Transcript for:
BT 501 Lesson #2

e e e e e e check ah yeah that is the extent of my AV capabilities right there pushing the onoff button okay well we had a little Cliffhanger subdue that's right Hebrew word is kabash there we go good job that won't be on the test so don't worry because there is no test um all right yes here we are okay yes God blessed them said to be fruitful and increased in number and then subdue the Earth rule over the fish and then uh and all the birds and every living creature and then God said I'm going to give you every seed bearing plant on the earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it what an odd specific detail to be included in this story yeah foreshadowing they will be yours for food and to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along ground everything that has the Breath of Life in it I give every green plant for food and it was so and God saw that all that he made and it was very Tove yeah very Tove he did a good job now it says that it was Tove it was very Tove was it perfect how long have you known me so [Laughter] far is it perfect does it say that it's perfect e e building it thank you so this is the idea that God isn't giving them a completed Lego set he's just giving them a bunch of amazing Lego pieces they say all right kiddos guess what you get an out do just what I've been doing creating and so off they're going to go but what we are now going to experience is the most unfortunate chapter break in the entire Bible you should all realize that the chapters and verses were added later they're not original to the text they were just added so that we could reference them easily and simply praise God for whoever added chapters and verses but what a horrible place to choose to put chapter 2 this is not the end this is not the end of this section of Genesis thus the heavens and the Earth were completed in all their vast array and by the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing and on the seventh day he did what then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he there it is again from all the work of creating that he had done notice on the seventh day do you see anything that's different about it than the previous six days mhm what else there's no working there's resting made it holy so there's something very special about the seventh day mhm anything else think about all the refrains how about this is there any evening and morning is there any end to this day maybe there isn't supposed to be H now it says that on this day there's the big line right that God rested yeah so here's here's an important question does God get tired you get this one wrong I'm going to ask you to leave class does God get tired no we should all be terrified if he did like we should all be and which time zone is he on for crying out loud you know that would be a real problem no he doesn't get tired but when we see the word rested isn't that we ass what we assume that's what you do when you get tired so if God doesn't get tired what does it mean when he rests now fortunately if you read Joshua 1 and you read Psalm 1 you know the drill you're supposed to keep reading and then go back and reread and then go back and reread and when you did uh you would notice that there were multiple instances that use the same uh language of rest here's one we heard it in AATA We Came Upon it in the fields of Jar let us go to his who's his what's his Dwelling Place what's God's dwelling place let us go who's let us go who's us people or not people these are people where do people go to visit God's dwelling place thank you we got there it's all about the journey sometimes the destination here we go yeah Dwelling Place God's Temple let us worship at his foot stol saying arise Yahweh come to your what is God's resting place this Temple when it says that a deity anywhere in the ancient world for that matter would rest what it means is is that they inhabit their resting place which is their Temple so here's the really fun question to ask what is the van go of Genesis 1 that we just saw this whole creation account all s days was the creation of what his Temple what is his Temple the Earth do you see any buildings here brick and mortar out of all of the cosmic Universe our little Blue Marble is his Cosmic Temple how much of it all of it all of it and what is the intention when God tells a humans to be fruitful multiply and spread over the Earth as His Image bearers yeah just move in move in to all of it yeah and does does it help to make sense of phrases like the Prof uh like the prophets when they say that the glory of Yahweh would fill the Earth as the waters cover the sea what's God's intention been all along to make this whole place his home and remember how we talked about how Idols were placed in the middle of temples it's our home too God just made a home for his family that he can dwell in with them this is what's going on and so if we reverse back some of our conversations about the creation account and what the Bible is trying to tell us and what it really wants us to know it doesn't tell us the scientific details of how God made the world but it does tell the meaning of the world its purpose it's God's house to share with God's family that's its purpose this whole thing belongs to God now when you read further into the Bible is the whole earth God's Temple no he has a tabernacle later then a temple and imagine a Shabby little tent in the middle of the desert does that compare to you know the Earth something really went wrong didn't it something really went wrong and we're supposed to know that how we doing and so on the seventh day God rests which is like it's like um the idea of Creation in the Bible is ontological in the sense that it's not necessarily about the creation of something out of nothing although God does that God creates ex niilo is a fancy phrase right but that's that's actually not what Genesis 1 is about if you zoom to the beginning we covered all the stuff God made it yeah but in the ancient world in particular when it talks about creation it doesn't just mean creating physical something out of physical nothing it means giving and defining purpose to something and this is what God has done he's given the raw materials a physical meaning and purpose in the same way you could go have a walk in the woods but when you chop down some trees and Mill the lumber and then nail it together to build a house to which your family can live in and share relationships in and make memories in it's a it's a whole different thing yeah and this is what God has done so to rest is to enjoy the thing that you have made it's like if I were to make a chair for six days and on the seventh day I rested it would mean I would sit in the chair so even the idea of Sabbath isn't just not working that's not the point that's what Eugene Peterson called a bastard Sabbath yeah he didn't mix words it's about enjoying the purpose for which you have been working so when people are terrible at resting it's usually because they don't know why they're working if you don't know why you're working then what are you even going to do when you rest if you don't know who you're working for then all you're doing is what not going into the office that's not it that's not it how we doing so now dear reader you've just gotten a very Cosmic picture of God constructing his Cosmic Temple but now there was a remember that really significant emphasized piece of the whole creation process God's image Bears remember that let's double click on that shall we and zoom in on that story because I'll bet you're wondering tell us more about the creation of humans okay will do and that's what chapter 2 is going to take us into they're not two different creation accounts even though the details and ordering of the creation accounts differ different things appear at different times according to the days of Genesis 1 and the Order of Genesis 2 we're zooming in on Genesis 2 to get a new van go that's more focused into a small portion of the story but is a significant part of the story so make sense all right here we go this is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created when Yahweh and here's our introduction I've already been saying it but when you see l r d all caps that's the English translator's way of letting you know the Hebrew word behind it is the tetr grammaton which is yod VAV in Hebrew otherwise known as Yahweh but remember there are no vowels we're kind of guessing about how to say it but that's a pretty decent guess we're not going to know more about this name till Exodus chapter 3 when we're going to get some of the backstory on it and it's related to Yahweh saying uh when he's asked for his name he says I am which is a form of saying like E I am and when we say Yahweh it's he is has to do with him being the self-existent one his identity belongs to him it's not defined externally to him differing from everything else in the universe including us where does your identity come from within or without it's always external Yahweh is the only one who I am I am who I am or I will be who I will be isn't it interesting how obsessed modern culture is with identity self- identity in particular what are we proclaiming self goodhood I I am who I am only Yahweh does that yeah or rebellious creatures everyone else receives identity from him and I would suggest that's a merciful gift because we're really bad at creating something that important especially that we were never supposed to create so the unfortunate thing here is that when uh when our English translations were done that they chose to interpret Yahweh as Lord even though they made it all cap so you would know but they exchanged the name of God for a title of God what does it mean when someone gives you their name yeah it's personal it's like we insisted on calling someone sir and call me Seth absolutely sir Seth no problem sir like you're refusing intimacy and names are a very big deal in the Bible uh we're going to meet him in a moment but guess whose name we are never given in the Bible the Satan Satan is not his name it's a title in fact it always comes with hassatan or the Satan the definite article he has no name that we know of mhm nope that's a Latin translation of the Morning Star reference from The Book of Revelation again just another title and The Morning Star reference was the idea of when the daylight breaks it's the most resistant star that refuses to stop shining but will the day overcome it yes it will yep we're never given his name nor his full backstory the two things you need to have any level of personhood or dignity we're given that of Yahweh that's what the whole Bible is his name and his story but never with the Devil is it interesting we treat Satan as his name presume his backstory and then call Yahweh Lord which there's other passages where he is called Adonai Lord fine he's got plenty of titles to which you should call him but isn't it interesting how we treat the devil more personally than we do God sometimes is that a problem please say yes yes thank you now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had sprung up well that's a problem that's a real problem for Yahweh had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground do you see the setup Yahweh had yet to send rain so there wasn't any crops and there wasn't anyone to work the crops even if there were any yeah just like the Earth was formless and empty there was a problem to be solved well now we've got a similar problem to be solved here in Chapter 2 we need crops and we need a farmer or a gardener but streams came up from the earth started watering the surface of the ground what happens when dirt and water mixes together what's that called Mud and out of the mud a mixture of dirt and water this water that has been the to controled so now the water can participate in life Yahweh Elohim formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the Man became a nephesh haah a living being and what gave him life the Breath of God now Yahweh had planted a garden in the east in Eden and that's where he put the man that he had formed so let's notice a couple of details here that uh can fly under the radar pretty easily Yahweh planted a garden in the east in Eden first of all Eden what's the what does Eden mean in Hebrew Delight means Delight where does God places humans in a land called