Book of Genesis
Chapter 1 Verses 26-31; Chapter 2
The Beginning of Mankind
It amazes me that you have to find an old dictionary to get the definition of man unless you have a Bible.
Man is described as a human being, distinguished from animals. (There are no in-betweens)
Mankind means the human race as distinguished from animals.
We did not evolve from some animal!
If you believe in evolution then by definition you do not fall into the category of being a human, because you believe you are some animal or some other creature in transition to become some other creature.
No one in their right mind should fall for this so-called science!
Listen as our Heavenly Father describes our creation.
*****Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
In the first half of the sixth day God had created all the land-based animals and yes this included the now called dinosaurs which for the most part, are all extinct along with many other animals that are not classified as dinosaurs.
In the last half of the sixth day our Father's greatest creation "man" is created. A total separate creation from all animals and from all other creatures!
When we look around our entire environment, we see some amazing things in our universe, but what we should know is that all these things were and are created for God's greatest creation, human beings!
God spoke all things into existence, but we should understand that human beings are handmade, each one a little different from each other.
Man is God's crowning achievement! When we look at the great galaxies and other things in the night sky, we wonder why we say this thing, but it is still true.
Humans are the only creatures that can live with our Creator if we follow His commandments!
It is God's plans for man that caused Lucifer to rebel, because he believed he was God's crowning achievement and the angels, but he was so wrong.
Job_7:17 What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
Psa_144:3 LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!
Ecc_6:11 Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?
It is our Creator who decided that man or mankind, would be made in His image.
It is our Creator who decided that mankind, would have dominion over all life upon this place called earth.
It is our Creator who decided that He would abide and live amongst those humans who believed on Him!
Our Heavenly Father held a counsel with Himself, His Son and His Spirit (Let Us) in regard to the creation of mankind.
It does not say this was done for any part of all His other creations.
In this thing are we created in the image of God!
1) Man has a mind and a heart that can connect to our Creator.
2) God breathed into the nostrils of man to place God's own thoughts into man.
3) God gave man dominion over all other life on this planet called earth.
God is Spirit so He is invisible, we cannot have the appearance of our Heavenly Father!
Joh_4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
We are in the image of God in our creation, not in our physical image!
It is God who took on our image when He came as Jesus, to provide a means of salvation.
Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Php 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Php 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Php 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Php 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Php 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
*****Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Just what does it mean "to be created in the image of God"?
Man is of this earth, but man is also of God.
Man is of this physical world, but man is also of the spiritual world. (Man is flesh, but he is also spirit)
Man is related to the animal world by his physical make up, but man is related to God by his spirit.
In man, both flesh and spirit are brought together to represent both Earth and Heaven
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
It is our spiritual side that must believe the truth!
1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
It is our flesh that causes us our greatest problems!
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
We exist only because God as a purpose and a plan for us!
Only mankind is created to live in immortality and God spends most all the Bible teaching us what eternal life is all about for those who love Him and for those who hate Him.
**Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Gen 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Gen 1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
God said that these six days had yielded very good results!
We have seen so far that Elohim is a God of order and not a God of chaos!
We should remember our Creator knows us better than we know ourselves!
*****Gen 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
God used six of our twenty-four days to create all things and then He declared a rest.
Was God tired? No, that rest is declared for the human beings he has created.
To rest was to be the first lesson we were to learn
The hosts of the heavens we can see, are the stars, the planets, our Sun and our Moon and it includes the comets and all other God made things in our heavens visible and invisible.
The hosts of the Heaven of Heavens are also the angels, who are also created beings, who also live eternally, but they do not have a soul and they cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit.
They were created to minister to God's creation!
Heb 1:10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
Heb 1:11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
Heb 1:12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?
Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
God rested from creating on the seventh day and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified the seventh day to make it holy.
Most all the Bible was written by the Hebrew men, but all Scripture was written under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Under Hebrew tradition, this day is called the Sabbath Day.
In reality, God said we need to rest from our labors every seven days and that day would be a good day to spend with Him.
For the Church that seventh day is on Sunday, simply because of the Lord Jesus Christ and the New Testament, the New Covenant as opposed to the Old Covenant.
We must remember we are under the "New Covenant"!
We worship on the Lord's day which is the day the Lord Jesus arose from that grave. John wrote:
Rev_1:10 I was in the Spirit on "the Lord's day", and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Sunday, the first day of the week on the Hebrew calendar
Joh 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Joh 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
The eighth day would again be Sunday the first day of the Hebrew week.
Act 20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
This communion was on Sunday, the first day of the Hebrew week.
1Co 16:2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
The collection for the Church happened when the people gathered on Sunday, the first day of the Hebrew week.
To many of us today, Monday is the first day of the week because we for many years considered it the first day of the work week.
Sadly, the world runs seven days of the week and it is taking its toll upon the people of the world.
