WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.839 The Word of the True and Living God, Genesis 2, starting in verse 4. 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:11.039 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:22.480 When no bush of the field was yet in the land, and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground. 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:27.280 And a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:36.719 Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:42.799 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:49.759 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:55.840 The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:01.520 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:04.159 The name of the first is the Pishon. 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:11.760 It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:14.640 Delium and Onyx stones are there. 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:19.840 The name of the second river is Gihon, it is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:26.079 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria, and the fourth river is the Euphrates. 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:30.239 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:41.760 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:43.200 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:44.560 Please be seated. 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:49.200 Good morning. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:51.840 Welcome to Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:53.040 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:54.319 I'm the pastor here. 00:01:54.799 --> 00:02:09.120 If you are new, a great way to get connected is to find somebody with a red lanyard, and they can help you sign up for our newsletter or download our app and we send out a bunch of information through those things. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:14.560 We are having a meeting uh directly after uh church today. 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:16.159 Nothing's more fun than a meeting. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:18.400 Uh we're calling it Berkeley Connect. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:28.319 And since we just moved into town, this is our fourth sun fifth, fifth Sunday uh here uh at Centennial Elementary. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:31.439 Uh it's time we introduce ourselves to the community. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:49.520 So uh immediately after church today, we're going to have pizza uh from Fat Solis, um, and uh we're going to talk about and brainstorm some ideas for how we can introduce ourselves to the community, start serving in Berkeley, and get to know the new neighborhood that we're in. 00:02:49.680 --> 00:03:00.000 Um so we know that there are tons of people that are going about their lives here, uh, and uh we want to pursue them in the way that Christ pursued us. 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:05.840 So uh yeah, today, right after church, uh for an hour, we're gonna brainstorm how to do that together. 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:08.319 So if you don't have plans, uh stick around. 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:12.960 Um there are two ways to get connected here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:18.319 We gather large on Sunday mornings and we gather small in each other's homes throughout the week. 00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:20.879 Uh we call those small gatherings redemption groups. 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:38.719 If you would like to be a part of a redemption group, um uh you can go to the website and tap connect, uh, and that's redemptiondenver.com, or you can download our app, just Redemption Church Denver, in the App Store of your choice, and tap connect, and you'll be able to sign up for a redemption group. 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:55.280 Um, those are uh just so you get a sort of flavor for what those are, you we basically just meet in each other's homes, we eat dinner together, we read through the text that I was preaching on or that uh we're going over in the large group meeting, and then we discuss it together. 00:03:55.439 --> 00:03:56.560 It's really simple. 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:06.000 Uh we believe that it the best ways to get to know our faith and to get to know God is just to gather together around his word and discuss it. 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:09.199 We are given the Holy Spirit in order to understand the scriptures. 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:13.759 So uh we take advantage of that in each other's homes throughout the week. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:17.199 Uh so that's all the announcements for today. 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:22.160 Before we get started, uh let's go ahead and pray before we jump into today's text. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:29.360 Father, thank you for uh gathering us here together uh on a snowy morning. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:33.040 Lord, thanks for bringing us all here safely. 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:46.639 Father, I pray that your word would connect with our hearts this morning, that you would move in this place, and that by the power of your spirit we might see what you have for us as you've revealed yourself to us. 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:51.600 Lord, I pray that you would give us a clear picture of who you are in your text today. 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:52.879 Lord, we praise you for that. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:54.480 Lift us up in Jesus' name. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:55.360 Amen. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:03.759 Okay, so we are moving through Genesis, and we have uh moved through the six days of creation. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:07.120 It's only taken about five weeks, and we've moved through chapter one. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:12.240 And uh today we change vantage points. 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:20.079 Uh today we move into Genesis chapter two, and at this point we're going to see this kind of zoom in on the creation narrative. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:28.399 What was big and this sort of huge picture of Genesis 1 becomes very small and intimate in Genesis chapter 2. 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:39.199 The purpose of going through Genesis is to help us understand that we are in a grand story of redemption that has God as its author. 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:45.680 In order for us to understand the meaning of our lives, we have to understand the story that our lives are a part of. 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:52.160 And so when we're looking at Genesis, we're seeing that our story has bearing, and it even has an author who is God. 00:05:52.319 --> 00:06:04.240 And so when he reveals to himself the story that we're in, we're able to understand our own lives, why it is that some things seem good, some things seem bad, uh, and what it means to have a meaningful life. 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:19.120 So, at the very beginning here of uh the text that we're going over today in Genesis 2.4, we're introduced to a new phrase, a phrase that will become important for the rest of Genesis. 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:23.439 And it's this phrase, these are the generations of. 