This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us for today's program. At Connect with Skiff Heitzik, we're all about connecting you to the timeless truth of God's Word through verse-by-verse teaching. That's why we make messages like this one today available to you and others. Before we get started with the program, we encourage you to check out connectwithskip.com, where you'll find resources like full message series, weekly devotionals, and more.
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Now let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. The first 11 chapters comprise the first part of Genesis. Chapters 12 through 50, the second part. Chapters 1 through 11. Deal with no less than at least 2,000 years of history.
All of that In just 11 chapters. While chapters 12 through 50 focus on not even 300 years. of history.
So God said, little about Things like the Beginning of the heavens and the earth, and a lot of the questions that we might have, but he said a lot about people. The first 11 chapters cover four great events. The second half of Genesis, four great people: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
Okay. Where do you think most of the questions about Genesis deal with. First 11 chapters. Where God gave us the least amount of detail, we have the most amount of questions. Don't be surprised, therefore, if my answers won't Suit your expectations because I can't make up what God hasn't told us.
But we're going to take a stab at it. Of all the questions that we've gotten, and we've gotten some via the Internet, et cetera, et cetera, Facebook, some that have been texted in, some that will be able to be texted in tonight, the lion's share has to do with origins and beginnings. One that came to us that was sent earlier on and says, Why is it? that the serpent Satan did not use the divine name Yahweh And then it says in parenthesis, Elohim. but used a shortened named Eloh.
Now this is a letter that comes from Frances, and she actually wrote uh the first two questions.
So that's her question. It came up on the screen, at least behind me here. You in the back probably can't see it, can you? Oh, it's on the small screens.
Okay, well, let me just give the question again. Why is it that the serpent Satan did not use the divine name Yahweh, Elohim, but used a shortened named Elohim?
Well, let's look at the text in Genesis three to see what it says in English. It says, The serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said You shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Yeah.
Now, Francis, I don't know where you got your information to form this question, but in the Hebrew that I checked, and I checked it in the English translation of the Hebrew and in the Hebrew itself. The word that Satan used for God was indeed Elohim.
Now When Moses giving us the information. Writes about what is happening, he uses two terms for God: Yahweh Elohim, the Lord God. When Satan says, Has God said, posing the question, the term that he uses is indeed Elohim in the Hebrew.
So, again, I don't know where you got that from, but it is Elohim. But there's something more important than what the language specifies, and is there something hidden therefore because of it? What's most important that you understand is what Satan is doing in the text. He is denying a very basic doctrine that is still being denied today, and that is that God will punish sin. That man can go by living his life without any consequences.
And so he's denying that there's going to be any repercussions or that the result of sin is death. That's really the big picture.
Well, we have another question that came to us, and we'll throw that up on the screens. Did Eve really see Satan appear as a serpent. Or was it a spirit? In Revelation the serpent of old that was cast down, I'm sure was not a snake falling to the earth. That also came from Francis.
So there's a couple of questions in that, Francis. First of all, did Satan really appear as a serpent? Or was it a spirit? Yeah.
Um First of all How could a spirit have appeared?
So, a human being can apprehend or see it if it was not in some kind of physical form. There has to be some sense of physicality. A non- Corporeal being, an amorphous being, would not be apprehended by human eyes because we live in the physical realm. There has to be some kind of physical appearing. And the Bible says specifically that Satan showed up as a, and it's in Hebrew, nachash, or this creature translated in English as a serpent or later on a snake.
It will be helpful to consider what Satan was like. Before the event of him falling to the earth.
Now, the Bible calls him in two different places. The Bible indicates in the Old Testament that he was a very majestic being. One is Ezekiel chapter 28, where Ezekiel calls Satan that at one time he was the anointed. Cherub or angel that covers. And indicates that he had a very high place.
perhaps even as leading of the worship of angelic beings. Before he sinned against God. Then in Isaiah chapter 14 also in the Old Testament. The question is posed. How have you fallen from heaven?
O Lucifer, Son of the Morning, or Light Bearer, or Luminous One. And the text goes on to say that This being Satan said in his heart, I will. Ascend. Above the throne of God, I will be. Be like the most high.
And in that passage, five times Satan said, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will. And God basically said, no, you won't. And when he said, No, you won't, Satan was cast down. From heaven. He was cast down from heaven.
As a spirit, for say uh Satan, Lucifer was a spirit being.
Now a rebellious spirit being. He fell down. To the domain of the earth. But he's still had access to heaven. How do we know he had access to heaven?
Because in Job chapter 1 and 2, we find that when the angels of God come to give their account before God, the Bible says Satan was among them. And we know that not only does he have access to the throne of God, and let me just stop right here and say this is a shocker to some people because they have the idea that Satan is in hell. Let me just say, Satan is not in hell, and Satan has never been in hell. He will be in hell. That will be his ultimate destiny.
But until then, he has lots of roaming capacity. He has lots of power and lots of ability to even access the throne of God, and he spends his time if he's there. accusing us. Like he accused Job. And basically, he said to God as he was giving an account with the other angelic beings.
