Divine Covenant – Part 1: Creation Covenant
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[00:00:00] Chapter two, and we're gonna read verse eight to the end of the chapter. So if you're able, please stand for the hearing of God's word.
Genesis chapter two, beginning in verse eight. And I want you to notice the change in name everything in chapter one was God, God in the Hebrew Elohim. But in this chapter, something changes in verse four. I'm sorry, in verse eight,
actually it did change in verse four, but we're picking it up from verse eight. Yahweh. Elohim planted a garden toward the east in Eden, and there he placed the man whom he had formed and out of the ground. Yahweh Elohim caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to sight and good for food. Every tree was good for food.
The tree of life, also in the middle of the garden. And the tree of the [00:01:00] knowledge of good and evil. Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four Rivers, the name of the first peon. It flows around the whole land of Haah where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good.
The Alium and the Onyx stone are there. The name of the Second River Han, it flows around the whole land of Kush. The name of the Third River Tigris. It flows east of Assyria. And the Fourth River, the Euphrates. Then Yahweh Elohim took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it and Yahweh Elohim commanded the man saying, from any tree of the garden, you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat.
From the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. Then Yahweh Elohim said, it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper corresponding to him [00:02:00] out of the ground. The Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky and brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and whatever the man called a living creature that was its name.
The man gave names to all the cattle, to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helper suitable for him. And so Yahweh Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and he slept and he took from his side and closed up the flesh at that place. And the Lord fashioned from his side, a woman which he had taken from the man and brought her to the man.
And the man said, this is now bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. She is to be called woman for, she was taken out of man. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. May God add a blessing to the reading, the hearing, and the [00:03:00] obedience to his word.
Please be seated.
So we've been going through the book of Hebrews. And we just finished Hebrews chapter six, and between Hebrews chapter six and seven, I thought we would take a slight break because I think it is important. In fact, I think it is absolutely critical that we understand the covenant. We understand the covenants found in scripture.
We understand how they work together, how they flow out from one another. It's gonna better help us understand the book of Hebrews. So today's sermon is gonna be a little interactive in some spots. So this is one of those interactive, uh, times I'm going to throw out some things and kids, I want you to answer out loud.
If you get this in moms and dads, you're gonna get a, a chance in a minute. But what am I kids? I eat grass. I give milk. I live on a farm. What am I? A cow? A cow. A cow. Anyone [00:04:00] confused? No. No. Okay. How about this one? This is a little bit different. I'm green. You can eat me and though I look like a tree. I'm not a tree.
What am I? Close? Broccoli. Yes. Broccoli. It's broccoli. Alright, moms and dads your turn to jump in. Although kids, you can help. I can never be thrown, but I can be caught. Ways to lose me are always sought. What am I? A cold. A cold. Very good. All right, last but not least, little bit of a story. She walked an aisle, he waited.
She made a promise. So did he. They kissed to applause. What am I describing? A wedding. A wedding. Very good. A wedding. What have I done here? I have described things. I've described concepts, [00:05:00] events, without using the name of the thing described, and you all got it. And nobody's confused. Nobody's bewildered as to what I was talking about.
You all understood it. Now, here's the interesting thing. The last thing, she walked an aisle, he waited. She made a promise. So did he. They kissed to applause. You all said it was a wedding, and you are absolutely right. But it's also a covenant. And it's interesting. There are only three states in our country that will actually allow you to buy a covenant wedding license, Arizona, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
You can buy a wedding license and it's a Covenant document, and it's harder to get a divorce. The laws are stricter and it's because marriage is a wedding. Simple, right? And yet when we come to Genesis chapters one and two. We don't seem to put together what a young Hebrew boy or girl would have had jumping off the page at them.
You see what we find [00:06:00] in Genesis chapter one and two is the first covenant that God enters into with mankind. I've talked a lot about covenants. I've talked about their unity and their diversity, how they function, how they flow out of one another, and I wanna add this to it. If you think of the Bible as a body, as a, as a human body, just for illustrative purposes, the covenants are the skeleton, the covenants are the bones, the skeletal structure upon which the rest of scripture is placed.
They give the scripture shape and meaning. And here's a, here's a side note, and I've talked about this before as well, but I think you need to be reminded, and I think you need to remember this as we look at it. We need to get away from proof texting. Yeah, we need to get away from proof texting. Now I can proof text and prove by point, but we need to get away from it.
