Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" And the LORD said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Genesis 4:9-16
God is now calling Cain to account for the murder of his brother. What is Cain's reaction when God asks the question of Abel's whereabouts? Cain denies any knowledge or responsibility for knowing where his brother is! I really have a difficult time understanding how it is that Cain believes this answer will do. Doesn't he understand that God really knows all about it anyway? Maybe he doesn't, and just believes if he denies his sin, he will somehow get by with it. I look at this attitude with astonishment...until I realize I do much the same thing.
I struggle with sin, sometimes particular sins, on a daily basis. However, there are those times when I ignore my sin in the vain hope that it will simply go away. Or I fail in my struggle at some point in a day, and I tell myself that the failure is 'natural', and because I am a 'sinner' it is 'understandable.' Thus I try to justify or 'get by' with my sin in the presence of a holy God. This is even more foolish than Cain, for I have knowledge of God that Cain did not, the knowledge of a grace-filled and forgiving God who also asks for purity. Out of nothing more than sheer love and gratefulness I should never fall into Cain's trap of denial. Yet it does happen, though I hope more seldom than in the past.
Lord, help me to live face-front and open to You.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Expositor,
LEE
Monday, June 9, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
"Murder Most Foul"
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD." And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it." Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
Genesis 4:1-8
I've have had difficulty with parts of this passage. The trouble hasn't been with the understanding. I grasp the plain meaning well enough. One of the aspects of this passage that has concerned me in the past was the fact that God had favor upon Abel's offering but rejected Cain's offering. After all, there were no rules or standards in place for the proper presentation of offerings. Why should Abel's offering be considered better than Cain's? It was not in the fact that one was animal and the other plant life. Later in Scripture, when standards and laws for proper offerings to God were set, both types of offerings were allowed for. What, then, was the problem? We find that Cain's offering was given without his heart behind it, while Abel gave his with his heartfelt love for God. We can see that because of the fact that Abel gave of the FIRST and BEST that he had, while Cain did not.
Cain's anger was bourne of jealousy. Why he was jealous is somewhat confusing because Cain did not seem to hold the same fervor of love for God as Abel. Why should he care if his offering was accepted or not? Probably because Cain also knew this meant that he would not have God's favor if his offering was not accepted. Cain must have believed that this showed that God "liked" Abel better than himself, and also that some blessings or benefits from God would be denied him as a result.
I find verses 6 and 7 very interesting as well. God is warning Cain about his unjust anger and cautions him about this becoming a vehicle for sin to enter. We should note that God takes note of our emotions, both joyful and angry, both for good or ill. He is concerned about Cain and wants Cain to understand that anger and jealousy are not only wrong, but they are unnecessary. If you do "well" for the Lord, you are accepted in fellowship with Him. If one falls short of that, then sin is "at the door."
The nature of sin is to desire a hold on the sinful person. "It's desire is for you," God warns Cain. God's counsel, "you must rule over it." The emphasis in this phrase to me is the word MUST. God is not giving one of many options here. He is telling Cain the only way out is to master the sin at the door. Sin had to be handled BEFORE it got into the "door" of the heart. How was he to do that? Cain had to somehow get to the place where he, like Abel, "did well" for the Lord. That meant at least that repentance, a total change of life direction, was involved.
Today the case is the same for us. Sin in our lives approaches in much the same way, through circumstances that we handle in a bad way. We may feel bad emotions such as anger without just cause. I say without just cause because there is a type of righteous anger which is biblically correct, i.e. anger at sin and evil. Far more often our anger is of a personal sort that is targeting another person, and will lead to grave sin if we do not turn around to the right way of the Lord. If we do not repent, and turn to God in our heart, we can fall as easily as Cain.
It was this step which Cain was unwilling to take. Instead, he committed the first murder, and that of his own brother! This was indeed "murder most foul". God's punishment for this seemed milder than I would have expected. However, that is a topic for next time.
Your joyfully loquacious believer,
LEE
Genesis 4:1-8
I've have had difficulty with parts of this passage. The trouble hasn't been with the understanding. I grasp the plain meaning well enough. One of the aspects of this passage that has concerned me in the past was the fact that God had favor upon Abel's offering but rejected Cain's offering. After all, there were no rules or standards in place for the proper presentation of offerings. Why should Abel's offering be considered better than Cain's? It was not in the fact that one was animal and the other plant life. Later in Scripture, when standards and laws for proper offerings to God were set, both types of offerings were allowed for. What, then, was the problem? We find that Cain's offering was given without his heart behind it, while Abel gave his with his heartfelt love for God. We can see that because of the fact that Abel gave of the FIRST and BEST that he had, while Cain did not.
Cain's anger was bourne of jealousy. Why he was jealous is somewhat confusing because Cain did not seem to hold the same fervor of love for God as Abel. Why should he care if his offering was accepted or not? Probably because Cain also knew this meant that he would not have God's favor if his offering was not accepted. Cain must have believed that this showed that God "liked" Abel better than himself, and also that some blessings or benefits from God would be denied him as a result.
I find verses 6 and 7 very interesting as well. God is warning Cain about his unjust anger and cautions him about this becoming a vehicle for sin to enter. We should note that God takes note of our emotions, both joyful and angry, both for good or ill. He is concerned about Cain and wants Cain to understand that anger and jealousy are not only wrong, but they are unnecessary. If you do "well" for the Lord, you are accepted in fellowship with Him. If one falls short of that, then sin is "at the door."
The nature of sin is to desire a hold on the sinful person. "It's desire is for you," God warns Cain. God's counsel, "you must rule over it." The emphasis in this phrase to me is the word MUST. God is not giving one of many options here. He is telling Cain the only way out is to master the sin at the door. Sin had to be handled BEFORE it got into the "door" of the heart. How was he to do that? Cain had to somehow get to the place where he, like Abel, "did well" for the Lord. That meant at least that repentance, a total change of life direction, was involved.
Today the case is the same for us. Sin in our lives approaches in much the same way, through circumstances that we handle in a bad way. We may feel bad emotions such as anger without just cause. I say without just cause because there is a type of righteous anger which is biblically correct, i.e. anger at sin and evil. Far more often our anger is of a personal sort that is targeting another person, and will lead to grave sin if we do not turn around to the right way of the Lord. If we do not repent, and turn to God in our heart, we can fall as easily as Cain.
It was this step which Cain was unwilling to take. Instead, he committed the first murder, and that of his own brother! This was indeed "murder most foul". God's punishment for this seemed milder than I would have expected. However, that is a topic for next time.
Your joyfully loquacious believer,
LEE
Monday, May 12, 2008
Thank God we were kicked out!
