10. CREATION OF ADAM AND EVE

 DR. EARL PARVIN

9/6/16

The Bible reveals that God created this world and is sustaining it, specifically to be the home of Adam and Eve and their posterity.  There is amazing emphasis on intricate DETAIL as God created a wonderful garden, to be their home in the Garden of Eden [Gen 2:15]. He planted all the trees with ripened fruit hanging on them ready to eat. He placed ‘ready to eat’ vegetables there also. He even created all KINDS of animals to roam about for their pleasure and then told Adam to name them. He also created the seas and filled them with an amazing variety of fish. He created the sky and atmosphere in which incredible birds could fly. The sun and moon graced the heavens day and night. What a wonderful place it must have been for Adam and Eve to enjoy and tend. How did all of this happen?

Genesis chapter 1:1 we are told that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  In this verse, we learn several things:

1. This world didn’t just endlessly evolve, it had a beginning. “In the beginning” God CREATED it.  It was not always here as some might teach. God DEISIGNED a PLAN as a great ARCHITECT and instructed God the Son to create it.

2. “In the BEGINNING” reveals that the first thing God did was to create or establish TIME. Everything WE do involves time, but there was no TIME before God created it. We know that God is ETERNAL, which means that he had no birthday nor will He ever die. He had no personal need for TIME. In the book of Deuteronomy we read: “The ETERNAL God is your refuge” [Du33:27]. e will always HHe will always be there to answer our prayers & sustain us.

3. The next thing God did was to create a PLACE to put His creation. Where would He put it? There was no place… nothing but God existed and He is a Spirit [Jn 4:24]; therefore, He doesn’t need any PHYSICAL PLACE. The Bible says He created ‘HEAVEN’. The Hebrew word for Heaven can also be translated: SPACE. That is exactly what was needed! The dictionary definition of Space is, “a place to put something” and that is what God needed. A place to put HIS WORLD to be created… & for Adam and Eve, a place to live.

4. The next logical thing for God was to create something to put in that ‘place’ [heaven] He had created. The text says, “God created the heaven and EARTH. The Hebrew word for Earth can also be translated: MATTER. [That is what earth will be made from in God’s perfect ARCHITECTURAL PLAN.] The dictionary defines the term matter as “that which occupies SPACE”. The term ‘matter’ in science is defined as ’element’ as found in the Periodic Table of Elements. The elements are made up of ATOMS. These are the ‘building blocks of nature’, which God the Son will use to create the EARTH as PLANED. Those plans included the Natural Laws which man later would discover.

5. Now it is important to recognize that God has now revealed something about Himself. In the Hebrew language there are several terms which can be  translated God. This particular term is transliterated ‘Elohim’. In the Hebrew, Elohim is a plural noun which should be translated ‘Gods’… plural. But it is always used with a singular verb! This is called a Hebraism or it has special meaning. It is a term of grandeur. In the English language the concept is: GODHEAD. In Christianity we recognize God as existing in three persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. They are a Triunity: all being equal with distinct personalities. Jesus Christ is the INCARNATION of God the Father [avatar] in a fleshly body as provided by Mary in her immaculate conception by the power of ‘God the Holy Spirit’. God the Holy Spirit is the INDWELLER of the Christian at his conversion. The Holy Spirit indwelling the believer, empowers us to live a life pleasing to God and to resist evil temptation. The Christian’s body is said to be the Temple of the Holy Spirit [I Cor 6:19] or His House [Hebrews 3:6].

6. Let us summarize: A. God the Father is the ARCHITECT of creation. The Architect ‘engineered the PLANS’ which B. God the Son, the BUILDER would follow in making Creation happen [Jn 1:3 “Through him all things were made: without Him nothing was made that was made.”] NOTE 1, The term ‘son’ in Hebrew means: to build! NOTE 2, Fascinating, Jesus adopted father was Joseph the carpenter who taught HIM as a human the trade! NOTE 3, We know that Jesus was “before the  beginning of time” [II T 1:9]. C. God the Holy Spirit is the ENERGIZER of Creation. Genesis 1:2 “The Spirit of God was HOVERING over the waters.” The Hebrew word for ‘Hovering’ is a Hebrew ‘word picture’ which indicates an ‘eagle sitting on its nest’. Why does an eagle sit on its nest? It is hatching its eggs. How does it incubate the eggs? It puts body heat into the eggs. Heat is a form of ENERGY. Thus, God the Holy Spirit is putting all the energy the COSMOS would ever use into HIS Creation at this time. Note: A scientific law states that “energy can neither be created nor destroyed… only used and put in a less useable form. So, all three Persons of the Trinity are involved in Creation.

In Genesis chapter 1:2 we read, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Now let us learn several more things:

1. “Now the [earth] which we know at this point means MATTER or ELEMENTS or ATOMS, because the earth is not yet visible… [see verse 9, “…let the dry land appear”]. Thus, this should read, “Now the ELEMENTS were formless and empty…” This means they were not in any recognizable shape. So, in what shape were the elements? The text reveals there was a SPHERE OF WATER over which the Spirit of God was hovering as we saw above. Therefore, it would appear that the ELEMENTS were all in SUSPENSION or SOLUTION in water. We know that water is the greatest solvent in the world. Obviously then, the earth [elements] were FORMLESS and EMPTY at this time. They had no recognizable shape. They were ‘formless’.

2. The text reveals that “Darkness was over the surface of the deep”. That would be expected, because Light had not yet been created [see v. 3]. Darkness is defined as: the absence of light. So, we would expect darkness, wouldn’t we? Like in outer space.