And I've, I've shared this with you before, so I'll throw it out one more time. I can only think of one example in the Bible of someone proof texting [00:07:00] and it was Satan. It was during the testing of Christ. You can read about it in Matthew four. Luke four. Uh. Mark chapter one, Satan tempted Jesus and he proof text.
He took the the verses out of context and he proof text. We need to get away from that. In your bulletin, there's a couple more things. There's a fill in the blank outline for the sermon and there's also another handout with some Bible verses some discussion questions. But number one, on your outline, creation and man's relationship with God, creation and man's relationship with God.
If your Bibles are still open to Genesis chapter two, if you need to turn back one page, I wanna look at the first verse of the Bible, because this sets the context and kids, I believe this is on your handout, I believe Genesis chapter one, verse one is on your handout to fill in the blank, to fill in the verse.
So Genesis chapter one, verse one [00:08:00] says this In the beginning, God created. The heavens and the earth, and I don't have time to get into a ton of detail here, but the, the wording and the grammar and the structure, this is creation X nihilo. This is creation out of nothing. This speaks of God's sovereign power and authority over all of creation, and we need to understand that because as we approach the Book of Genesis, it begins with the idea that God is creator and he is sovereign.
If you look at your bulletin handout, the one that I gave you, there's this, this odd picture in there. It's got two circles on the top one it says, creator. On the bottom one it says creature, and it's got some lines going down. And the one thing I left out of the picture was the lines going down should have arrows pointing down because it they come down from God.
And what we learn in Genesis chapter one verse one, what sets the stage for the rest of the chapter is that God is both transcendent. And eminent. [00:09:00] God is transcendent. And most of us, when we think of the transcendence of God, and this is okay, it's not thorough, but we think of God being up there. God is up there, we're down here.
God is above us, and that's really what it means. God is above us. God is exalted above us. God is ruler. God is sovereign, and God is king. In addition to that, we are not God and we are not like God. There is a clear separation. In reality, the Christian worldview posits two kinds of reality. One is God and the other is creation.
And anything that's not God is created, and there's only one God who exists in three persons. Father, son, and Holy Spirit, he is God. He is ruler. He is king. He is transcendent above all things. In Isaiah chapter 66, the very first verse thus says, Yahweh. Heaven is my throne earth, my footstool in Isaiah 55 verses eight through nine.
This is a good reminder for all of us. [00:10:00] My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways. My ways declares Yahweh for as the heavens are higher than the earth. So are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts? One of the, I know if we're honest, frustrating things, but. Quite honestly, one of the beautiful things about reality is we can't always figure out what God's doing.
God does things and we question it and we don't understand it. There are mysteries that we find in scripture because we're not going to be able to understand God fully. We can know him. God has the ability to reveal himself to us, but we're not going to know him fully. God is transcendent. But God is also eminent.
God is also down here. God is with us. In Isaiah chapter seven, Matthew chapter one, God is Emmanuel God with us, God enters into his creation. In Deuteronomy chapter 10, beginning in [00:11:00] verse 14, behold to Yahweh, your Elohim belong Heaven in the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. Yahweh owns everything.
He owns it and he controls it. In fact, he's designed it. Everything is the way it is because God created it. Yet on your fathers, did Yahweh set his affection to love them? He chose their seed after them, even you, above all peoples. As it is this day, God is lofty. God is transcendent, but he's also eminent.
This will be a, a familiar verse. John, chapter one, verse 14, and the word became flesh. And literally the text says John one 14, the word became flesh and he tabernacled among us. He dwelt among us. He opened up the way to God the father. He opened up the way to forgiveness of sins. God is transcendent, but he is eminent.
How does God get [00:12:00] to us? That's the question. That's what that little symbol is supposed to illustrate for you. And see, you can see it today. Think of all the theories that the unbeliever comes up with to explain just about anything. Intelligence comes from non intelligence. Life comes from non-life. A chemical soup that can't be produced in the laboratory creates life somehow, even though the conditions around it would kill life if it could even pop up through it.
You see, we wouldn't know God if God didn't reveal himself because he is transcendent. But God has chosen to reveal himself. And one of the ways that he has done that, in fact I dare say the only way that he has ever done it to mankind, is through a covenant. And that's what we're gonna look at today and for the next several weeks.
