25-0907a Transcript

(1:27) Good morning. It’s good to see everyone today. (1:30) We are continuing our series through the first 11 chapters of Genesis. (1:37) We’ve just finished our journey through the majestic first chapter of the creation week, (1:44) and I’d like to bring to your remembrance some insights we gained from chapter 1 before (1:50) continuing into chapter 2, which we will do today.

We noted from the time of Moses, (1:58) when Genesis 1 was first written, around 1500 BC, until the 1780, and that’s around 3200 years, (2:10) there was no controversial gap of time between verses 1 and 2, known as the gap theory. (2:19) There was no concept of the word day meaning long periods of time, and no idea that God (2:29) directed the evolutionary processes of creating and advancing the universe and life. The general (2:37) belief for those 3200 years was that a plain reading of Genesis 1 gave us God’s literal, (2:50) historical account of creation, the beginning of God’s metanarrative.

So what happened? (2:59) A counter narrative appeared in the late 1700s AD and became established in the 1800s, (3:09) one that counters every point of God’s account of creation, which is a discussion for another time. (3:19) So we decided to look at Genesis afresh without trying to jam it into the current cosmological (3:28) thinking. We wanted to see what the text actually says through a biblical lens.

We will call this (3:37) a young earth creationist perspective. We made some preliminary observations. (3:45) First, that Genesis 1 verse 1 tells us that God made heavens, noting that the word was plural, (3:56) and the implication of this is that on day one, he made more than one heaven.

(4:04) He made the heavens and the earth. We saw that the Bible talks about three heavens. (4:12) One is our atmosphere, the space between the surface of the earth and outer space, (4:17) what we call the sky.

That is made up of the air that we breathe, and that was made (4:25) a little bit later on day two. The two heavens created on day one, the universe or outer space, (4:36) what we see in the night sky, and as it is called the third heaven, the heaven of heavens, (4:44) where God and the angels reside. The Bible tells us that God himself is spirit, (4:52) and the heaven of heavens is a created spiritual place.

Nehemiah 9.6 says, (5:00) you alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens, with all their hosts, (5:07) the earth, and all that is on it. So in the beginning, a spiritual heaven and a physical (5:16) heaven, together, they are the heavens that are created on day one.

There is a spiritual realm, (5:25) the heaven of heavens, and a physical realm, our universe. It appears that the spiritual heaven (5:32) and its host, the angels, were created on day one before the physical heaven and the earth. (5:40) Job 38.4-7 tells us that the angels shouted for joy and worshipped God when they watched him (5:48) create the earth.

A quick summary of the six days of creation and the seventh day of rest follows. (5:57) On day one, the spiritual and physical heavens are created, the earth and its foundations. (6:06) Water is created, implied by its existence.

The Spirit of God hovered over the waters. (6:15) It doesn’t tell us water was created, but since it talks about water, it must have been created (6:20) on day one. Darkness is also created.

The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters in darkness. (6:30) And Isaiah 45 verses 5-7 tell us that yes, God creates darkness. And darkness does not exist (6:39) in the spiritual realm, only in the physical realm.

Light is created in the physical realm (6:46) on day one to separate light from darkness. Usually, this is the thing that we think that (6:53) God created on the first day. God said, let there be light.

And most of us just assume that that’s (7:00) all he created. And as we’ve seen, he’s created a lot more than that on day one. But light is (7:06) created on day one, specifically to separate the light from the darkness.

And time is created on (7:14) day one. There was evening and there was morning, the passing of time on the first day. On day two, (7:22) the atmosphere is created.

That’s actually the first heaven, but it’s not created until day two. (7:29) It’s the only thing created on day two, and its creation probably extends into day three, (7:37) because it’s the only day that doesn’t have the notation after it talks about God creating the (7:45) expanse, the atmosphere. There is no notation that says, and God saw that it was good.

(7:52) But on the third day, he says that twice. So the atmosphere probably extends into the third day. (8:01) So creating an atmosphere on a planet is a big job.