The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--" therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3:20-24
We finish this tragic chapter with God's act of kicking the man and woman out of Eden. Humankind was no longer fit to exist among the perfection all around them. The innocent heart necessary was corrupted with sin and a flawed creature was now given the ability to "know good and evil." Why did God do this? He did it, at least in part, because the gift of living forever in the flesh would have unleashed devils uncounted upon this world. It would be like having Satan multiplied twice over, with the potential to multiply forever! Just look at our world today. If we are able, within our own short lifetimes, to cause such enormous damage and perpetrate such tremendous amounts and depths of evil in this world, imagine the literal hell on earth we would all live in if we were somehow immortal in our flesh! That possibility makes me grateful we were excluded from the Tree of Life.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Expositor
LEE
We finish this tragic chapter with God's act of kicking the man and woman out of Eden. Humankind was no longer fit to exist among the perfection all around them. The innocent heart necessary was corrupted with sin and a flawed creature was now given the ability to "know good and evil." Why did God do this? He did it, at least in part, because the gift of living forever in the flesh would have unleashed devils uncounted upon this world. It would be like having Satan multiplied twice over, with the potential to multiply forever! Just look at our world today. If we are able, within our own short lifetimes, to cause such enormous damage and perpetrate such tremendous amounts and depths of evil in this world, imagine the literal hell on earth we would all live in if we were somehow immortal in our flesh! That possibility makes me grateful we were excluded from the Tree of Life.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Expositor
LEE
Saturday, April 19, 2008
The "Curse" of the Ground
"...cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Gen. 3:17b-19
It is interesting to note here that the curse pronounced at this time is not directly upon the man himself. It is instead a curse upon the ground which the man will have to work and sweat over in order to produce his food. As has been mentioned before, we should not confuse this with a curse of work. It is a myth that work was a curse given to man because of sin. As we see here the curse is the fact that work now becomes hard labor which produces a small gain, as opposed to the pleasure of work tending a beautiful and bountiful garden which generously supplied all that man needed or desired.
The line, "by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread..." is certainly familiar to anyone who has tried to grow food on a farm or in a garden. Even with modern technology, long, hard hours of work are required and there are no guarantees of a good return. The curse of the ground in reality is the curse of the entire environment of the earth. Precarious weather patterns such as flood or draught, damaging hail, tornadoes, even earthquakes and hurricanes all are a part of this curse of the ground. Our sin, from the very beginning of man to now, is the cause of these kind of difficulties for without a sinful beginning, we would never experience the corrupt creation we are a part of now. (see Romans 8:19-21)
Finally, the sentence of death is given in that our bodies will die and decay and become a part of the very earth that we are doomed to scratch out a living from. We all, one way or another, will "return to the ground." At least, that is the fate of our bodies. Our spiritual selves await another fate which we will talk of in detail at a later point.
Your joyfully loquacious expositor
LEE
It is interesting to note here that the curse pronounced at this time is not directly upon the man himself. It is instead a curse upon the ground which the man will have to work and sweat over in order to produce his food. As has been mentioned before, we should not confuse this with a curse of work. It is a myth that work was a curse given to man because of sin. As we see here the curse is the fact that work now becomes hard labor which produces a small gain, as opposed to the pleasure of work tending a beautiful and bountiful garden which generously supplied all that man needed or desired.
The line, "by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread..." is certainly familiar to anyone who has tried to grow food on a farm or in a garden. Even with modern technology, long, hard hours of work are required and there are no guarantees of a good return. The curse of the ground in reality is the curse of the entire environment of the earth. Precarious weather patterns such as flood or draught, damaging hail, tornadoes, even earthquakes and hurricanes all are a part of this curse of the ground. Our sin, from the very beginning of man to now, is the cause of these kind of difficulties for without a sinful beginning, we would never experience the corrupt creation we are a part of now. (see Romans 8:19-21)
Finally, the sentence of death is given in that our bodies will die and decay and become a part of the very earth that we are doomed to scratch out a living from. We all, one way or another, will "return to the ground." At least, that is the fate of our bodies. Our spiritual selves await another fate which we will talk of in detail at a later point.
Your joyfully loquacious expositor
LEE
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Adam's Mistake
And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;" Gen 3:17
Here is all we who are husbands need to be a bit careful! It would be very easy for us to use this passage as an excuse to tell our wives we should never listen to them! However, that would not only be a mistake, it would also be using an incorrect interpretation of the passage.
This verse tells us about the specific 'curse' that the male of the species received from God as a result of his disobedience. The disobedience itself involved two actions. One was when Adam "listened" to his wife's suggestion. Two was when he followed the suggestion and ate the fruit. What does this tell us about sin and Adam's sin in particular?
One of the important teachings we can gather here is that sin begins before the physical action takes place. Here it was a suggestion planted in the mind of Adam that he chose to listen to. It was not simply hearing the voice of his wife that was sinful, it was entertaining the thought of actually taking the fruit. That is the difference between temptation and sin. Once a thought of sin becomes more than passing, the danger of sin is present. Adam's mistake was that he did not recognize and resist the thought of sin at this point. If we can recognize and then resist at the point of the thought of sin, we have a better chance of not committing the sin.
Of course, the question arises, "How can we recognize and then resist sin?" The answer is, only with the help of the Lord. We can only get that kind of help if we know the Lord as our Savior, and if we call upon Him for help in the time of temptation. Adam knew the Lord God intimately, yet he did not turn to God when temptation hit. That was his mistake, but it need not be ours.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Expositor,
LEE
Here is all we who are husbands need to be a bit careful! It would be very easy for us to use this passage as an excuse to tell our wives we should never listen to them! However, that would not only be a mistake, it would also be using an incorrect interpretation of the passage.
This verse tells us about the specific 'curse' that the male of the species received from God as a result of his disobedience. The disobedience itself involved two actions. One was when Adam "listened" to his wife's suggestion. Two was when he followed the suggestion and ate the fruit. What does this tell us about sin and Adam's sin in particular?
One of the important teachings we can gather here is that sin begins before the physical action takes place. Here it was a suggestion planted in the mind of Adam that he chose to listen to. It was not simply hearing the voice of his wife that was sinful, it was entertaining the thought of actually taking the fruit. That is the difference between temptation and sin. Once a thought of sin becomes more than passing, the danger of sin is present. Adam's mistake was that he did not recognize and resist the thought of sin at this point. If we can recognize and then resist at the point of the thought of sin, we have a better chance of not committing the sin.
Of course, the question arises, "How can we recognize and then resist sin?" The answer is, only with the help of the Lord. We can only get that kind of help if we know the Lord as our Savior, and if we call upon Him for help in the time of temptation. Adam knew the Lord God intimately, yet he did not turn to God when temptation hit. That was his mistake, but it need not be ours.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Expositor,
LEE
Monday, March 31, 2008
Cursed Blessings
To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." Genesis 3:16
The LORD pronounces the punishment for the woman because of her sin. The punishment consists of three parts, two of which have to do with her role as a mother and the third having to do with her role as a wife.
We shouldn't miss the fact that these punishments did not change the fact that the woman would become a mother and is a wife. These punishments did change how those life roles would work. We can assume that had the woman not sinned, childbearing and child raising and marriage would have been far less of a struggle.
