Transcript
Walking the Old Paths, Episode 13 transcript
Summary
In this episode JP discusses the six days of creation in Genesis chapter one.
Day 1: Creation of light (glory of God, not sun, moon, and stars), Division of light/darkness, defining of Day/Night. V. 1-5
Day 2: Division of waters, creation of the firmament/heaven. V. 6-8
Day 3: Division of dry land and seas, creation of earth’s vegetation. V. 9-13
Day 4: Creation of the sun, moon, and stars. V. 14-19
Day 5: Creation of the aquatic creatures and birds. V. 20-23
Day 6: Creation of land animals, insects, reptiles, amphibians, and man. V. 24-31
Recommended Resource:
https://store.icr.org/dr-henry-morris-the-genesis-record.html
Transcription
No other creature, animal, bird, aquatic creature, even angels are said to have been made in the image of God. Man is unique and special to God. That is the biggest difference that we see here as we go through Genesis chapter one.
Welcome to the Walking the Old Paths podcast. I’m JP, your host on this journey through the Bible. Each week we embark on a systematic study of the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation.
Welcome back, everybody, to walking the old paths. Well, last week we ended at verse five there in Genesis. And I realized that we’re, we’re moving pretty slow through this, and we needed to spend a little time on those first couple verses. but, you know, we do need to pick up the pace a little bit.
There’s enough verses in the Bible that if I were to spend a week on each verse, I would have to literally live like 600 years. And since we don’t live as long anymore, and I definitely won’t live that long, we’re going to have to pick up our pace a little. The podcasts here are going to be a little bit more informal going forward. I want to really work on going off my notes as I go through these podcasts with you. And so we’ll we’ll see how that goes.
But one thing I wanted to talk about before we get into this week’s lesson was this supposed day age theory. Now, if you’re familiar with that because many Bible scholars they have accepted the geological age system. So, they propose that the six days of creation in Genesis one refer not to actual 24 hour days, but rather to six undefined periods of time in which God did his creative work. So, this is known as the day age theory, and basically associates creation with the evolutionary system.
Now, a lot of times here, through this study in Genesis, I’m going to make quoting from Henry and his work that he did on the book, the Genesis Record. Great stuff in that.
Henry Morris scientist, teacher, and he said, regarding the day age theory, he says, “However, this theory, no less than the gap theory, encounters numerous overwhelming objections which render it invalid. In the first place, the order of creative events narrated in Genesis one is very different from the accepted order of fossils in the rocks representing the geological ages.”
He goes on to say that the “geological ages are predicated on the fossil record, and fossils speak unequivocally of the reign of suffering and death in the world. The day age theory therefore accepts as real the existence of death before sin, in direct contradiction to the biblical teaching that death is a divine judgment on man’s dominion because of man’s sin.” End quote.
So, just as Henry Morris rejects the day age theory. I do as well, because of that problem here with death coming before sin. You know, when God created everything, he created it all good. And then at the end of the six days, he he said it was very good. I mean, how could God call everything very good if there was death and suffering that came prior to his finished creative work on day six?
But let’s take a little closer look here at the word, the Hebrew word that was is translated as “day”. So I’ll just begin reading here. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” [Genesis 1:1-5]
So there in verse five we see the Hebrew word “yom” is translated twice here as day. Now in its first usage we see that “and God called the light day.” The word yom comes from an unused root meaning to be hot, and it is used in Scripture to refer to a day, a time, a year, and it occurs over 2000 times in the Old Testament.
I may have mentioned this, but a lot of Hebrew words, they have root words, in other words, words that they come from. And when you’re exploring the meaning of them, you sometimes will want to look or you always want to look at those root words.
So that is interesting that the the Hebrew word yom, its root word meant to be hot. So when God said he called the light day, what is he saying? He’s using this in connection with the light part of the day, or the hot part of the day, that is, from sunrise to sunset.
But then we also see in the evening and the morning were the first day. So in the second usage, yom is defined by the evening and morning were the first day. So this gives a definite period of time with a beginning and an end. And the Jews began their new day at sundown. So about 6 p.m.. And this is their 24 hour cycles, which is why we see it translated in our in our text here the evening and the morning.