On day three, land appears, created as part (8:11) of the earth’s foundation on day one, but it’s covered by water until day three. And after the (8:19) creation of the atmosphere on day two, the first living things appear on day three. And what are (8:27) the first living things? Vegetation, plants, and trees.

On day four, the lights of the physical (8:35) realm, the sun, moon, and stars are created, replacing the mysterious light that was created (8:43) on day one and illuminates creation until day four. These physical lights, sun, moon, and stars, (8:53) have multiple purposes. Illumination is one of them, so is timekeeping.

They were put there to (9:00) mark months and things. On day five, the sea creatures and the birds are created. And on day (9:09) six, the land creatures are created.

And finally, man is created, and it tells us that man is (9:17) created in the image or likeness of God. He’s a reflection of God. On day seven, God rests.

(9:29) And God rests here not because he is weary. Isaiah 40 verse 28 tells us that God doesn’t faint, (9:38) and he does not get weary. So why does he rest? God stops and rests to celebrate his creation (9:48) and calls it very good.

And he rests as an example to us as we find out later on in the (9:58) law of Moses that he rested as an example to us that we should take a day of rest from our labor. (10:08) So now let’s move on to an overview of Genesis 2 verses 4 through 25, (10:17) a passage that zooms in like a divine magnifying glass on the events of day six. (10:25) From a young earth creationist perspective, grounded in a plain literal reading of the (10:31) scripture and aligned with the principles of the Christian restoration movement, (10:36) that is the churches of Christ.

This text isn’t a contradiction or a myth. It’s historical truth, (10:45) revealing God’s intimate design for humanity, the earth, and relationships. Let’s dive in, (10:54) trusting the Bible as our ultimate authority, just as our restoration forebears urged us (11:00) to return to the simple, unadulterated word of God, (11:06) the foundation, a fresh perspective on creation, Genesis 2 verses 4 through 6. (11:14) We begin with verse 4. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth (11:22) when they were created in the day that the Lord made the earth and the heavens.

This isn’t starting (11:29) a new story. It’s a transition, a summarizing and restating of the main points that focuses (11:37) our attention on the details of day six. In our discussion from chapter one, we’ve emphasized (11:44) that there’s no room here for long ages or evolutionary processes.

The earth is young, (11:52) created just days before, around 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, based on biblical genealogies. (12:01) Verses 5 and 6 describe a pre-rain world where no shrub had yet appeared because God had not sent (12:09) rain, but a mist rose from the earth to water the ground. This paints a picture of God’s (12:16) supernatural provision in a perfect, newly formed world.

No millions of years of erosion (12:24) or geological upheaval, just an ideal environment sustained by the creator himself. (12:33) From a plain reading of the text, we see this is evidence against old earth theories (12:41) that insert death and suffering before Adam. Instead, it’s a very good creation, free from (12:51) thorns, toil, or turmoil, and death, until sin enters the scene.

The crown of creation, (13:00) chapter 2, verses 7 through 17, is the humanity’s origin. (13:07) Moving to verse 7, then the Lord God formed a man of dust from the ground and breathed (13:14) into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. (13:21) Here God gets his hands dirty, so to speak, forming Adam directly from the dust, (13:27) not through evolutionary ancestors.

This is a special creation, instantaneous, miraculous. (13:35) Adam isn’t the product of chance. He’s given the breath of life, and he’s the image bearer (13:43) of God that sets him apart from animals.

This rejects any form of theistic evolution. (13:50) Adam is historical, the first man, and through him sin and death entered the world, we’re told in (13:59) Romans 5, verse 12. God then plants the garden of Eden eastward and places Adam there, (14:07) verses 8 through 14 of chapter 2 of Genesis.

Eden is no fairy tale. It’s a real historical (14:15) location with identifiable rivers, like the Tigris and Euphrates, but it’s pre-flood, (14:22) and the pre-flood world looked different. The global catastrophe of Noah’s day (14:27) reshaped the geography.

