Welcome to Connect with Skiff Heitzig. We're glad you've tuned in for today's program. Connect with Skiff Heitzig wants to connect you to God's never-changing truth through verse-by-verse teaching of His Word. And that's why we make messages like this one today available to you and so many others on air and online.
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Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heidzig. God gave the angels the freedom of choice. And Satan was number one. He was the anointed chair 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 he wanted to assume the worship of that and has been trying to do that ever since.
So it was. It was self-caused. It was by the power of volition, not anybody that caused it for him.
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 I'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 kind of Creation. My God. Did you know that the ancient rabbis used to say that this creature, whatever it was before, whatever, 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 going to be able to do what you have done, you're now going to 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. Let me throw in something else in the mix. 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.
Okay. 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. Yeah. 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 that 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.
Okay. 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 two, the second account that we read, does not say when God formed the beast of the field. He does in chapter one. And why is that? Because in chapter two, 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 2. 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 have one that comes to us now from Facebook. And here's the question. What if Adam and Eve had never given into temptation. It sort of follows on the heels of one of the questions we just had texted to us a few moments ago.
What if Adam and Eve had never given in to temptation? Have you ever wondered that? I think a lot of people do. It's like, you know, this is a sorry mess Adam and Eve has gotten us into. And now we're part of the Adams family.
We share that sinful genealogy.
So, what's up with that? What if they never would have sinned? You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, what would your life look like if God's fingerprints were all over it? In God Print, The Life of Abraham, Pastor Skip takes you through seven powerful messages on the faith journey of one man who learned to trust God through crisis, fear, and uncertainty.
Abraham's life was shaped by God, and so can yours be. The God Print 7 Message Series is our thank you for your gift of $50 or more today to support the worldwide ministry of Connect with Skip-Heitzig. Your support helps reach more people with verse-by-verse teaching of the Bible so they can connect with God's timeless truth.
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Now let's get back to today's teaching with Pastor Skip. The question continues: Would the possibility of someone else down the line doing something that required Jesus to come to earth? to die for our sins.
Well I'll answer first presumably, and then I'll answer certainly. Presumably, if Adam and Eve would have never sinned, mankind would have continued in the paradise that God had made for his creation upon the earth, in fellowship with God, in harmony with one another. Yeah. But that's presumably. You see, it's always hard to play the what-if game.
Well, what if this and then what if that? Because you're dealing with not certainties, but presumption. Um Bottom line. Our first parents Whether they're called Adam and Eve, or if they were given other names, if they were. I don't know, Steve and Sarah Firkenbinder.
The names don't matter. What happened is the first human beings on the earth, given the first test. Failed the test. And in failing the test, they brought into this creation environment. The sin principle.
God said, In the day that you eat of that fruit, you will surely. Die. The cross was never an afterthought. When Adam and Eve sinned, it wasn't like God said, Oh, now what do I do? Plan B.
Revelation 13, last book in the Bible, verse 8. Says Jesus Christ was Was the lamb? slain from the foundations of the earth. It was all a part of God's plan. He knew exactly what was going to happen.
He had to let the test run its course. He had to let mankind choose to serve him, choose to love him, and everyone subsequent to that, but. Paul helps us. He fills in the blanks. He says, by one man, Adam, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and death spread to all.
for all have sinned.
So by one man Adam, sin entered. But he goes on to say that what What Adam Yeah. Jesus has undid. He has undone. Fixing it.
And that will be realized in our future, not in our present. He came to deal with sin first of all, and he'll come to bring in the kingdom second at his second coming.
So Here's something to think about. Adam was a special creation of God. He was made directly by God, a dura creation. No other human being has ever had that. Everyone after that was born naturally.
and in pain of childbirth. There was only one other person introduced into the human race. Who was also made by special creation, and that is the virgin-born Son of God. Where God moved by his Holy Spirit upon a woman named Mary, a young woman, and Jesus Christ was born naturally, but supernaturally, having. the nature of man, but also the nature of God.
He's called, incidentally, the second Adam or the last Adam. What Adam ruined, Jesus came to unruin.
So whether it was Adam or Eve. It wasn't that If Adam and Eve would have done it, somebody else would have done it later on. The idea is They had a choice. They blew the choice. If they wouldn't have, presumably, mankind would have continued in that paradise.
They did. God knew it. Jesus was planned to come from the foundation of the earth. And our future is secure because of that. We have another question that came to us on Facebook.
We have all these different outlets that come in.
Some are texted, some are on Cyberline, some have been Facebook, some have been put in the agape box by hand. This is about Cain's mark in chapter 4. And the question is simply. What was Cain's mark? And the text is Genesis chapter 4.
Now you remember the story. I don't have to Go over it all, but Cain. killed Abel. Cain was banished. From fellowship with God and interaction, I would say, also with his family.
He was bound to be a fugitive, a wanderer on the face of the earth. And God put a mark on him.
Now, this is Genesis chapter 4. Verse 14. Surely He says, he's speaking, Cain is speaking. Surely you have driven me out this day. From the face of the ground.
