Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 2 * PART 1 * BOOK 1
Adam and Eve Created – The Three Circles
Genesis 1:6 – 2:7
Well we’re going to continue right on where we left off last week, so if you’ll turn with me to Genesis chapter 1, we’ll pick right up with verse 6. We trust that you’ll study your Bible with us, because the only reason we teach is that people might understand what the Bible says, and what it doesn’t say. We also trust that with the help of the Holy Spirit the Scriptures will become clear to you.
Remember in our last lesson when we left off I encouraged you to read these next few verses from verse 6 all the way down through verse 23, and take note of the fact that there is not a single word that indicates creation as such. But rather the language is that God has taken that which we have found in the previous verses, which was underwater, was under darkness, as a result of a previous judgment, and now we find God is simply restoring everything to a functional operation. Then when we get down to verse 20 we’ll see that God reinstates the act of creation in the animal kingdom and then the creation of mankind. But from verse 6 through 19 it’s merely a restoration process.
Genesis 1:6
“And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it (the firmament) divide the waters from the waters.”
Now all you have to do here is just very carefully analyze the wording, and it becomes evident what took place. The word firmament is what we call our atmosphere, it’s what we call our sky, and it may also involve a certain portion of what we would call space, the closer planets or whatever. But for the most part I like to look at firmament as our atmosphere. If you pick that verse apart carefully it says, “that God is going to divide the water that was covering the earth as a result of earlier judgment in the form of a flood.” I referred to it earlier as the first flood.
But now the Scriptures said that God is going to divide this water by taking ½ of it and moving it above the atmosphere. I like to picture that, if I may, as a giant vapor belt out in space, above the earth. Later in the Scriptures we’re going to see that vapor belt come back on the earth in the form of Noah’s flood, which was several hundred years later. But for now let’s just picture this vapor belt out here in space, but remember that ½ the water has been left on the earth. Now let’s read what happens next in verse 7.
Genesis 1:7
“And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament (the atmosphere) from the waters which were above the firmament: (atmosphere) and it was so.”
See that’s just plain English. He takes ½ the water, and He lifts it up above the atmosphere, but He leaves ½ of the water on the earth. Now verse 8.
Genesis 1:8a
“And God called the firmament Heaven,…”
Remember I said in an earlier class, that there were three heavens mentioned in Scripture. He’s got the first heaven which we realize is the atmosphere, it’s the heaven that the birds fly in, and the Scripture in Jeremiah 9:10 uses that terminology, “the fowls of the heavens”
God also has the second heaven, which we understand as space. We get a glimpse of that in Genesis chapter 15, when God told Abraham, “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able.” The second heaven is the home of the stars, sun, and moon.
But God also has the third heaven which you’ll find in II Corinthians chapter 12, where Paul speaks of his own experience, “having been caught up into the third heaven,” which is the very abode of God, or heaven as we normally think of it.
So those are the three terms of heaven in Scripture. So what we have then is the earth’s water has been divided where ½ of it is up here in this vapor belt above the atmosphere, up into the first or maybe even the second heaven, and the rest of the water is left on the earth. Then we find in verse 9 and 10 that God separates the water left on earth, and makes dry land appear, and the rest of the waters He calls seas and oceans.
Now those of you who have heard me teach longer, know that I don’t get dogmatic on a lot of these things, and say, this is the way it was. If you don’t agree with me on some of these things that’s ok. But coming back to this vapor belt, I would like to spend a little time on that because this gives rise, theoretically it would seem, that this vapor belt, much to the consternation of science today, talking about a “green house effect,” and that’s exactly what they had back here in Genesis. I think this vapor belt was such that it shielded the earth at that time from the damaging part of the sunrays, but now with that moisture in place these sunlight rays would be defused. So consequently there was no direct sun beam hitting the planet, but rather it was all defused, and consequently the planet was tropical from pole to pole.
Now, archeological evidences shows that at one time that had to be the case, because we’ve found up in northern Siberia frozen in the deep ice of the far north, tropical vegetation, and tropical animals. So we know that at one time this old planet has a constant tropical temperature, and consequently a green house effect. The world as we understand it was one temperature, and that explains the fact as the Scriptures does, that it never rained before Noah’s flood. But rather at that time the earth got it’s water from beneath, because there was no opportunity for weather. Again with the sunlight defused all around the globe, rather than hitting the earth directly as it does now, there was no shift in temperature or increase in what we call atmospheric pressure, because everything was pretty much constant, and that gave rise to the beautiful calm, constant weather in that pre-flood experience. Remember also that all things were perfect, it was just absolutely beautiful, it was beyond our comprehension. Now verse 9 and 10.