Delight or Paradise that's where you think he's good you have no idea how good he is but notice where he plants the garden it's in the East within Eden the Garden is not Eden the Garden is within Eden and Yahweh made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground trees that were listen to this phrase pleasing to the eye and good for food it's going to come up again and then in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil we're going to get to those in a moment and a river watering the garden flowed from Eden now what do we know about rivers which direction does water flow down so where do rivers start mountains what does the topography look like here in Eden we have ourselves a mountain with a river it's going to split off into four rivers but this is what we have a Mountaintop scene and one thing to notice this going to be confusing we've just been told something about the geography the land here is the land of Eden but within Eden concentric circles is the garden yeah and then we were just told about another location within the garden called the middle of the garden yeah three unique areas correct Genesis 1 how many different unique areas were there Sky sea land how many are there in Chapter 2 Eden Garden the middle how many areas were there with the Tabernacle and Temple outer courts inner courts ho of holies outer courts inner courts holy of holies now who gets to go in the construction of the temple into the holy of holies the high priest men or women only men how often once a year how many High priests one priest only man once a year can go in here where do the humans get to go anywhere they want the man was commanded you are free to eat from any tree in the garden including the tree of life which is right here in the middle but you are not to eat from the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil for when you eat from it you will certainly die this Crown so here's our scene so far if the man has access to all the trees except this one but including that one what does this make him not just a priest high priest he gets to dwell right in the middle of God's glory presence 247 so what we know about humans so far is that they were made in God's image to rule Kings and Queens over his good world and placed in God's world specifically in the hot spot of God's presence as high priests who are we we're a royal priesthood is who we are and if you don't believe me there's all kinds of fun details in here that point you exactly to that when Yahweh took the man and put him in the garden he says to the uh he did it so that you could work it and take care of it but as you know that's a direct rip from The Book of Numbers about the jobs given to the Levites and Priests to care for the temple grounds so we're already getting a clarified picture we know we're supposed to rule there's something we're supposed to subdue but what is the function of a priest what a priest do in the most General sense Med yeah mediate yeah they mediate between the gods and and for us we mediate directly with God to the whole world so we live in direct relationship with him and through us we actually image God and introduce God and draw the rest of creation back un God yeah now this tree that we're forbidden from it's the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil now these trees are not exactly creatively named they're very functionally named yeah presuming that when you eat of these trees you obtain what it is they're called for right so in this sense to eat of this tree would mean to eat or to take for yourself the knowledge of Tove and raw good and bad Good and Evil so here's the problem remember that human beings were called to rule correct what is the one thing you require in order to be able to rule literally every single second of the day the knowledge of Good and Evil how else do you rule you have to decide what's good what's wrong what's bad what's better what's best the knowledge of Good and Evil is what a Authority rulers judges have to have all the time and God says no they're not allowed to take from the tree and grab it for themselves who has been the only one so far in the story defining what is good and in the very next verse what is not good God so how is Humanity going to gain the knowledge of Good and Evil if they require it to do their job directly through their relationship with God from God himself not from God's like knowledge he's poured into creation but directly from their creator and so here's the tension we wondered the question how will we know if humans will indeed image God and Rule like God or or will they seize the knowledge of Good and Evil for thems do whatever is good in their own eyes and potentially not image God and so God gives a tree and a command and in so far as they trust in the knowledge of Good and Evil coming directly from Yahweh they will have full access to the tree of life and live their mortality was not unconditional meaning they weren't just going to live forever inherently living was a condition of having access to the tree of life no tree of life no life but the only way in which they would have not have access to the tree of life and die is if they ate from the other tree and the knowledge of Good and Evil this shows up in other places specifically let's look at a couple Deuteronomy 1:39 says that the children of the Next Generation could enter the promised land because they did not yet know they did not have the knowledge of Good and Evil who doesn't have the knowledge of good and evil children don't children don't that's the point of parenting instilling it in them interesting that the first humans didn't yet have the knowledge of Good and Evil were we in some sort of uh prepubescent sort of Developmental stage of our growth also Solomon claims to be like a child in First Kings 3 that he does not yet know good and evil and so what does he do he asks God for wisdom and how does God feel about that oh he's through the moon like he's just heck yes confessing a lack and then asking me for it done in fact the fact that you didn't ask me for all the superficial stupid stuff you'll get all that too you see it so this is the knowledge of Good and Evil will the humans continue to trust in Yahweh for the necessary wisdom to discern right from wrong or will they decide to autonomously rule for themselves this is the test MH this is what I think I won't uh I won't force you to think it I don't think we were created Immortal I think our immortality was conditional upon having access to the tree of life so so far as we had access to the Tree of Life yes we would live forever I don't think there would be any death something like that yeah yeah how long how long what the timeline is happening here of Genesis 2 how long they've been around like I I don't know any of those details but you got the sequence right the sequence is right yeah well I mean that's not a terrible question but uh I like the old good oldfashioned John 3:16 um that God so loved the world and gave his only son that whoever believes in him would not die and what does die mean I think it means death that's but it what it's saying is that life eternal life is conditional yeah but it yes yeah it is after the fall but it's still the same Condition it's Jesus's offering we'll get to this acts us back to the Tree of Life so if if you're I'm kind I'm being a slightly cryptic I'll admit that my cards on the table is I believe death is death I don't think death is the ongoing continuation of our existence apart from God I think it's the cessation of our existence because there is no existence apart from God and I think it requires access to the tree of life here but we're going to see the tree of life and what that means and represents and that fully get developed all the way into the life of Jesus and then and then we'll see that essentially we need Jesus to live forever and without Jesus we don't live forever but that death is a death it's a final death and it's a total and complete death now plenty of you and plenty of even other professors in the Seminary will still believe that no that existence will be permanent because immortality is unconditional it's just whether you live or exist with God or apart from God um I don't I'm just uh I'm suggesting the idea I don't know if that's how the story is leading us to think correct for humans mhm yes no I wouldn't say regardless because I think the access to the tree of life is again a literary like not that it's not maybe a little tree in this moment um but we're going to see that idea built out more and more that tree of life is the life of God that he sustains in us he gives us more than just the Breath of Life to get us going but he is our ongoing life that he provides and sustains yeah the author and the finisher kind of an idea yeah yep all right let's uh let's keep moving can we back to Genesis 2 oh man we're hoing it we only got a buttload more uh chapters to go to get to the end of this Bible but we're already on the second one so we're doing great here's the first thing that God says is not Tove and what's in relation to relationship it's so one thing that's not to relationship isn't good enough and so I'm going to make a helper suitable for him compatible for him now remember God's desire is that man would multiply be fruitful and spread can man multiply on his own no he's going to re require another to be able to fulfill his purpose but and I don't mean this to sound as culturally controversial as it's about to it can't be another man yeah can't wasn't going for that but I appreciate it and the idea of suitable is similar and different remember you got a lot of animals running around which we told all about and they're all brought to the man to see what he names them so the man gives names all of them but no sual helper was found so what's happening well we're we're checking out the monkeys and the Dolphins you know what I mean and The Chameleons and the birds and the giraffes the hippos we're checking them all out and it's like ah none of these are able to be the helper to fulfill man's purpose that God has given to him that's not that's not it so it's got to be same species but different and this is the ideal of M male and female same and yet different and guess who that is trying to image one God multiple persons yeah so there's something inherent to the male female in the biological even reproduction and what we're going to call marriage that is foundational to the idea of even Imaging the Triune God and notice notice that not only does this God create time and space and a house but also relationships to fill it and that God's desire for relationship goes beyond just that of God directly with man you want to take a little trinitarian deep dive here okay this one's all for free so we have God who we're going to see spoiler alert get revealed to us as a God who exists as Father Son and Holy Spirit correct a God who is one two three and these three share a Unique Kind of Love among one another Richard of St Victor actually said that three was the perfect number of love because with one if God was one an only one he cannot be love he can maybe value love but he has to create something else in order to enjoy it because love requires two it minimum this is why guys this is why Allah he is not love you don't hear him spoking of that way it's why forgiveness is like well I hope but I'm not sure there's no Assurance Allah is one and when Allah is one there's one fundamental uh character attribute that dominates them all and that's his power and so our role is submission yeah this is it but imagine that if God is two well two you can have love but not a perfect kind of love I call this Middle School love my first girlfriend I had in middle school I was 13 years old way too young but uh for those glorious and beautiful two weeks of my life the rest of the world disappeared I ignored all of my other friends and then when we actually broke up my friends were like nice to meet you again isn't that what happens if love is just two it's like Ping Pong back and forth but it never goes anywhere Beyond just the two but when love is three there's a lover a beloved and someone with which to share that love or in the Theology of Augustine love itself that is a person expressed and shared and generated among the three and so the idea is that this love doesn't just go like this it goes like this