In the case of motherhood, God's judgment was that the act of carrying and giving birth to a child was going to be a painful experience, as we know that it is. We could even say that the act of raising the child after birth would have pain as well. However, this is not to say that there is no blessing or joy that goes with the pain. Every mother knows that the immense joy of bringing new life into the world is great compensation for the pains of sickness and labor. And what joy there is in seeing the little grow and experience life and become a person under the loving gaze of the mother. God's punishment was not so heartless that motherhood would become something to be dreaded and feared. He gave the blessing of life to go with the pain, and thus give value to the struggles of motherhood.
In the marital relationship, we see that the punishment is truly tailored to fit the crime. Because the woman took the lead in sin, and in convincing her husband to follow, she is now given the role of submission to her husband's desire. Some have thought that this means sexual desire mainly or only. However, that doesn't seem to fit the context of the rest of Scriptural teaching on the subject (see. 1 Timothy 2:13ff as one example).
Finally, we should also notice carefully that God's pronouncements here are not for applying outside of the marriage relationship. God specifically mentions the words "husband" and "wife" in these verses. God does not intend that this be understood as applying in any way to every woman's relationship to every other man. Women and men in general are not addressed here, and it should not be implied that God considers men to be rulers over women or superior to women in any way. That is not the meaning here, nor is it the issue God is addressing, nor do we have the right to interpret it so.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Expositor
LEE
The LORD pronounces the punishment for the woman because of her sin. The punishment consists of three parts, two of which have to do with her role as a mother and the third having to do with her role as a wife.
We shouldn't miss the fact that these punishments did not change the fact that the woman would become a mother and is a wife. These punishments did change how those life roles would work. We can assume that had the woman not sinned, childbearing and child raising and marriage would have been far less of a struggle.
In the case of motherhood, God's judgment was that the act of carrying and giving birth to a child was going to be a painful experience, as we know that it is. We could even say that the act of raising the child after birth would have pain as well. However, this is not to say that there is no blessing or joy that goes with the pain. Every mother knows that the immense joy of bringing new life into the world is great compensation for the pains of sickness and labor. And what joy there is in seeing the little grow and experience life and become a person under the loving gaze of the mother. God's punishment was not so heartless that motherhood would become something to be dreaded and feared. He gave the blessing of life to go with the pain, and thus give value to the struggles of motherhood.
In the marital relationship, we see that the punishment is truly tailored to fit the crime. Because the woman took the lead in sin, and in convincing her husband to follow, she is now given the role of submission to her husband's desire. Some have thought that this means sexual desire mainly or only. However, that doesn't seem to fit the context of the rest of Scriptural teaching on the subject (see. 1 Timothy 2:13ff as one example).
Finally, we should also notice carefully that God's pronouncements here are not for applying outside of the marriage relationship. God specifically mentions the words "husband" and "wife" in these verses. God does not intend that this be understood as applying in any way to every woman's relationship to every other man. Women and men in general are not addressed here, and it should not be implied that God considers men to be rulers over women or superior to women in any way. That is not the meaning here, nor is it the issue God is addressing, nor do we have the right to interpret it so.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Expositor
LEE
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The First Gospel
He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" The man said, "The woman whom you gave me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." The the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." Genesis 3:11-15
Adam is caught in his sin, as is Eve and the serpent. So, the game of blame begins. It is interesting to note that a quick glance appears to have Adam blaming Eve for his failure. But that is not really the case. At best, Eve is only a secondary source of blame. In fact, Adam focuses his blame shot at God for giving him the woman in the first place. It's almost as if Adam says to God, "If you hadn't made this woman for me, I would still be alright." Eve points her blame for her actions directly toward the serpent. The serpent doesn't even get a chance to reply to God, and he would not have an effective target for blame anyway. As we shall see next time, God doesn't buy these excuses and blaming games. He holds each person responsible. As far as the serpent is concerned, it is here where something unique happens.
Along with the punishment pronounced for the serpent himself, God proceeds to make His first prophetic statement, as well as the first clue about His provision for salvation from sin and sin's consequences. Genesis 3:15 is known as the protoevangelium, or first gospel. The "offspring" the the LORD mentions represent two others. The offspring of the woman (notice that it is not the offspring of the man and the woman, only the woman) is the Lord Jesus Christ, born of the virgin with no human father. The offspring of the serpent represents those who end up putting Jesus to death. In a larger sense, the offspring of the serpent represent all of humankind apart from Christ. The "bruising of the heel" of the offspring of the woman is referring to the crucifixion of Jesus. The "bruising of the head" of the serpent's offspring refers to the defeat of Satan's plans to keep humanity away from God's forgiveness. Even then, God had you and I in mind. He was preparing in His heart the sacrifice of Jesus for the sin which entered the world on this most terrible of days! God the Son, the Christ, Lord of all creation and with the Father even here was ready for the sacrifice of His life for ours! We were not yet fully prepared, for we needed the covenant of the Law to come first. But this day set in motion the history of salvation from the heart of our loving God.
Your joyfully loquacious believer,
LEE
Adam is caught in his sin, as is Eve and the serpent. So, the game of blame begins. It is interesting to note that a quick glance appears to have Adam blaming Eve for his failure. But that is not really the case. At best, Eve is only a secondary source of blame. In fact, Adam focuses his blame shot at God for giving him the woman in the first place. It's almost as if Adam says to God, "If you hadn't made this woman for me, I would still be alright." Eve points her blame for her actions directly toward the serpent. The serpent doesn't even get a chance to reply to God, and he would not have an effective target for blame anyway. As we shall see next time, God doesn't buy these excuses and blaming games. He holds each person responsible. As far as the serpent is concerned, it is here where something unique happens.
Along with the punishment pronounced for the serpent himself, God proceeds to make His first prophetic statement, as well as the first clue about His provision for salvation from sin and sin's consequences. Genesis 3:15 is known as the protoevangelium, or first gospel. The "offspring" the the LORD mentions represent two others. The offspring of the woman (notice that it is not the offspring of the man and the woman, only the woman) is the Lord Jesus Christ, born of the virgin with no human father. The offspring of the serpent represents those who end up putting Jesus to death. In a larger sense, the offspring of the serpent represent all of humankind apart from Christ. The "bruising of the heel" of the offspring of the woman is referring to the crucifixion of Jesus. The "bruising of the head" of the serpent's offspring refers to the defeat of Satan's plans to keep humanity away from God's forgiveness. Even then, God had you and I in mind. He was preparing in His heart the sacrifice of Jesus for the sin which entered the world on this most terrible of days! God the Son, the Christ, Lord of all creation and with the Father even here was ready for the sacrifice of His life for ours! We were not yet fully prepared, for we needed the covenant of the Law to come first. But this day set in motion the history of salvation from the heart of our loving God.
