Genesis 2
A Day of Rest, A Day of Marriage
V.4-6 Before the flood?
1. A reference to thorns and thistles
2. ch. 3:1 3.
3. “Hadn’t sent rain on the earth”
V.7 Nothing but dirt (Genesis 18:27; 1 Samuel 2:8; 1 Kings 16:2).
We bear the autograph of God
V.8 Eden; a real place (Ezek 36:35, Joel 2:3, Isa. 51:3)
Does it exist today?
Rev 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
V.9 “pleasing to the eye and good for food”
1. The tree of life
2. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil
V.10-14
We have rivers today such as the Tigris and Euphrates only because some rivers in the post-flood world were named after these pre-flood rivers.
V.15 The work was toilsome after the fall (3:18)
V.16-17 “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden”
•Did Adam have enough to choose from? (V.9)
•Did Adam have pleasant choices?
A God of love desires meaningful love to be reciprocated
Chuck Smith, "The power of choice is the thing that makes man something other than a robot. God could have made us all robots with no choices, every decision coming from a superior mind that is controlling every action, every decision of my whole life and my body and everything else. But God didn't want a bunch of robots, because you could never receive meaningful love or meaningful fellowship from a robot. For love to be meaningful, the power of choice must be there. For obedience to be meaningful, the power of choice must be there. And so that my worship of God, my love for God might be fully meaningful to God, He gave to me the capacity of choice. I don't have to worship Him. I don't have to love Him. I can choose to do it or not to do it; that's my choice. But when I choose to love God, then my love for God becomes meaningful unto God because it's a choice."
V.17 The command with a consequence
V.18 God saw something that was not good
1. Just this man, Adam, or all men?
2. God has made us as social beings. (Family, church community, society)
3. Paul's comment about sinlgeness.(See 1 Cor 7)
Woman does not complete man but compliments him
“Helper”- a counterpart to help
How do you see a helper?
Matt 20:24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave- 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
•Heb 13:6 The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
•The Holy Spirit is our Helper
V.19-20 Was that for God’s sake or Adams?
Sometimes God will withhold good for a time that we may truly appreciate it when it comes.
V.21-22 God saw the man's need.
V.22 “God made woman, not out of man’s foot to be under him, nor out of his head to be over him, but “She was taken from under his arm that he might protect her and from next to his heart that he might love her.”
V.23 The union of husband and wife.
Ephesians 5:28 so husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it.
V.24 Here God institutes marriage
1. It is to be monogamous.
2. It is to be heterosexual.
3. It is to be a complete union.
4. Jesus added that it is to be permanent.
V.25 But prior to sin, there was an innocence about the two.
V.2:1-3 To rest is to cease
V.3 Holy- to be set apart for a special purpose
What purpose does the Sabbath serve today?
Rom 14:5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord.
Col 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
David Gudzik, “In other words, the Sabbath days were just a shadow of things to come. They aren't the substance. A shadow is not substance. Substance creates a shadow. The substance is Jesus. The shadow that Jesus cast on the Old Testament was the Sabbath day, the day of rest. So that Jesus has become our Sabbath as Christians.”
A rebuke for the Galatians
Gal 4:9 But now that you know God-or rather are known by God-how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11 I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
Acts 15:19 "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath."
Every day is specially set apart to God. "Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God"
We shouldn’t ignore the importance of a day of rest.
“Our times of rest refresh us for times of service.”