and like this and because it is so radically other centered always wanting to share so much experiential Joy because they're freely receiving and freely giving there's no manipulation there's no coercion there's no taking there's no demanding there's just freely receiving and freely giving this love was so good what is the only logical reason like what's the only logical conclusion to this this has got to spread there's got to be more where does creation come from The Big Bang of the joy of God deciding the goodness that I have must be shared the trinitarian God is not a purely monotheistic God it's monotheism but with oh so important of a Twist Father Son and Holy Spirit means we get to say we have a God who is love and who does not create out of lack he creates out of abundance and joy he's a fountain of spreading goodness and he insists that all those that He Partners in relationship with continue that ongoing spreading of love and joy that's why we're fruitful and multiply and spread over the Earth at any point you sit down shop and say say no more I'm going to receive it all in but I won't pass it on to anyone else you don't just disobey God you will shrivel and die because life only happens when you not only freely receive but also when you freely give it's the lesson you're supposed to learn from the geography of Israel it's the tale of two Seas the Sea of Galilee has many rivers that pour into it and a river that pours out of it but the Dead Sea has mainly like the uh Jordan River that pours into it and none that pour out of it one is teeming with life that's why there's fishmen that work there and the other is literally dead no life whatsoever yeah this is what's going on it is not good for man to be alone and so when you have man and he has a one two relationship with God huh it's not good enough and so what does God create woman and now what does he have one two three a lover a beloved and someone with which to share all that love it's like you sitting and watching a be beautiful sunset is that good please say yes but what makes it better sharing it with someone yeah that's always what makes it better and now marriage is what what completes in this early story family is what completes a trinitarian love where husband and wife get to directly receive the love from God that they get to share with one another insisting that this love will keep growing and spreading and what happens when the Two Become One in communion with God one two becomes babies isn't this where babies come from when the two become one and this is how it spreads and now one 2 three and the trinitarian community of love just keeps growing and going and growing and going should we talk about Jesus for a second did Jesus ever get married or did he and when Jesus who is one with his father in ways we can't fathom becomes one with his bride who is that what happens disciples what are disciples but The Offspring of the loving Union between God's people and the Son of God and the love of the father why is it that God sends us on the Great Commission and doesn't just do it himself it would be not good it's why you need to go love the lost you need to share the gospel and you better do it abiding in Christ otherwise in Jesus's words you can do nothing to which I'm sure in dear deep Soul you think no that's not true I know I can do a lot apart from you and Jesus says no you can't no you can't because unless the groom and the bridegroom are one how are they ever going to produce like Offspring or the family of God abide in me and you abide in me and will abide in him and somehow the love of God will radiate will be fruitful will multiply will spread over the Earth how we doing dude there's no one like Yahweh there's nothing else like this everyone else is just sharing platitudes and cliches whenever they talk about love or relationship Yahweh is the only real deal there's nothing like him yeah oh yeah he loves them too no apparently not but we don't get all the details about all the rules they play by we just know they're a little bit different than us and we get hints at that in the New Testament when it talks about you know like uh how even in uh in the final State like there will be nobody marrying or given in marriage and it says we'll be like the Angels oh yeah there's nothing he makes he doesn't love to for God to not love would be to violate his very nature yeah yeah yeah there's no there's no way that's that's not a it's not a thing okay need to take a break break time for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e and a hush comes over the room all right we got that caffeine bump we got a little uh carbohydrate and sugar flowing back through our bloodstreams again okay guys here's the goal that we've got to commit to we're going to crush Genesis 3 by the end of today that's the goal and if you're wondering like how is this pacing sustainable the answer is it's totally not um but um there's so like the first uh few chapters of Genesis is like a suitcase that's been overpacked so you unzip that thing and it all goes flying everywhere and once you understand it well you can zoom up to 10,000 ft really much more easily over the rest of the Bible because there's really nothing new you're going to be told the same Melody is just going to get replayed over and over and over um and uh and you'll see you oh you'll trust me you'll see the words of Jesus will come back ringing in your ears from that road to Emmas here very very quickly so all right so back in chapter two it's not good for man to be alone he's going to make a helper uh and by the way helper AER uh maybe some of you heard this before um but helper not the greatest word I think to get at the idea of what an AER is um but uh let's just look at uh Psalm 60 how about that oh no no no no which one I want uh Psalm 121 check this one out you guys I lift up my eyes to the mountains where does my azer come from oh from Yahweh who who is our azer yeah an AER is not a second class assistant wow this is someone without whom man could not fulfill his purpose and Destiny he's she is desperately needed to complement by sense of strength and weaknesses all that he lacks with all that he needs God is the ultimate fulfiller of what an AER is but she's not an optional accessory she's absolutely essential uh and most of the time I'm trying to think which one it is it might be might be Psalm 60 but most of the time where it refers to God as Israel's azer it's when he's obliterating large armies on their behalf while they're cowering in fear so there's also that so I'm not a feminist but I do think women are awesome so that is a and I don't think Yahweh makes things that are less than awesome so there we go now Yahweh formed out of the ground all these wild animals like you said but there was no suitable helper so Yahweh caused man to fall into a deep sleep and while he was asleep he took something from the man's side closed up the place with flesh and Yahweh made a woman from his side that he had taken uh out of the man and he brought her to the man and the man this is our second poem break remember something very very important just happened this is now bone of my bones and Flesh of My Flesh she shall be called woman for she was taken out of man dear reader pay attention woman very big deal this is why a man leaves no here's a fun little thought who's the fathers and mothers to be left here what's going on this is a narrator saying dear reader from some point in the future hint hint wink wink this is why you just read the origin of marriage this is why we do marriage the way that we do this is why this is what marriage means dear reader this is why a man leaves his father and mother and is United to his wife and they become one flesh or they become one Adam and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame now what could go wrong the serpent you ready for chapter three oh this serpent more crafty crafty crafty good thing or bad thing it's actually neutral it could be good or bad depending on how it's used so here's your question is the serpent crafty good or is the serpent crafty bad he's going to use it as bad but how was it given to him to be used for good H here's your second question has this serpent already been using his craftiness for bad or is this the moment where he turns his craftiness for bed you just say tell [Laughter] us no more questions like that's all God does in the Bible for crying out loud is it you're really not going to like this one but we're going to talk about it anyway okay this serpent was what a wild animal where was the last time we saw wild animals mentioned before that in Creation Day what day six before who before humans animals were made before hum humans who was given authority over animals humans so the first is ruled by the second how is the first about to feel about that and he's is he going to try to reverse the tables is there a pattern in the Bible of tension between the first and the second and the second ruling over the first please say yes or go ahead and just let's dismiss yourself MH so what do we know about this serpent we know he's crafty and a wild animal H then that's all we know so far well we also know Yahweh made him yep he's a creation a creature not a Creator and then he he talks to the woman did God really say you can't eat from any tree in the garden so this uh wild animal talks question have you ever met a snake that talks second question in the ancient world when this is being written did they believe that snakes could talk how long have we known each other this is uh this is Dr Seth tricky questions in the ancient world did they believe a snake could talk of course they didn't guys are you serious no one believed that animals could talk do you know here's I do this to everyone and Everyone Falls for it so don't feel bad and I'm only doing this to you cuz it was done to me so it's just payback but do you know why you think that CS Lewis calls it chronological snobbery it means because you were born later you think you're smarter you're not guys who can explain this to me in the room okay let me let me like throw this on the ground and then you repair it for me none of you know but you know how to work it therefore you think you're smart we have these because of the accumulation of human knowledge that we benefit from but that doesn't make us inherently smarter in fact our IQ isn't they know animals don't talk we know animals don't talk and here's why that's a problem if you think that you're so much more sophisticated than an ancient person that they wouldn't know that an animal like wouldn't talk then you're going to think yourself Talking snake this is clearly how we know this story isn't real cuz those those don't exist or the authors know and they're not idiots and they're introducing to a character that's apparently a bit more complex than just a snake but the cookies are not on the bottom shelf it's introducing you to a character and language you can understand but this is clearly more than just a wild animal oh yes oh yes yes MH they are part of the too even Jesus when he was in the wilderness what was it in Mark says was with the wild animals M yep now who is the serpent don't be scared of this one yeah I know it's my own fault it won't be the last time I mess with you so yeah but how do you know that when is the first time that you're actually told that Sunday you say Sunday school that's the best answer ever you win wi you win all the prizes for the day most valuable student award that's incredible you win I that's fair enough that's how I phrase the question where's the first time in the Bible you were told that's who the serpent is Revelation chapter anyone the central part of all revelation 12 a war broke out in heaven Michael and Angels fighting against the dragon the Great Dragon was hurled down that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan that's the first time you're told explicitly who this was isn't that crazy no we F like we're not dummy so we kind of we get the point we figure it out but this is the first time we're told explicitly so a snake in the garden and he's having a conversation with who man or woman woman a woman he's not talking to the man and what is she talking to the woman about the Divine command about the trees and is she talking back she is do she seem thrown off by this is it maybe is it uh normal for this