Your joyfully loquacious believer,
LEE
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Blame and Shame
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." Genesis 3:6-10
There is a lot that could be made here. One point that I always find interesting is the fact that we see Adam here with Eve. Where was he at all this time? Was he listening to the serpent with Eve? We have no indication of that. If he was, why didn't he object to the whole conversation? If he wasn't, how is it he shows up now, and why doesn't he object now? No matter how you look at the situation, Adam fails to stand up to temptation, and evil, and his own wife! Much is made of Eve's failure by being the first to sin. But the sin here is just as much, in fact even more, Adam's responsibility. He was the one who could have prevented Eve from even getting to this point. In fact, the scriptural witness is that death entered the world through Adam (1 Cor. 15:22). In addition, it should be noted is that God held Adam responsible. God calls to him. God expects Adam to answer when God calls. Adam himself knows that God is going to hold him responsible at least with equal weight to Eve. It was Adam who was afraid of God and therefore hid himself, along with Eve.
Notice also the immediate result of eating the fruit. Before this, both of them were naked and not ashamed. Now, true shame enters the picture once they "knew that they were naked." Now, they see the condition of nakedness as one of shame that needs to be covered. It is a condition that will continue with every sin from now on and with every human being. It produces today what Adam and Eve felt then, a need to hide the sin from God, to cover it up somehow.
Finally, notice God's first action. It was not asking Adam "Where are you?" His first action was to seek out Adam, to reach out to him, to go looking for the man. By the way, God wasn't asking for Adam's location when He said "Where are you?" He was lamenting the fact that the Adam He knew was no longer "there." God was not asking WHERE are you. Rather He was saying "Where are YOU, Adam?" Yes, God knew what was happening, indeed He knew that it would happen beforehand. But He also was in mourning for the entry of sin into paradise. He was sad because Adam and Eve were no longer pure and would suffer as a result. And it may be that God was also saddened because of what would have to happen for humanity to become free from the consequences of sin. As we shall see later, those consequences are huge and grave indeed.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
There is a lot that could be made here. One point that I always find interesting is the fact that we see Adam here with Eve. Where was he at all this time? Was he listening to the serpent with Eve? We have no indication of that. If he was, why didn't he object to the whole conversation? If he wasn't, how is it he shows up now, and why doesn't he object now? No matter how you look at the situation, Adam fails to stand up to temptation, and evil, and his own wife! Much is made of Eve's failure by being the first to sin. But the sin here is just as much, in fact even more, Adam's responsibility. He was the one who could have prevented Eve from even getting to this point. In fact, the scriptural witness is that death entered the world through Adam (1 Cor. 15:22). In addition, it should be noted is that God held Adam responsible. God calls to him. God expects Adam to answer when God calls. Adam himself knows that God is going to hold him responsible at least with equal weight to Eve. It was Adam who was afraid of God and therefore hid himself, along with Eve.
Notice also the immediate result of eating the fruit. Before this, both of them were naked and not ashamed. Now, true shame enters the picture once they "knew that they were naked." Now, they see the condition of nakedness as one of shame that needs to be covered. It is a condition that will continue with every sin from now on and with every human being. It produces today what Adam and Eve felt then, a need to hide the sin from God, to cover it up somehow.
Finally, notice God's first action. It was not asking Adam "Where are you?" His first action was to seek out Adam, to reach out to him, to go looking for the man. By the way, God wasn't asking for Adam's location when He said "Where are you?" He was lamenting the fact that the Adam He knew was no longer "there." God was not asking WHERE are you. Rather He was saying "Where are YOU, Adam?" Yes, God knew what was happening, indeed He knew that it would happen beforehand. But He also was in mourning for the entry of sin into paradise. He was sad because Adam and Eve were no longer pure and would suffer as a result. And it may be that God was also saddened because of what would have to happen for humanity to become free from the consequences of sin. As we shall see later, those consequences are huge and grave indeed.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
To Be Like God
And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' " Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:2-5
"You will be like God..." Isn't that the ultimate of temptations? Perhaps you might object and say something like, "I don't want to be like God. I just want things to go well, or to be good for me and those I love." However, for that to happen, you would have to have god-like power. You would have to be able to control time and chance, sickness and sin, peace and conflict. In fact, to guarantee a positive outcome, you and I would have to go beyond even what God is willing to do. We would have to usurp human free will. We would have to make choices, or insure that choices are made which we believe would be good, even if the person we were choosing for didn't desire the choice we would make! The danger inherent here is incalculable. In order to do all this just for ourselves, we would in fact have to be God Himself! And there is only room for One of those. Only God can handle being like god. And though we may think we are only trying to be like god for a small slice of existence, we just aren't equipped to handle it.
If nothing else proves that we have no business with such power, the history of those people who have held some kind of power bordering on god-like throughout the ages is one of nothing but unrestrained evil. With few exceptions, the tyrants of so-called absolute power have succeeded only in spreading misery and death. The few very good rulers in the world's stage have invariably been those who truly served God and the people, and in this way gave up power for mercy and grace. These kind of leaders realized that all real authority is God's alone, and they serve at His whim. That should be how each of our lives are lived as well.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
"You will be like God..." Isn't that the ultimate of temptations? Perhaps you might object and say something like, "I don't want to be like God. I just want things to go well, or to be good for me and those I love." However, for that to happen, you would have to have god-like power. You would have to be able to control time and chance, sickness and sin, peace and conflict. In fact, to guarantee a positive outcome, you and I would have to go beyond even what God is willing to do. We would have to usurp human free will. We would have to make choices, or insure that choices are made which we believe would be good, even if the person we were choosing for didn't desire the choice we would make! The danger inherent here is incalculable. In order to do all this just for ourselves, we would in fact have to be God Himself! And there is only room for One of those. Only God can handle being like god. And though we may think we are only trying to be like god for a small slice of existence, we just aren't equipped to handle it.
If nothing else proves that we have no business with such power, the history of those people who have held some kind of power bordering on god-like throughout the ages is one of nothing but unrestrained evil. With few exceptions, the tyrants of so-called absolute power have succeeded only in spreading misery and death. The few very good rulers in the world's stage have invariably been those who truly served God and the people, and in this way gave up power for mercy and grace. These kind of leaders realized that all real authority is God's alone, and they serve at His whim. That should be how each of our lives are lived as well.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
A Small Doubt
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?' " (Gen. 3:1)
Here is how it starts. It is rather amazing that the method of temptation used here is essentially the same method that our adversary Satan uses even to this day. It begins with doubt about what it is that God says. He plants doubt by twisting what the Word actually is. In this case, the serpent, who is Satan's mouthpiece, both questions what God said and distorts what the actual command was. The command was that the man and woman may eat of any tree except one. The serpent knew full well that he was not quoting God correctly. But he also knew that he was quoting God closely. That is how we also get set up for temptation. The enemy started out by casting doubt upon God and His Word. In point of fact, Satan was also casting doubt upon God's goodness and His care for the man and woman. We have the same kind of doubt thrown at us. Doubt that says "God isn't really there." Or we hear the whisper, "If God is there, He doesn't care about you." Or perhaps this one, "God may be there, and He may even care, but He can't do anything about your pain and hurt and sin and guilt." All of those falsehoods and lies are cast our way, but they all start with a slight doubt in the form of "Did God really say...?"
