25-1019a Transcript

(1:17) Good morning. It’s good to see everybody and our (1:20) visitors also. We’re continuing our journey through the first 11 chapters of Genesis (1:29) examining the very beginning of God’s narrative with humanity. (1:35) Today we’re in Genesis chapter 2 a passage that zooms in on the creation of man and the garden of (1:42) Eden.

I pray that our father opens our hearts to his word and that he helps us see his design (1:49) and creation, his provision for our lives and his purpose for each and every one of us. (1:57) So as we continue our study I’d like to bring some things to remembrance. (2:04) Genesis isn’t a science textbook.

It’s a history text. It’s an account of real historical events (2:13) woven into God’s metanarrative, his grand overarching story of mankind on earth. This (2:21) isn’t mythology or allegory.

It’s the inspired record of how God spoke the universe into being (2:29) and set the stage for his relationship with us. To frame this let’s recount Hebrews chapter 3 (2:38) verses 1 through 4. Here the writer reminds us that Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our (2:45) confession, was faithful to God who appointed him just as Moses was faithful in all of God’s house. (2:53) But Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses and as much as the builder of the house (2:59) has more glory than the house itself.

And verse 4 nails it, for every house is built by someone (3:08) but the builder of all things is God. Think about that. When you see a house, a beautifully crafted (3:18) home with intricate details, you don’t assume it just appeared by chance.

You know someone designed (3:27) and built it. It’s an expression of intelligent design. We recognize the handiwork of a craftsman (3:35) in man-made things and likewise we’re called to see God’s design and nature.

(3:42) He built everything, all things, through his son Jesus, Hebrews 1 and verse 2. (3:51) This echoes Romans chapter 1 verses 19 and 20 where it says what can be known about God is (4:00) plain to them because God has made it plain to them for his invisible attributes, namely his (4:07) eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world (4:15) and the things that have been made so they are without excuse. God expects us to look at the (4:23) world around us, the complexity of a cell, the vastness of the stars, the precision of ecosystems (4:30) and see evidence, expressions of intelligent design of his eternal power and divine nature, (4:39) his godness, his divinity shines through. It’s not hidden, it’s plainly seen and in Genesis 2 (4:49) we see this design up close focused on humanity.

Genesis chapter 2 verses 4 through 7 is a closer (4:59) look at man’s creation. We’ve already covered the opening verses of chapter 2 in our series (5:06) but let’s recap to set the scene. Verse 4 introduces a more detailed account of creation (5:14) centered on man.

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created (5:21) in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. This phrase these are the generations (5:29) of appears 10 times in Genesis. It’s like a signpost dividing the book into sections and (5:36) outlining God’s covenantal blueprint, his plan unfolding through history.

(5:43) Verses 5 and 6 paint a picture of the earth before full vegetation when no bush of the field (5:52) was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up for the Lord God had not (5:58) caused it to rain on the land and there was no man to work the ground but a mist was going up (6:04) from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground. This is a more detailed glimpse of (6:12) into day 6 of creation than we get from chapter 1. No rain yet. God sustained the earth through a mist (6:21) perhaps a vapor canopy or underground aquifers.

In this very good world free from death and harsh (6:30) elements, rain doesn’t appear until the flood in Genesis chapter 7. The text challenges the idea (6:40) of an old earth with billions of years of rain and erosion and death before humans. (6:48) Note what we see here is God’s creation immediate, perfect, and sustained by him directly (6:55) by his word. I feel compelled to address this assumption that the earth is billions of years (7:02) old because it’s probably the most pervasive idea that directly conflicts with the beginning (7:09) text of Genesis.

It is so pervasive that it is a global worldwide commonly held belief, (7:17) a truth claim that even many Christians believe as fact. The naturalistic claim of an old earth (7:27) spanning billions of years rests on the assumption that only natural processes (7:35) govern the universe. This worldview asserts that everything from the formation of galaxies (7:42) to the emergence of life can be explained by observable, repeatable mechanisms, (7:49) leaving no room for the supernatural.

By embracing this perspective, one implicitly denies (7:58) the existence of a spiritual realm and a purposeful, intelligent designer. Such a stance (8:06) not only dismisses the biblical account of creation but also undermines the very foundation (8:14) of a personal sovereign God who actively shapes history. In contrast, the Bible presents Genesis (8:25) as a historical narrative, not a poetic or mythological tale.