We always note that evening comes prior to the morning, and that is why that is the Jewish day beginning in the evening hours, continuing on through the light part of the day. And then a new day begins the next day at evening.
So yom is used in a variety of ways other than these two ways, as the light part or the hot part of the day, and then as a literal 24 hour cycle. And I just want you to see this because when people use the day age theory, they’re saying that, you know, these days of creation were ages, an undefined period of time where God did this creative work. They’re trying to basically blend it with evolution. It’s just not compatible.
But it does have some different uses. And the in a general sense the yom is used and but context will always defined how that is being used and defines it there.
So the following two examples we’re going to see yom is translated as time. In Genesis 26:8 it says, “And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.”
So we see, “And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time.” But how is time to find? It’s defined here by that adjective long.
Okay. It does not obviously mean a long age, but that they had been there a long time. What does that mean? It’s probably months, you know what I mean? But not in the sense of ages.
But again, context did define it. It wasn’t just time. It was a long time.
In Numbers 20:15, “How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers:”
So again we see that yom is defined here with the adjective long and again. So that’s when it is used in a general sense. You you notice it in its context. It will define it.
Yom is also used to refer to a specific point in time. Genesis 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.”
So there is a specific point in time that God is telling him, you know, if you eat this tree, you’re going to die, okay? And that that is defined there within the verse.
Genesis 47:29 “And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:”
So again in the time drew near. It was a definite point in time for Israel that he was going to die.
And then another example, Ezekiel 33:12 “Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.”
So three times in that verse yom is translated as day, but it does refer to a specific point in time.
Yom can also be used to refer to a period of life. In Psalm 102:3 it says, “For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.”
So his days, that period of his life.
And it can be, yom, can also be used to refer to a year. In Leviticus 25:29: “And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year may he redeem it.”
So year in our English word here is used twice, but only one of those in that verse is actually the Hebrew word yom. But it’s defined by the other Hebrew word for a whole year. And it says within a full year: a full yom, he may redeem it.
And then first Samuel 27:7 “And the time” the yom here is translated, “that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.” So twice in that verse yom is translated once as time and once as year, and context again defines it.
So whenever we look at the Bible we are looking at context. Context is is huge. It always defines our words for us. And but it’s interesting when we do some word studies, you know, to see how it else it’s used in Scripture. And then we can gather from that its meaning.
So yom is used also one more way in the connection with end times prophecy by the term the day of the Lord. Jeremiah 46:10 says, “For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.”
So we saw two times in that verse yom is translated as day, the day of the Lord God of hosts, and then a day of vengeance. That still could literally mean a day that this happens. It could be a time could mean time. We don’t really know, because this hasn’t really happened yet.
And then Zechariah 14 one also is another example. “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.”
And once again that could be an actual definite day. But they’re referring to end times prophecy there.
But let’s move on in here now to Genesis six through eight. We want to try to get through the days of creation here in chapter one this week. “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” [Genesis 1:6-8]
So still, at this point in time, the earth is still mainly water, at least the entire covering of it, which with quite a bit of depth, as we noted from verse two. And when it says, um. The darkness was upon the face of the deep.
Here, the second day of creation, God is still doing the work of dividing. He’s preparing the world for it to be inhabited. And we see this work of division that occurs in days one, two and three.
And he is dividing now the waters which are on the earth, and he is creating a firmament between them. So there’s waters on the earth, and there’s going to be waters now above the earth.
As we think about these waters that are above the Earth, it is important that we keep in mind that the this was the world that then was, in other words, that existed prior to the flood. And as we’re going to note, that it operated much differently than it does today. But we do know that there is a lot of water above the earth at this point of time.
And at this time, God did not actually cause any rain to fall upon the earth as we will note in the next chapter in verse five where it says, “for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.”
There also was no rainbow. in this antediluvian world before the flood here.
Genesis 9:13 is where we first see God instituted the the rainbow. And that says, “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.”
That whenever we see a rainbow, that is God’s promise that he’s not going to destroy the earth again by water. The next destruction of the earth is actually coming by fire.