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
Here is how it starts. It is rather amazing that the method of temptation used here is essentially the same method that our adversary Satan uses even to this day. It begins with doubt about what it is that God says. He plants doubt by twisting what the Word actually is. In this case, the serpent, who is Satan's mouthpiece, both questions what God said and distorts what the actual command was. The command was that the man and woman may eat of any tree except one. The serpent knew full well that he was not quoting God correctly. But he also knew that he was quoting God closely. That is how we also get set up for temptation. The enemy started out by casting doubt upon God and His Word. In point of fact, Satan was also casting doubt upon God's goodness and His care for the man and woman. We have the same kind of doubt thrown at us. Doubt that says "God isn't really there." Or we hear the whisper, "If God is there, He doesn't care about you." Or perhaps this one, "God may be there, and He may even care, but He can't do anything about your pain and hurt and sin and guilt." All of those falsehoods and lies are cast our way, but they all start with a slight doubt in the form of "Did God really say...?"
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Being "not ashamed."
Then the man said, "This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called 'woman' for she was taken out of man." That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife, and they become a new family. The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed. Genesis 2:23-25 (NET Bible)
A marriage with no baggage and no shame! This is a singular event, one which has not been repeated since. Even in those rare occasions (rare for our time and place) when two people unite who have had no relations with any other, there is still the baggage of human sin to consider. That was not the case here. Thus it is virtually impossible for us to understand this marriage in comparison with any marriage we know of.
What we can do is hope for the future when there will be the elimination of sin and we who know the Lord Jesus as Savior will experience true sinlessness. As it was for a short while at the creation, so it will be for eternity at the re-creation (Rev. 21-22).
This passage is also unusual in that it is an instance where having no shame was a good thing. Much of the scriptures teach that being ashamed, or having shame, is a good thing because there is abundant sin for which we all should be ashamed! In fact, in the few cases where a person or group of people were not ashamed, the scriptures declare that this is a sinful thing (Jer. 3:3; 6:15; 8:12). Having shame for us is not something that should haunt us night and day. However, the effort to artificially declare us shameless, or guiltless, is a dangerous one. No matter how much we try in our culture to avoid feeling shame or guilt (on the false premise this is good for our psyche), we will always have plenty to feel shame about. It is akin to declaring that an electrified fence is not really there, and then trying to climb over it without getting shocked! The electricity in the fence is like the sin in our soul. As long as the electricity is on, touching the fence will produce shock. If we were somehow able to eliminate the sensation of being 'shocked', the electricity would still exist and would still damage us. As long as sin is present in us, indulging in it will produce negative consequences, the first of which should be shame. Should we succeed in turning off the shame, the sin will still be present and further negative consequences, including a repeat of the sin, will occur. Shame is not something we should discourage, as long as it is shame for the reason of actually offending God by sin, and not the manufactured shame of culture. It is before God alone that the full measure of our shame is shown, for it is ultimately God against whom we sin (Ps. 51). So, we should bring our own shame to God first and foremost. Let Him heal us and make us able to show others the real Truth of Christ who bore our sin and shame upon the cross.
Finally, there is one area for which we should never be ashamed. Mark 8:38 puts it this way, "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."
Paul mentioned the same thing in Romans 1:16 concerning the gospel. Those things sent from God through His Word and His Son and in the Holy Spirit are the pure things. These are the things of which we do not have to be ashamed, and in these we can alone experience the feeling of Adam and Eve standing naked before God and standing without shame!
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
A marriage with no baggage and no shame! This is a singular event, one which has not been repeated since. Even in those rare occasions (rare for our time and place) when two people unite who have had no relations with any other, there is still the baggage of human sin to consider. That was not the case here. Thus it is virtually impossible for us to understand this marriage in comparison with any marriage we know of.
What we can do is hope for the future when there will be the elimination of sin and we who know the Lord Jesus as Savior will experience true sinlessness. As it was for a short while at the creation, so it will be for eternity at the re-creation (Rev. 21-22).
This passage is also unusual in that it is an instance where having no shame was a good thing. Much of the scriptures teach that being ashamed, or having shame, is a good thing because there is abundant sin for which we all should be ashamed! In fact, in the few cases where a person or group of people were not ashamed, the scriptures declare that this is a sinful thing (Jer. 3:3; 6:15; 8:12). Having shame for us is not something that should haunt us night and day. However, the effort to artificially declare us shameless, or guiltless, is a dangerous one. No matter how much we try in our culture to avoid feeling shame or guilt (on the false premise this is good for our psyche), we will always have plenty to feel shame about. It is akin to declaring that an electrified fence is not really there, and then trying to climb over it without getting shocked! The electricity in the fence is like the sin in our soul. As long as the electricity is on, touching the fence will produce shock. If we were somehow able to eliminate the sensation of being 'shocked', the electricity would still exist and would still damage us. As long as sin is present in us, indulging in it will produce negative consequences, the first of which should be shame. Should we succeed in turning off the shame, the sin will still be present and further negative consequences, including a repeat of the sin, will occur. Shame is not something we should discourage, as long as it is shame for the reason of actually offending God by sin, and not the manufactured shame of culture. It is before God alone that the full measure of our shame is shown, for it is ultimately God against whom we sin (Ps. 51). So, we should bring our own shame to God first and foremost. Let Him heal us and make us able to show others the real Truth of Christ who bore our sin and shame upon the cross.
Finally, there is one area for which we should never be ashamed. Mark 8:38 puts it this way, "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."
Paul mentioned the same thing in Romans 1:16 concerning the gospel. Those things sent from God through His Word and His Son and in the Holy Spirit are the pure things. These are the things of which we do not have to be ashamed, and in these we can alone experience the feeling of Adam and Eve standing naked before God and standing without shame!
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
The Completion of Man
The the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him ...So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man." Genesis 2:18, 21-22
It is noteworthy to see that here we have the first time that God says "It is not good..." God says that the state of the man being alone, as a man, is not the "good" state. It will only be good when God completes the task of creating man as mankind. This is what happens when the female is created. God says, in part, that the creation is not truly finished until the woman comes to be. It is true in more ways than we know that 'woman completes man.' The very special creation of the human woman is unique to all of creation. ONLY woman is created from material that at least was living tissue. ONLY woman was not created either from 'the dust' or from nothing that existed previously. Woman was the ONLY female of any other created 'kinds' or 'species' created at a separate time from the male.