Eden epitomizes the perfect example of God’s abundant provision, (14:37) trees for food and beauty, and even the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and (14:44) evil. In verses 15 through 17, Adam receives his mandate to work and keep the garden, (14:52) and the command not to eat from the forbidden tree lest he die. This introduces human responsibility (15:01) and free will right from the start.

Work isn’t a curse. It’s a pre-fall blessing, (15:09) a call to stewardship, and the warning about death, it underscores the creation, (15:17) that creation was death-free until disobedience. This perfect state contradicts old earth models (15:26) where death predates humanity.

Instead, it points to a young creation where everything was very (15:34) good. The need for companionship, and we see animals in the first woman in Genesis 2 verses (15:43) 18 through 23. Verse 18 marks a pivotal moment, and the Lord God said, it is not good that the (15:55) man should be alone.

I will make him a helper fit for him. This is the first not good in the (16:04) scriptures, highlighting God’s relational design. To illustrate, God creates the animals from the (16:12) ground and brings them to Adam to name, verses 19 through 20.

This isn’t a separate creation event, (16:20) it’s part of day six, topical rather than strictly chronological. Adam names the kinds, (16:30) the broader categories, not as restricted as species, which is an evolutionary idea, (16:38) but Adam names the kinds, broader categories that allow for the rapid diversification we see (16:44) post-flood, fitting a young earth timeline. And among the animals, no suitable helper is found, (16:53) and this reinforces humanity’s uniqueness, no evolutionary link here.

Then in verses 21 through (17:02) 23, God performs the first surgery. He causes Adam to sleep, the first anesthetic event. Takes a rib, (17:14) and forms Eve, not from his head to rule over him, and not from his foot to be beneath him, (17:22) but from his side to be equal and complementary.

Adam’s joyful response, this at last is bone of (17:32) my bones and flesh of my flesh, and he celebrates God’s perfect match. From a plain reading of the (17:40) text, we see this as direct creation, affirming Adam and Eve as the literal first couple, (17:48) not symbolic figures. The divine blueprint, marriage and innocence, in Genesis 2, verses 24 and 25.

(17:58) The passage culminates in verses 24 and 25, therefore, a man shall leave his father and (18:06) his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife (18:14) were both naked, and they were not ashamed. Here God institutes marriage as the foundational human (18:23) relationship, one man, one woman for life.

This isn’t a cultural invention. It’s woven (18:32) into creation’s fabric. Gender and marriage are God’s intentional design from the beginning.

(18:41) Male and female are not societal constructs, but divine ordinances, as explored in resources like (18:51) the Apologetics Press article, Where Does Gender Come From? This verse undergirds a New Testament (18:59) teaching on marriage, also found in Ephesians 5, 22 through 33, and calls us back to biblical (19:07) patterns in the restoration movement. The nakedness without shame reflects pre-fall (19:14) innocence, a world of transparency, trust, and purity. Sin had not yet marred God’s masterpiece.

(19:24) But what’s the application? How do we live out God’s design today? And what does it mean for us? (19:32) First, embrace the literal truth of Genesis. In a world pushing evolutionary myths and old (19:40) earth compromises stand firm on a young creation. As Apologetics Press reminds us, rejecting these (19:49) undermines the gospel itself.

If death predates Adam, why do we need a savior from sin’s curse? (19:59) Second, honor your God-given purpose. Like Adam, we’re called to steward creation responsibly, (20:07) work diligently, and obey God’s commands. And our relationships pursue companionship as God (20:15) designed, especially in marriage, where unity reflects God’s love for His church.

And third, (20:23) remember the fall is coming in chapter 3, but so is redemption. Adam points to the last Adam, (20:32) Jesus Christ, as referenced in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 45, who restores what sin broke. (20:41) If you’re struggling with loneliness, purpose, or broken relationships, (20:46) turn to Him, the ultimate helper and provider.

So may this overview inspire you to dig deeper (20:56) into God’s word. And if you would like to discuss or explore more, I’m here just to ask you. (21:05) And now we will extend the invitation to anyone who’s subject to it.

Come while we stand and sing.