But what is this firmament? “And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters.” The word literally means an expanse. It is used 17 times in the Old Testament and all 17 times it is translated as firmament.
God gives us a synonymous term here for it in verse eight when it says, “And God called the firmament heaven.” And in our Western mind, we when we think of heaven, we think of the place that we go when we die. But the Bible itself explains that the word heaven actually can mean a three different things here.
It is used to describe the place where the sun, moon, and stars are located. We’ll see that coming up here in verses 14, 15 and 17. We also in verse 20, we’ll see that the firmament or the heaven is where the birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
The the Hebrew word for heaven is shamayim. And it means heaven, heavens, sky, the visible heavens, the boat of the stars as the visible universe, or as also the abode of God. And if you remember, in the New Testament Paul was saying, you know, I knew a man 14 years ago who was caught up to the third heaven. [2 Corinthians 12:2] And that’s what he’s talking about here is this idea that there’s multiple layers to this word heaven.
So we can’t assume it to mean just one thing, but we define it again by its context as we see in the Bible. The Complete Word Study dictionary defines it as this: Although the word is plural or dual in form, it can be translated into English as singular or plural, depending on its context. The word describes everything God made besides the earth. God made the heavens of the universe. The firmament or expanse which he created around the earth was named heaven as well. And he stretched out the heavens.
And we see several examples of that throughout the Old Testament. Isaiah 40:22, um tells us, “it is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers.” I was thinking about that the other day, as I’m driving down the road, looking up at the sky, and I’m like, man, like God is looking at me like I’m a little grasshopper down here.
That’s and, you know, up in the summer, you know, walking around up at the farm, we had lots of grasshoppers up there, and they’re just so small and they don’t do anything to me. I can literally walk and not worry about them injuring me or anything of the sort. They’re just so tiny and small and that’s that’s what we are in God’s sight.
But that verse in Isaiah 40 goes on to say “he stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.”
So the heavens that God created he has stretched them out. They’re they’re like a tent for us that we dwell in.
So that word firmament there means an expanse. So this is the area above us that we’re breathing here. That is part of the firmament.
There is much speculation around what this would have looked like at the time. We do know that the Earth operated, like I said, differently in this antediluvian period, as there was no rain until after the flood. And, God had a built in underground sprinkler system in the earth. The Bible says in Genesis two six that “there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.”
So we did not create or invent the underground sprinkler system. God did that for us back here in Genesis one.
But Henry Morris believes that this water is above the Earth is like a vapor canopy. And I want to read to you here from his book, The Genesis Record, what he has to say about that on page 59, he says, “furthermore, a vapor canopy could be more easily maintained aloft and would serve much more effectively as a marvelous sustainer of vigorous life conditions on the Earth, it can be shown that such a canopy would accomplish the following services. For example, since water vapor has the ability both to transmit incoming solar radiation and to retain and disperse much of the radiation reflected from the Earth’s surface, it would serve as a global greenhouse, maintaining an essentially uniformly pleasant warm temperature all over the world.”
So a vapor canopy here would create this greenhouse effect basically is what he’s saying. And since there is no light winds that was needed to circulate the clouds and moisture, this would have a uniform effect all around the world.
Number two, he says, with nearly uniform temperatures great air mass movements would be inhibited and windstorms would be unknown. They didn’t have any wind or it would be very little if there was at all.
Number three with no global air circulation. The hydrologic cycle of the present world could not be implemented, and there could be no rain except directly over the bodies of water from which it might have evaporated.
Number four, with no global air circulation and therefore no turbulence or dust particles transported to the upper atmosphere, the water vapor in the canopy would have been stable and not precipitate itself.
We also see that the, he goes on to say that the combination of warm temperature and adequate moisture everywhere would be conducive later to extensive stands of lush vegetation all over the world, with no barren deserts or ice caps.
He also says the vapor canopy would also be highly effective in filtering out ultraviolet radiation, cosmic rays, and other destructive energies from outer space. These are known to be the source of both somatic and genetic mutations, which decrease the viability of the individual and the species, respectively. Thus, the canopy would contribute effectively to human and animal health and longevity.