A note of explanation: I omitted verses 19 and 20 for two reasons. One was for space saving. A second was to avoid confusion between the naming of the animals and God's creation of woman. Some commentators have wrongly concluded that the purpose of bringing Adam the animals was to show him the possibilities for a "helper" from that animal world. At least one of God's purposes was to show Adam himself that he was indeed 'alone' in the world and impress upon Adam that this was indeed 'not good.' It was to show Adam that he was not yet complete. Thus God prepared Adam for what God was about to do.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
It is noteworthy to see that here we have the first time that God says "It is not good..." God says that the state of the man being alone, as a man, is not the "good" state. It will only be good when God completes the task of creating man as mankind. This is what happens when the female is created. God says, in part, that the creation is not truly finished until the woman comes to be. It is true in more ways than we know that 'woman completes man.' The very special creation of the human woman is unique to all of creation. ONLY woman is created from material that at least was living tissue. ONLY woman was not created either from 'the dust' or from nothing that existed previously. Woman was the ONLY female of any other created 'kinds' or 'species' created at a separate time from the male.
A note of explanation: I omitted verses 19 and 20 for two reasons. One was for space saving. A second was to avoid confusion between the naming of the animals and God's creation of woman. Some commentators have wrongly concluded that the purpose of bringing Adam the animals was to show him the possibilities for a "helper" from that animal world. At least one of God's purposes was to show Adam himself that he was indeed 'alone' in the world and impress upon Adam that this was indeed 'not good.' It was to show Adam that he was not yet complete. Thus God prepared Adam for what God was about to do.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
Monday, December 17, 2007
The First Test
Then the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.” Genesis 2:16,17
What a simple command. This wasn't an entire tablet of laws. It was but one requirement that God laid upon man at the beginning. It wasn't too complicated to understand nor was it too difficult to accomplish. One thing alone was necessary. Make no mistake, it was necessary and it was a definite command. There was no "wiggle room" here. There was no exception to the rule. Nor were there circumstances that could be imagined where a "greater good" would be served by disobeying the command.
However, this was also far more than a command given directly by God the Creator. It was also a test of wills. The question being tested here was this; Would man obey His Creator God simply on the basis of God's say so? Would, man accept God's Word as the authority, or would man instead evaluate the command as to whether or not it would benefit him, or restrict him too much, or whether or not he believed God had a good enough reason to command this? Would man accept God's Word as authority over his own will?
God was generous in this command. He did not restrict man in any other area of life. Freedom was virtually unlimited. The man was given permission to dine from any other tree in the entire garden or "orchard." Every fruit in unheard of abundance was available.
In addition, however, a warning was given. Should man choose to defy God, there would be consequences to pay. So we have both a positive aspect to the command (all else than this was open) and a negative aspect (severe punishment would follow disobedience). The decision is left with man.
Is that not how it is even today? We are given abundance of choices of good, and usually presented with alternate bad choices as well. The decision is left with us whether or not we will do what we know is right, submit to God, or follow our own will. From the moment we awake in the morning to when we lay down to sleep, this is our challenge of life.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
What a simple command. This wasn't an entire tablet of laws. It was but one requirement that God laid upon man at the beginning. It wasn't too complicated to understand nor was it too difficult to accomplish. One thing alone was necessary. Make no mistake, it was necessary and it was a definite command. There was no "wiggle room" here. There was no exception to the rule. Nor were there circumstances that could be imagined where a "greater good" would be served by disobeying the command.
However, this was also far more than a command given directly by God the Creator. It was also a test of wills. The question being tested here was this; Would man obey His Creator God simply on the basis of God's say so? Would, man accept God's Word as the authority, or would man instead evaluate the command as to whether or not it would benefit him, or restrict him too much, or whether or not he believed God had a good enough reason to command this? Would man accept God's Word as authority over his own will?
God was generous in this command. He did not restrict man in any other area of life. Freedom was virtually unlimited. The man was given permission to dine from any other tree in the entire garden or "orchard." Every fruit in unheard of abundance was available.
In addition, however, a warning was given. Should man choose to defy God, there would be consequences to pay. So we have both a positive aspect to the command (all else than this was open) and a negative aspect (severe punishment would follow disobedience). The decision is left with man.
Is that not how it is even today? We are given abundance of choices of good, and usually presented with alternate bad choices as well. The decision is left with us whether or not we will do what we know is right, submit to God, or follow our own will. From the moment we awake in the morning to when we lay down to sleep, this is our challenge of life.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
The "Curse" of Work?
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. Genesis 2:15
Many people question the idea that heaven would be a "good" place because they believe it would be "boring" to sit around on clouds playing harps for eternity. First of all, heaven is never described that way in the Bible. It is one of many cultural myths about Christianity which exist among the biblically illiterate. In this verse, I hope we can dispense with another such myth, the myth that work was part of God's punishment for sin.
This verse is clear. Work was God's idea for the better health of His prize creation, man. Man was given specific duties to work the garden. The word used meant work in a general sense, but here it meant to "dress" the garden or even to "serve" the needs of the garden. God planted the garden. It was man's duty to both work it, and to "keep" it. The word translated to "keep" meant generally to "protect" or "attend to" the garden itself. He was to be a tender of those plants for both the sake of their existence and for his continued existence. The first man was to be the grand gardener in the most spectacular of gardens. Flowers, trees, fruits and vegetables of untold beauty and productiveness. It was the man's work to "keep" what God had begun by the creation of the Garden of Eden. Man was to be the "caretaker" of the piece of God's creation where he lived. That is how it was to be then. That is still how it is today.
Your joyfully loquacious believer
LEE
Many people question the idea that heaven would be a "good" place because they believe it would be "boring" to sit around on clouds playing harps for eternity. First of all, heaven is never described that way in the Bible. It is one of many cultural myths about Christianity which exist among the biblically illiterate. In this verse, I hope we can dispense with another such myth, the myth that work was part of God's punishment for sin.
This verse is clear. Work was God's idea for the better health of His prize creation, man. Man was given specific duties to work the garden. The word used meant work in a general sense, but here it meant to "dress" the garden or even to "serve" the needs of the garden. God planted the garden. It was man's duty to both work it, and to "keep" it. The word translated to "keep" meant generally to "protect" or "attend to" the garden itself. He was to be a tender of those plants for both the sake of their existence and for his continued existence. The first man was to be the grand gardener in the most spectacular of gardens. Flowers, trees, fruits and vegetables of untold beauty and productiveness. It was the man's work to "keep" what God had begun by the creation of the Garden of Eden. Man was to be the "caretaker" of the piece of God's creation where he lived. That is how it was to be then. That is still how it is today.
Your joyfully loquacious believer
LEE
Friday, November 30, 2007
God Will Provide
And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. Genesis 2:8-10
God is now providing everything necessary for His creation to be able to survive and thrive as a living being. The garden of Eden was a real, physical place at this time. It was literally a paradise on earth. In fact, the word for this garden in the Greek version of the Old Testament is paradeison, the word we get our English word paradise from. God made sure that all the senses of man were going to be engaged in wonderful sensing in this place. Notice how the trees were not only "good for food," but also were made, "pleasant to the sight." And not just one or two or three trees were provided, but "every tree" that could bear incredibly edible fruit! He also saw to it that the man would never have to worry about devising and maintaining irrigation. God created the irrigation of one large water source which divided into four rivers to provide abundant water for this special garden.