3. We have already noted that the “Spirit of God was hovering over the sphere of waters”. This means that ENERGY was being put into the sphere of water. Thus, some of the elements were CONGEALING into the ‘earth’ which is about to emerge from the sphere of water which we will see in v. 9.

In Genesis 1:3-5, God is at work through His Son preparing to bring the earth out of its watery nursery or womb. We know that God is designing an earth which will be a home for a perfect Garden of Eden which is producing mature food for Adam and Eve. It will be necessary for God to make LIGHT for the Garden to continue to grow all the LIVING vegetation by photosynthesis.

We also learn that the sphere of water was spinning on its axis with reference to the Light, thus making Day and Night possible. “The evening and morning were the first day”. [God made some provision for that light, since the sun had not yet been created]. We believe this Day was 24 hours long even as we know it now. The day was for working and the night for resting. We do not believe that these ‘Days’ were long periods of time as some would teach to accommodate the Evolutionist need for long periods of time.

In verses 6 – 8, we discover that God creates a Firmament or Expanse in the sky. The Hebrew word here means: something pounded out plane even as flat bread or pie crust we are used to eating. What was God doing? He was making special ‘planes’ in which to put things in the Space He created. Everything God creates has a place, a PLANE. Stars are not just scattered in space. In verses 14 – 19, we discover God the Son places the Sun, Moon and Stars in this Firmament. Each one has its special “place” or plane in which to spin and orbit. Each one was placed in that special place for a special purpose. Each one is so accurate in their movement that the ancients planed their days, months and years by them [Ps 104:19]. The meticulous accuracy of the placement of each celestial body is absolutely critical that planet Earth can sustain life. God said, “He formed it to be inhabited” [Is 45:18]. That requires everything to be in the exact place He put it and at the right time. [NOTE: God didn’t make Mars to have life on it!]

In verses 9 – 10, we are told how God made His created Earth to become visible. We have already learned that God the Holy Spirit was Energizing the elements which were in suspension or solution in the sphere of water. This means that some of the elements congealed into the special sphere, called earth, where God was going to place Adam and Eve. As the earth congealed, it was covered with water. When God wanted it to become dry land, He created GRAVITY. In so doing, the congealed elements now became a functioning Planet with all of its interrelated parts. In so doing the gravity also made the waters gather into seas. These seas can also be called oceans. All this water helps to make planet earth inhabitable “Let the waters… be gathered to one place… [He called seas.] and let the dry ground appear.” This same gravity would cause the core of the earth to become molten or a very hot center. NOTE: Peter wrote, “…by God’s Word… the earth was formed out of water & by water” [2 P. 3:5].

In verses 11 – 13, we note that God now has the dry land produce all KINDS of vegetation. This indicates that God gives the vegetation a LIFE PRINCIPLE so that it can reproduce after its own Kind. It is well known that non-life cannot create life. In verses 20 – 25, God creates all other living beings, giving them ‘life’ so that they can also reproduce after their own KINDS. We know there are many different species of dogs… but they are all still dog kinds. Different animals did not evolve from one original pair by Natural Laws. Only God can give life to everything living and that they can only reproduce their own KIND. Notice each KIND was created as an adult.

Finally, in verses 26 – 27, God makes Adam and Eve and puts them as adults in the Garden of Eden. God said, “Let US make man in OUR image. In OUR likeness. Male and Female He created them”. Notice the following:

1. All three Persons of the Trinity are involved in God’s capstone creation: Mankind. The terms ‘Us’ and ‘Our’ certainly suggest the participation of the Godhead.

2. In Chapter 2:7 we read, “The LORD GOD formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into him the BREATH OF LIFE”. Is it not interesting that God used some of the ground which He had already created to form man, instead of creating him out of nothing as He did the elements. Perhaps the most astounding aspect of God’s creation is the subject of DNA. The DNA is stored in the shape of a double helix, and contains all the information [knowledge] necessary for every KIND to reproduce itself. Within the six foot long strand of DNA which is folded and packaged into a cell so small it cannot be seen with the naked eye, is all the genetic info for each genome to reproduce itself, the necessary proteins and the blueprint for the making of every kind. It is amazing how the DNA helix can unpack itself, start replicating at exactly the right place and stop at the right place. Then it must check to see that everything is an exact mirror image of the parent. We believe that God has that kind of architectural knowledge.

3. Notice the Text now reveals another Hebrew word for God. The term ‘Lord’ is the transliterated Hebrew word Jehovah. It is a very special term which the Jewish people do not speak. It is God’s own Personal Name. If you will recall the story in Exodus 3:14 God explains HIS NAME to Moses. Moses was being sent by God to deliver His people from bondage in Egypt. He was concerned how to tell the Israelites Who had sent him. God said, tell them “ I AM” has sent you. What did that mean? I am is the verb ‘to be’ in the first person singular. So ‘I AM’ is the self-existent one. There is no one before HIM. He is the Alpha and the Omega… this is HIS PERSONAL NAME. The ‘I AM’ is the personal name for the ELOHIM Godhead which created and sustains the whole creation.

4. Adam is then placed in the Garden of Eden [2:15]. Adam then named all the animals, but found no “suitable helper” for himself [2:20].  [Man did not evolve from an animal!]

5. God then performed an operation on Adam and removed a rib from which he created a woman… Eve, who became his wife, partner and mother of all mankind. Thus, God established the family unit as a man and one womanc

That is the beautiful story of our first parents. They are indeed the creation of God… according to His original Plan. We who inhabit this earth are all related to Adam and Eve through that original DNA. Is it not amazing what God can do! It is our privilege to know the God who has revealed HIMSELF to us in HIS WORD, the Bible. Otherwise we could not have KNOWN HIM. Now as children of God, joint heirs with Christ, we gladly serve HIM.