How does God covenant with man? So that's Genesis chapter one verse one. In chapter one, verses two to 23, we get the [00:13:00] first five days of creation in chapter one, verses 24 and 25, the creation of animals. Look at chapter one, verse 26. Turn to chapter one, verse 26.
Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea. Over the birds of the sky, over the cattle, and over all the earth, over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. And God created man in his own image, in the image of man of God, he created him, male and female.
He created them kids. This is kind of a, a sideline, but we'll stop there for a minute. But on your outline, I ask a question, what are the names of the first man and woman? And that's on your outline. You can fill 'em out. Here's the interesting thing that might be surprising to all of you. Eve is given a name.
Adam is never really named. [00:14:00] He simply called Adam, but Adam is the Hebrew word for man. So in one sense, he's just called the man the whole time. But Eve is named. Just an interesting side note. Look at verse 28. God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply. And fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.
So I wanna make multiple observations about this passage. What would a young Hebrew child hearing this for the first time, what would've jumped out in their thinking? Number one, a relationship. The fact that God creates Adam and Eve, and we'll continue to call him Adam, the, the, the New Testament calls him Adam.
But again, the word just means man. But the fact that Adam and Eve are created in the image of God implies relationship because of what image means. You see, to be in the image of God means we're like [00:15:00] God. There is a certain sense that we're like God, we share certain attributes with God. Not all of them, not to the same extent, but we share things.
With God. We represent God to be in an image in the ancient Near East. When this was was written, it was, we're supposed to represent God. When we walk around, people ought to see God. They ought to see something of the king We serve. We were created with original holiness, righteousness, and knowledge. And as Christians who come to faith that is being restored in US holiness, righteousness, true thinking, correct thinking is being restored in us.
According to Ephesians and Colossians, we are moral beings, spiritual beings. We have intellect. We are relational beings. We were created to have a relationship with God and we were created to be co rulers under God. You see, the first thing that should pop off the page is when God created Adam and Eve.
He did it to be in [00:16:00] relationship with them and he created them in his image. Thirdly, and this, I'm just gonna comment on it and move on. I don't believe that this passage is talking about a heavenly council. And some people take it that way when the the verse says, God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness, and let them rule.
A lot of people will go here, and I'm not ruling out a heavenly counsel. Maybe it exists, maybe it doesn't. I just don't see it here, and that for a couple of reasons. Number one, the word God is in the plural. Elohim is a plural word, but all of the verbs are singular. Okay. And a lot of Hebrew smart guys refer to it as the, uh, plural of majesty.
God is bigger than a singular noun, but all the verbs are singular. Okay? In addition to that, when he says, let us make man in our image, in the very next verse, he makes 'em in the image of God alone. In addition to that, nowhere in [00:17:00] scripture are angels described as being in the image of God. Now, maybe you can get there, maybe you can't.
But nowhere are they explicitly described or called the image of God. No. I believe this is Trinitarian language. Would the original readers have understood that? I don't know. But as we read the Old Testament through the eyes of the new, I think it should jump off the page at us. This is Trinitarian language.
Let us make man in our image and then God blesses man. And we need to understand what this blessing is, because what this blessing does it is it imparts ability and desire. And it's interesting throughout the entire creation account, he's, he's only gonna bless three things. A couple of verses before this.
He blessed the animals, but he blessed them in order that they would be fruitful and multiply. Here, he blesses man, and then he lays out some guidelines and later he will bless the Sabbath day, the seventh day. And so God's blessing implies ability and [00:18:00] desire. God is sovereign. That's something else that would've jumped off the page at a young Hebrew reader.
God is sovereign. He's in control. He's king. He sets the rules. Not only does he set the rules, but he literally creates the nature and implants ability into his creatures to follow the rules. God is in charge and we're to be fruitful, and we're to multiply, and we're to subdue and we're to rule. And historically Christian theologians have referred to these two things, plus what Moses says about the Sabbath in the next chapter as creation ordinances.
In other words, God is giving us things to do. God is instructing us. This is how I want you to live your life. You are to work and have dominion. And not only am I instructing you to do this, not only is this a moral imperative, but I've blessed you. This is built into you. If you're a man and you're here today and you have no desire to work something's wrong, [00:19:00] even if you are injured and and unable to work.
That desire should still be lingering. That should be something you're struggling with, something you're going to, God, God, help me deal with the fact that I can't work because it's built into you. Marriage and multiplication, that too is built into us. Okay? The default position, yes, there is a gift of singleness and I don't want to discount that gift, but it is a gift.