The detailed genealogies (8:33) in Genesis 5 and 11 provide a clear timeline tracing humanity’s lineage from Adam to Abraham (8:41) in a matter of thousands, not billions of years. These genealogies taken at face value (8:50) align with a young earth perspective, suggesting a creation that occurred roughly 6,000 to 10,000 (8:58) years ago. To interpret these accounts as symbolic or allegorical risks diluting their (9:05) historical reliability, which is foundational to the rest of Scripture.

Jesus and the New Testament (9:15) writers consistently treated Genesis as historical fact. In Matthew 24, verses 37 through 39, (9:27) Jesus refers to Noah and the flood as a real event, using it to warn of future judgment. (9:36) Similarly, in Matthew 19, verses 4 and 5, he cites the creation of Adam and Eve from Genesis (9:44) chapter 1, verse 27, and the institution of marriage, Genesis 2, 24, to establish timeless (9:54) moral principles.

The apostles, including Paul, Peter, and John, also anchor their teachings (10:02) in the historical reality of Genesis. If these events were merely mythological, (10:10) the theological arguments built upon them, such as the origin of sin and the need for redemption, (10:18) would lose their grounding, calling into question the authority of Jesus' teachings. (10:25) Denying the historicity of Genesis has profound implications.

If the early chapters of Genesis (10:33) are not factual, then the doctrinal and moral framework of Christianity, as affirmed by Jesus (10:42) and the apostles, begins to unravel. The young earth view rooted in a literal reading of Genesis (10:50) upholds the integrity of Scripture as a unified revelation. To reject this is to risk undermining (10:59) the divine inspiration of the Bible and the credibility of Christ’s own words, (11:07) which form the cornerstone of the Christian faith.

To me, if Jesus and the apostles believed Genesis (11:17) was a historical account of actual events, then why shouldn’t I? And if we don’t believe Genesis, (11:29) why should we even call ourselves Christians? Really, the notion that a young earth conflicts (11:38) with science often stems from competing worldviews like uniformitarianism and evolution, (11:46) which assume that natural processes alone, operating as they do today, explain the past. (11:56) Peter warned of this mindset 2,000 years ago in 2 Peter 3 verses 3 through 6, describing scoffers (12:05) who claim all things continue as they were from the beginning. These scoffers, Peter says, (12:13) deliberately ignore God’s supernatural acts, his creation of the world by his word (12:22) and its judgment by the flood.

By rejecting the supernatural, uniformitarianism and naturalism (12:31) rest on flawed assumptions that limit reality to only observable processes. Yet science, (12:41) while a powerful tool for studying the present, cannot directly observe the past without making (12:47) such assumptions. They require assumptions.

A young earth perspective aligned with both (12:55) scripture and empirical evidence, such as rapid geological formations like those formed within (13:04) 48 hours of the Mount St. Helens 1980 eruption, soft tissue and dinosaur fossils, and carbon-14 (13:15) and diamonds, which challenge billions of years' timelines. By embracing Genesis’s history, (13:24) we uphold a rational faith that honors God’s creative power without abandoning reason (13:31) or the insights of science. So, back to our recap of Genesis chapter 2, picking up in verse 4, (13:42) rather.

Then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils (13:50) the spirit of life, and the man became a living soul. There we see man created in God’s image. (13:59) Just as God is triune, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, man is a three-part being also, (14:07) his body formed from the dust, spirit breathed in by God, and our soul, our living essence.

(14:15) This reflects God’s design. We’re not accidents. We’re intentional creations (14:22) mirroring our creator and complexity and purpose.

So now we’re ready to move on to Genesis chapter (14:31) 2, verses 8 through 17, where God plants a garden. This evening we’ll look at verses 15 through 17, (14:42) where Adam gets a job and the Bible introduces us to the ideas of ethics and morals. (14:50) But for now, let’s move into the core of this morning’s text, verses 8 through 14, (14:56) where God plants the Garden of Eden.

This isn’t a fairy tale garden. It’s a real historical place (15:04) in pre-flood geography, marked by rivers like the Tigris and Euphrates. Verses 8 and 9 say, (15:13) and the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed, (15:20) and out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight (15:27) and good for food.

The tree of life was in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge (15:33) of good and evil. So God doesn’t abandon humanity to a barren wilderness after forming Adam. (15:42) Instead, he intentionally plants a garden in Eden, a cultivated oasis of abundance, (15:49) beauty, and provision, verse 9, and tailored specifically for the man he created.

