GENESIS 1 "In the Beginning....God...
There is so much to teach in the first three chapters, that it would take many pages of learning and teaching. So, perhaps we can go to the highlights. Touch on some important issues and facts about creation.
"In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth." (Hebrew): "B'resheet Bara Elohim, Et HaShamayim v'Et HaAretz"
In Hebrew, there are 7 words, 7 is the perfect number of God. It reads; "in the beginning" but the beginning of what? Everything has a beginning.
The school year has a "beginning" children "begin" school at age 5 or 6. So, what is this "beginning?"
We can say this; God is from eternity past, He is present, and he will be in eternity future. He lives in the infinite and finite realms. Yet he created "time" for mankind. "Time" is the finite realm. So, we could say this is the "beginning" of time as we know it. Before the "Beginning," only God and eternity past existed. He broke the eternal silence and "began" his wonderful creation of everything.
Genesis states that the earth was formless, yet all the matter was in place. In verse 1 we have "space', "time", and "matter" (mass + energy).
There was "water and darkness" yet the "spirit of Elohim" was over the deep. He is getting ready to make something out of the formless mass of matter.
There is both "spiritual darkness" and "physical darkness" We need the physical darkness to sleep at night, and many animals do their hunting at night, yet spiritual darkness is the absence of God's "light of the gospel" the absence of Yeshua/Jesus in our life.
God speaks into existence all that comes. The word "create" is "bara" which is to "make something without prior material. Yet to "create with a purpose" Man was "made" (Asah) because he was made from the dust (Adamah) of the earth.
God starts His creation as you can read in Genesis 1. He brings into being, the waters, land, fish, birds, vegetation, land animals, and finally mankind. We are different than the animals in that we have a personal relationship with our creator. The animals were made in "kinds" and "species" Now within each animal kind there are species, one species can mate with another within the same kind. (Dogs and cats are a perfect example).
Yet a dog can not mate with a cat and produce a "pup-kitty"
Mankind is not split up into "species" we are all "One Race" the "human race" Yet in humans there are physiological and psychological variations; hair color, skin color, eye shape and color, nose shape, hair texture, short people, tall people, passive people, aggressive people, etc. yet we are still "One Race".
Man was made in the "image of God" The word "image" in Hebrew is "Tzelem" (shadow). "Let US make man (Adam) in OUR image (Tzalmeinu). Here Elohim is speaking as a tri-unity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Man was made as a Holy and Sinless creation, to reflect Elohim in all his glory.
He was placed into a perfect garden in an area called Eden. Since this was on the first earth before the flood, we don't know where it could have been exactly. It could have been near Syria and Iraq and perhaps even near Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia, as the names "Cush" and "Havilah" reflect some of those places, but we can't be sure.
Man was placed inside the garden to tend it and take care of it. Man was created with the purpose to "work" When the woman was created, she joined her husband and worked together as a team. Man and woman, the animals, the garden, it was a perfect world. Man was given instructions;
"Of every tree you may eat, yet of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat, because the day in which you eat of it, you shall die"
I wonder if Adam even knew what "die" meant. Yet he had a choice. He received the instructions directly from God, and probably relayed the instructions to Eve when she was brought to him. Yet we all know the story. They disobeyed. They took of the forbidden fruit from the forbidden tree. The Book of Enoch describes the tree as similar to a Tamarind Tree with fruit that was similar to small grapes hanging in clusters.
Adam and Eve ingested "mixed seeds" the seeds of good and the seeds of evil from that fruit. One can often wonder why did Adam also eat if he knew better. He wasn't deceived. Well, this might be an educated guess at the most. But here is a possible answer.
He knew that his wife, Eve, would grow old and die someday, and he would have to live forever without his beloved wife. So, rather than doing that, he also chose to die with her, and thus, partook of the fruit.
How do we see Yeshua in this? Yeshua chose to die for His beloved bride, "us" rather than to be without "us" for eternity. He partook of our curse of sin and bore it all by himself. The 1st Adam's sin produced his own death, yet the 2nd Adam's death produced life. Life for all of us, if we choose to accept His sacrifice on the cross for the sin that the first Adam brought into this world.
Another aspect. How do we get "back to the Garden?" Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden (yet still lived somewhere in Eden) but were clothed with animal skins, which was the "first sacrifice" to remind the fallen couple that their sin cost the life of an innocent animal or animals.
Adam and Eve "passed the buck" when confronted. "Where are you?" asked God. This was an interior question, or rather; "Where are you in your relationship with me?" Answers; "The serpent made me eat" (The devil made me do it) and "The woman gave me to eat" but no, "LORD, we sinned and disobeyed your commandment. Please forgive us" Maybe that was what God wanted to hear.
So, how do we get back into the "Garden of fellowship?' Confessing our sins to the LORD, repenting (Teshuvah) realizing that we are at fault, it is our choice to either obey or disobey. Don't blame it on someone else. The devil didn't "Make you" do it. You did it because you chose to. I believe that someday, when we have a "new earth" the Garden of Eden will be re-established, and we will be able to visit it. (Sure hope so).
this is about 10% of what I really wanted to share.
Ben Avraham
Congregacion Salem in San Salvador
El Salvador.