The Bible calls it a gift because the default position is to get married and want to reproduce, and if you have no desire to do that, then. You need to go to God in prayer. Am I actually gifted in this area or am I thinking wrongly? And last but not least, and we'll get into it a little bit later, but Sabbath in chapter two, we're to worship and as we'll see, we're to rest in God.
That's what our worship is. It's resting in God. It's depending on God, it's believing in God. And that too is built in to man. And the interesting thing about these creation ordinances, and I'll list them again, labor [00:20:00] dominion, marriage multiplication, and Sabbath, worship and rest. And the interesting thing is all three of these find their way into the decalogue, the 10 Commandments command, concerning all three of these things.
In addition to that, Jesus fulfills all three of these things. I don't have time to unpack all that, but they find their way into the decalogue and Jesus fulfills them. He brings them to pass.
By the time we get to chapter one, verse 31, the end of day six, look at chapter two verse one. In chapter two, verse one, we read, thus the Heavens and the Earth were completed and all their hosts. By the seventh day, God completed his work, which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work which he had done.
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he rested. From all the work which God had created and made. And what we find here is a requirement to worship and rest in [00:21:00] God. So I wanna reread this passage. I wanna re reread chapter two verses one and two. But I wanna read it and I'm gonna do it in English, but I wanna bring out kind of what if you were a Hebrew reader, you would've heard, so this is what the verse sounds like.
Listen to the emphasis. Thus, the heavens and the earth were completed in all their hosts by the Sabbath day. God completed his work, which he had done, and he Sabbath on the Sabbath day from all the work which he had done. Then God blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart, consecrated it, because in it he sabbath from all the work which he had created and made.
And here's another thing that should jump off the page, and it would've jumped off the page at a young Hebrew reader. The Sabbath is found throughout scripture. The Sabbath, in some sense, is attached to every subsequent covenant that God enters into with mankind. And after the fall, the Sabbath was [00:22:00] lost and the unbeliever keeps seeking it.
Only he seeks it in the wrong way. And then we get to verse four, and verse four is important for a couple of reasons. How do you put together Genesis chapter one and Genesis chapter two? Well, again, without going into a lot of detail, Genesis chapter one is the general Account of Creation. Genesis chapter two, beginning at verse four, is an up close look at day six.
It is not a second creation story. It is a look at day six. It is a look at God's creation of Adam and Eve and what he did with them. So look at verse four because something very interesting happens in verse four. This is the account of the heavens and the earth. When they were created in the day that Yahweh, Elohim made earth and heaven.
Now, what's interesting here, and I, I mentioned this during the scripture reading, is in Genesis chapter one, the word God is used throughout God created. [00:23:00] God, saw God called God named God. Saw that it was good. Elohim, Elohim, Elohim. It's not till we get to chapter two, verse four. When we're getting a up close look at day six that all of a sudden God changes names, or at least Moses changes names as he records this material, and it's no longer just Elohim, but it's Yahweh, Elohim.
All of a sudden he starts using his covenant name again. That would've jumped off the page, but a young Hebrew reader, it's not Elohim anymore, but it's Yahweh. It's God's covenant name, and he uses his covenant name throughout.
Look at verse 15, then the Lord God put the, then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, for many tree of the garden, you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. From the day that you eat of it, you will [00:24:00] surely die.
Now, multiple things on this verse again, let me reread it. How would the original readers have heard this? Then the Lord God took the man and he knowed him. He rested him, and he literally uses the same Hebrew word that in a couple more chapters we translate as Noah, because the Hebrew word no means to rest.
And this is significant because one of the points I'm gonna make in this series is the covenants are connected. And if you remember Noah's father, when Noah was first born, what did his father say? Maybe this is the one that will bring the promised rest. And so he names him rest. And what does God do here?
And again, there are no coincidences in scripture. God rested Adam, Noah, Adam into the garden in order to serve and guard it, and then God commands him. From any [00:25:00] tree in the garden, you may freely eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. From the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die.
So interestingly, the words translated tend the garden. The words in, in most versions, cultivate and tend, literally they are to serve and guard. And interestingly enough, when you go to the book of numbers, and I'll give you some verses, numbers chapter three, numbers, chapter four, numbers chapter eight, and if you were to go to those passages, you would see, and sometimes it's hard in the English, but God uses the exact same terminology to instruct the Levitical priests on how to serve and tend the tabernacle.