(15:56) This act underscores God’s relational care. Eden isn’t just a random patch of land, (16:05) but a prepared home where humanity can thrive and fellowship with their Creator. (16:12) Critics often point to this verse in Genesis 2 as evidence of, in their words, (16:17) a second creation story that contradicts chapter 1. They claim it depicts God planting vegetation (16:25) anew on the sixth day, after the broader creation of plants on day three, Genesis 1, (16:32) verses 11 and 12.

They argue this proves the Bible is pieced together from conflicting traditions, (16:39) undermining its reliability and divine inspiration. However, no such contradiction exists. (16:49) Genesis 2 isn’t retelling the entire creation week from scratch, but zooming in on day six events (16:56) with a special focus on humanity’s origin and role, Genesis 2, verses 4 through 7 and verses 15 (17:05) through 25.

The chapter’s topical structure, recapping and expanding on key details, (17:13) complements rather than competes with the chronological overview in chapter 1. On day (17:20) 3 in chapter 1, God creates all the vegetation across the earth generically. Let the land produce (17:28) vegetation, seed-bearing plants and trees, Genesis 1, verses 11 and 12, setting the stage for life. (17:37) This is the first appearance of life on the earth.

In the detail of day 6 in chapter 2, (17:47) within this already vegetated world, God plants a localized garden in Eden, featuring specific (17:55) trees like those that are pleasant to look at and are good for food, plus the tree of life (18:02) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam is placed there to work it and take care of (18:09) it, verse 15, highlighting human stewardship that we’ll look at tonight. These day six plants are (18:17) purposeful additions, perhaps specially adapted or enhanced for Eden’s unique purpose, (18:24) not a recreation of all of the earth’s flora.

Scripture elsewhere supports ongoing divine (18:31) activity within creation, for example, God causing plants to grow in specific context, (18:39) as in Numbers chapter 17, verse 8, which is an interesting passage you ought to read it. (18:45) Additional details in chapter 2 enrich our understanding of day 6 without negating (18:51) chapter 1’s broader account. Far from conflict, this is harmonious elaboration, (19:00) revealing God’s thoughtful design for humanity in a world already teeming with life.

(19:07) Eden means delight or pleasure. It’s God’s provision on display. Food from every tree (19:14) that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, verse 9. There’s the tree of life, and it appears (19:21) that eternal physical sustenance was a real possibility if they ate from that tree, given (19:30) that when Adam and Eve are banned from Eden and prohibited from returning after they send, (19:35) this tree is mentioned as the reason why they are banned from the garden, (19:45) lest they take from it and eat and live forever, Genesis 3, verses 22 through 24.

(19:54) And of course there’s the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, (19:57) which we’ll see introduces choice tonight when we tackle verses 16 and 17. (20:05) Verses 10 through 14 describe a river flowing from Eden and into the garden. (20:12) The garden is in Eden and is a subset of the larger land mass of Eden.

The river flows into (20:20) the garden and splits into four rivers, the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. These rivers watered (20:29) the garden and carried resources like gold and precious stones. This isn’t symbolic.

It’s (20:38) geographical detail grounding Eden in real history. Now recognizing that Eden is pre-flood geography, (20:49) the world back then was different, looked different, and was different, as Peter mentions (20:56) in 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 6. Talking about the destruction of the world by the flood, he says, (21:05) by the word of God, the world that then existed, that’s before the flood, was deluged with water (21:12) and perished. The surface of the world at that time was buried under thousands of feet of flood (21:21) sediment.

So the rivers existing today after the flood may have the same names but cannot be the (21:28) same rivers as those before the flood. And also note that verses 10 through 14 are an interruption (21:40) of the text between chapter 2, 4 through 9, and 15 through 17. So verses 4 through 9 are focused on (21:50) Adam, then the garden geography in verses 10 through 14, followed by back to Adam in verses 15 (22:00) through 17.

So verses 10 through 14 form a parenthetical passage giving pre-flood geography (22:09) or geographical characteristics that describe and locate the garden in Eden. So what’s the purpose (22:17) of this parenthetical passage? Post-flood, it cannot be used to locate Eden, since Eden (22:24) is buried under thousands of feet of flood sediment. The passage does give us information (22:30) about the richness of the materials available right from the beginning, precious metals and (22:36) precious stones, plus abundant fresh water.