A river went out of Eden to water the garden.
There is so much to teach in the first three chapters, that it would take many pages of learning and teaching. So, perhaps we can go to the highlights. Touch on some important issues and facts about creation.
"In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth." (Hebrew): "B'resheet Bara Elohim, Et HaShamayim v'Et HaAretz"
In Hebrew, there are 7 words, 7 is the perfect number of God. It reads; "in the beginning" but the beginning of what? Everything has a beginning.
The school year has a "beginning" children "begin" school at age 5 or 6. So, what is this "beginning?"
We can say this; God is from eternity past, He is present, and he will be in eternity future. He lives in the infinite and finite realms. Yet he created "time" for mankind. "Time" is the finite realm. So, we could say this is the "beginning" of time as we know it. Before the "Beginning," only God and eternity past existed. He broke the eternal silence and "began" his wonderful creation of everything.
Genesis states that the earth was formless, yet all the matter was in place. In verse 1 we have "space', "time", and "matter" (mass + energy).
There was "water and darkness" yet the "spirit of Elohim" was over the deep. He is getting ready to make something out of the formless mass of matter.
There is both "spiritual darkness" and "physical darkness" We need the physical darkness to sleep at night, and many animals do their hunting at night, yet spiritual darkness is the absence of God's "light of the gospel" the absence of Yeshua/Jesus in our life.
God speaks into existence all that comes. The word "create" is "bara" which is to "make something without prior material. Yet to "create with a purpose" Man was "made" (Asah) because he was made from the dust (Adamah) of the earth.
God starts His creation as you can read in Genesis 1. He brings into being, the waters, land, fish, birds, vegetation, land animals, and finally mankind. We are different than the animals in that we have a personal relationship with our creator. The animals were made in "kinds" and "species" Now within each animal kind there are species, one species can mate with another within the same kind. (Dogs and cats are a perfect example).
Yet a dog can not mate with a cat and produce a "pup-kitty"
Mankind is not split up into "species" we are all "One Race" the "human race" Yet in humans there are physiological and psychological variations; hair color, skin color, eye shape and color, nose shape, hair texture, short people, tall people, passive people, aggressive people, etc. yet we are still "One Race".
Man was made in the "image of God" The word "image" in Hebrew is "Tzelem" (shadow). "Let US make man (Adam) in OUR image (Tzalmeinu). Here Elohim is speaking as a tri-unity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Man was made as a Holy and Sinless creation, to reflect Elohim in all his glory.
He was placed into a perfect garden in an area called Eden. Since this was on the first earth before the flood, we don't know where it could have been exactly. It could have been near Syria and Iraq and perhaps even near Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia, as the names "Cush" and "Havilah" reflect some of those places, but we can't be sure.
Man was placed inside the garden to tend it and take care of it. Man was created with the purpose to "work" When the woman was created, she joined her husband and worked together as a team. Man and woman, the animals, the garden, it was a perfect world. Man was given instructions;
"Of every tree you may eat, yet of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat, because the day in which you eat of it, you shall die"
I wonder if Adam even knew what "die" meant. Yet he had a choice. He received the instructions directly from God, and probably relayed the instructions to Eve when she was brought to him. Yet we all know the story. They disobeyed. They took of the forbidden fruit from the forbidden tree. The Book of Enoch describes the tree as similar to a Tamarind Tree with fruit that was similar to small grapes hanging in clusters.
Adam and Eve ingested "mixed seeds" the seeds of good and the seeds of evil from that fruit. One can often wonder why did Adam also eat if he knew better. He wasn't deceived. Well, this might be an educated guess at the most. But here is a possible answer.
He knew that his wife, Eve, would grow old and die someday, and he would have to live forever without his beloved wife. So, rather than doing that, he also chose to die with her, and thus, partook of the fruit.
How do we see Yeshua in this? Yeshua chose to die for His beloved bride, "us" rather than to be without "us" for eternity. He partook of our curse of sin and bore it all by himself. The 1st Adam's sin produced his own death, yet the 2nd Adam's death produced life. Life for all of us, if we choose to accept His sacrifice on the cross for the sin that the first Adam brought into this world.
Another aspect. How do we get "back to the Garden?" Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden (yet still lived somewhere in Eden) but were clothed with animal skins, which was the "first sacrifice" to remind the fallen couple that their sin cost the life of an innocent animal or animals.
Adam and Eve "passed the buck" when confronted. "Where are you?" asked God. This was an interior question, or rather; "Where are you in your relationship with me?" Answers; "The serpent made me eat" (The devil made me do it) and "The woman gave me to eat" but no, "LORD, we sinned and disobeyed your commandment. Please forgive us" Maybe that was what God wanted to hear.
So, how do we get back into the "Garden of fellowship?' Confessing our sins to the LORD, repenting (Teshuvah) realizing that we are at fault, it is our choice to either obey or disobey. Don't blame it on someone else. The devil didn't "Make you" do it. You did it because you chose to. I believe that someday, when we have a "new earth" the Garden of Eden will be re-established, and we will be able to visit it. (Sure hope so).
this is about 10% of what I really wanted to share.
Ben Avraham
Congregacion Salem in San Salvador
El Salvador.
A river went out of Eden to water the garden.
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