You see the Garden of Eden. Was a tabernacle, the Garden of Eden. A couple things about the Garden of Eden. First of all, kids, this is on your question, the garden that God made, what was it called? Well, the right answer would be Eden. That's what we think. But again, God actually never [00:26:00] names the garden. God names the location and the location is Eden.
And in Eden, God plants a garden. And in the garden God rests Adam and Eve. You see, Eden was considered the holy of Holies. Eden was that special place where man would meet face to face with God. Eden was a holy place. The garden was a holy place in the land of Eden, and Adam was to meet with God. And so his work is described as worship.
He is to serve the garden, and he is to guard the garden, the same terminology that is used of the Levitical priests when the tabernacle is made. And God gives him a sovereign command. Again, God sets the rules because earlier in verse in chapter two, verse nine, as well as chapter one, verse 29, the implication is that Adam and Eve could eat from any tree that God created, go back and read it.
That's the implication. All these trees [00:27:00] are good for food. Even the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And it's here that God says, however, for a period of time, you can't eat from this tree. Yes. And God sovereignly commands it and sovereignly dictates it, or else you will surely die. And we've talked about this phraseology before.
So it's important to know, literally in the Hebrew, to die, you will die. You will surely die. That's, that's the, the best way in the Hebrew language to say, this will happen. If you eat from this tree, you will die. But what does that really mean? You see, we tend to want to protect God here because what happens, you all remember the story, Adam and Eve eat from the tree, and we're gonna get into more of that next week.
But Adam and Eve eat from the tree. And what happens? They don't die. They don't drop dead. So because they don't drop dead, we start, you know, we gotta reinterpret what it means to die. So obviously [00:28:00] this must be talking about spiritual death. Okay, now here's where it gets tricky, but here's where we need to be.
Good Biblical interpreters. Physical death is a shadow, a type, a picture of spiritual death. And yes, Adam and Eve died spiritually after they ate the fruit. We see that in God kicking them outta the garden, God kicks them out of his presence. They no longer have this relationship with God. The covenant is broken.
However, the words here speak of physical death, and I think it's important because this concept of physical death will carry through to the different covenants. Now, how do I know that? Why am I so confident? Well, I looked up the exact phrase in the Hebrew, and the exact phrase in the Hebrew is used 54 times.
And then I looked at the 54 individually to check context and specific grammar and all that, and I narrowed it down to 43 times where it really fits the same pattern. And in all 43 [00:29:00] times, a couple of things come to the fore. And if you want the verses, if you want the chart, I'll give it to you. Number one, it's always speaking of physical death.
Every time this phrase is used, it is speaking of physical death. And number two, the second thing is it doesn't necessarily imply immediate death. It doesn't imply that you're gonna drop dead the minute this happens. There are delays all the time that this phrase is used. Okay? So when God says that you will surely die, it didn't mean they were gonna drop dead instantaneously.
And when we get to Genesis chapter five, we find out that they did die generation after generation, after generation. What was true about every man that lived except Enoch, which was a special case, they died because of their sin here. More to say about that, but we're gonna keep going. I wanna talk about the tree of life and [00:30:00] the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because oftentimes those are misunderstood, or at least there's some confusing things about them.
So the tree of life, I think the best way to understand these trees. I'm gonna say something and then I'm gonna say something else. So hear me out. The best way to understand these trees is to understand them sacramentally. They're like communion and baptism. They are pictures of something greater. And if you eat of these trees in faith, there's a promise attached.
If you eat of these trees apart from faith, there's a curse attached. So they're very much sacramental in nature. However, here's the second thing I wanna say. If you could prove to me that there was something supernatural about these trees, that there was something about the fruit of these trees that actually accomplished what is being said here, I would have no problem with that because we have a [00:31:00] supernatural worldview.
And if God wanted to make trees that the fruit could actually extend life or the fruit could impart whatever, and we'll get to it. But whatever the knowledge of good and evil means, he could do it that way. And I don't have a problem with that. But again, I think the best way to understand these are sacramentally.
They pointed to something else. And here's the really important thing, especially when it comes to covenants. It involved faith. Were you going to eat of the tree in faith or were you going to eat of the tree in unbelief? So the first thing I wanna say, Adam and Eve had immediate access to the tree of life.