The love of God is shown to His finest and highest creation with this perfect provision for the physical part of man. He will provide later for the emotional and spiritual parts of man as well, but that is for another piece. Know here that God is beginning a work that He has never stopped. He is making sure that man has the best provisions available to himself.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
God is now providing everything necessary for His creation to be able to survive and thrive as a living being. The garden of Eden was a real, physical place at this time. It was literally a paradise on earth. In fact, the word for this garden in the Greek version of the Old Testament is paradeison, the word we get our English word paradise from. God made sure that all the senses of man were going to be engaged in wonderful sensing in this place. Notice how the trees were not only "good for food," but also were made, "pleasant to the sight." And not just one or two or three trees were provided, but "every tree" that could bear incredibly edible fruit! He also saw to it that the man would never have to worry about devising and maintaining irrigation. God created the irrigation of one large water source which divided into four rivers to provide abundant water for this special garden.
The love of God is shown to His finest and highest creation with this perfect provision for the physical part of man. He will provide later for the emotional and spiritual parts of man as well, but that is for another piece. Know here that God is beginning a work that He has never stopped. He is making sure that man has the best provisions available to himself.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
Sunday, November 25, 2007
The Great Potter forms His Clay
Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed unto his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. Gen. 2:7
In this passage we will find it useful to look at the original language so that we can get a more accurate picture of what is being given to us by God here. The word that is translated ,"dust" is a Hebrew word which does mean dust, but it also can mean "clay, earth, or mud." This gives us a better picture of what the word "formed" means, because it is strongly suggested that God is acting as a potter shaping His clay into the form He desires. Thus, man is not created as solidified sand, as a hardened form that is unchangeable. He is molded as clay that God, and God alone, can remold into a person of new life, as the New Testament speaks of. God is sovereign over the form of every person, physically as well as mentally and spiritually. In fact, the spiritual "molding" of the Great Potter is far more significant in our lives than anything else. That is what God does when we are re-created by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
It says here also that God "breathed" into man "the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." God's breath is the breath of the Spirit. In the NT, when we come to Jesus by faith that He died to pay the penalty for our sin, rose again from the dead and is coming again, we become a "new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17). God makes us into a new "living creature," which will live forever in soul, and eventually will have a newly formed and perfected body after Christ's return (1 Corinthians 15:35 ff.).
At this point, the man is first created just as God wants, and the man is in a sinless state. He is directly from God's hand, and there is no blot in him. Now we must understand that the man is not perfect and complete, as we shall see later. It simply means that the man is clean and pure of body and heart and soul. We need to understand this, because this is also what happens to the new believer in Christ. He or she is not made perfect, but that one is made pure and clean of heart and soul. And just like the first man, the ability to choose to sin is intact in the new believer as well. God understands this and provides, just as we will see He provided for the first human beings as well. For now, we see that the Potter has formed man from His clay, and molded him and made him alive. Each of us has our starting point with God's "molding" and making us alive with His "breath".
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
In this passage we will find it useful to look at the original language so that we can get a more accurate picture of what is being given to us by God here. The word that is translated ,"dust" is a Hebrew word which does mean dust, but it also can mean "clay, earth, or mud." This gives us a better picture of what the word "formed" means, because it is strongly suggested that God is acting as a potter shaping His clay into the form He desires. Thus, man is not created as solidified sand, as a hardened form that is unchangeable. He is molded as clay that God, and God alone, can remold into a person of new life, as the New Testament speaks of. God is sovereign over the form of every person, physically as well as mentally and spiritually. In fact, the spiritual "molding" of the Great Potter is far more significant in our lives than anything else. That is what God does when we are re-created by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
It says here also that God "breathed" into man "the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." God's breath is the breath of the Spirit. In the NT, when we come to Jesus by faith that He died to pay the penalty for our sin, rose again from the dead and is coming again, we become a "new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17). God makes us into a new "living creature," which will live forever in soul, and eventually will have a newly formed and perfected body after Christ's return (1 Corinthians 15:35 ff.).
At this point, the man is first created just as God wants, and the man is in a sinless state. He is directly from God's hand, and there is no blot in him. Now we must understand that the man is not perfect and complete, as we shall see later. It simply means that the man is clean and pure of body and heart and soul. We need to understand this, because this is also what happens to the new believer in Christ. He or she is not made perfect, but that one is made pure and clean of heart and soul. And just like the first man, the ability to choose to sin is intact in the new believer as well. God understands this and provides, just as we will see He provided for the first human beings as well. For now, we see that the Potter has formed man from His clay, and molded him and made him alive. Each of us has our starting point with God's "molding" and making us alive with His "breath".
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE
Monday, November 12, 2007
Preparing a Place for Us
Genesis 2:4-6 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up -- for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground
Here we have the beginning of what some have called a "second" account of creation. However, though there are sharp differences from Genesis 1:1-2:3, these verses from 2:4 and through the beginning of chapter 3, nowhere contradict the "first" account. The idea that these are two mutually exclusive accounts of creation is the fruit of a liberal view that denies the Word of God came from God at all. It is the rejection of a truly Christian, faith-based, biblical worldview, and instead the acceptance of a humanist, critical, liberal worldview which believes the first duty of a biblical interpreter is to question the text rather than to search for meaning. What is happening here is no more complicated than God giving a more detailed account of creation that centers on the creation of human beings.
One of the things that we see here is the preparation of a place that God would prepare especially for His creation. When, in verses 5 and 6, it is described that there was "no bush of the field yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up..." the entire earth was not being described. It was instead, as the context will show, that God was describing the place He would establish as the ultimate paradise on earth for human beings to live in.
Your joyfully loquacious believer,
LEE
Here we have the beginning of what some have called a "second" account of creation. However, though there are sharp differences from Genesis 1:1-2:3, these verses from 2:4 and through the beginning of chapter 3, nowhere contradict the "first" account. The idea that these are two mutually exclusive accounts of creation is the fruit of a liberal view that denies the Word of God came from God at all. It is the rejection of a truly Christian, faith-based, biblical worldview, and instead the acceptance of a humanist, critical, liberal worldview which believes the first duty of a biblical interpreter is to question the text rather than to search for meaning. What is happening here is no more complicated than God giving a more detailed account of creation that centers on the creation of human beings.
One of the things that we see here is the preparation of a place that God would prepare especially for His creation. When, in verses 5 and 6, it is described that there was "no bush of the field yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up..." the entire earth was not being described. It was instead, as the context will show, that God was describing the place He would establish as the ultimate paradise on earth for human beings to live in.
Your joyfully loquacious believer,
LEE
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Day Seven - The First "Holiday"
Gen, 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work He that He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation.
This day of rest can easily be misunderstood. It certainly isn't the case that God needed to rest because He was weary. He does not tire nor is His power ever exhausted. If we simply take the text on its face, we see no mention of God being tired or needing the restful seventh day to recuperate. So, if the reason was not that God needed rest, what was the reason?