He says that some have objected to the idea of heavy vapor canopy because the great increase in atmospheric pressure which it would cause at the Earth’s surface, rather than being a problem, however, this effect would contribute still further to health and longevity. Modern biomedical research is increasingly providing a proving that such hyperbaric pressures are a very effective in combating disease and in promoting good health generally.
There should be no problem in organisms living under high external pressures, provided their internal pressures had time to adjust correspondingly.
And last, he says. Later, when needed, these upper waters would provide the reservoir from which God would send the Great Flood to save the godly remnant from the hopelessly corrupt population of that day.
So the when Morris is saying there with the this vapor canopy and whatever it was, it did provide obviously some sort of a different atmosphere for the people on Earth, because people did live much longer then, as we will see coming up in our study in Genesis.
But also with just the hydrologic water cycle that we that since there was no rain, there would be no clouds. how does the, you know, moisture make it from seas to land? Well, we’re going to see that here pretty soon, too. That that’s quite a bit different.
So in verse nine we read on the speaking of day three, “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.”
We see again, this is day three. God is still performing the act of division before he is going to start populating the earth. And so he is separating the waters from the dry land.
“And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.” [Genesis 1:10-13]
The ratio, the question is, is the ratio of land to water? Now, today, most of the Earth’s surface is covered in water. In fact, 70% of it is water and only like 30% is land.
I suspect that in the antediluvian world that it was the opposite. It was probably smaller seas. More land, 70% land. And again, as like, how do you get water to all of that land? Well, God had his different method then, and that was through the mist that went up on the earth to water the whole ground.
Why don’t you want to point out one thing here, too, with the seed. The Bible talks about seeds and kinds here for the first time. And once again, Morris, in his book has this to say about it in verse 11 occurs, the first mention of both seed and kind. Implanted in each created organism was a seed programmed to enable the continuing replication of that type of organism. The modern understanding of the extreme complexities of the so-called DNA molecule in the genetic code contained in it, has reinforced the biblical teaching of the stability of kinds. Each type of organism has its own unique structure of the DNA, and can only specify the reproduction of that same kind. There is a tremendous amount of variational potential within each kind, facilitating the generation of distinct individuals and even of many varieties within the kind, but nevertheless precluding the evolution of new kinds. A great deal of horizontal variation is easily possible, but no vertical changes.
So within these these plants that had their own seed after its kind. In other words, they had their own variations built into the genetic code, but it would not create any sort of new kinds. God’s definition of what kinds are probably much different than ours. But when we get to it, we’ll know that God created everything after its own kind, and it would only be able to reproduce after its own kind. Thus, again, evolution just does not fit with the biblical account of creation.
And Christians, if you’re if you’re listening to me and I know you’ve been inundated with evolutionary theory in the public school system it just does not fit. You’re not going to be able to reconcile the two. You’re going to have to choose one or the other.
Both that are a matter of faith, right? We weren’t there at the beginning to witness this, but we take it by faith. God said it, we believe it and then explains it. And honestly, it seems like you have to have more faith to believe in evolution or the Big Bang than you do in the biblical narrative of creation.
I mean, if you believe that everything here came out of nothing and then produced everything. you’re you have a lot more faith than I do. Let’s put it that way.
As far as the order now of creation, that is another problem for the evolutionist. And I’ll again read here from Morris. He says it should be also mentioned that the formation of plants, even in such complex forms as fruit trees, occurred before the creation of any form of animal life. This, of course, is quite logical, but it does flatly contradict the accepted evolutionary system which has marine animals, both invertebrates and vertebrates, evolving hundreds of millions of years before the evolution of fruit trees and other higher plants.
Furthermore, many plants require pollination by insects, but insects were not made until the sixth day of creation, which fact argues against the possibility that the days of creation could have been long ages. The idea of theistic evolution is counter to the biblical record of creation in practically every passage.
And so like I said, it just doesn’t work. It doesn’t fit. You’re going to have to decide what you’re going to believe here in regards to that.