Genesis 1:9-10
“And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering tighter of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.”
Remember when God called something good, there was just absolutely nothing amiss. Now with the dry land and everything in place, we see the natural order once again comes on the scene:
Genesis 1:11
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.”
See there’s not a word in there of creation, is there? All these things have been here before, and with earth brought back to a place of production, it just naturally came back on the scene. You know we’ve had something like that happen in our own recent days that makes this so believable. Even though we take all of this by faith, and a lot of things are beyond logic, and beyond comprehension, I think it’s certainly appropriate that we can just look at the logical aspect with God’s dealing with mankind and His creation.
Logically we have the beautiful example of Mount Saint Helen. Remember a few years ago Mount Saint Helen just literally blew it’s top, and just devastated that whole area all around it, and now they are already writing about how beautiful the new growth and vegetation and the wild life is all coming back even better than it was before. So I think this is so logical that when God restored the production to the earth, it naturally came back into existence. There was any need for creation, it was already there, and all it needed was the condition as it was even after Noah’s flood. Now then looking at verse 12, you’ll see it’s a repetition of verse 11.
Genesis 1:12
“And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself, after his kind; and God saw that it was good.”
Now of course this all flies in the face of evolution doesn’t it? That’s why there’s the constant argument between the adherence of the Genesis account of things, and the evolutionist’s account. God emphases over and over in these early verses of Genesis that everything was created after it’s own kind. We know that even today with all of our knowledge of biology that you still can’t take something from one species, and cross it with something totally different. Now I know there are times when seemingly they can take cells from one species and they will survive for a little while, but never for long. And the reason for that is, God has said, “everything after his own kind.” And there is no room for such a thing as evolutionary process that these came from one original germ cell.
Now it’s also interesting that we can see even in human biology that we can take cells from pigskin and help burn patients. I don’t know how many of you ever read about that, but I read more than one article where they could actually take thin layers of pigskin and put it on a human burn patient, because the pigskin would breath, and react so well with the human physiology that it just enhanced the healing process, but not for long. After just a few days, those cells died and would sluff off.
The evolutionists say, “See everything came from the same place.” But we that are creationists would say, “It just shows there was One Master Mind in creation.” Everything that God has created has come from that One Master Mind, and even though there may be similarities, that does not tell us that they came by way of evolution, but rather the same Creator is the instigator of all of this. Now verse 13.
Genesis 1:13
“And the evening and the morning were the third day.”
And again as I said earlier that I have no problem with the 24 hour day, because we’re not talking about things just suddenly being created as we say in verse 1. But now creation is coming back on the scene quite naturally. Now verse 14.
Genesis 1:14
“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; (he makes everything functional again. Whatever He had placed over the earth in that first catastrophe between verse 1 and 2, and had made darkness and water cover the earth, had blotted out the sun, so what ever it was, God simply removed it and now all these things are in view, and are now to be able to do what they’re supposed to do) and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.”
Genesis 1:15-16a
“And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. (just a statement of fact and we believe it. When God said that it was done, we can trust that He knew what He was talking about.) 16. And God made two great lights;…”
Now the word made there if you’ll look up in a good Hebrew dictionary is not even close to the word creation. It’s a word that more or less just uses that word that He made it operational. It doesn’t say that He brought it out of nothing as the word “Barah” does in verse 1. So even the word made here does not indicate a creative act.
Genesis 1:16b-18
“…the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the starts also.(God brought them back into operation) 17. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven (the second heaven, where the stars, moon and Sun are) to give light upon the earth. 18. And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.”
Now remember He’s getting everything ready for the appearance of the human race. This earth as I mentioned earlier was created to be inhabited, and this is the process of getting it all ready. Now verse 19.
Genesis 1:19
“And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”
Also remember we started with the first day of creation with what we know today as Sunday. So we’ve already come through Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and on the Thursday of that week we come to verse 20.
Genesis 1:20-21
“And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. (So God began with marine life, and that’s all it says about it.) 21. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”
Now again we have to remember God did not create every sub-species within a specie. We know from our study again of various life sciences that we can have mutations in various species. So consequently we can start with a head species, and then we can have all kinds of sub-species that would come on the scene after a long period of time. In fact there are still mutations taking place today. So we can readily understand that God didn’t have to create 15 or 20 types of horses, and that many types of all the other animals, and birds, but rather they would come on the scene as time would go by.
Now after the creation of the birds, the marine life, and all these things in verses 20 and 21, we have God blessing them in verse 22.
Genesis 1:22-23
“And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.”
So now we’re all the way through Thursday. Here in verses 24 and 25 it is again just simply a review of the previous verses”
Genesis 1:24
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.”