I've said this before, I'll say it again today. This part I can't prove, but as you reread this story, it makes such perfect sense. Adam and Eve were created on day six. Day seven would've been the first day of their life, and it is most probable in my thinking that it was day seven that they wandered to the middle of the garden because what was day seven, the [00:32:00] Sabbath?
It was the, the day of worshiping. They wandered to the middle of the garden and they look at these two trees. The tree of life, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and they're supposed to eat from one of these trees. Which tree will they eat from? You? See, if Adam would've eaten from the tree of life, he would've acknowledged his dependence on God.
He would've by faith recognized and would've said something in his actions, that life comes from God and only from God, that his life is owned by God, that he is not autonomous, that he is not allowed to make decisions on his own. And he would've been confirmed in life had he eaten from that tree, had he continued to eat from that tree, his life would've improved.
And it is likely when you put the the full biblical story together, he would've at some point reached a state of glory and you see God blocking Adam from that tree was blocking him from fellowship with God. It was to reinforce after Adam's sinned and [00:33:00] Adam was removed from the garden and he was blocked from that tree, it was re, it was to reinforce the lesson that life, true life depended on God.
And here's something else that we don't think about, but it also demonstrated that God and God alone is in control of s. And God can block the path to salvation as he did to Adam and Eve. Now, I think God comes back and he fixes that right away, and we'll, we'll talk about that next week. But God is in control of salvation.
Remember physical death, shadows, and typifies spiritual death. And then there's, there's this odd verse and it, it tends to trip us up. Look at chapter three, verse 22. Y Yahweh, Elohim said, behold the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. We'll talk about that in a minute. And he, and now he might stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever.
Now, how do we understand that Sacramentally? Well, he would've eaten the tree of life apart from faith [00:34:00] at that point. And I believe that what's going on here is God prevented Adam from continued access to the tree because by eating of the Tree of Life, he would've been locked into his rebellion. He would've been forever separated from God.
Because the tree of life is a picture of salvation. And if you approach salvation apart from faith, you don't get it. You don't receive it. So God lovingly, kindly, again, we'll unpack this more next week, but he blocks Adam and Eve from the tree of life so that Adam, Adam is not locked into damnation. What about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
And I submit to you when you put the whole thing together, denial to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was temporary. Theologians often call it a probationary period. There would've been if Adam would've been obedient, if on that first Sabbath day he would've gone and Adam and Eve would've grabbed from the tree of life and would've eaten from the tree of life, and they would've lived their life in [00:35:00] submission to God.
At some point, he would've allowed them access. You see a couple of things. Adam and Eve knew the difference between good and evil. And when we, we read the name of this tree, the knowledge of good and evil, it means something different than we often think. It wasn't going to open them up to the difference between good and evil.
They already knew that they were created in the image of God. They understood God's command. They were created good in, called good. In Romans, chapter two, Paul makes it very clear the law of God is written on the hearts of all men. The law of God would've been written on their hearts. They knew the difference between good and evil.
The tree represented something different. What they did need is they needed to mature in their knowledge of good and evil. And the only way that they would've matured in their knowledge as all children do, is by listening to their father, by allowing God to establish good and evil, by allowing God to [00:36:00] decide good and evil by going to God for advice.
You see, eating from the tree now demonstrated an autonomous spirit. I'm one day old God, but I can make all these decisions by myself instead of in faith. I will trust you and I will let you make these decisions in my life, and I will wait for the day when you're ready to turn me loose. I came upon a, a meme this week and uh, I think this typifies the attitude of Adam and Eve.
And it's from the, the Babylon bee. That'll give you an idea if you're familiar with the Babylon Bee, but it says this, teenagers still confused how parents still don't know everything. When it only took him 16 years,
Adam and Eve were not ready in scripture. If you were to do a study on the phraseology, the knowledge of good and evil, [00:37:00] it is always associated with judgment and rule. And in scripture, Adam and Eve were supposed to rule under God, but not yet. They weren't ready for it. God wanted them to wait. He wanted them to learn.
He wanted them to trust him to rule until they were ready. And there's plenty of verses I can give you. There's some on your handout. But listen to this verse. We've been studying the book of Hebrews. Remember what Hebrews chapter five, verse 14 said, solid food is for the mature. Who, because of practice skill proficiency have their senses trained.