Now, in day four, we were coming up here and it says And God and verse 14, and “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” [Genesis 1:14-19]
We see here on day four that the sun, moon, and stars are created here. If you remember from previous lessons here that God created light but he was that light source. It was his glory. But now he’s adding in the light sources right now that rule our universe: the sun, moon and the stars.
And five reasons are given here for their purpose. He says there: “let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:”
The purpose that we see here in God creating them was for our ability to tell time, but also as a way for us to navigate.
Now, some people might be a little confused by that word signs, you know, because there are people who use, you know, the zodiac signs and try to interpret that with when you were born and give meaning to it. That is forbidden in the Bible. God does not approve of that. He rejects that. That is superstitious. That is worship of the stars, those heavenly bodies,
The ancient Hebrew pictograph of the word here for signs has a ox head and a picture of a cross. Now, combined, these pictures representing an ox moving toward a mark. Now, this is actually a agricultural or a farming symbol here. The plowman, when he would plow the rows of a field, has to look straight ahead at a certain point. That way he plows straight lines makes straight furrows here.
And we used to have to do this prior to GPS doing it all for us now. If you wanted to have straight fields, you had to kind of keep a bearing, a mark at the end of the field that you were watching. That way you could plow these straight lines.
Well, that’s what it means here when we’re looking at signs, is as a mark.
And people have for thousands of years used the constellations, the stars and their positions to as a means of navigation. So I just kind of find that kind of interesting that it is used for navigation.
Is used for telling of seasons and for days and for years.
And then God also says here he gives five words to the actual creating of the stars. And he says “he made the stars.” Also, very little is said of that.
Now, I know we make a big deal of the stars up there. I mean, they’re very pretty to look at. I remember one year at the farm it was a crisp, cold winter night, but so clear outside, and I, I took my three wheeler, and I went out in the middle of a field and just laid down on the ground, looking straight up. And it was like I was floating out there in the middle of the Milky Way galaxy was so bright.
We have so much light pollution now that can’t do that really. It’s really taken away that beauty. And if you live in a big city, you you don’t hardly see any stars. But if you’re out someplace where there’s not a lot of light, it is something to behold when you look up at those stars.
But God simply said, and he made the stars also. It just very little like it was like it was no big deal to him. It was like, almost like an afterthought.
Moving on here the fifth day. “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.” [Genesis 1:20-23]
So we see here on day five that God creates the sea creatures and the birds. We see verse 21 where it says, every living creature that moveth refers to those of the waters. This is going to be different from verse 24, where the living creature refers to those on the dry land.
Again we see that God created everything after its kind. It was going to reproduce after its kind. Whale would produce whale. The dolphin would produce dolphins.
You know, there’s so many kinds and it’s unbelievable. I was doing a little research just on the amount of fish that are in our seas. And of course, I find this hard to believe that they can estimate this, but they estimate it to be like in the was it 3 or 4 trillion fish in our sea? But the seas are just teeming with fish. It’s amazing what God has created.
And he says that he says blessed. He blessed them saying, be fruitful and multiply. Fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
That, of course, as we noted, this was probably reverse 70% of it being land, 30% of it being water. So there probably wasn’t as much fish then as there is today. And there’s probably more bird life than there was anything. Since 70%, you know, or whatever was was land.
Moving on here and day six, we see “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” [Genesis 1:24-25]
Again, God is making everything after what? It’s kind. There’s a dog kind. There’s a cat kind. There’s horse kind. There’s a cow kind. God made everything after his kind.
He loves variety. He loves beauty. It’s amazing how many different types of animals and fish and birds and insects there are. It’s just huge, vast amount of variety. But God created them after their kind. So if there’s variations within a kind, there’s still part of that kind.
And that’s going to be important when we look at Noah’s Ark, when he brought in all the animals. The Bible says after their kind. Not after our definition of every kind. Because, you know, we we obviously put things in different categories, and God did, but nevertheless, they’re able to reproduce after their kind. That was his definition. Doesn’t matter if there’s a wide variety of that, that animal. They’re all part of that kind.
Now he creates the land animals and the insects here on day six, and we notice something as we enter into verse 26 that is different now.
