Genesis 1:24-2:25 - Part C

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That's connectwithskip.com. Now, let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. We rename things after other names, and so names after the flood were no doubt borrowed by Noah and Shem and the others for post-diluvian geography.

Okay, just keep that in mind. Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man that He formed. Out of the ground, the Lord God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, every now and then, I run into a well-meaning humanist who wants to tell me that man is just a product of his environment, and if man was placed in a perfect environment, he would be a good person.

There is some truth to that. We are certainly the sum in part of the sum of how we were raised in our environment. We think based upon how we were treated, et cetera, but this was the perfect environment, this Eden, this paradise that we read about, and yet man rebelled because man had choice. Now, later on toward the end of time, we'll read about it in the book of Revelation, for a thousand years, Satan will be bound, so there won't be the devil, but after the thousand years is up, he is released, and there's a huge rebellion that takes place. After the millennium, after a perfect environment, after a thousand years of a perfect environment, there'll be a huge rebellion. So all those people that said, well, man is just a product of his environment, if he's in a perfect environment, wait a minute, it's gonna be another Eden for a thousand years that'll be like the Garden of Eden.

It'll be a perfect paradise. But mankind then will sin because there's depravity, there's evil within the heart of man. It's not the environment, it's the heart. Well, why are there wars and why are there tragedies, et cetera, murders? Is it the environment?

Sometimes. But the Bible tells us that every person is born with a bent toward evil because of what Adam did in chapter three. A constitutional change happened at the moment Eve and Adam surrendered to the suggestion of Satan in chapter three. I came across something I wanted to read to you.

I came across it years ago and I've kept it. It was from the Minnesota Crime Commission that gave a partial reason for the rise in the crime rate. Now listen to the findings of the Minnesota Crime Commission. Every baby starts life as a little savage.

Wait, it gets better. He's completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it. His bottle, his mother's attention, his playmate's toy, his uncle's watch.

If you're a parent, you know this to be true. Deny these and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness, which would be murderous were he not so helpless. But if permitted to continue in the self-centered world of his infancy, given free rein to his impulsive actions to satisfy his wants, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist. Now that is a group of people that understood what the Bible clearly teaches, the depravity of human nature.

We are as bad off as we can possibly be because of what we'll read about in the next chapter, if we ever get to it. But what I want you to notice in verse nine is something called the tree of life. Notice it because you won't see it again until Revelation 22. Oh, you will see it again. You will see it.

You yourself will see it. Revelation 22 in the New Jerusalem, remember what it says? And I saw in the midst of this street and on either side of the river, the tree of life, John said, bearing 12 kinds of fruit and each tree bearing fruit according to its month and the leaves were for the healing of the nations. So it shows up as a tribute to God's creation there in the book of Revelation in the new heaven, in the new earth, in the new Jerusalem. It was a real tree. It was a real place. Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden and from there it parted and became four river heads.

The name of the first is Pishon. We don't know where that is. Some have guessed it's the Indus River. Others have said it's the Ganges River. Others have said it's a river in Arabia. Others have said it's a river in Mesopotamia.

So you can take your pick. It's the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah. So you got a clue now, where there is gold. Some believe Havilah is the ancient name of southwest Arabia and the gold of that land is good.

Delium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon. It is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. Now because Cush was a biblical name later on for Ethiopia, some believe this is the Nile pre-flood as one of the rivers. But again, we're dealing with antediluvian geography.

It's hard to really be precise. The name of the third river is the Hiddikal. It's another name for the Tigris River. It is one that goes toward the east of Assyria.

That's relatively the same. And the fourth is the Euphrates. Then the Lord took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend it and to keep it. The word keep means literally, get this, to enslave it. To enslave creation in a positive sense, to tap its potential, to discover what can be done by mining chemicals and harnessing energy and making things for the betterment of human life. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat, you shall surely die. Now people have a problem right here. They say, why did God put a monkey wrench in the machinery?

Everything was perfect. And he had to let people have choice, free choice. If God could have eliminated free choice, problem solved.

No, not really. Because if you don't have free choice, you have robots. If you don't have volition, you have automatons.

You program them in. Do you really feel, would you really feel loved if you pull a string on a doll and the doll says, I love you. Do you go, oh yes, I'm fulfilled. I'm satisfied.

I need nothing else. You need therapy if you believe that. There's no way to have a world where people, where creatures have genuine freedom unless they have the potential to sin. You can't have free will without that potential. And if you don't have free will and you don't have that potential to go either way, then you don't have a world that would ever understand love, which is the highest value. There has to be freedom and that freedom comes with risks. And that risk is the potential or the potentiality to disobey to sin. There had to be, for there to be a loving God, volition had to be part of the game. But in the day that you eat, you will surely die. And the Lord said, it is not good, first time he said it, that man should be alone.

