The Great Story Week 01 From Adam to Noah (Genesis 1-10) Bible Study I. The Creation a. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. i. Herbert Spencer late 19 th century evolutionist Everything fits into one of these categories, time, force, action, space, matter 1. In the Beginning Time 2. God Force 3. Created Action 4. The heavens space 5. The earth matter b. God spoke everything into existence. i. Universe literally means Single spoken sentence c. The Days of Creation Day 1: Light and Dark Day 4: The Sun Moon Stars Day 2: Waters separated heavens created Day 5: Birds and sea creatures Day 3: Dry land and vegetation Day 6: Livestock, beasts, man Day 7: Sabbath i. Three Heavens described in the Bible 1. The sky (where the birds fly) Genesis 1:8 2. The place where the sun, moon, and stars occupy Deuteronomy 4:19 3. The location of God s throne 2 Corinthians 12:2 d. How does evolution differ from the Creation account - http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2006/04/04/order-of-events-matters i. The sun and stars comes before the earth ii. Dry land before the waters iii. Land animals before trees iv. Death before man e. Differing Creation Theories i. Young Earth 1. Literal reading of Genesis 2. The earth and the entire universe was created about 6000 years ago during a literal 6 day process ii. Theistic Evolution 1. Day Age 1
a. Each day represents long periods of time (billions of years) 2. Gap Theory a. A gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 where billions of years of time can be fit in. f. Paradigms What is your worldview? i. Creation God created everything and it was done as He intended it to be done. ii. Evolution Everything came about through naturalistic purposes, God doesn t need to be involved, if there is a god that is g. Is accepting the Creation Story important? i. The inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible is at stake 1. 2 nd Timothy 3:16 2. Jesus said: Mark 10:6 ii. If you deny the Creation, what other doctrines can you also do away with? Where is the line drawn? If one part of the Bible is in error, can we trust any of it? h. Does chapter 2 have a second Creation account that contradicts with chapter 1? i. No. Chapter 1 gives the overview of the Creation while chapter 2 goes back and gives further details on some of the events. ii. When man was placed in the Garden of Eden, God created one more of every animal and brought them to Adam so he could name them. i. Man was made from the dust of the ground and woman was made from man s rib i. It is not true that men have one more rib than women. II. The Fall a. Man was put into the Garden of Eden by God and commanded to work and keep it. God gave one instruction to Adam Genesis 2:16-17 b. At this time, man had a perfect relationship with God as there a was no sin i. God even walked in the garden with them as seen in Genesis 3:8 c. The serpent came to Eve in order to deceive her. i. The first thing the serpent did was try to get Eve to question God Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden ii. Eve did not receive the command from God to not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam likely told her of the command. 1. Eve misstated God s command Genesis 3:3 iii. Adam was not deceived by the serpent. Paul tells us this in 1 Timothy 2:14 1. Adam named all of the animals, he was likely aware of their characteristics 2. Adam took the fruit to become like Eve iv. God knows everything, so why did He call out in Genesis 3:9, Where are you? 1. This is like a parent scolding a child 2
2. He asks Adam who told him he was naked, giving him the opportunity to repent of his sins. v. Adam didn t accept responsibility, rather he blamed God for his sin, The woman whom you gave me d. God is a Holy and cannot abide sin. The appearance of sin cursed the Creation and caused everything to begin to fall into ruin. i. At this point, man s perfect relationship with God was destroyed. Only the blood of Christ can redeem us from sin. 1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. e. God killed an animal and made clothing for Adam and Eve i. This is the first record of anything dying. This is the first shedding of blood and it is done by God Hebrews 9:22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. f. God exiled them from the Garden and placed an angel with a flaming sword at its entrance to prevent reentry g. Where is the Garden of Eden i. There is a reference to a river which flowed out of Eden that split into 4 rivers: Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, Euphrates ii. No one knows where the Garden of Eden was. Remember, there was a worldwide flood that destroyed the entire world. Despite the similar names of the rivers, our current world is different than the one before the flood. The Garden of Eden is likely buried beneath thousands of tons of mud III. Cain and Abel a. Adam knew his wife and she conceived Cain Genesis 4:1 i. This is a common phrase that indicates intimacy b. Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd c. The Lord accepted Abel s sacrifice, but rejected Cain s i. Abel s sacrifice was from the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions ii. Cain s sacrifice was from the fruit of the ground no description is given about it being the first fruits or the best. d. Why did God reject Cain s sacrifice i. No one is certain, but there are several thoughts that are argued 1. Cain s sacrifice was not a blood sacrifice like Abel s a. Problems Grain and Blood sacrifices were both acceptable under the Law 2. Cain s sacrifice came from the cursed ground and was unacceptable 3