particular creature to have a conversation like this does this particular creature possibly have some kind of role special or unique to God or he' be privy to things as important as the Divine command around life and death that may be clarifying the issue every now and again is not a terrible thing to do and maybe that's all that he's doing so maybe it comes across as innocent with guards down as this is just kind of a regular member we're hanging out with now the question came up over the break which uh would be a good time to talk about now remember how we talked about this scene that we have here we should complete it now because we've got our woman is on a Mountaintop yeah it's a garden Mountain why a mountain mountains were very common temples were often located at the top of mountains in a variety of different religions and why spiritually theologically topologically why well the Earth is a space where we inhabit and the heavens is a space where God inhabits and guess what mountains do they elevate from the Earth to to overlap with the sky it's shared space and in this shared space you don't just have humans and animals apparently you have all kinds of other creatures hanging out in that space as well regularly and normally not the least of which is going to be Yahweh himself that's going to come walking in the garden and a few moments but you also apparently have these this serpent character who's clearly a Divine being you're going to have cherubim who are actively involved this is a hot spot where somehow these two Realms are overlapping with each other how we doing so the woman says now here's the question who did God give the command about the trees to man or the woman the man mhm did God ever tell the woman directly well it doesn't say would be the most accurate thing right we don't know but he didn't say that he told her in here so some some of uh some of the Bible just leaves you to just well think about that for a second pause we can't say with certainty and I'm not asking you to but the Bible is asking you to think where would the woman have heard this from presumably from her husband and she says we can eat fruit from the trees in the garden but God did say you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the Garden or touch it or you will die how'd she do she added what did she add touch did God ever say that where did she hear that from is the question again we don't know for sure but the choices are either she heard it from her husband or she made it up for herself and why why would someone do that well if there was a tree in the middle of the garden that could kill your wife do you tell her not to eat at fruit or babe don't even touch it yeah or maybe if you're Eve and you hear the command from Adam you'd be like look babe here's what we're going to do this is a big deal and you are a little bit too Reckless and so we're just going to pull a safety patrol move here we're not touching this thing that's the new rule either way are God's words sufficient who do you know in the Bible which category of character in the Bible is well known for adding rules onto God's rules to make sure we follow God's rules I think we've met our first ones all well intentioned as were Pharisees by the way but it does expose a problem you won't die says the serpent for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be you'll see now you're blind but if you eat you'll see remember Jesus Luke 24 they couldn't recogniz him and Jesus healed the Blind and then warned his disciples watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees they're like are we talking about bread it's like ah face palm guys no they're blind they can't see me they're plotting against me as we speak I'm healing physical blindness just as a signpost to reveal the spiritual blindness that is everywhere but I have not come for the healthy but for the sick and the healthy are those that don't know they're sick but here's where it all starts the whole pattern and theme of blindness spirit spiritual blindness here's how you see actually it's how you become blind and then you will be like God and how did God make them yeah In His Image and his likeness they already were you know this is the best the devil can test you with tempt you with to be something you already are to gain something you already have yeah you're discipling someone sleeping with her boyfriend why is she doing it to be loved she already is yeah yeah why why why do you walk down the road of selfish ambition to matter and be significant you already are yeah dude I'm telling you he's crafty but he's not creative and he's going to recycle these tricks which is why I'm going to ask you to remember his opening line questioning the words of God did God really say questioning the words of God related to life and death you won't die God knows that your eyes will be open you will be like God knowing good and evil essentially you can transcend your human limits the fundamental claim of the serpent is that God is not blessing you like he says he is he's oppressing you and holding you back he is not good you think he's good he's putting on a display for you if he's good but this serpent has had access to God in Realms the humans have not what if this serpent has seen another side to God what if God is a hypocrite what if he shows himself one way to the humans but he's a totally different way somewhere else what if God is prohibiting the humans from this tree not because he cares about them but because he's withholding something good from them this is the accusation do you really want to take the chance of being a slave oppressed by this God when you could just reach out that fruit and take back your own freedom and life for yourself God is not good he's oppressing you he's not blessing you and so this is the LIE out there is God good or is he not and humans are in the middle how will they testify which which message will they believe will they believe God or will they believe the serpent well the woman saw that the fruit was remember this phrase good for food and pleasing to the eye it looks just as good as all the other fruit does doesn't look like a durian fruit which everyone knows you should stay away from you know like sorry I had to take the shot there no it just looks good like all the other fruit does according to her own eyes it seemed fine who's she starting to trust in herself and also she could see it was desirable for gaining wisdom gaining wisdom interesting remember Paul's line wisdom for salvation through trusting the Messiah Jesus she thinks she can gain wisdom through mistrusting God so she takes some and eats it and then who's right there with her apparently her husband who's been silent the whole time and he also eats it why is he silent and why does he eat let's just uh let's speculate speculation is fun Adam receives the command from God this we know he knows the command was not about touching it at all he knows that when his wife reaches out to touch the fruit she's going to think everything's fine she's going to think that God's the liar and that she's now safe to eat but he definitely would have known she isn't yeah so why would he allow her to go through with eating it before he did taste tester guinea pig who wants the fruit Adam wants the fruit and he's willing to listen listen sacrifice his wife in order to bless himself and if she dies he has plausible deniability yeah but listen listen listen if this is how the story goes wrong a husband sacrifices his wife in order to bless himself how does a story need to be made right a husband will sacrifice himself in order to bless his wife yeah it's got to come how many husbands are we going to see willingly laying down their lives for their women not many but there will be one yeah yeah oid mych is that possibly the that the husband had to seemed like the husband had to have Eden and then they felt the effects was it is it possible that Eve did not feel the effects of her sin until Adam also eight or ises that is that just not something the biblical authors want us to ask it's a good question did they die did she die immediately did she fall on the spot no she didn't so apparently whatever death means is not what we or they immediately assumed but the story is going to build that out for us what that means because what does happen to them at the end of this whole story Exile separation casting out from God's presence that's what happens and apparently the Bible wants us to know that is death and if you just think death is what happens when you stop breathing you don't realizing you're dead even while you're still living yeah MH let me pass the mic over oh we had one okay here we go uh I I noticed in verse seven um if if if we're assuming that um that uh he let his wife first ate it and now in verse seven then the eyes of both of them were open then they realized they were naked it looks like both of them received the effect of it at all at the same time although I can you can only assume that because that will have an effect in our assumption yeah interesting MH yeah then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked so was the effect of that eating the fruit came at the same time or he realized uh he saw the effect first from from his wife and then good question yeah it doesn't say but that would be yeah that I don't know yeah maybe yeah Erica when I see it oh sorry as I read that it seems that no pressure in verse six after so Eve ate or the woman ate and then the husband ate and then both of their eyes were open so it doesn't seem that she ate and then their eyes were open seems like both of them had to eat MH or it could be possible like she could have ate her eyes open and then he ate he's like babe we're naked he's like what try you know I mean we just don't know it doesn't say we're reading between the lines though but like okay the this is what the Bible is like pulling you to do and to think more deeply and meditate on this and to think about it now that doesn't mean especially when we're speculating on stuff it doesn't explicitly say that we can hold it and say like okay this is what happened but we are we are supposed to meditate on this and to think about this um cuz this is is us you guys this is us yeah for sure and how many times have you been sold on something stupid because someone just got the Euphoria of their sin and hadn't experienced any consequences yet so you Dove right in with them and then you experienced the consequences with you know what I mean totally I could see that yeah yeah in the back I just want to go back to your statement of of um the husband wanted like was willing to sacrifice his wife to bless himself can we you can't just like say that and then go to the next subject sure we can it's a long book okay MH isn't isn't he sinning isn't he sinning before he's even eaten the fruit I love that question it's introducing something's going wrong before something wrong happens but let's meditate on that for a minute is sin just the momentary decision to do the thing or was there a path that got you there a path of micro decisions that might have been semi benign or Innocent but that path Drew you to a place of something worse almost like the Book of Proverbs like the path to the house of the Harlot you know what I mean it's like he's just I'm just walking here yeah but it's where you're going yeah and unless like maybe unless in discipleship if only you're ever doing is with the decision and not the process that got them there you're not starting early enough because by then the battle's too late right if you're alone in the room with your girlfriend you know and it's dark and it's midnight and you're naked it's probably dunzo but there was a bunch of decisions you had probably for multiple hours right so there's something there yeah could it be because when God created man and everything else it was Tove but not perfect could that is that something that's yeah it's just uh it's a little bit messier than just our night clean like not in sin in sin not in sin in sin and what is it what is it that does precede every sin what is it say louder yeah I'm I'm going use a synonym trust anything that does not come from faith is faith comes from or sin comes from somewhere unbelief mistrust you can't sin without first and it's not where you ever have an absence of trust you just replace it from trusting in Yahweh and