I will make him a helper comparable to him. Men, I want you to think of the Garden of Eden for just a moment. It's a dream world. It's what every guy would love.

Lots of land, lush vegetation. You never have to take care of it. No taxes, no mortgage, no smog. You got the ideal job.

All you have to do is wake up and look at animals and decide what you're going to name them. Unrestricted fellowship with God every afternoon in the breeze or the cool of the day. What else could you want?

What could be better than that? You might ask. Well, God looked at it and said, something's not right. I'm looking at this guy. I'm looking at him. I made him.

I'm looking at him. Not good. Not saying that God, what God had done wasn't good, but God realized that it wasn't complete. It was like a North Pole without a South Pole. He was out of balance. He was out of whack. It's not good that man should be alone. Companionship was needed and all of the animals, even man's best friend, the dog, wasn't enough. Couldn't fulfill him.

It's not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper comparable to him. Now, gals, I recognize in reading that term, you're not flattered. You look at that and go, helper? Is that what I am?

Is that all I am? His helper? I mean, how would you feel if your husband said, I'd like you to meet my helper?

Wouldn't go over very well, would it? Sort of like my assistant. It doesn't sound what it really is intended to sound like in this translation.

It sort of sounds like an assistant, like I take you as my lawfully wedded wife to cook and to launder, to have and to fold until this, from this day forward. However, understand something. The word helper in Hebrew is the same word God used to describe himself. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, some people think that Jesus was nothing more than a prophet or a good teacher.

These misconceptions existed 2000 years ago, and Jesus is still misunderstood today. Discover who Jesus really is with Skip Heitzig's riveting nine-part series, Who Is This Jesus?, which examines Christ's humanity and deity to equip you to confidently answer questions about Jesus. This resource, along with Skip's Life Change booklet designed to help new Christians embrace their transformed life in Christ, is our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copies when you give at least $50 today to reach people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. Psalm 46, the Lord is our refuge and our strength, the very present help in times of trouble. The same exact Hebrew word used there for God is used for this gal. Not saying she is like God, but saying that she, while she will help him, he needed all the help he could get according to God. And that's how I feel I was before I got married. I needed help, a lot of help.

Well, a helper comparable or something that completes him, something that balances him out. The idea is that of polarity, as I mentioned, the poles together. Out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field, 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 something about the word Adam, the name Adam. Adam is the Hebrew word for man, but Adam comes from another Hebrew word, Adama, which is the Hebrew word for earth. We would call Adam literally Dusty. This was Dusty and Mrs.

Dusty. Adama means red like the earth. Adam means he's red like the earth.

The flow of blood is in him, not like the plants. This is something that has a different color cast to it, Adam. Okay, now something about names, ready? Here Adam is named something that resembles one of the colors in the earth. And you notice in the Bible when people name their children, they will often name them according to the circumstances of their birth or something they wish those children would embody.

But often circumstances that happen at the birth or here at the creation, they'll get named that. So probably when Adam started naming animals, he looked at certain features and he looked at certain characteristics and named it accordingly. Now we don't know what language he used. We don't know what names he used.

Of course, if he used English and we know he didn't do that, at least I don't think he did, then we would wonder. Maybe at first, you know, Adam was very creative and he named animals. The first ones like hippopotamus, rhinoceros, you know, many syllables.

But then as the day wore on, he got a little tired. Dog. Cat. Anyway, I don't know. I try to imagine it.

That couldn't be it. So Adam gave names to all the cattle, to the birds of the air, to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helper comparable to him.

None of those animals could complete him. And the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam. And he slept. And he took one of his ribs and he closed up the flesh in its place. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, he made into a woman and he brought her to the man. Little boy heard this story in his Sunday school class.

It really made an impact on him. Later on, on that Sunday after lunch, he felt a pain in his side and he was in his bedroom, doubled over and he shouted out, help, I think I'm having a woman. The word for rib literally means his side or a portion of his side, just generically the side. It didn't have to be the rib bone.

There's a beautiful little story that Matthew Henry used to tell, a great commentator. And he was quoting the Jewish sages. It goes like this, woman was not taken from man's head to be above him. She was not taken from man's foot to be walked on by him, but she was taken from his side to be equal to him.

From under his arm to be protected by him and near to his heart to be loved by him. Beautiful, a portion of his side and God made the woman and God brought the woman to the man. Now I'll tell you another quick story before we finish up. There's a story that says that Adam, when he saw Eve, was blown away. She was so beautiful and so different, so soft and just wow. And so he had a conversation with God later on that day after getting to know her. God, you made her so beautiful and so soft and tender.