And that's what Adam and Eve needed training, have their senses trained to discern good and evil. And in one Corinthians chapter six, we read again that we are to judge the angels. We're to judge alongside of God. We'll judge the world with Christ, but they weren't ready. And so God barred them from that tree, and by eating the tree, [00:38:00] basically what they were saying is, I don't need to trust you.
God, I can make these decisions on my own. I'm smart enough now, and this is where it gets really important. Here's the question. When faced with that tree, here's the question, would they trust God? Would they trust God? Would they have faith that leads to obedience? You see, historically, and, and we'll get into this a little in a little more detail, but historically theologians have called this first covenant.
They've labeled it the Covenant of Works, and I can't stand that name because this covenant was all about faith. Were Adam and Eve going to trust God? Were Adam and Eve gonna trust God and let him decide good and evil. Let him dictate what was good for their lives. Or were they gonna disobey God And had they trusted God, it would've lead led to active and continued obedience.
But you see, they did not act in faith. They acted in unbelief and so they were [00:39:00] removed from the garden. Number two, on your outlining, we can do two and three fairly quickly. Breaking relationship with God, breaking relationship with God. Chapter three, verse one. Now, the serpent who is more crafty than any beast of the field, which of the Lord God had made said to the woman, indeed has God said, you shall not eat from the tree, from any tree of the garden.
The woman said to the serpent from the fruit of the trees of the garden where you may eat, but from the fruit of the tree, which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it or touch it lest you die. Couple of things here, the serpent is Satan, and you can, you don't have to do that now.
You can look at it later, but Revelation chapter 12 verse nine makes it abundantly and explicitly clear. It is the great dragon, the serpent of old the devil, Satan. All of those characters are the same person. So this was Satan. Okay. And Eve added to scripture. [00:40:00] That's the other thing we need to know. And there are plenty of verses that teach us not to add to scripture, but know what Eve says.
You shall not eat from it. And she should have said, lest you die. But what does she say? You shall not eat from it or touch it. You see, we can't add to scripture. We add to scripture and we twist reality. We twist, twist reality, and we do dumb things like sin.
What should Adam have done? Because again, if you read this text slowly, when when E finally takes from the fruit and she takes a bite of the fruit, the text very clearly says, and she handed it to Adam who was with her. So Adam witnessed this whole thing. Adam had just named all the animals, and just so that you understand, to name the animals in this culture, in this way of thinking, in this understanding of what a name meant, it was to exercise authority over the animals.
It was to recognize the nature of the animal, and so the name should reflect its nature. As soon as Adam heard the snake talk, he [00:41:00] should have killed it. No ifs, no buts should have killed it. Verse four, the serpent said to the woman, you surely will not die. For God knows within a day you eat from it, your eyes will be open and you'll be like God, knowing good and evil.
The serpent contradicts God. He should have killed it right then and there. He should have ended its life. Verse six, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate and also gave to her husband standing right there and he ate.
Then the eyes of both of them were open and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings Adam and Eve sin. And this is the pattern of sin ever since. And we read it at the beginning of service, at the The confession, in the assurance of, pardon, first John, chapter two, verse 16.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, [00:42:00] sex, gluttony of any and all kinds, the lust of the eyes want. Selfishness, the boastful pride of life, power prestige is not from the father but from the world. And we read that they recognized, all of a sudden they were naked and they felt shame for the first time in verses 22 to 24, they're forced outta the garden again.
We'll look at that next week because. I believe, and I will attempt to demonstrate next week that God immediately enters into another covenant with Adam and Eve. God immediately acts in mercy and grace and kindness. In chapters four through five, we see that sin increases, and what's very important is in chapter five we see a genealogy and it goes through eight sons of Adam.
And the important thing to recognize is it always ends with, and he died. The emphasis is physical death because the old covenant, the [00:43:00] first few covenants were very physical and very outward. They were pictures and types and shadows of what was to come. And physical death is a shadow of spiritual death.
I'm not denying that they died, uh, spiritually. They did. They were kicked outta the garden. That illustrates it. But the emphasis, and I only say this because when we get to Jesus, there's a connection here. And I believe with all of my heart that Jesus came to defeat not just spiritual death, but physical death.
And it's right here in the first covenant. It is physical death. That is emphasized. They died. They died. They died. Number three, on your outline, I think we can ask this question now. What is a covenant? What have we seen? And I'll, I'll wrap things up with this, but kids, one more question just to remind you of what we're looking for here.