his vision of life and death good and evil with my own semi my own also the serpents yeah I'm not sure if I'm following but if that's the case can we say then that the original sin was committed even before they ate the fruit How about if they did not execute it let's say this the original sin was consummated with the eating of the fruit but I think we're supposed to see something even the conversation with the serpent why are we having a conversation about God without God okay Dr said um I'm going to No let that one sit for a little bit that was really good someone drop a mic around here yes Eric go ahead it's kind of I'm going circles because um verse 5 says they haven't known what is good and evil without eating the fruit how could you violate something that you didn't know no it's not that they don't know good and evil they've only received God's definition of Good and Evil so far and the only thing that we've been clearly explicitly told that God has given them is no to the tree that is evil yes so they don't but they do they they don't yet possess it autonomously for themselves sin is really just mistrusting God and that's evil yeah okay yeah well done I wish it was more complicated than that you know what I mean it helps me justify my sin a lot easier um but yeah it's like it's always a question every time I'm in sin where am I not trusting him where am I not trusting him and I have to stop trusting him and replace that trust with someone else that I think is more worthy of my trust a better source of life than him before I ever act out sin is ultimately at the end of the day behaviorally just the symptom that overflows out of a heart that has already gone sideways yeah my last question was it sorry U but was was it already what was um was it part of their free will to converse with the serpent because that's how God created them because if we take out free will then sure yeah that's my only struggle with that so was it part of their free will because that's why I'm struggling with the idea that just the mere fact that they were having conversation with the serpent they were already sinning the the original sin was already commit committed I don't think there was any sin in the conversation with a serpent per se until they saw until they consumated mhm but the serpent was crafty and leveraging what appeared to be a relatively innocent conversation yeah and lever it against the hum yeah and keep in mind from chapter one what was the big Cliffhanger that humans were called to do subdue something the animals so what would have subduing looked like in this scenario all right let's be spec What would subduing looked like in this conversation we're just gonna totally cheat here towards the end of the course we triumph over who the serpent by and how do we triumph over the serpent speaking truth to his lies testifying do we know with certainty of fact that God is everything he says that he is do you see God everywhere at all times could he behave differently when he's not when you're not aware of him than he does when you are yeah but what does your testimony say all that I have seen of him is good all his ways are good and he has been so good to me he has indeed and does indeed and will indeed bless me he already made me like him I am happy I am happy to serve in the house of the Lord I don't need to build my own yeah something like that speaking truth to lies is the violent subduing of spiritual warfare MH yeah uh I have the mic oh you got the mic we go first then we'll pass it yes um just with regards to the question of uh Eve and Adam so the New Testament uh Paul says it was the woman who was deceived yep not the man now I don't know whether that's just contextual language to try and explain how to protect and it's not really pointing to the Theology of that but um they they might have been pure-hearted I'm using that Loosely and the devil came in to twist and to deceive them and they they fell as a result of that they were for sure deceived maybe they were not trying to do the wrong thing but they they were deceived into doing the wrong thing they were for sure deceived into doing the wrong thing and that is a critical difference between the devil and the humans which we'll get to in a moment we'll get there after this question from fosty did you have one do because I'm thinking that before they would they the tree they already committed sin because it seems like because they anxious about the future they talking about their already and also they wanted to do you know to have that wisdom of I mean the knowledge of good EV it seems yeah I guess could y mhm yeah let's keep going let's keep going let's don't worry there's going to be plenty of questions to come back to Genesis they realized they were naked and then they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves then the man and his wife heard the sound of Yahweh as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day and that phrase is coming in the sound and the spirit sound and the wind God coming in presence on a Mountaintop with furious sound and blowing of wind what does that sound like to you yeah sin foreshadowing this is not a casual walk in the garden this is coming in judgment and they know it so what do they do among the Trees of the garden the humans wearing leaves hide among the trees like they're looking as they're pretending as if they are trees this actually becomes another pattern where God uses Force as metaphor for his people and even Jesus says I am the yeah I'm like a fine mhh but Yahweh called to the man and asks a question where are you now does God know where they are yes why does God ask a question yeah asking a question where are you is an invitation to confession and confession is the first step to reconciliation God comes in judgment but he's coming to reconcile with the humans have you ever heard of what a wrathful mean judgmental God is in the Old Testament I don't know which Old Testament they're reading his move is not to give anyone what they fully deserve to show mercy and Grace and compassion but if you work at it for hundreds of years you can stir up his wrath where are you the man answered Let's uh by the way he's invited to confession here isn't he let's let's grade how he does I heard you in the garden true or false yes true I was afraid true or false true because I was naked true or false so I hid true or false how do you do is there an elephant in the room still did he tell the whole truth no no he didn't there's an obvious Omission wait a minute wait a minute who told you you were naked did you eat the fruit come on now like just say it already yeah he's dodging he's avoiding he's still hiding is it possible to not lie and still hide is it possible to be with God and still hide from god wow to say all the right things and yet still be far from him yes oh yes that'll preach here's the first words out of the mouth the woman you put here with me actually I think you're the one that made her not me take a better rib next time uh and then God does not talk to the man about the woman no notice he just talks to the woman about the woman what have you done what dides she say the serpent is anyone taking responsibility no so does Yahweh talk to the woman about the serpent he talks to The Serpent and what's the first word he proclaims any offer of confession or reconciliation with him none none why we don't really know but one thing we do human sin was preceded by deception what preceded the serpent sin nothing it came from within his own self human sin came from external deception yeah but not with a serpent and there's no offer of Hope or Redemption for the serpent why we're not not given his name any details about his story no dignity no personhood nothing there's no sympathy offered he's only a flat out enemy meant to be destroyed and subdued only always and forever yeah cursed are you above all the livestock and wild animals you will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life isn't that what snakes already do parents not this one I will put enmity what's enmity mean yeah hostility yep between you and the woman oh the one he went after he started the fight with the woman didn't he the woman's going to finish it and between your Offspring whose Offspring Ser the Serpent's Offspring snake babies snake babies and the woman's babies wow and he will crush your head and you will strike his heel so this is the first thing that God pronounces after the fall and what does he say he's going to happen I'm going to kill the serpent I'm going to destroy evil and how am I going to do it you pick to fight with the woman I'm going to finish it through the woman she's going to have babies you're going to have babies the woman's babies will come in multiple successions of generations but how normally are Generations tracked the man or the woman men so generations of children born from the woman and then one specific male child born uniquely from a woman is going to crush your head and you will strike as heel so the image is of a male child striking down on the head of a viper as the Viper bites the heel so the action that kills the serpent is a sacrificial action that costs him his life how foolish you are and slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken did not the Messiah first have to suffer and then enter his glory and then beginning with Moses and all the prophets he explained to them Genesis 3 wow you didn't have to read very far cuz it's the first thing he said wow how we doing and so who do we need to fix the story we don't know his name yet we need him whoever him is we need him don't we that's all the rest of the Bible is going to going to point to why are there genealogies in the Bible how else are you going to find him that's where all the action is you guys it's like the most important part now the snake babies and the woman's babies any find anybody find the snake babies a little bit disturbing what in the world is a snake baby read the next chapter oh how many sons do they have Cain and Abel so we've got a nice little deal here we've got two candidates to Stomp The Serpent both boys we're doing great we've got a varsity and a JV team correct yeah how does Kane do but God says to Cain to be careful because sin is crouching at your door like it's a wild animal come now that wants to pounce on you but Cain instead murders his brother Abel who does Cain behave like the wild animal pouncing Cain is is the snake baby it's humans living in Allegiance with the serpent and according to his lies what got Jesus in so much trouble Jesus said to them if God were your father you would love me why is my language not clear to you because you can't hear what I say why you belong to your actual father the devil you're snake babies yeah those fighting words right there yeah those fighting words now genius theologically who are the Pharisees from they're the seed of the woman but spiritually the seed of the serpent wow now to the woman he said childbearing is going to be really rough now this is not about child delivery I've been through four of them not personally but I've observed I don't know there was ever a moment where that wasn't going to be a painful process when 8 pounds has to come out of a human body but this is referring to the whole process of conception and even getting pregnant is barrenness going to be a big problem in the Bible why why is that highlighted as such a big deal because of her and him that's the hope that's the promise the right woman to carry the seed struggle to get pregnant the devil's going to resist this even from conception This Promise is not just going to come easily it's going to be contested and as far as your husband goes that same desire the wild animal had to consume cane is same language used here of the woman for her husband your desire will be for your husband you're going to want to control him and consume him wow and then he's going to rule over you and instead of being a team that cooperates according to God's purpose and vision you're going to not cooperate you're going to compete it's not going to be about love and trust it's going to be about power that's not the image of God the image of God is never about claiming power how do I know that Jesus what power did he ever claim he did not consider others better than himself but made himself a servant laying down his life and obedience all the