When God said, have you considered my servant Job? Satan said, let me tell you something about Job. He serves you only as a mercenary, only for what he can get out of you, only because of what you give him. Not because he truly loves you. Let me at him, and he will curse you to your face.
Then also In the Old Testament book, Of Zechariah, there is a vision. Mm-hmm. Of the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan is there to accuse him.
So here's what I want to point out. Satan fell from heaven as a spirit being, shows up in Genesis in the form. the physical form of a nachash, a serpent being.
Now, to answer the second part of your question, Francis, with deals with the book of Revelation, and you're saying, I can't picture a snake dropping out of heaven, which is a good point. Let's look at the text in Revelation. Revelation chapter 12, beginning in verse 9.
So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven: Now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come. For the accuser. Of our brethren, who accused them before God day and night, has been cast down, and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives.
to the death. The book of Revelation is a book of imagery. that points to reality. Satan is described a couple of different ways here. First of all, not as a serpent, but as a dragon.
Why would John see that? Why would God allow John to see that in the vision? Because it speaks of the terrifying nature of Satan. Then, you'll notice in the text in Revelation 12, it refers back to him also being a serpent. That's that cunning nature, that beguiling or deceptive nature.
So it's a very strong imagery to point to a reality of Satan as being beguiling and also being terrifying. You may also recall that Jesus. Said that he saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. He was there for that initial rebellion when the anointed cherub that covers rebelled against God and was cast down.
So Satan fell from heaven. But he still has access. Though his domain is on the earth, he still has access to heaven. In the future, Revelation chapter 12, in the future, the access to heaven will be forbidden and his domain will be confined to the earth alone, which describes why the second half of the Great Tribulation is so bad. Satan is confined with all of his minions, not to the heavenly places, not even to access to heavenly places, but totally confined to the earth.
And the second half of Jacob's trouble, the Great Tribulation period, is so malevolent and so evil because that is the theater of war for Satan and his angels. After that, Satan gets bound for a thousand years. Peace on earth for a millennium, a thousand years. When the millennium is completed, Revelation tells us, Satan will be released for a short period of time, captured again, reincarcerated, and forever be tormented in the lake of fire. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig.
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Now, let's rejoin today's teaching.
So When Eve saw Satan, it was as a nachash, this being that had fallen in rebellion against God and now was confined to the earth. Being given the physical form. of this creature. And then will be consigned solely to the earth in the second part of the tribulation period without any access at all.
So he gets more and more and more and more limited as time gets on. And one of the reasons he gets so furious on the earth. is because he wants to drag as many people with him as possible.
So I hope that sort of explains it, maybe in a long, roundabout way. We have a question that just came up. It just was text, so we'll throw that up on the screen. I can see it here on the screen. It says: Who causes Lucifer to fall if there was no evil in heaven?
Ben from or on the chat room. Besides having text messages here, we have a live chat room going on during these services where people can converse with one another and chat, and that's where this is coming from.
Well, um. Who caused Lucifer to fall? God gave the angels. The freedom of choice. And Satan was number one.
He was the anointed cherub of the covers. It wasn't that anybody caused him, but that God allowed him to have the freedom of choice, and he made a really bad choice. His expression of that freedom of choice was really bad. He said, I will. It started in his heart.
He said it in his heart.
So his rebellion, his sin, started within his core being and was manifested outwardly. He was. Numero uno minus uno. And it was the minus uno part of the equation that really bothered him. He wanted to be number one.
He wanted to ascend to the authority of being God. Of course, he couldn't because he was a created being. He wasn't like the creator, but wanted to assume the worship of that and has been trying to do that ever since.
So it was self-caused. It was by the power of volition, not anybody, the cause of Forum.
Now we have another question that comes concerning Genesis 3, and I've arranged the ones that I've had in advance in chronological order for the book's sake. In Genesis chapter 3, 14. This question says, Does the curse of Genesis 3:14 still apply today? And what does this all really mean? And this is a question that comes from Lawrence.
Now we'll put up Genesis 3:14 on the screen so you can get the context of the question. It says, So the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this. You are cursed more than all cattle. More than every beast of the field, on your belly you shall go. And you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
So the question, I guess, if I'm reading this right, was this a snake? Or was this another creature because of this judgment that is consigned here upon this being, upon Satan?
Well, it could mean Let's take the literal translation that it is referring to a snake, so that the literal snake. becomes emblematic throughout history. Emblematic as a reminder of the temptation and the fall of man brought on by Satan's influence. Or number two. The word and the idea could refer to a whole different kind of being, and the only way to translate it is using the Hebrew nahash, and we translated a serpent or a snake.
But it could be a whole different Creation. By God.
Okay. Did you know that the ancient rabbis used to say that this creature, whatever it was before, whatever. Um Form that Satan occupied. That Before the curse was pronounced, he was able to talk and was able to walk upright. Because the curse was, you're no longer gonna be able to do what you have done, you're now gonna crawl on your belly.