And it says, “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. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” [Genesis 1:26-27]
We see that God here is speaking to himself. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. We for the first time get a glimpse into that Elohim of verse one. Remember that plurality that we see in Elohim. It is our look here into that Triune God, God the Father, speaking with God the Son and the Holy Spirit.
No other creature, animal, bird, aquatic creature, even angels are said to have been made in the image of God. Man is unique and special to God. That is the biggest difference that we see here as we go through Genesis chapter one.
And we also note that God gives dominion now over this creation to man. So God created his man in his own image. In the image of God created him, male and female created he them.
You’ll notice here, and this shouldn’t have to be pointed out, but God created them after two sexes, male and female.
And we note too here in this is kind of a general account here in verses 26 and 27, we’re going to get into the specifics of what happened on day six, in the next chapter, in verse seven and in verse 21 and 22.
And also I want to point out here, with the creation of man, we now enter into the first dispensation. If you remember our our lesson we did on the dispensations, this is the dispensation of innocence. And just as a reminder, that characteristic of it was sinlessness. It had a duration from the creation to the fall of man, which period of years is unknown, and it concluded with the expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
And as I said then, this dispensation of innocence began there in the Garden of Eden. Man neither knew good or evil. He was neither sinful nor holy. He was, as God intended man to be, and enjoyed walking and talking with God. He was given a job that was enjoyable and fruitful. He was even given a suitable companion when one could not be found.
There was but one rule to follow. He must not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. How long this period lasted is not known.
But once Adam disobeyed God, sin entered the world, and the consequent consequence was judgment. Judgment upon Satan, the woman, the earth, and on man. And its conclusion, as I said, was expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
We also see something else here that I did not mention in those first series of lessons on interpreting the Bible, and that is that God has covenants in the Scripture. Now, a covenant is an agreement or a contract between men or between man and God.
And we see in the Bible that there are two different types of covenants, conditional and unconditional. Conditional depends upon man, and an unconditional covenant depends upon God.
And there are eight separate covenants that we see in the Bible. The first being the Edenic, then Adamic. Then we have a Noahic covenant, Abrahamic covenant, mosaic covenant, Davidic covenant, Palestinian covenant. And then we have a new covenant.
And the content of this Edenic covenant is that man is told to replenish the earth. Let me finish reading here in verse 28, and God bless them. “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.”
So God has given man the covenant to replenish or fill the earth. That word there means something different when it was translated so it means to fill. Man is to subdue it. That is according to his needs. He is to have dominion over all the land and sea creatures.
He was also told that he was going to have a vegetarian diet in verse 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. 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.” [Genesis 1:29-30]
So man was given a vegetarian diet. So were the animals. We did not have the all the predatory animals eating other animals. They ate grass and herbs same as everything else. They were all herbivores.
And man, we’re we don’t have this yet. but in Genesis 215 were given the other aspects of the covenant. The man is to dress the garden and to keep the garden. And we’ll look closer at that next time. But that is the Edenic covenant that God has given man here.
There are there were conditions to it which again, we will get in more depth next time. But that was obviously to abstain from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And failure to do that would result in spiritual separation and physical death.
And it ends here that “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
So he ends his creation with saying, it was very good. Up to this point it was it was good. He saw what he made. It was good. But after he created man and it says male and female. So day six, when we look here at chapter two, we’re going to see when he created Adam. It wasn’t long. It was within that day that he created woman as well. And he looked upon everything that he had made and said it was very good.
Well, I hope the the podcast has been a blessing to you this week. I knew we had to move through quite a bit of scripture. As much as I would like to dive in and look at every little thing in these verses, it would just take way too long.
I get caught up in my studying as it is when I’m doing it. I will look at something that’s so interesting I’ll start diving into that, and before long I’ve just spent two hours looking at like one verse.
As much as I would like to do that, I just can’t. I remember one person, one of my favorite broadcasts was the J. Vernon McGee Through the Bible, and someone commented to me that he doesn’t go over every verse of Scripture, even though it has moved through all of Scripture. It doesn’t necessarily read every verse or go through it.