And kids, you can answer out loud. My skin is pink. I make funny [00:44:00] sounds. I live in a sty. What am I? A pig. A pig. I'm a pig. Very good. So a couple of things. Number one, in Hosea, chapter six, verse seven, we read these words, but like Adam, they have transgressed the covenant there. They have dealt treacherous against me.
So there's a lot more to say about Hosea chapter six. It is debated in, in some sense, but Hosea calls God's relationship with Adam a covenant in Romans chapter five, verses 12 to 21. There's a contrast between Adam and Christ, and Adam represents a people in Christ, represents a people, they're covenant heads.
That's the only way to understand Romans chapter five. You're either still in Adam and fallen, or you're in Christ and you're forgiven. So over and over when the Bible refers to these events, they see it as a covenant one author. Put it this way, here's a very simple definition of a covenant. This is a man by the name of O Palmer [00:45:00] Robertson.
He said, A covenant is this a bond in blood sovereignly administered. A bond in blood. It's a relationship. It is a life and death relationship, and God is in charge and we see all of that in Genesis chapters one and two. So kids, this is on your outline and moms and dads, this is every bit as important for you.
The question on your outline, kids, A covenant consists of at least three things. What are they? Here's the first thing. It is a relationship. It is a relationship that God starts and controls. It is a bond. Sovereignly administered a relationship, a friendship, a union that God starts and God controls.
Number two, there's a promise in every covenant, and ultimately as we'll see in the weeks to come, the promise is I will be your God. And it is implied in Genesis. It is implied in Adam and Eve being created in God's image and being his image bearers [00:46:00] and having this relationship with him and being welcomed into the holy of Holies to have face-to-face relationship with God.
And last but not least, there are conditions and consequences. There are blessings and curses in every covenant. So what did we see in Genesis chapter one and two? Did we see enough to call this a covenant? Well, we saw a relationship. God en enters into friendship with Adam and Eve. We saw that it was sovereignly administered.
God created. God created the natures of things. God dictated the environment. He designed man to do certain things. He establishes the conditions and the requirements. We saw that very clearly. It in terms of some of the conditions I would put at the top of my list. The primary condition in the garden covenant was faith and obedience.
Would you trust me? Will you trust me enough not to eat of this tree? [00:47:00] They were instructed to worship. They were instructed to work, to get married, to have children, to keep Sabbath, to worship God. There were conditions. There were blessings and curses promises. If you eat of the tree of life, the blessing is life.
If you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil before I allow you, the curse is death. There's seed and offspring, and it may not be as clear to us as we read this text, but as we read the rest of scripture, because of Adam and Eve's sin, all of his offspring were cursed. We inherited Romans chapter five.
We inherited the guilt of Adam's sin, and so we are born guilty before God. It's called the doctrine of original sin, so seed and offspring, and it talks about it. One of the penalties, childbirth is cursed and not just, and again, we'll look at it next week, but it's not just the having of, it's not just the pain in childbirth, but the wording and the grammar.
It's the raising of children is now painful. [00:48:00] The ground was cursed. Death and sin in Genesis chapter five, land and Earth is also included. If you note the man and the woman or the man anyway was created from the ground, he was placed in Eden in a garden and he was to rule and he was have dominion over all of the earth.
Relationship, sovereignly, governed conditions, blessings and curses, seed and offspring, land and earth, Sabbath, and rest. I submit to you that any Hebrew child reading this text would come away and said, God entered into covenant with Adam and Eve. God relates with us always through covenants. Let's pray.
Father in heaven, thank you for your word. Thank you for your text. Thank you. That maybe something that didn't come out in the sermon. Lord, thank [00:49:00] you that you humble yourself just to have a relationship with us. You are sovereign and you can do what you will. You can do all things according to your holy nature, and yet you actually bind yourself to bless us.
When we don't deserve it. Yes, we may come to you in faith, but you grant that we may do good works, but you grant that you have bound yourself to bless us in this covenant relationship. Jesus took on flesh because of this covenant relationship and humbled himself to the point of death. Father in heaven, I beg of you, if we see nothing else in the biblical covenant, may we see your grace.
May we see your humility? May we see your mercy and your kindness, and your goodness and your love for us, and may [00:50:00] our lives forever be changed because of those things. For we ask this in the name of Christ Jesus. And all of God's people said, amen. Amen.