Wow. Why did you make her so beautiful and so wow? And God said so that you would love her.

Oh yeah, well that worked. And then he got a little bit closer, but God, why did you make her so stupid? And God said so she would love you. Now that's not in the biblical account.

I think I heard that at a men's rally somewhere. Truth is Adam and Eve were different from each other, male and female. And one of the great things in a relationship is to enjoy the differences.

Don't let them go away. It's those differences and a lot of people in our culture try to make light and minimize the differences between a man and a woman. Why when there are so many differences? My wife and I, we have a lot of characteristics that are the same but we're very different. Our thermostats are different. When I get in a car, I like to turn on the AC. She shuts hers off. She likes it. She's a little bit cooler. She wants it warmer.

I'm a little warmer and I want it hotter and that's just the beginning. It's those differences though that shape us and mold us. God knew what you need and the gift of God to give you someone different than yourself which is what caused you two to be attracted to each other in the beginning were your differences.

Capitalize on them. Let God work on you through those differences. You've got some rough edges.

Let him work on those rough edges by that mate. Accept her. Accept him as a gift that God had made and that's the idea here. He brought her to the man and Adam said, now I know this sounds like a strange thing to say when you first check out your wife, this is now bone of my bones and flush of my flesh.

Maybe he was tongue-tied. She shall be called woe man because she was taken out of man. It renders the Hebrew but it misses the emotion. The Living Bible captures it.

The Living Bible captures the emotion though it doesn't capture all the nuances of the Hebrew. Living Bible says when God brought the woman to the man Adam said, this is it. As if to say, yeah. Yeah, I get it. This is the one.

This is the true companion that I've been waiting for. Therefore, a man will leave his father and mother, be joined into his wife and they shall become one flesh. Leaving, cleaving, weaving. The relationship must begin by severing one relationship so as to solidify another relationship. I know some children that never leave their father and mother, always on the phone talking about everything or needing a financial fix for everything. I understand we all need a little bit of help and when it says leave your father and mother, it doesn't mean abandon them. It means the relationship changes. The relationship changes. One of the best gifts you can give your children is to let them go, release them.

My father-in-law gave me a gift early in our marriage when my wife, we were having a problem and she called her dad to get advice. First thing he said is, I won't talk to you unless you tell me you've talked to Skip about this first and he's given permission to talk to me about this. Well, I applaud that. That's the way it should be. He understood this principle. There's a leaving, a severing. Then there's a cleaving, be joined to. The idea is permanence, permanence. The idea is two people will come together and make a commitment and a determination to be together permanently.

It could be translated welded together, bound inextricably together. Now does that mean that in a marriage there is never a reason for a couple to be separated? No, the Bible doesn't teach that.

The Bible teaches there's one reason and that is adultery and that is the only reason. The idea is permanence and I'll ask you this. Do you know of any divorce where the people aren't damaged? You can't take something that's welded together or glued and separate it without damage. So the idea is permanence. If you were to glue two pieces of paper together and let it dry and then in a week say, I changed my mind. I want those two papers separate again. So now you go about trying to separate the glue from both sides of the paper.

Could you do it and have the papers look and be the same in constitution as before? No, impossible. So God's idea of a relationship is that when formed, it's an ongoing permanent bond and then the leaving and the cleaving is the basis for the weaving, the one flesh. You see, one flesh isn't an instant procedure. It's a lifelong process. To take a guy who throws his socks in the sink and is like as messy as a gopher and a woman who irons napkins, paper napkins, and bring them together to weave those two lives doesn't happen easily in a week. It takes a lifetime. It takes a lifetime but I've got to tell you something about that process. You're in for the ride of your life.

So many changes will occur. I think this little section here, we're done. We have one verse left.

This is the best counseling anywhere, just this verse. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed. It's because they had arrived at true intimacy. They were naked and not ashamed and it's more than just physical. There was a psychological vulnerability, a trust where they could completely be themselves and hide nothing and there was no fear of reprisal.

That's the idea. And they enjoy that intimacy until sin enters the relationship and then they seek to hide from one another and from God. We'll discover that next week. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resources that will help you confidently answer questions about who Jesus is and understand the new life you have as a believer in Him. Pastor Skip's nine message series Who Is This Jesus? and his life change booklet are our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today.

Request your copies when you give $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer. And did you know that you can get a weekly devotional and other resources from Pastor Skip sent right to your email inbox? Simply visit connectwithskip.com and sign up for emails from Skip. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.