God doesn't leave us wondering. The passage tells us that God "blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all the work that He had done in creation." The reason for the seventh day rest period was so that a day could be set aside as "blessed" by God Himself, and as we see later (i.e. Exodus 20:8) set aside for men to reflect on and worship God the Creator of all. It was a day that God defined from the very start as a "holy" day. Those two words together form a combination that we now speak as one word, the word "holiday." It should give us pause to understand that what we often think of as days made for us to engage in often questionable recreational pursuits were designed instead to be days of remembrance, reflection, and reverence of the very One who gives us all that we have to enjoy in the first place. I hope that the next time a "holiday" comes around, you will try at least in some way to make it a "holy" day as well.
Your joyfully loquacious believer,
LEE
This day of rest can easily be misunderstood. It certainly isn't the case that God needed to rest because He was weary. He does not tire nor is His power ever exhausted. If we simply take the text on its face, we see no mention of God being tired or needing the restful seventh day to recuperate. So, if the reason was not that God needed rest, what was the reason?
God doesn't leave us wondering. The passage tells us that God "blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all the work that He had done in creation." The reason for the seventh day rest period was so that a day could be set aside as "blessed" by God Himself, and as we see later (i.e. Exodus 20:8) set aside for men to reflect on and worship God the Creator of all. It was a day that God defined from the very start as a "holy" day. Those two words together form a combination that we now speak as one word, the word "holiday." It should give us pause to understand that what we often think of as days made for us to engage in often questionable recreational pursuits were designed instead to be days of remembrance, reflection, and reverence of the very One who gives us all that we have to enjoy in the first place. I hope that the next time a "holiday" comes around, you will try at least in some way to make it a "holy" day as well.
Your joyfully loquacious believer,
LEE
Monday, November 5, 2007
Day Six - "It was very good."
Gen 1:31 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
The third unique aspect of day six is that God pronounces it "very good." Upon the completion of every other day, God has labeled it as "good." Here, it is more than that. Why? The truth is, we don't fully know, we can only guess. It could be that the day itself was special because it was the day when all the work was done, and thus "very good" was an expression of completion. It could be that the phrase "everything that He had made" refers to everything made on that day, and not necessarily to everything made on all the other days as well. If that is the case, then the addition of human beings to the mix as God's crowning achievement might be what causes this to be "very good." It could be that God saw His beautiful creation perfectly expressing His loving heart and, for the moment at least, pure and holy and innocent and that was worthy of being deemed "very good." Whatever the case may be, this is the first and only time that expression is used with God as the source in the entire Bible. If we turn to the original language we find that the expression means that this was "exceptionally" or "especially, or "exceedingly" good. It was good to the greatest degree, and "in the widest sense," according to Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries. The universe had never seen this kind of goodness, nor would it be seen again. Nothing was corrupted, nothing was incomplete, no provision from God was missing. It was uniquely perfect at the end of day six. It was indeed "very good."
Your joyfully loquacious believer,
LEE
The third unique aspect of day six is that God pronounces it "very good." Upon the completion of every other day, God has labeled it as "good." Here, it is more than that. Why? The truth is, we don't fully know, we can only guess. It could be that the day itself was special because it was the day when all the work was done, and thus "very good" was an expression of completion. It could be that the phrase "everything that He had made" refers to everything made on that day, and not necessarily to everything made on all the other days as well. If that is the case, then the addition of human beings to the mix as God's crowning achievement might be what causes this to be "very good." It could be that God saw His beautiful creation perfectly expressing His loving heart and, for the moment at least, pure and holy and innocent and that was worthy of being deemed "very good." Whatever the case may be, this is the first and only time that expression is used with God as the source in the entire Bible. If we turn to the original language we find that the expression means that this was "exceptionally" or "especially, or "exceedingly" good. It was good to the greatest degree, and "in the widest sense," according to Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries. The universe had never seen this kind of goodness, nor would it be seen again. Nothing was corrupted, nothing was incomplete, no provision from God was missing. It was uniquely perfect at the end of day six. It was indeed "very good."
Your joyfully loquacious believer,
LEE
Saturday, November 3, 2007
The Dominance Factor
Day six is so remarkable and unique that it warrants a second look. In fact, we will spend one more post on day six next time. I want to look at another unique aspect of the creation of human beings on day six, what I call the "dominance factor."
God said to His newly created male and female human in Genesis 1:28, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
God the Creator specifically gave our ancestors dominance over all else that He created. That doesn't mean that we, as inheritors of this dominance factor, own what God created. Our dominance is not inherent, that is, we are not dominant over the rest of creation simply because we are human beings. The "dominance factor" is a gift granted to us by the Creator! What authority we exercise we possess only because God has granted it to us. It is a secondary authority, a bit like the authority that a property manager has over the property of his employer. We are stewards, managers, and caretakers of God's estate. Therefore we are responsible to care for the creation as best we can for the good of ourselves and the good of the rest of creation.
In today's world, there seem to be two opposite errors that are made concerning care for the creation. One is to elevate the creation itself to "godlike" status and engage in the popular liberal pastime of hyper-environmentalism. This position not only dishonors God, it ends up destructive of the very thing that it seeks to elevate. The second error is to believe that our authority over creation is a license to abuse God's creatures and created environment.
We should view our dominance as a privilege that we take seriously enough to truly care for God's created order. We should manage for the good of the environment and all that reside on this earth, which includes human beings as well. Yes, we have dominance gifted to us. We have the authority to use the resources of the natural world. We do not have the right to worship it, or to abuse the privilege God has graciously given to us from the very beginning.
God said to His newly created male and female human in Genesis 1:28, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
God the Creator specifically gave our ancestors dominance over all else that He created. That doesn't mean that we, as inheritors of this dominance factor, own what God created. Our dominance is not inherent, that is, we are not dominant over the rest of creation simply because we are human beings. The "dominance factor" is a gift granted to us by the Creator! What authority we exercise we possess only because God has granted it to us. It is a secondary authority, a bit like the authority that a property manager has over the property of his employer. We are stewards, managers, and caretakers of God's estate. Therefore we are responsible to care for the creation as best we can for the good of ourselves and the good of the rest of creation.
In today's world, there seem to be two opposite errors that are made concerning care for the creation. One is to elevate the creation itself to "godlike" status and engage in the popular liberal pastime of hyper-environmentalism. This position not only dishonors God, it ends up destructive of the very thing that it seeks to elevate. The second error is to believe that our authority over creation is a license to abuse God's creatures and created environment.
We should view our dominance as a privilege that we take seriously enough to truly care for God's created order. We should manage for the good of the environment and all that reside on this earth, which includes human beings as well. Yes, we have dominance gifted to us. We have the authority to use the resources of the natural world. We do not have the right to worship it, or to abuse the privilege God has graciously given to us from the very beginning.
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