think with you of two principles, the principle of fellowship and food. It is around the idea of food that the whole story flows out because God is going to plant a garden.

He's going to teach Adam how to cultivate. He's going to plant trees, one of which He's going to give him access to, the other that He's going to forbid him from. And it's from obedience or disobedience that this relationship is either going to progress or is going to be severed.

And it is on the very issue of the eating of the fruit that the first death occurs in our world, and that is spiritual death. The separation of Adam and Eve from their God because of sin. But because of time, I'm going to leave out that idea of food, although I mention it to you because it is something that is part and parcel of this creation narrative.

The struggle to get food becomes a story of chapter 3 and into chapter 4 because of the curse of the earth and the sweat and the labor that has to go into it. And you men that are farmers know this very well, of how you have to spray the fields and try to sort them out so that the weeds do not invade and that constant struggle with the curse that God has placed upon our planet. But as I pass it, I would just point out to you again, and this comes again to those of us who are called to shepherd the Lord's people, whether in this manner or whether it is in a local manner as those that are called to be shepherds of the little flocks that God has placed here and there.

That it is our responsibility to feed God's people. What rich variety God give Adam and Eve. Of every tree you can eat.

Freely. Do we set a rich variety of food before those that we care for? Or are they starved? Do we thrill their minds with the truth of Scripture? Do we glorify in their minds their Savior and their Lord? Have we got comforting words to those that are hurt? It is increasingly burdening my mind that it is ours whom God has called to lead, whether here or locally, to feed the flock of God. What a burden that is to teach what trees to safely take from, what trees to avoid.

That is the burden placed upon us. But just to conclude, let us lift two principles then. They are principles of fellowship that we can see clearly in this passage.

One of the things that you will notice as you look down through this story, the New Testament will go back to it with relation to our relationship with Christ. Paul will speak about our loyalty of mind to Christ in 2 Corinthians. He'll come back to this story of how Eve was beguiled.

Dear brother and sister, we need to be loyal in our mind to Christ. Our relationship with Christ. Matthew has already drawn us to think about our relationship, husbands and wives.

Again, that comes back to this chapter. I need say no more about that. I think David has mentioned that that comes in between sisters and brothers.

John picks that up in his letters and he comes back to this passage and he talks about the deep hatred that Cain had for Abel and how that boiled up and eventually brought him to murder her. And yet how in the family of God we are known by this that we love one another. And then our relationship with the groaning creation.

And Paul comes back to this passage in reference to that and how we also groan in that manner and yet we have the benefit of the Spirit of God within us who can intercede for us in our weakness. But those are things that you can follow in your own time. But here we can see two things.

First of all, we are called like Adam to have fellowship with God in work and secondly, with God in walk. With regards work, you will notice that God created Adam as a workman. He gave him employment.

That is how it is introduced in this second narrative. The first narrative is God as a workman working six days and then resting. It is very deliberately set out that way and it is used that way, for example, with regards the commandment with the Sabbath.

Work your six days, then rest. Why? Because God was a workman. And God worked at creation.

He could have done it all like that, but He didn't. He did it progressively. He created the universe.

Then He began to work upon a planet. Then He waited. And then He did another thing.

Then He waited. Have you ever noticed that? Why didn't God do it all at once? He could have, but He didn't. And that's how God works in human history.

He does something, then He waits. There's times that God is silent for 400 years. He waits.

Then He speaks again. That's the manner of God's dealings, not only in creation, but through redemptive history. God is the workman who rests.

And when He rests, then He puts Adam into His creation to work, to do the next bit. Can you see that? God makes a garden. Now, this is not like your little garden, or mine.

I believe this was huge. More like a national park. You have some beautiful national parks.

I've never got to them. I hope to someday, but by God's grace, maybe I will. But this would have been something along that line of things.

And God was teaching Adam, this is what you can do with the earth, but the rest of it is not developed. I want you to go and do the work for me. Isn't that a wonderful thing? God does things, but then He commits things to us.

Are we having fellowship with God in His work? Or are we shirking? Young believers, have you signed up to SeedSource? Are you helping at VBS? Are you putting your back to the thing? God could do it all without us, but that's not the way He works. He wants us to have fellowship with Him in His work. So much more could be said, and I just leave that.

Because for the most part, I do believe that those that are older have learned that lesson. And they have put their shoulder to the work of God. And that's why they're here, because their life is a life of devotion.

But can I stir a younger generation? God has so much potential for you. He doesn't need us, but it's His purpose to use us for His glory. He does so much, but then He gives us things to do as well.

And there was fellowship in the work of God. Adam, I've made this. Now it's over to you.

I want you to develop it for me. And then walk. We only discover this when we come to the sad story of sin, but every evening in the cool of the day, God came down and walked with man.

I was mentioning this through in another state just a couple of days ago, but it's well worth repeating here because I think there's only two that were there at that meeting, in this meeting. God is never static. Sometimes we slow down, we stop.

Sometimes we go back ways. God's not static. God's always on the move.

He's always making progress. God's walking. He calls us to have fellowship with Him.

Adam lost out. He could never walk with God again because of sin. He was put out of the garden.

But God had come down every day. And as Adam went out and looked at the world and discovered something more, he came back and he was able to ask God, what does this mean? How could I develop this? And from here on, we have this developing theme throughout the book of Genesis. Not only did Adam walk with God, but Enoch walked with God.

And Noah walked with God. And Abraham walked with God. And you and I are called in our day to walk with God.

To have fellowship with God. And may it be that we would go from this place with renewed determination to walk with God. To work with God.

And to walk with God. And to learn that from these lessons from creation. May God bless this work.