way to the point of death this is the way of Jesus but this is the Brokenness we now have we all have power games now using whatever uniqueness we have personally or according to our gender or whatever other cultural piece has power over and against rather than to serve and bless and Adam curse it is the ground your work will be cursed work is not the curse work is cursed work was good work existed before sin did yes work is blessed yeah but now work is hard and then the ultimate consequence Yahweh said the man has now become like one of us here he is talking with his counsel knowing good and evil he must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the Tree of Life and eat and live forever so the Lord God banished him from the garden to work the ground from which he had been taken and after he drove out he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden a cheram with a flaming sword flashing back and forth now notice he's banished out of the garden but not out of Eden so they are sent out of the garden but they are still within Eden Cain's expulsion is from Eden so so the movement here is being cast out further in one specific Direction into Exile headed east and East becomes the direction of Exile yeah cast out further and further and what is it that Cain and Abel are doing right here at the door back into the garden offering sacrific offering sacrifices where did they get that idea maybe from their parents maybe the idea was oh if we sacrifice if there's a right sacrifice of some kind maybe we can get back in wow and Abel said I'm going to give my best that's how bad I want to be back and Cain he just went along with it and gave whatever he had left over how we doing and one final thing before we close one little detail here Yahweh made what garments of skin where do you get garments of skin from animal leather what were they wearing fig leaves what's better fig leaves or leather leather why did they wear the leaves to cover to cover their your own shame and what does Yahweh say I will not allow you to cover your own shame not only will I do that I will do that far better than you ever could and remember Yahweh said if you eat this fruit you will certainly die but did they die physically no but did an innocent life have to die for them yes the innocent life of an animal was sacrificed to cover their shame foreshadowing wow innocent life for guilty life and Order to cover we did it you guys first four chapters well we talked about kany and abble a little so I'm counting that how we doing if we were to write a melody in the first three chapters wouldn't it sounds something like God prepares a land for his people places his people in it they're tested they fail they're cast into Exile but then they promis some sort of Redemptive hope or return wouldn't that be kind of like a four sequence Melody isn't that just The Melody of the rest of the Bible God prepares a land for his people places them in it test in it they fail eventually s in Exile but he promises them one day promise of hopeful return you say that one more time ruin wasn't listening the first time I said this so I don't yeah think of this like a melody right God prepares a land for his people places them in it blesses them tests them they fail him they receive judgment are exiled from it but then promised of a one day of Hope Redemption and return yeah what if Genesis 1 through3 is just the introduction to the whole pituk how does how does Joshua 1 begin God prepares a land for his people sends them in it to subdue test them they fail and God eventually punishes them judges them with a promise of hope and return what happens with David what happens with the Kings and the kingdom it is this melody now you get twists and you get turns that I always fully cast out from the land sometimes their judgment looks different from from other perspective but this is The Melody of the first three chapters it's already established yeah and we're just going to repeat this melody wow compare and contrast okay I know I went over but we're still fresh on day one so I got to milk this a little bit cool all right uh yes we're good okay any further instructions from the uh from the gallery in the back oh we have another [Applause] hour really I kept going so I'm like oh I got to get through that's like it's like you know this might be only in America but when you order a milkshake and then sometimes they bring the extra 10 of the leftovers you finished the milkshake only realize I got a Bonus milkshake bonus milkshake time take a break that's crazy e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e guys we are on bonus time yes oh and wait till we get to talk about how far do we want to go is the question sky's the limit here maybe another two verses who knows like okay I what I would like to do yeah what I would like to do is just point out a couple things and then we'll just kind of we'll try to work our way start to pick up some speed and move forward so I just want to point out a couple things here it's a flaming sword with the cherubim guarding the way back to the Tree of Life yeah which implies that anyone that would try to get to the tree of life is going to have to undergo the sword anyone that wants to reclaim any sort of availability to the tree of life it's going to have to go under the sword and if Jesus lights are not blinking on your dashboard so that's step one second Adam and Eve start doing what God asked them to do which is be fruitful and multiply when Eve becomes pregnant gave birth to Cain here's what she says with the help of Yahweh I brought forth a man now this is a difficult Hebrew phrase to translate like the literal Hebrew phrase would be like Yahweh I made man I don't think this is a differential humility statement I think this is a boasting like Yahweh made a man I just made a man yeah not good but spoiler alert nothing's going to be that good here for the next several chapters so don't expect much else now when Cain kills Abel Abel looks like a good candidate for this guy correct and we're just going to call him the serpent stomper that snake has problems but he actually has problems so and this foot it seen better days but you know what that didn't even make it better okay so what uh what do we know about Abel what uh what did he do that's what he did what was his occupation interesting this is the first mention of a Shepherd anywhere and he's a good he candidate isn't he interesting are there going to be other Shepherds brought up consistently in the story yep and notice something that happens when Cain kills Abel what happens to the promise of God the promises for a male child from the woman correct what happens when Abel dies the promise dies there's no one left right there's no one left the promise is dead story's over folks serpent one or who does come next you're already beginning to see God's commitment to fulfill his promise even if it means bringing it back from the dead Seth is the resurrection of the promise because Cain killed the the only possible promis keeper yeah and so the line of Cain and the line of Seth go in very different directions and from Seth is going to start the lineage that we're going to start a trace although the line of Cain has got a bunch of problems attached to him as well but God does not punish Cain as much as he deserves in fact he shows a little bit of Mercy to Cain he marks him when he says my punishment is more than I can bear I'll be a Restless Wanderer whoever Finds Me will kill me there's an obvious question there who's he worried about somebody and Yahweh said nope I'm G to make sure that doesn't happen so Cain goes on gets a wife has kids starts building a line eventually lmch comes from the line of Cain and who does lmch marry who's the first polygamist lmch is line of Cain what kind of a guy is limi you might ask limi said to his wives listen to me wives of limic hear my words I have killed a man for wounding me a young man for just injuring me he gives me a paper cut and I slit his throat if Cain is Avenged seven times I will double down on that 77 times kind of a guy is Cain oh excuse me what kind of a guy's lmch even exponentially worse than Caine and he's your first polygamist but I thought the Bible supports polygamy it just reports it this is the origin story this is not what God wanted now we go through CES line and we find another interesting character here we're just going to kind of skip through for the sake of time Enoch something interesting about Enoch it says he walked Faithfully with God and then what happened to him did he die no somebody just escaped death how did he escape death Walking with God is the escape of death there's someone else that's coming up that is said to have walked with God who is that only a couple more chapters Noah what happens to Noah he escapes death in the flood how does one escape death Walking with God what is Jesus's first invitation walk with me follow me yeah walk with me cuz what will happen when you walk with me you're going to escape death how we doing all these sermons are for free now things were taken to turn for the worse human beings began to increase and daughters were born to them and sons of God saw the daughters of humans were beautiful and notice the language here see if you can recognize the pattern the sons of God saw the daughters of humans were beautiful pleasing to the eye and they married any of them that they chose and Yahweh said my spirit would not contend with humans forever for they are mortal their days will be 120 years and the Nephilim were on the earth in those days days and also afterward when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them they were the heroes of old men of renown which has happened sons of God Divine beings saw human women that looked good and were pleasing to the eye and they took them and married them and bred with them and their offspring are what are being referred to as the Nephilim and the Nephilim are a cross breeding of human and these rebellious Elohim and they're being referred to as men of renown Heroes of old known as Giants military Warriors of incredible might strike fear and Terror everywhere they go they have advanced advanced significant military wisdom knowledge and Technology as well as just physical stature and they are accelerating the rebellion and sin in the world exponentially they're becoming a serious problem now notice that in Genesis 3 the serpent tempted the humans that if they ate from the fruit they could be like God transcend their human limits well what are these Spiritual Beings doing they are trying to transcend their limits by coming and being like one of us we were given rulership of here they were giving rulership of there and it's as if we're transgressing our boundaries to try to gain more than what Yahweh has given to us these are parallel rebellions so one of the problems that we have when we read through Genesis is and I get this isn't stuff you just do in a basic onetoone conversation with people but when you only talk about what's wrong with the world as far as Genesis 3 goes you miss what the Bible actually says is wrong with the world not just that humans have been deceived mistrust God and fall prey to sin by doing what is right in their own eyes rather than trusting in yahweh's vision of Good and Evil but there is also demonic infestation into our world spiritual powers that are actively at work in and through human agency and in this case actual crossbreeding and if you were to look at the Holiness codes from the rest of the penit most of them have to do with weaving of two Fabrics together mixing of two different types of things together why because this is the problem it's about the spiritual mixing where people are violating boundaries that God has assigned from the heavens and the Earth and God is trying to differentiate and separate his people from all the rest of the Demonic problems happening in the world and all the language here is mirrored and patterned right out of Genesis 3 the sons of God are behaving like Eve it says that they saw the daughters of human were beautiful pleasing to the ey and so now the daughters of human are becoming like the fruit and so they take them just like they did and marry as they chose and then comes God's judgment that is proclaimed over them he limits their lifespans and then notice this phrase this one Authority for a