God Confronts Sin

September 30, 2018 Background Scripture: Genesis 3 Lesson Passage: Genesis 3:8 – 17, 20 – 24 Last week’s lesson looked at the union of Adam and Eve, and the birth of their sons, Cain and Abel. Between the union and the birth, tragedy befell the couple. When there was only Adam, God gave him a diet plan. There was one tree in the midst of the garden that Adam was not supposed to eat of its fruit, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. All of the other trees, he was free to eat their fruit. Before we look at what Adam did and why he did it, the scenario begs the question: Why was there a tree with a forbidden fruit placed within reach of Adam? If there were no tree with forbidden fruit, then there would be no possibility for disobedience in eating from it. I believe that “true worship” must come from a willing heart and not be compulsory. Put another way, the worshiper must have the power of choice. The true worshiper can only choose to worship when there is a choice to not worship. Likewise, for man to live out the image and likeness of God, he must have the power of choice. This is what establishes man as a free moral agent. Man was not created to be driven by instincts as the other living creatures are. Man was created to be a physical reflection of the spiritual God and not an instinct-driven animal. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil had a unique purpose in creation. When Eve was tricked by the serpent, she took forbidden fruit from the tree and ate it. Note that there is no biblical record that God had given her the same commandment He gave Adam. It seems from her verbal response to the serpent that Adam had paraphrased God’s commandment into a slightly more complex requirement that might not have warned her about death. Nevertheless, after she ate the forbidden fruit, nothing seemed to have changed. However, when she gave some of the forbidden fruit to her husband—who was with her according to the bible—he ate it and then their eyes were opened as their spiritual innocence had been tainted by sin. They became ashamed of their nakedness and tried to cover their bodies with fig leaves. When they heard the sound of God moving in the garden in the cool of the day, they attempted to hide from the presence of God. One of the immediate effects of sin is a desire to avoid the presence of God. God called out to Adam, the one He had left in charge of keeping the garden and avoiding the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam answered God and admitted that he was trying to hide from Him because he was ashamed of his nakedness. God, the all-knowing Father, asked Adam a series of rhetorical questions. God knew the answers, but He wanted Adam to reflect on the answers and the consequences of his decision. Adam blamed Eve, and, in a sense, he blamed God, for the decision he had made. God addressed the woman who admitted that she was tricked by the serpent. God did not ask the serpent anything. God cursed the serpent more than any other animal He created. Then He told the woman about the hardships she would endure in childbirth. God told Adam about the difficulties he would now have in extracting the goodness from the earth because God cursed the ground for the man’s sake. Then God drove Adam and Eve from the garden to prevent them from eating from the other tree in the midst of the garden, the tree of life. The fruit from the tree of life would have caused them to live forever in their sinful state. Then God made garments of skins for Adam and Eve. Robert C. Hudson September 5, 2018

God Creates the Family

September 23, 2018 Background Scripture: Genesis 2:18 – 24; 4:1, 2 Lesson Passage: Genesis 2:18 – 24; 4:1, 2 As stated in the previous lesson, dominion of the earth was not intended to be a one-man job. Mankind was to grow into the dominion of the earth as they multiplied and filled the earth with the glory of God. Being in the image and likeness of God, as mankind multiplied and filled the earth, God could look at the earth and see a reflection of His own glory. Adam was not created in a way that he could multiply himself. Adam needed companionship so that he would not be alone and so that they could together multiply and fill the earth. God allowed (required) Adam to review and name every animal upon the face of the earth. After this was accomplished, it was clear that none of the other creatures were suitable helpers for Adam. Therefore, God put Adam in an unconscious state and removed a bone from his side and reclosed the flesh. With that bone, God made a woman of the same substance that Adam was made of. God then brought her to Adam. Adam recognized that the woman was of the same substance that he was made of and called her “woman”. I find it interesting that Adam did not immediately recognize the woman as his “partner” to work alongside him. Instead, Adam recognized the woman as “part of” him. Whatever he was, she was the same. She was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. She was not bone and flesh like his but rather, she was his bone and flesh and Adam recognized that. Being “part of” him meant that together they completed each other, and they were again one person. The footnote to Adam’s recognition of this says that this is the reason that through marriage a man and woman are to become one flesh. It was through the reproductive process between this pair that God established the family. As we reflect again on Adam’s assessment of the woman, we see the necessary step that formed the proper foundation for the union of these two. Because Adam saw her as “part of” him, some things would be natural in this union. Whatever Adam did for himself, he would naturally do for her because she was “part of” him. The woman did not have to negotiate for anything or to earn anything because Adam would naturally give her whatever he gave himself. She was “part of” him. God did not give her an initial assignment because He had given Adam an assignment. When Adam carried out his God-given assignment, the woman would be there working with him because she was “part of” him. Adam’s assignment became their assignment. God never took the responsibility for the assignment from Adam, neither did He divide the responsibility between Adam and the woman. It was Adam’s assignment, but God gave him a helper who was suitable for Adam. After Adam sinned by breaking the one commandment God had given him, God expelled Adam and his helper from the Garden of Eden. Note that God did not treat the woman as Adam’s equal, He treated her as “part of” him. When Adam was expelled from the garden, all “parts” of him were expelled. The family was established outside the Garden of Eden when the woman became pregnant and gave birth. Her first born she called Cain and her second born she called Abel. The scriptures only note that she conceived once prior to giving birth to Cain and Abel. This leads many to believe that the two sons were twins. Thus, began the family of man. Robert C. Hudson September 5, 2018