Do you see that constant repetition of “after his kind?” I always try to emphasis as I teach that whenever the Bible repeats something rather often in a short period of time, even in a chapter or two, it’s there for emphasis. God wants us to take note, that over and over God created everything, whether it was the plant life, bird life, marine life, or animal life, everything was created within it’s own kind and nothing has ever been able to break away from that one fact. Now verse 26. We’re not going to have time in this lesson to even get close to exhausting it, but it behooves us to move, and take as much of it as we can. Remember this is the sixth day of that first week of creation, and this will finalize it, because the seventh day or the Saturday sabbath, God is going to take that day for His rest.
Genesis 1:26a
“And God said, Let us make man in our image,…”
Now the Scriptures always so accurate, and isn’t it unique that the plural pronoun is used here referring to God.
Genesis 1:26a
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion…”
Let’s just stop and analyze this. Why the plural pronoun? Well if you remember when we first started back in Genesis 1:1 we spent a good bit of time emphasizing that God is a Trinity!
God The Father – God The Son – God The Holy Spirit.
Now that’s a plurality of personalities, and yet each one of these are a distinct personality within themselves. So what we’ve really got here then is that the Triune God, the Trinity. is saying:
Genesis 1:26a
“Let us make man in our image,…”
Now you also want to remember that I pointed out that the God of Genesis 1:1 was “Eloheim.” And it too was referring to Triune God, the Trinity, but if you remember when we went into the New Testament in John’s gospel, and in the Book of Ephesians, Colossian, and Hebrews, it emphasizes the fact that even though the Triune God was involved in the Creation, the New Testament tells us that “God the Son” was the One who spoke the Word that cause creation to become a viable act.
I always like to emphases the fact that as soon as we get to any of the acts of creation, we’re dealing with God the Son. Jesus the Christ, is the One who actually spoke the Word, and things happened. That’s why in John’s gospel 1:1 we have:
John 1:1
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
I always like to note here that the word “Word” denotes “communication” You can’t commutate anything or accomplish anything without putting it into words. So God the Son was the One who, by the spoken Word, created everything that has ever been created including man himself.
Ephesians 3:9
“And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:”
But we can’t leave out the other two, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit, because they’re all three involved.
So now the pronouns are referring to the Trinity, but it’s the Lord Jesus as we know Him in the New Testament is the One who called this human being in reality. Now let’s finish verse 26.
Genesis 1:26a
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them (mankind) have dominion…”
As I teach I like to emphasize certain word from time to time, and here is an important word. Man is to have dominion. Do you know what that word means? He is to have absolute control over everything that God is going to put under him. And look what it is:
Genesis 1:26b
“…over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
Man is going to be the prime ruler or overseer you might say over all that has been created on the earth. Now verse 27.
Genesis 1:27
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
Now there’s an awful lot in that verse that we certainly don’t have time now in this lesson to get into it and we won’t even try. But this creation of mankind is going to be the crowning act of His creation, and that’s why God left it until the sixth day. Everything else has been coming on the scene for man’s benefit, and now we have man, and consequently since God created man in His own image, and since he is the crowing act of creation, this is why God has put such an emphasis on the sanctity of human life.
Tonight we know that in many areas of the world, life is cheap, isn’t it? But that is not the way God intended it to be. God intended the human race to be head and shoulders above anything else of his creation. Man is unique because nothing else was created in the image of God. And for that reason God had to finally in the Law, say: “Thou shalt not kill.” God mandated it that man was special and since he was special, then life was not to be taken cheaply, but rather he was to be protected, and for this reason when the Law came on the scene, God made provision for capital punishment, and all these things to protect the sanctity of life.
We also have to realize that for the first approximately 1600 years of human experience, from Adam until Noah’s flood, there was no written Law. Man simply had it on his conscience what was right and wrong. Neither was there any formal system of worship. Now all this I think was for a purpose because as we come on through the Scriptures, and we come up through the human experience, and the unfolding of God’s program, you’ll notice that man moved from one set of circumstances to another. It isn’t that God had to change, because God never changes. But to show us how man just step by step has to be somehow shown, had to taught, the various aspect of human behavior.
But going back the first 1600 years, man is without a form of worship, and without a written Law, and what did he prove? Mankind couldn’t exist that way, because by the time you get to the end of this period of human experience, what’s the picture? Violence is filling the earth, it’s corrupt, and they have completely turned against God, and it’s a flop. Man made a mess of the whole thing, so God is going to destroy them with the waters of Noah’s flood, and then He’s going to come up with something totally different, and we’ll be looking at that sometime down the road.