loop the Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterward after what the flood how does that happen but the reason why this matters what happens when the people get close to the land we even saw the descendants of anch when we went into the land and explored it notorious Nephilim Caleb silenced the people but they said we can't attack them they're stronger than we are and they spread a bad report we saw the Nephilim there the descendants of AFC because they come from the Nephilim we seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes what's in the promised land Genesis 6 problem of the nephine who is the call for Warfare against it's spiritual warfare and God is expelling from the land all the Nephilim how do we know that well in Joshua when God commands to go in and eradicate a people group you will often see that same people group show up a couple chapters later so they're obviously using exaggerated sort of military sort of Trash Talk language like we we annihilated them that just means they beat them soundly but even in Jericho Jericho would have been a military encampment not a civilian population point being this is the problem that God is dealing with and how how do the Israelites do when they cross into the promised land with the Nephilim so so the Nephilim continue until the last known Nephilim shows up on the scene and who is that Goliath Goliath and we'll talk more about him when we get to him um but this is in the backdrop of what's going on there is not just Rebellion on the earth there is rebellion in the Heavenly Realms our Realms are far more inter influenced than we realize and there is a real problem that is spreading and amassing now in uh Genesis and so God makes a unique decision to wipe everything out with a flood and to do this he says that he decides that Noah and his family are going to be saved from the flood and he describes Noah as a righteous man blameless among the people of his time and here it is he walked Faithfully with God righteous and blameless has anyone else in the story looked righteous and blameless before kind of but what does it mean to be righteous and blameless well those are actually direct vocabulary words from Psalm 15 listen to Psalm 15 Yahweh who may dwell in your sacred tent or live on your Holy Mountain what are we talking about Temple the one whose walk is blameless who does what is righteous so who can go into the sacred tent which priest high priest and what do they have to be what are their qualifications blameless and righteous what is God describing Noah as a new high priest a new high priest and so Noah builds a boat and then flood waters come and what does Noah release in order to determine whether or not the flood waters ever seated does this look familiar to you what scene is this connected to Creation what is God doing a cleansing of creation a renewing of creation what is the consequence of human and demonic evil in collaboration the collapsing of the cosmic Waters back over the earth into toou Vu what does Sin do it decreator the world and when the waters do receive Seed where does this Ark land on a mountain that's interesting what do we know that exist on mountains temples and Noah has already been described in the language of and what does he do immediately when he gets off the boat he makes sacrifices he starts behaving like a priest and what does God commission him to do he fful multiply spread He blesses him this is our knew Adam how many sons did Adam have how many sons of Noah and after a little while Noah also planted something a Vineyard he planted a garden at the top of a mountain interesting interesting and then what did he do with that Vineyard he inappropriately consumes fruit do you hear the melody repeating Genesis 1 a high priest dwelling with God on a Mountain Temple Genesis 3 he inappropriately consumes of fruit Genesis 4 three sons and a disturbance among them and one of the sons named ham disturbingly sins yeah did you just hear the refrain of Genesis 1-4 all over again yep and what does it say that ham does with Noah yep it says that he looks upon his father's nakedness there it is saw his father naked but this is a direct word for word quote from The Book of Leviticus chapter 18 what does Leviticus 18 Define looking at a man's nakedness as sleeping with his wife so one of two things happened and it wasn't just ham walking into the tent to see his dad naked either ham raped his mom or he raped his dad and why would you do such a thing well you just had a flood to wipe everyone out your dad comes off as the high priest king of the world yeah how would you usurp his bloodline and take over the family one of those two options the serpent is trying to compromise this always MH y well you could take it that way but you look at 18 Luke uh Leviticus 18 you read it in the Hebrew it's an exact copy and paste I think this is uh this is what it's alluding to of what's going on here um and somehow the brothers are trying to cover the shame uh of their of their father somehow make it right now again we're getting I think we're getting B go language not literal language here obviously cuz we're getting a euphemism more than a literal telling but uh yeah something like that's going on yeah maybe maybe and maybe that's all it is too maybe I could be wrong but like I say I you go ahead and read Leviticus and tell me what you think yeah or all the commentators that are saying the same thing so that's another thing you could do yeah yeah desb there's some different theories on that yep different theories couple options one option is that the flood was not a global flood it was a severe local flood that the language is phen phological language being given here to describe a flood basically as far as you can see but that doesn't mean you can objectively say the flood is everywhere it's covering the whole land where this story is taking place but not necessarily covering the entire earth that could be one option and their proponents and they conservative theological proponents that believe that option two uh this one's a little bit crazier this comes from a more uh a Jewish rabinal tradition that believes that there were some that actually clung onto the side of Noah's boat I take it you're not a fan of that option number three when Adam sins Paul writes in Romans 5 that we all fell in Adam Adam has Federal headship over here Humanity that in him we all died in him we all sinned that we inherited sin being in him so that we weren't born making our own kind of objective moral choices for our own life we inherit a sin nature inherit a sin condition and inherited the guilt of Adam by being part of the human race because he is our federal head the angels are not like that so an angel could fall in one moment of time that doesn't mean any other angels will fall other Angels could sequentially and By Angels Spiritual Beings could fall there could be many many Falls of Spiritual Beings over a progressive amount of time before and after the flood it doesn't have to happen in all one moment it could have happened progressively multiple times so that's another option and maybe there are other options those are just a few that I've heard of at maybe um yeah you could do a whole deep dive like for yourself on just the the differences of worldwide and and and a local flood there's compelling evidence both ways to me I'm not sure I don't hinge my faith on it my faith doesn't fall apart if it was just local I don't think the text falls apart if it do the case what I do find very interesting is pretty much every culture everywhere around the world has a flood narrative yeah yeah of a terrible flood happening a long time ago like that's like that's in like South America it's in you know it's everywhere so how the heck did that get you know into the cultural stream of such different places you know so that's that's a thing um but I can't you know it's one of those things we like h i mean so for me it's to much itself y am of time Kane's line yeah this does Wipe Out Kane's line yes it does but we have a new line behaving a lot like Cain so what is the story telling us is the problem just separating the good people from the people nope where does the condition of sin lie in every single human heart and so this is what the Bible will do it'll it'll it'll tell you these are the good guys these are the bad guys it'll tell you that and then wow wow you know it'll do that just wait till tomorrow when we talk about Abraham and Israel and pharaoh in Egypt and you think you know who the good guys and bad guys are or do you it's just going to play with you and is the story is doing that for you because we all think we're the good guys in our story Thanos thought he was the good guy in the story yeah everyone thinks they're the good guy in the story Hitler thinks he's the good guy in the story this is the problem and we're always able to identify those who aren't the good guys external to us and the Bible's just trying to say here's your mirror here's your mirror if God would if God would only remove all the toxic people from my life finally I could be free to live my most authentic Godly self that's what he did for Noah and it made everything worse you see when you have nothing else to blame around you it only maximizes the problems in you something like that that'll preach yeah hi um I want to go back to the Nephilim um everyone wants to go back to the Nephilim yeah my guess is there may not be an answer to this but I wanted to ask it anyway um so my assumption when when you were talking about the Nephilim After the flood I just figured more sons of God came down and just had more kids with yeah with whoever was there you know descendants of Noah yeah good um do we have any idea why that isn't still happening or why there aren't still Giants if that could happen after the flood I think before I'd always just thought the neim were before the flood flood wipes them all out for some reason I forgot about the goath and that's a really good insightful question I can't give you a precise answer to it all of my instincts just tell me Jesus you know what I mean that there something is about the coming of Jesus and the new the new age that he's inaugurating with his kingdom um that that a I think that uh concluded uh we don't see anything coming after it but uh yeah we will see it in the life of Jesus that he's still dealing with the spiritual problem even though it's not the same as the one from the old school neving problem and I'm just leaving that intentionally cryptic because we'll get there when we talk about Jesus yeah say are of hum half demons half humans yeah it's demonic how are demons having babies with humans I can't explain that the Bible's just saying it yeah there's you got a question back there yes yes that's right yeah yeah yeah that's there's something there because there are and I've heard it from especially friends globally missionaries we sent out from our church and it's just this common encounter that people having demonically with sexual encounters with demonic entities um that it's and outside of America we they've just encountered it as common in many places Southeast Asia and Africa being very prominent um so yeah yeah again these are categories the Bible has that we don't always have baked into our theology I'm not saying they should be the primary foundations of our theology but if there's no room for any of this here like don't just start cutting things out of the Bible cuz they're uncomfortable like we're trying to let the Bible form our worldview not conform it to our worldview you know yeah Dr said there's also a theory that uh they're saying that since this this NE the Nephilim are like uh Gods and now they lost their body during the flood and that explains now why now the demons are looking for bodies yeah that's yeah that's the thing that's actually that's also something that is interesting yeah I believe there's true to that the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim are what we typically encounter and call demons today yeah and that could probably like I don't know uh influence uh was that ham okay I'm just going to spoil it I was cryptic but since you're so insightful you're not going to let me do it anymore what is one of the biggest parts of Jesus's Ministry exorcisms who else anywhere in the Bible ever did an exorcism or even talked about it no