God Creates People

September 16, 2018 Background Scripture: Genesis 1:26 – 2:7 Lesson Passage: Genesis 1:26 – 31; 2:4 – 7 Where did people come from? Why are we here? Why am I here? What’s expected of me in this life? These are some of the questions that many of us have pondered in our quiet time. Much of the field of science is devoted to the discovery of unbiased answers to these and other questions about reality. The scientific process begins with a hypothesis, or guess, and then proceeds to test the hypothesis to either disprove the hypothesis or use experimental data to convert the hypothesis to a theory that can be verified by other scientists. The process is well-proven in small controlled-environment laboratories and has proven its usefulness in man’s creative process of innovation. The process is utterly useless on a grand scale such as the universe. You cannot create a universe in a laboratory and test your hypothesis. Science is not the answer to the previous questions. Philosophers have pushed their imaginations beyond their life experiences and developed “schools of thought” that challenge us to look beyond our own reality and contemplate previously unrevealed methods of thinking about the meaning of reality. These “schools of thought” are not meant to be proven or disproven, but only enjoyed during moments of contemplation. Through philosophy, we can develop answers to the previous questions that have no basis in reality, and we can be okay with that. Whether through science or philosophy, the previous questions will go unanswered in the absolute sense of the answers being correct. However, what if the one who created everything could tell us that he did it and even tell us what he did? This is what Genesis 1 is all about. After God finished creating the heavens and the earth, He then created the most unique of all of His creation, mankind. Man’s uniqueness lies in that he was created as a physical being with the substance of the earth and then animated, or enlivened, with the indwelling Spirit of God. Mankind was created in God’s image and after God’s likeness. Even the details of his creation are different. Rather than speaking man into existence as He had the entire universe, God took counsel with Himself about man’s creation. Then, God took some of the dust of the earth and fashioned a physical body for man to live in. God clearly went to great lengths to make man. After He formed the body, then God breathed His Spirit into the earthen body and the image and likeness of God became a living physical being unlike anything else God had created. I believe it is always worth noting that God created the entire universe, which includes the earth, before He created man. The responsibility that God gave to man was to have dominion over all of the living creatures that inhabited the earth. Man was given the fruit and grain of the trees and plants as food. The dominion of the earth was not intended to be the work of one man, but man was to multiply upon the face of the earth and grow into dominion. Adam’s first assignment was to be a caretaker of the garden that God planted toward the east in Eden. All large assignments should begin with small tasks. It is through small tasks that we learn stewardship, prove our faithfulness, and earn the privilege of larger responsibilities. It is a biblical principle that if a person cannot be faithful over small things, they should not be trusted with greater things. That answers all of the previous questions. Robert C. Hudson September 5, 2018