And I understand why he didn’t do that. It was a five year broadcast. Produced Monday through Friday, did a 20 minute basically teaching lesson five days a week for five years and to get through the entire Bible.
But if he were to slow down and spend the time that you would want to in it it would literally you’d have to live as long as Methuselah.
So it’s just probably that’s not even accurate itself. The Bible simply is just inexhaustible. If you find something interesting that you want to look at that I probably brushed over quickly because maybe it didn’t stand out to me like it did to you. Go back and and look into it deeper.
You know, I want to try to teach you some of the tools that I use in Bible study and equip you with that as well. Nothing is more important for the Christian than to study the Bible. And, and I know a lot of people just simply don’t know how to properly study it.
Someone asked me here recently, you know, how do you know the Hebrew and the Greek words? And I’m like, there are resources easily, readily available for you even free on some Bible apps.
I use e-sword and you can look up all those words in the original languages, and I think it’s very important. I mean, I know there’s people that say that that’s not necessary. You just need the Bible. But that’s simply not true. You can get so much more out of it when you look to see how those words are used in defined by the context in Scripture itself.
So as we close here for the week. I just want to mention that, you know, transcripts of these podcasts are available on our website: www.WalkingtheOldpaths.com . Please, if you want to use that for your, your self to go back over things or use that yourself for a Bible study by all means, do it.
And interact with me, you know? You know, you see some, tell me and shoot me an email. Let me know. You know what? What’s God doing in your life? What’s he speaking to you? You know, I’d be interested to hear that. How’s how God is using this podcast. I’d greatly appreciate hearing you from you on that.
in the meantime you know, as always, you know, be faithful to your church. I know churches have problems and issues, and we see things doctrinally that were like, I don’t know how this reconciles in the Bible. But just be faithful and be prayerful about about it. You know, God may use you there and and to be able to influence others. You just want to be very cautious of how you do it.
But, and give your pray for your pastor. He’s got a very difficult job in shepherding a flock and a good pastor ,it’s getting harder and harder to find there. If you have one, you should be definitely praying for that person and lift them up before the Lord. They’re constantly under attack from Satan. And they they need all our support that we can give them.
And I need your support, too. This has been kind of a trying week for me as well. My microphone broke, so I had to delay recording this podcast. And then I’m currently have a cold right now, so that’s not helping anything out either. So just pray for me and pray for the podcast. We want it to go forth and reach people with the gospel.
And we want to encourage you to, you know, to get out there and to share the gospel with someone. You’re commissioned to go forth and to preach the gospel to every creature, you know, look for ways that you can do that. And I know it’s it’s a scary but, you know, you can start out small, simple as giving a tract to someone, you know, you go through the line at your favorite fast food place, hand em a track, tell them thank you, read this when you can.
And you can just go from there and well, maybe have some more talks about that, I am sure coming up.
But do spend time with the Lord and your daily devotions working your way through the whole Bible and just continually going through it continually to build up your knowledge of the Word of God that you can just add upon it, line upon line, precept upon precept. Here a little, there little. That’s how we know God. That’s how we grow close to God.
And you who are just listen to this because you’re you’re curious, but you’re skeptical. Hey, continue with me. You know, I, I like to understand where people come from when they believe things. And I understand that people believe differently than I do because of how they were brought up or the education that they had, just their worldview. We’ve talked about that.
But if God’s working on your heart, stick with it and just continue to seek him. He says, you know, if you seek for me with search for me with all your heart, you’re going to find me. And that’s a promise of Scripture. God will do that.
And so don’t give up on it. Your eternity, your eternal soul, matters so much to God.
I mean, God created this whole world for man to have dominion in it and to dwell in it and to have fellowship with him. And we messed it up. But God knew all that. And he sent a Redeemer to to save us and to reconcile us, that we could be made right once again with him, and to have that fellowship with him and thank God for it.
I mean, he said, he’s given us this word that we may know that we have eternal life. It’s all in here. And you will find him if you search for him with all your heart.
So until then, friends, I just pray that you grow in the grace and knowledge our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.