a. Problems God told Adam to work the ground for his own good, it is unlikely that the sacrifice would be unacceptable because of the curse 3. Cain did not give his first and best a. In my opinion, the best answer God said, If you do well, will you not be accepted? Genesis 4:6 b. If he did not trust God with his first fruits and the best like Abel did God would have found it unacceptable e. Cain killed Abel i. He then tried to deceive God by saying that he didn t know where Abel was f. Who was Cain afraid of? i. Genesis 4:14 ii. The only people on the earth at this time were Adam and Eve and their children. He must have been afraid of his other brothers and sisters, that they would want justice upon him for killing Abel g. Who was Cain s wife? i. Cain settled in the land of Nod, then in Genesis 4:17 Cain knew his wife ii. This doesn t mean that he found his wife there (indicating some type of pre- Adamite civilization). iii. As with the example in 4:1, he had intimate relations with his wife. His wife had to be his sister. IV. Noah and the Flood a. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation Genesis 6:9 i. He had three sons Shem, Ham, Japheth b. Everything on the earth was corrupted and God wanted to destroy it all and start over c. He told Noah to build an ark out of gopher wood i. We don t know exactly what gopher wood is d. The ark was to be 300 cubits in length, 50 cubits in breadth, and 30 cubits in height i. A Cubit is the distance measured from the elbow to the tip of the fingers about 18 inches e. He was to take a pair (1 male and 1 female) of all unclean animals and seven pairs (7 males and 7 females) of all clean animals f. Noah was 600 years old when the flood came Genesis 7:11 g. Why build an ark? i. There is speculation on how long it took to build the ark, but the general consensus is that it took around 120 years. ii. Further, God told Noah and his family to go into the ark and in 7 days he would send the rains and flood the earth 4
iii. This gives time for people to repent. h. What was the nature of the flood and where did all the water come from? i. The flood was a worldwide flood, destroying everything on the planet. 1. Universal flood term used to describe a localized flood that simply destroyed the area around where Noah lived a. Problems Why didn t God just tell Noah to move? ii. Even the mountains were covered by at least 15 cubits of water Genesis 7:20 1. The water didn t just come from the rain. The water also came up from the earth from the fountains of the deep. 2. The mountains and geographic features that we see today were likely formed by the flood. The waters didn t need to cover Mount Everest, as it probably wasn t even there yet. 3. There is plenty of water to flood the entire earth if the elevations were smoothed out iii. The flood could have also been fresh water, not salt water iv. The flood continued for 40 days and nights i. After 7 months, the waters finally receded enough that the ark came to rest on the Mountains of Ararat i. This is not the same as Mount Ararat, but rather refers to the entire mountain chain ii. The waters continued to go down until 10 months had passed j. Noah sent a raven and a dove out to test to see if there was anything in the land that could be used to live on i. The first time, he sent out a raven the raven was an unclean animal, not fit for food or sacrifice it was expendable but also a strong flying creature ii. The second time, he sent out a dove, but the dove found no place to land, so it came back to Noah the dove was a clean animal and a symbol of purity iii. Seven days later, he sent out the dove again, and it came back with a green Olive leave showing signs of life and that the waters had receded iv. Seven days later, he sent out the dove a final time and it did not return. 1. This was when God told Noah to leave the ark k. Noah built an alter to the Lord and sacrificed one of every clean animal Genesis 8:20 l. The covenant that God gave to Noah is symbolized in the Rainbow. i. It is possible that it never rained on the earth prior to the flood. So, after the flood was the first time a rainbow had ever appeared in the sky ii. Genesis 2:6 talks about mist raising from the ground, but not rain iii. The firmament destroyed? Genesis 1:6 (expanse or firmament) 1. This could also account for the reduced life expectancy following the flood 5
m. Noah s sons spread out after the flood and all the nations of the earth are descended from them. V. Lessons to learn from these Stories a. Obey the Word of God i. When God s law is not observed, disaster inevitably follows b. God knew from before the foundations of the world what was going to happen, who was going to be righteous, and what the plan for Salvation would be i. God was not surprised by anything that happened after the Creation c. God always gives the chance to repent of sins in order to delay judgment. VI. Sources referenced a. Mathews, K. A. Vol. 1A, Genesis 1-11:26. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996. 6