one where's that coming from what is the name Jesus Yeshua yeah was there a Yeshua before him Joshua goes into the land to conquer Nephilim Jesus the new Yeshua comes in the land and is dealing with the disembodied spirits of these Nephilim remember when he deals with a man who's cutting himself yeah runs out to him at the gines and he says what is your name and he says we are legion men of renown Heroes of old they're we're a military unit he's he's dealing the final spiritual battle blow that Joshua began and he's finishing so yes I think that's part of it yeah I'd like to take it a little bit further because I have no problems NE nepin Filipinos really don't grow that tall what are you saying there buddy very careful with your words I promise you they were more than 66 and I'm only 6'5 yeah um the Bible says Cen married uh right after uh where did the women came from that's a great question it really doesn't say that's it yes [Laughter] yeah so many questions we want to know few questions that it gives to us no it doesn't tell us uh yeah there's all kinds of theories and thoughts about that Adam and Eve had a lot more kids were just not told about it's not any and it's not it's just we're not told it's just not the part of the story that we're told um so we'd have to take a lot of time to go into some of the the theories and thoughts about it but we also have to be comfortable with the Bible doesn't say you know and then if we put all of our energy into thinking about the things the Bible doesn't say we're going to miss giving our energy into the stuff that it does so that's just a good discipleship thing to give to our people isn't it for sure okay let's keep going shall we okay where' he go where'd he go never mind okay so the story continues on where the whole world post flood is not doing a ton better they're just re rebooting here and notice After the flood God made a covenant with Noah didn't he yeah uh a covenant and what did uh what did he promise with the Covenant he gave a rainbow as a sign that what he would didn't flood the world again now what's one reason for that did the flood work only kind of right it satisfied like a very acute problem in the moment but did it solve the real problem no no so again watch what the story is doing for us have you ever thought to yourself God why can't you just bring massive sweet judgment and just wipe out all the problem people been there done that doesn't fix things there's going to have to be a better solution yeah okay so the whole world has one language and a common speech and then remember everyone's moving East as a direction of rebellion an exile and they found a a plane in chanar and settled there and they said come let's break uh let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly they Ed brick instead of stone and tar from mortar now why are we being told this brick instead of stone what's the difference between brick and stone bricks are manmade which is better to build with though bricks they're uniform you can build bigger stronger taller faster yeah what are humans doing what the image bearing humans are supposed to do taking the raw resources of the world and bringing them into the type of order where they can create with it but are they doing it in worship and love of Yahweh to image him no they're doing it in opposition and Rebellion they said come let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens and so what are they building building sorry you can't see the that point the idea is this is how the story moves from the Mountain of God to a man-made Mountain this mountain was made so that we could have the intersection life with God here we're trying to make that for ourselves we will Ascend to God and if we can get into his realm we can have control and influence over it this is like an invasion a coup attempt this isn't good and you can tell it's not good because the Lord comes down to see the city and said if as one people speaking the same language they had begun to do this then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them and notice it's a big deal because guess who he's talking to his Divine counsel fellas we got to move here who's got an idea so they go down and confuse their language so that they will not understand each other so they're scattered from there all over the Earth and they stopped building the city and that is why it is called Babel but this is just the play on words for the confusion of their language Babel but it's just the Hebrew words BBL b b lamad Babylon everywhere else in the Bible this is just the word Babylon directly translated as Babylon this is our introduction to Babylon is Babylon a main character that's going to come up in the story yes this is its origin story its origin story is about an archetypal Human Society gathered in Rebellion against God it's archetypal in a sense it doesn't matter if it's actually geographically Babylon lots of different human cultures and societies will start be bearing the likeness of Babylon including the most closest one we're going to see in the very next book and here's how the Bible wants you to see that so uh slave masters are put over the Israelites to do what build cities they made their life uh harsh labor using brick and mortar the same exact vocabulary words from the Tower of Babel story dear reader you're supposed to know this is the new Babylon this is the new Babylon so out of Babylon God scatters the people over the earth now what exactly happens spiritually when this is happening so here are the people aligned against Yahweh all the nations Consolidated one area when what had God told them to do spread out what are they doing consolidating consolidating in Rebellion not worship but rebellion and so yahweh's response to this we actually get a glimpse of in Deuteronomy chapter 32 remember the days of old and consider the generations long past ask your father he'll tell you Elders they'll explain it to you when the most high gave the Nations their inheritance and divided All Mankind and set up boundaries for the peoples according to the numbers of the sons of Israel when did God divide up all the nations that was the Babylon story and how did he do it it says here according to the sons of Israel however the original text said sons of God so when he divided up all the nations what was he doing handing them over to be ruled by Elohim not himself and what's the logic if you refuse to follow me you're not going to follow nobody that's not how Being Human works and so instead he hands them over to other spirit Spiritual Beings lesser Spiritual Beings than himself where do all the nations get all of their National and Regional deities from this moment and this is what Paul is saying the powers the principalities the rulers there's some geographical territorial connected to cultural and national roots that go all the way back to this origin story so when we think about why is it that certain religions thrive in certain areas why is it that certain demonic patterns seem prevalent in certain cultures they have themselves their own Elohim you can debate whether or not the Elohim have fallen before or after this moment were these good Elohim Yahweh says look you can't roll with me or I'll kill you I'm going to have to hand you over which is exactly the predicament that Israel gets in in the this doesn't he say that to Moses I can't even with you people so I'm going to let the angel of the Lord lead you and Moses is like no no no no no no no no all the other all the other nations have Elohim that lead them you're Yahweh are Elohim you're the only thing that makes us different from the Nations don't do this for your name's sake please stay with us yeah but this is what all the other nations have and I think this is something along the lines of what uh Psalm 82 is referring to God presiding in this assembly of the Elohim and notice how he says how long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked he's talking about unjust Elohim something's going wrong they're not they're rebelling against Yahweh and starting to oppress and Rule wickedly over the humans but having a Deuteronomy 32 worldview helps to explain the spiritual condition of what the world is in and it also gives context for what God does next we're now given another genealogy that leads us all the way eventually up to Abraham and starting in chapter 12 we are starting the next major section and movement of the Old Testament we've concluded our summary story of the Nations and how they've gotten to the state they're in but what God is now going to do is speak to Abram a man who's from the land of er of the caldan in the region of Babylon so look at this as he scattering all the peoples and the Nations confusing their language so they're cast out he takes one Abram and says out of all these rebellious I'm scattering I'm plucking you for myself and what does he say he's going to do I'm G to make a nation out of you your going to be mine my nation and abam now becomes the one that God has promised he's coming from this nation coming that's a family it's coming from this line God has said is going to fulfill this promise and where is it all coming from from the rebellious mass of humanity and why does he pick Abram he just does is there anything great about him in fact there's other moments where he says like yeah why did I pick Israel to show I could do something really great with the least of all the possible peoples on the earth so you see what's happening here God is Faithfully sticking to his promise and now he's narrowing the window all the way like through the rebellion of the Nations and now here's where the Bible turns we've just been told a story of the Nations but starting in chapter 12 we're almost exclusively going to be told the story of Israel and only Israel yeah why does God not care about the Nations no it's through Abraham God's going to bring blessing to All Nations God's wanting to do what is the first thing that God did to humanity the first thing he did to him well that's the first thing he wants to to do with Abraham too he wants to restore his Blessing to humans starting with Abraham and somehow through Abram to all the nations he's not wanting to cut them off he's wanting to reconcile them back he's going to work through the few to eventually reach them all this is the plan and so he promises here's one of the best parts of the promise I'll make you in a great nation I'll bless you what were they doing all of that brick making for and Tower building for in Babylon make a name for themselves hey how about I just give you a great name where does identity come from do you build it for yourselves or do you receive it from God be very careful of the phrase I identify as be very very leery of that I'm not saying you accuse people of just being demons for saying that most people are ignorant when they say that I'm saying that our God gives us a name he gives it to us and the blessings he pours into us will pour out into others he's going to bless us so much that whoever blesses us he's going to bless just so they have positive reinforc to want to bless us more and whoever curses us God's going to curse so they know you don't mess with my people and this is going to be tested a little bit isn't it when Israel in the book of Exodus starts to be oppressed by Egypt doesn't this test his promise what happens when Egypt starts to curse Israel will Yahweh stick up to his word yeah obviously you will all right how we doing we just made it through the first movement of the Bible you guys did it this is the first movement uh and now we're off and running we'll start tomorrow with Abraham his family what a messed up dysfunctional family that is you're going to feel really good about your families is what you're going to do uh but there we go I think we're good enough for today you guys made it I know you're on your second week your last home stretch thank you for all your energy and your attention Father in heaven we just are so delighted God that you would give this this incredible story and by your Holy Spirit you would strengthen our hearts with the spirit of Revelation to know the boundary list like limits of your love and we just love you we treasure you we adore you and we ask that your word would burn in our hearts just like it did on the road to Emmas with your disciples in Jesus name we pray amen [Applause] ask