God Creates Lights and Life

September 9, 2018 Background Scripture: Genesis 1:14 – 25 Lesson Passage: Genesis 1:14 – 25 In the first three days of the biblical account of creation, God created an inhabitable environment that contained vegetation and water. Today, we call this environment earth. Beginning on the fourth day of the creation account, God created the sun as a source of light (and heat) for the earth to revolve around as it spins on its own axis. Likewise, God created the moon as a satellite to revolve around the earth. These two great orbs in the galaxy would control length of days, months, seasons, and years as they are experienced on the earth. God also created the stars throughout the expanse of the heavens. These could later be used for navigation for those that would live on earth. The hemisphere of the earth that faced the light of the sun would be considered daytime while the opposite hemisphere would be considered night. The rotation of the earth on its axis would be used to count days while the orbit of the moon around the earth would be used to mark months. The orbit of the earth around the sun would constitute a year. The positional relationship of these three, the earth, the moon, and the sun, defines the concept of time. Without the earth’s rotation on its own axis with respect to the sun, there is no such thing as a day. Without the earth’s orbit around the sun, there is no such thing as a year. Time does not exist outside of the positional relationship of these three great creations of God. Although astronauts may travel to the moon and back, their journey is still marked in time by the positional relationship of the earth, the moon, and the sun during their trip. Time is an inherent part of the creation of God. It exists for the benefit of mankind that will be created in God’s image and after His likeness. Thus, the fourth day of creation ended, and God declared that it was all good. On the fifth day of creation, God commanded his creation to participate in the creation process. God commanded the waters to bring forth the living creatures that swim in them and the birds that would fly in the sky above the ground. The waters of the earth were teeming with aquatic life both small and great. Birds that could walk on the earth, swim on the surface of the waters and fly in the air took wing. (Even evolutionists suggest that there is a connection between the water of the earth and some non-aquatic life that lives on the earth, i.e., a connection between fish and birds.) Then God commanded the earth to bring forth the animal life that would move upon the ground. Therefore, the earth brought forth all manner of living creatures that move and live upon the earth. All of these living creatures, whether aquatic or non-aquatic, were created to reproduce after its own kind. At this point in the creation account, everything that would exist in and on the earth was created except mankind and the garden that God would plant as his first place of employment. God again noted that what was created was good. Robert C. Hudson August 30, 2018

God Creates Heavens and Earth

September 2, 2018 Background Scripture: Genesis 1:1 – 13 Lesson Passage: Genesis 1:1 – 13 So many things are put into proper perspective when we first consider the biblical account of the creation of everything. Throughout recorded history, man has always yearned to know about the origin of everything—including humanity. The rational mind is led to the conclusion that the physical world is the result of an intelligent creator. It takes much more faith to believe that such an orderly nature could somehow appear out of nothing. Man has developed many philosophies purporting to explain his own existence as well as the universe. The more man searches, the more he continues to find. There appears to be no end to the wonder that is the universe. When advanced technology telescopes are launched into space and aimed at the dark spaces between distant stars, countless other galaxies, stars, planets, and asteroids suddenly appear. When one takes the most powerful microscope and aim it at what appears to be nothing, a whole world of micro-structures appears. When the psalmist without the aid of technology observed the night sky, he asked, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” Any unbiased observation of the natural world leads to humility in men. Furthermore, any dissertation that suggests an explanation of what is still unfolding in our observation is worth considering. In other words, if I were not a person of faith, I would still be interested in an explanation of the things that I observe in nature. To this longing for meaning and explanation, God responds, I did it! I made all of it. What we have seen and even what we have yet to see are all the product of God’s creative expression. God called forth those things that were not and they came forth. In the mind of God, He saw everything that He desired of a physical world and he called it into being. The first words of the bible are, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Note that God shows up without explanation of Himself. There is no segue into the creation story. God is self-existent. The ever-present God calls for those things that did not exist. There is no statement concerning God’s existence prior to His creation of the physical universe. What is clear from the first verse of the bible is that God was present when there was nothing physical in existence. There is much written and debated about how much time elapsed between the first verse of the bible and the second verse. Did God create an empty and shapeless earth and then populated it little by little? Or did God create a populated earth and a disaster occurred that caused His creation to become empty and shapeless? Regardless of how much time elapsed between the first two verses of the bible, the second verse reveals to us that the Spirit of God was brooding over the desolate and empty earth in preparation for life as we know it. That’s encouraging to consider that the Spirit of God can brood over a desolate and empty life and bring forth something wonderful from it. Only God could know what light is when there is nothing but darkness. So, He called light from the darkness and commanded them to separate the one from the other. To this day, light and darkness stand as testaments to the sustaining power of the word of God. Light and darkness cannot coexist in the same space. Where one is, the other cannot be. They maintain the separation God commanded at the beginning. Then God separated the water from the land and caused vegetation to appear. Thus, ended the third day of the creation story. Robert C. Hudson August 23, 2018