It is also taking its toll upon our world!
There is more of everything that is bad, and one of the main reasons is because we do not rest as God commanded!
God said we need a rest, so we do!
God said we need some Spiritual guidance, and you had better believe we do!
We need these things seven days each week and God's people need to gather, "to encourage each other" even more often as we see these last days approaching.
Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
Heb 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Heb 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
God sanctified this seventh day. Which means we are to set it apart from the other six days and just sit at the feet of Jesus!
Let God Himself describe how He created "mankind".
*****Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Just like the land-based animals, man is made from the materials of this earth.
Ecc_3:20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
Ecc_12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Psa 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
Psa 139:15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
Then we see the differences of man and animal.
Job 33:4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
It is that "God breathed" spirit than man has, and the animals do not have!
If we were not made of the dust of the ground, then we could not get any nourishment and many other things from the animal world and the plant world that is around us.
We breath the same air and partake of many of the same things that God provides.
It is the unity of nature that allows us to live in harmony with nature!
There is a great difference in the spirit of man and the spirit of animals. All of us have said that a horse without spirit is not much of a horse, but the spirit of man is something entirely different.
Ecc 3:21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
We should see that the spirit of man belongs to our Creator and remains in His control!
One man wrote:
"The difference of destination does not make itself manifest to the senses. To all outward appearance the dissolution of the man and of the beast is exactly the same kind of thing; the human being does not appear to have any per-eminence in this respect over the mere animal".
Now, all these circumstances and appearances put men to the proof; they test men as to whether they will allow themselves to sink down into a mare animal, selfish life, or whether they will follow those Divine inspirations which link them to God, beckon them to righteousness, and point them to immortality.
The spirit that our Creator gives us is our connection to our Creator that the animal world and even the plant world does not have!
God has given us the privilege of immortality and the freedom to choose. Animals do not have these things!
Now do not get me wrong, most all animals have the ability to choose many things but none of them have the ability to make choices about eternal life!
It is the choices that we as mankind make that determine so many things while we live in this flesh, and that future eternal life that our Creator has given to us.
Our Creator expects us all to choose to spend eternity with Him, but He will not ever force us to make this choice. There is an alternative, but it is not a very good one!
Most all the Bible concerns these two choices!
We should next understand that when it comes to man, our Creator expects us to work.
*****Gen 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
A garden is a cultivated place for plants to grow. This Garden of Eden was a place that would meet all the nourishment requirements for man, and we had better believe this place also had a flower garden intermingled amongst those plants that were needed for food.
There was actually very little work to do here in this garden, but there was some.
Water was not a problem because our Creator provided an irrigation system.
Gen 2:6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
Our Creator designed into this Garden, this "paradise" some things that cause man to choose.
All our life we have to make choices and we must realize we must learn from our mistakes.
Some mistakes are very painful!
We will soon see that first man was named Adam and Adam was given the first choice and that first thing was obedience.
Our Creator, our God requires obedience!
Keeping that train of thought in our minds, God placed a means of "temptation" into this beautiful garden that required very little work, and as long as Adam was alone, he was obedient.
The beautiful paradise was also the home of Adam. There is nothing man-made that can compare to the Garden of Eden in beauty or as a residence.
Luk 12:27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Luk 12:28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
*****Gen 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
The greatest challenge we all face is the challenge we have in being obedient to the Word of God!
In fact much of the world do not believe we have a Creator and this I cannot understand at all.
Everything in evolution depends upon accident which is chaos!
If God had not created in the specific order that He has given to us, there could be no humans in existence.
If animals did not breed of their own kind, there would be no animals.
God is a Creator of order and not of chaos!
Again the work Adam had to do was simply to keep the Garden.
One definition of "to keep" is to retain the power of possession.
We will soon see this was Adams greatest sin! Adam lost the possession of God's creation to Satan.
To do this thing he needed only to obey the Word of God.
In reality we will find that Adam gave up possession of the Garden to Satan and it took a great cost for our Creator to regain this possession.
We may never understand the love our God, our Creator has for His creation!
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Joh 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Here comes obedience.
*****Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
We should immediately see that this Book we call the Bible is not a Book of Suggestions.
The Bible is a Book of Great Detail and it is a Book of the Commands of our Creator God who is Elohim from chapter one and verse one.
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
That word god is such a generic word that we should use the names of God much of the time.
There are many gods but there is only one Elohim and He said Himself, His name was Jehovah. (Yahweh with Hebrew vowels)
Isa_45:21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
Isa_43:11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
Isa_45:5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Exo_6:3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
None of these things have changed, nor will they ever change!
Adam could eat of anything in the Garden to Eden except from this one tree.
It was the tree of "the knowledge of good and evil" which means in reality it was the tree of temptation.
It would have been best if we never learned evil!