So the ancient rabbis used to teach that this creature had the ability to have power of speech as well as to walk.
Some commentators favor that. Others do not. I'll let you make up your mind. Ta-da. Let me throw in something else in the mix.
Uh Part of the judgment, you'll notice, is that you're going to eat dust. All your life. Yeah.
But we know that Snakes don't eat dust. They eat animals. And they eat plants, some of them. They don't eat dust, you don't survive on dust. And so most commentators immediately say, Well, this is a use of language that's a figure of speech, because eating dust, like it is today, it was in ancient times a way of saying you will be the lowest of the low, and you will suffer and live in humiliation and defeat.
But I'm going to throw something into the mix, just as a perhaps, just as a side thought. Yeah.
It could be. Yeah.
That Part of this hasn't been fulfilled yet. And that the snake, the serpent, Um Satan assumed this form, but all of the serpents in the future in the millennial kingdom. The thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth, that period of peace the Bible speaks about in the future. That the snake may perhaps Be able to do exactly that, eat dust.
Now, I'm going to give you a scripture that you're familiar with, but maybe you haven't read carefully. That's Isaiah 65, which is speaking of the kingdom age in the future. Isaiah 65, verse 25. The wolf and the lamb will feed together. You've read that passage.
Goes on to say, the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountains, says the Lord. In other words, the creation at that time will be so docile that there will be no predatory instincts within these animals to kill and have the food chain that we have today, and that even perhaps in this renewed earth, the dust itself will have nutrients to. Cause This creature to survive. Just a thought, just thought I'd throw that out for fun.
No extra charge. Here's another question, our fourth question, or actually our fifth for the night.
Well, actually, we have something else. It says it just came in just now. Putting that Possibility. For man to make the wrong choice. And why would he even put that out to man?
creating a tree that they could choose the wrong Tree or the wrong fruit. It's pretty simple and it's pretty basic. There could be no love There could be no true worship. There could be no true relationship. without something called volition.
You have to choose to do it. If I point a gun to a girl's head when I'm 20 years old and say, You're going to marry me, and you will say you love me every day, or I'll blow your brains out. That's not really a choice. She might say to me, I love you every day. Because she's afraid of that bullet.
But for there to be a real relationship, a true love relationship, a real bond that exists, there must be the ability for the person to make a choice for. Or against the one that's making the initial move. And so God put that out there. with all of the accoutrements of Paradise in that garden. giving mankind the choice, and mankind made the wrong choice.
It actually plays into another question that we got, and we'll go over in just a minute. Let me throw this one up now. In chapter one, here's the question. In chapter one, Animals were created first. Later, followed by the creation of humans.
In chapter 2, humans were created first. and animals second. Why? It seems to contradict itself. It's a fair question.
But it's an inaccurate question. There's a lot of false assumptions in that question. You have said that the second chapter of Genesis said that there's an order presented of which was created first. That's not so. Let's just look at the text and compare the two.
Well, for instance, start with Genesis chapter 1. In verse 24, Then God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind. Cattle? and creeping things And the beast of the earth. each according to its kind.
And so it was. And God made the beast of the earth According to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth.
So all the creeps were made that day as well. According to its kind, and God saw that it was good, even the creeps were good. Then God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over the Earth, over all the earth. And over every creeping thing, that creeps on the earth.
So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. That's the Genesis 1 account.
Now let's look at Genesis 2 and see if we have a contradiction. Verse 7, Genesis 2. And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostril the breath of life, and man became a living being. Go down to verse 18 because we don't have time to read it all. And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone.
I will make him a helper comparable to him. Verse 19: Out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast. Of the field, and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.
Now as I read those two different texts, I don't see any contradiction at all. Genesis 2, the second account that we read, does not say when God formed the beast of the field. He does in chapter 1. And why is that? Because in chapter 2, that's not the point.
The point that the author is making, here being Moses through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Is that man was called on by God to give names to all the animals that God had made?
So this is what you have in chapter two. Chapter 2 of Genesis Fills in the details left out by chapter one, especially on the sixth day of creation. And why the sixth day? Because the sixth day is when man was created in the image of God. He's the uppermost creation, he's the special creation.
So, chapter one is the chronology. You have six days of creation given in order. But chapter two is not. A chronology. It's not about chronology, it's about methodology.
How the God used His crowning creation to exercise authority over all the creation that God had made and to give names to all the animals and to rule over them.
So that's how Genesis 1 and 2 fit together. We're so glad you joined us for Connect with Skiff Heidzig. Before we go, we want to remind you to request this month's featured resource, GotPrint, The Life of Abraham. This seven-message series from Pastor Skip traces Abraham's walk with God and invites you to discover how faith can grow even through fear, doubt, and delay. It's our gift to you when you support Connect with Skip Heitzig with a donation of $50 or more.
Call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithkift.com slash donate. Thanks for spending time with us today. And we'll see you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig.
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