I shall be hidden from your face. I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth. And it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me. And the LORD said to him, Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.
So the question, what was that mark? Anybody know?
Well, I'm glad nobody said I know because that would be the wrong answer. Because it's not told us. What that mark was, right? We can't make something up that isn't there. We're not given that information.
God didn't think it was important that we know what that mark was. We do know it was some. Visible, identifiable sign.
Some say it was a birthmark.
Some say it was a tattoo. There are, I read 10 different explanations. Don't know. We're not told.
Some identifiable mark. to show two things. Number one, that he was under divine protection. Isn't that interesting? He's afraid that he's going to die.
God says, I'll put a mark on you. That'll be a warning to people. They won't kill you. Why would God do that? 'Cause he's merciful.
Because God is merciful, and God was protecting Cain and dealing with his worst fear because you think, I'm going to go out and I'm going to die. God says, not going to happen. I'm going to put a mark on you and I'm going to protect you. And it was a sign of that mercy. But number two, wearing that sign would also announce his guilt.
This lifelong shame. of God's judgment of being banished forever. Could have been a physical mark, some say it was a pledge.
Okay. For your interest, whoever asked the question. Do you know that this is not the only time a mark is put on people? And I'm not talking about the mark of the beast. That's.
A different time. There are two instances in the Bible where marks are put on people. for something good, in order to preserve or protect them. Like with this one. Yeah.
Number one is in Revelation chapter seven. Where there are 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each tribe, who are sealed. And God says, before you enact this certain kind of judgment in the tribulation period, you will seal in the forehead 144,000. They'll be protected specially by God during the tribulation period. The second case, is Ezekiel, I believe, chapter 9.
In Ezekiel 9, God is going to judge the city of Jerusalem because his people have backslidden. sin horribly against God. Yeah. Before the judgment takes place, God calls for a special messenger with a writer's inkhorn to mark the foreheads of those who in Jerusalem. Sigh and cry over all the abominations that are taking place in their city and in their country.
There's evil in their country and they cry over it. They hate the evil. Not only are they not a part of it, they're so opposed to it, they weep over it. God says, Mark them, I'm going to spare them.
So God sets a mark two other places for good in preservation. Whatever the mark of Cain was, Let me tell you what it's not. And I think this is important because historically, the Mormon Church. has taught that the mark of Cain That Cain's curse was preserved in the lineage that eventually went on the ark. through one of the sons of Noah, Ham, And they historically had explained that.
That curse that found its way through the lineage of Ham on the ark was Cain's curse. And the evidence of the curse was blackened skin, so that anybody that has a blackened or negroid skin, as they called it, was cursed by God. That is not the curse. It is a blatantly racist doctrine. It has nothing to do with any tenet whatsoever biblically, and that is not what it was.
So Whatever it was. That wasn't it.
Now we have another question, and I'm just looking at the time and waiting for any other text that might come up. We know that dinosaurs existed. This is The question. We know that dinosaurs existed. Mm.
But did they exist? At the same time as man, According to the Bible, everything was made in six days, but science says they existed at different times. How do you explain this?
Well, let me just first say Okay. That Science says a lot of things about a lot of things. And not all scientists agree on what scientists say. There's not a monolithic belief among scientists. And the idea, and in every natural history museum, this is like the favorite thing to say: a gazillion, billion, quadrillion, familiar years ago.
We know Because we weren't there. That these creatures existed, and then mankind was separated by so many millions of years. I would contest that on. Archaeological evidence. Yeah.
One of the places isn't far from us. Down in Texas. in the Paloxy Riverbed. About an hour south of Fort Worth, in limestone have been discovered. The fossilized footprints of dinosaurs.
Next to them, sometimes in them, as if sandwiched on top of them. The Footprints of Man. From the same era, maybe a race was going on, and the dinosaur caught up with the dude. But there you have a place. fossil evidence of man and dinosaur existing together.
Now, there are no dinosaurs. They didn't survive the flood, too big to put on an ark. And even if he put little ones on the ark, they could have died out. There are thousands and thousands of names that we know today of different dinosaurs, but only about 50 families of dinosaurs.
Now, Noah was told to put two. animals of every kind. Every kind, not every species. Every kind. And in some cases, seven.
For the sake of sacrifice.
So, We would naturally presume by the fossil evidence, not the one I just pointed to, but we have large dinosaur bones encased in several horizontal strata layer that would designate a period of time But something volatile. Pressed them. into that place and you see dinosaur fossils. vertically encased in horizontal strata. as if put there by some great cataclysmic flood.
Gee, that fits the biblical scenario quite well. A biblical worldwide flood, and there's plenty of evidence for that as we covered so far. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skiff Heitzik. Before you go, don't forget to request this month's resource, GodPrint, The Life of Abraham. This powerful seven-message study from Skip-Heitzig shows how God's presence shaped one man's life and how He can shape yours.
It's our thanks for your generous gift of fifty dollars or more to support this ministry. Call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And while you're there, sign up for Skip's weekly devotional email to grow deeper in your walk with Christ.
Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection! Make a connection at the Connect with Gif Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