All Adam saw around him was life and we can believe that he probably did not understand that word death at all.
It does not say the fruit of this tree was any more beautiful than the fruit of any other tree.
It only says Adam was not to eat the fruit from this tree.
In fact, not many today understand what God means when He uses that word "death".
In fact, it really has nothing to do with our life and death cycle.
God was referring to the death of that breathed in spirit which is the soul of man!
Rom 2:2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
Rom 2:3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Rom 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Rom 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
Rom 2:7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
Rom 2:8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
Rom 2:9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
Rom 2:10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
Rom 2:11 For there is no respect of persons with God.
Our Creator only had one commandment and that commandment is just simply obey the Word of God! The same commandment we have today.
Indignation and wrath through eternal death of the soul, to all those who cannot obey what God has said!
Then our Creator said: it is not a good thing that Adam was the only human upon the face of the earth.
It was not good, because all the plants and all the animals were being fruitful and multiplying and the numbers were growing tremendously.
*****Gen 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
Notice again that this is something that God decided Himself.
Creating a man was taken in counsel with God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and man was made after their image.
God the Father decided the man needed a "help meet". We could say that a "help meet" would be someone like man in many ways but also separate from man in many ways.
The fact that God does not create in-betweens has been proven in all six days that God created all things.
This "help meet" would be someone who could help man through life and follow the directive to multiply and furnish the earth with those like themselves.
Why was it not good for man to be alone?
Gen 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
Gen 2:20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
The angels were more than could be counted. Angels were to be ministers of God's creation.
We can see that Adam was created with great intelligence and he would never question his Creator.
The animals were beginning to reproduce and multiply.
Adam did not have any living creature on the same rank as himself. Adam was more alone than any of us could ever imagine.
Adam needed someone who would be an aide to him, but this someone also had to be separate from Him.
Adam was incomplete until God made woman!
As we study the Word of God, we will see that God had written all these things down well before He created anything, so this was not something that was overlooked.
Much, if not all the Bible teaches us the thinking pattern of our God, Elohim!
God begins in the Book of the Beginnings, allowing us to know His thoughts and why He does what He does.
God does not keep many secrets. In fact I know of only one that is somethings that will happen during the Great Tribulation that He does not want His children to be concerned about.
Obviously, we do not know a whole lot about Heaven, but we do know that it is more beautiful than anything upon this earth.
1Co_2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Other than these things God reads like an open book of just how wonderful our Creator truly is and just how much He loves us, His greatest creation.
We can actually say that the true Bible is a love letter from our Creator, Elohim.
How does God explain His creation of woman?
*****Gen 2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
Gen 2:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
Gen 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Note to surgeons: It is best to put man asleep before major surgery is performed!
Adam did not know of sin at this time.
God decided that Adam did not need to know about pain at this time.
We all wish we never knew anything about pain, and we would not have, if sin had not entered into the world.
There is a new day coming when we will not know pain, at least all those who love the Lord God Elohim.
Remember man is made different from the animals.
Many, many things that Adam had that this woman would also need.
Many things that Adam had should remain in him.
Many things this woman would need would not be needed by Adam.
I must emphasize God does not make mistakes. There had to be a complete separation of many things, but the core of this woman is that she would also be human.
Animals would have multiple partners, but it was not intended for the humans to be so.
Far different from the animal world just as Adam was.
She would still have that spiritual feeling of need because it was given by her Creator!
Mankind must still reign as supreme over all the animal world.
There would also be a hierarchy set up by God in responsibility and God would hold the man responsible for the woman that He had created, but Adam was not to dominate her.
We could say woman was created to allow man to have closeness.
They could feel a closeness to each other and they each could feel a closeness to our Creator, our God, yet both are separate individuals!
Woman was created equal to man in being and in person in every respect! Physically, mentally, and spiritually she was taken out of God greatest creation, man.
We must remember that God is a God of order and not a God of chaos.
1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
1Co 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
1Co 11:8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
1Co 11:9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
1Co 11:10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
1Co 11:11 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
1Co 11:12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.
Eph 5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Eph 5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
How did Adam understand these things?
Adam clearly understood that this lovely creature that was now beside him was a piece of him and Adam felt more whole than he had ever felt since the day God had made him.
Adam accepted her and cherished her.
Adam did not feel superior to this woman.
Adam felt that he now had a partner.
Adam felt that this woman was his equal, but her functions were certainly different than his.
Adam fell in love at first site.
Adam's love for God increased and he now had a new love in his life!
God instilled in Adam the truth of a marriage:
*****Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
We should be very clear! Our Creator establish the family unit as the first institution of society!
All government that would come later was to be established according to the protection of the family unit.
It is the family that is to be the model for the Church.
The Church is to be modeled after a family with Christ at the head.
Therefore our Creator establishes the importance of marriage between one man and one woman and the family unit!
Amen