Eden lives up to its description, paradise. (22:44) But what else could the purpose be? I’d like an idea expressed in an article from Answers in (22:52) Genesis titled, How Did Moses Know So Much About the Pre-Flood World? And subtitled is Genesis 2, (23:03) 10 through 14, describing place names in Moses' time or Adam’s. In the article, the authors (23:12) reference Genesis chapter 5, verse 1, where it says, this is the book of the generations of Adam.

(23:21) When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. They speculate that the word book in that (23:27) phrase implies a written versus an oral account, possibly from Adam himself. They also suggest (23:37) that the other, these are the generations of signposts that we’ve talked about earlier, (23:44) were journals from the persons named in the phrase.

And they venture that Moses possibly (23:50) used these written or oral journals as his sources for the book of Genesis. Without going through (23:57) the article, I’ll leave that to you, and I’ll place a link in the online summary of the sermon. (24:03) But for now, let’s jump right to the conclusion, based on chapters 5 and 11 genealogies and the (24:11) signpost source materials.

The answers in Genesis authors conclude, whether through direct divine (24:21) revelation or from written or oral records, actually preserved by the Holy Spirit, (24:29) Moses had access to knowledge about creation week and human history up through the time of Joseph (24:37) and his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Therefore, the best explanation for what seems to be the (24:50) disjointed insertion of Genesis 2, 10 through 14, is that it’s not disjointed at all, (24:57) but a roadmap for people of Adam’s time. Having lived 930 years and many of his descendants (25:08) living the same or longer, Adam stops the creation narrative here in chapter 2, (25:15) and explains to people who probably now live nowhere near Eden where it was in relation to (25:23) other then present-day landmarks.

Adam is anticipating the question of, (25:30) where was Eden located by his younger descendants? And this would be especially true if the book or (25:37) scroll Adam is writing was meant to be re-read by Shem and his sons. Then, after providing a brief (25:46) roadmap, Adam resumes writing the detail about day six of creation week. A point the article (25:56) makes supporting the idea that the original audience targeted lived pre-flood is it mentions (26:04) that the passage is written from a pre-flood perspective.

All the rivers are named in the (26:12) present tense. For example, verse 11 says the name of the first river is Pishon. So the rivers (26:23) were still existent to the writer.

For a post-flood audience, verses 10 through 14 are informational, (26:32) letting us know that Eden and the garden were real historical geographical places. To a pre-flood (26:39) audience who would be familiar with the then existing geographical names, it would be, in the (26:46) author’s words, a roadmap. At any rate, it’s a parenthetical passage.

Tonight we will venture (26:55) into verses 15 through 17, where we will see that God puts Adam in the garden of Eden for the (27:02) purpose to work and keep it. Though contrary to the world’s false truth claims, (27:11) the oldest profession is gardening. Then we’ll turn to verses 16 and 17, where right up front (27:20) the Bible gives us the origins of ethics, morals, free will, and consequences.

Difficult topics for (27:29) which the Bible has answers, and the competing worldview of naturalism has no satisfactory (27:36) answer. For now, let’s sum up and look at some application. Eden epitomizes God’s provincial (27:50) physical needs met, food, water, beauty, spiritual access, and relational setup, (27:59) man directly communicating with God.

But it also sets the stage, which we will see tonight, (28:07) for obedience. God doesn’t force compliance. He invites trust.

So what does this mean for us in (28:16) 2025? First, recognize intelligent design. Just as Hebrews and Romans teach, look at creation and (28:25) see God’s hands. The human eye, with its millions of photoreceptors, isn’t random evolution.

It is (28:33) divine engineering. The DNA in every cell, a code more complex than any computer program, (28:44) points to a programmer. It’s the watch demands a watchmaker explanation on steroids.

So in a world (28:53) pushing naturalistic explanations, stand firm. The builder of all things is God. And finally, (29:02) embrace God’s provision.

Eden shows a God who plants gardens for our delight. (29:08) Today, he provides, through Christ, the ultimate tree of life. In John 6.35, Jesus says, (29:15) I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Are you trusting his provision or (29:22) chasing forbidden fruit? Things that promise satisfaction lead to death. Genesis 2 is an (29:30) ancient history.

It’s his story. It reveals a God of design, who created us with purpose, (29:39) a God of provision, who delights in us, a God of purpose, who calls us to stewardship and obedience. (29:47) Let’s be close.

Let’s pray for eyes to see his design, hearts to trust his provision, (29:54) and wills to follow his purpose. And if you’re here today without Christ, (30:00) come to the builder. He’ll make you new.

Come while we stand and sing.