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:33.199 In Genesis 2.4, it says, These are the generations of the heavens and the earth, when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth in the heavens. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:40.399 Genesis is broken up, uh, it's sort of systematized through this language of through the generations of. 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:46.160 And that phrase acts as an introduction to the next phase of the story that we're moving into. 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:51.439 It's uh in Hebrew, it's the tolodot, uh, or however you say it in Hebrew. 00:06:51.680 --> 00:07:05.279 And the uh uh when we when we uh see these bookends of these tolodotes, these generations of, we're being shown, okay, this is the new stage of the narrative that we're going to be a part of. 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:14.240 And this particular one is really interesting because it's written, this verse is written in a pattern called a chiasmus. 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:24.959 And so that means one thing is a phrase is said in one direction, and then that phrase is kind of inverted and said in the opposite way. 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:26.480 So you can hear it in the language. 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:36.480 It's these are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:40.399 Do you see how it's said one way and then it's reversed into another way? 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:50.639 Now, the purpose of that for this particular verse is to act as a unifier between Genesis chapter one and Genesis chapter two. 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:58.240 What the text is calling us to do is saying, look, we've got these two different vantage points on the creation narrative. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:05.920 One is Genesis 1, which is cosmic and gigantic, and God is just speaking and things are coming into existence. 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:12.079 But here in Genesis chapter 2, a new type of intimacy is being shown to us. 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:14.399 We've got a zoomed-in lens. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:30.000 And so what was just handled in one verse on the sixth day in Genesis chapter 1, which is uh God created man in the image and likeness of God, now we're given this picture of how and where that happens in these really close and intimate terms. 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:41.120 What we saw with the cosmic glory of Genesis 1 becomes tangible things like dirt and breath in Genesis 2, this new type of intimacy. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:57.120 And as we move through Genesis chapter 2, and we see the creation of Adam, what we're being shown is that God did not create man just so that we would image him. 00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:00.799 That is a part of it that we saw in Genesis 1. 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:07.200 That we are created in the image of God so that God's glory might be manifest in our very existence. 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:20.399 But we are also created so that we might relate to him, so that us as creatures might be in real living relationship to this creator God. 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:25.120 And that's what we see all throughout the language of Genesis 2. 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:34.159 This story of man's relationship to God, here in the very beginning, will become the storyline of Scripture. 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:40.399 This is the whole point of Scripture is how does humanity relate to God? 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:43.600 And the structures of that relationship are established here. 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:55.679 Throughout Scripture, we'll see that relationship ebb and flow, and then at a certain point down the load, down the road, the relationship between God and humanity will become unthinkably close. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:00.000 Closer than we could possibly even wrap our heads around. 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:17.360 So in today's text, we are going to see the creation of Adam, then we're going to see God's provision for Adam, and then we are going to see the covenant that God enters into with Adam. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:18.799 So let's dive in. 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:20.240 Here's the creation of Adam. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:23.039 In Genesis 2, verses 5 through 6. 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:41.360 It says, When no bush of the field was yet in the land, and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:44.159 This is where the story of Adam's creation begins. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:50.720 And it what's being given to us is just this context of the world just before Adam is created. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:58.639 And we see that though there are a couple of things that take that that we should observe right away. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:07.120 One is that it's that type of immediate, very present, very ordinary type of context that we have that's very different from Genesis 1. 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:19.600 We see that we've moved into a world that's not just fiat creation, where he speaks and things exist, but into a world that's uh a lot like the one that we ordinarily interact with. 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:24.080 In fact, it describes God as using these ordinary means for creation. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:30.159 There's no plant of the field, there's no bush, and the reason is because God hadn't made it rain. 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:38.960 And that, you know, and that's uh the normal way that God brings about plant growth is by making it rain. 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:45.840 And another reason is that we start to see this lack of humanity is in the picture of creation. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:50.720 Creation itself is feeling a longing for humanity. 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:59.120 And we can see that because another reason that the plants hadn't begun to grow is because there was no man in creation to work the land. 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:04.559 Part of creation's thriving is humanity working in it. 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:09.519 We are an ingredient in creation to promote its flourishing. 00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:19.200 So another thing to see in this passage is we are introduced to a new name for God. 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:25.039 Throughout Genesis 1, God is described as just God, the normal word that we would use. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:32.399 It's a title as much as it is a name, it's a position in existence as much as it is a name. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:38.879 But this one is uh what's translated as Lord God, and it's the term Yahweh. 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:42.080 This is the covenant name of God. 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:46.799 This is not a title, uh, this is not a category. 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:53.919 Uh, this is like the way that God would introduce himself using his personal name. 00:12:54.559 --> 00:13:06.399 And so throughout the creation of Adam, this name of God, this Lord God, Yahweh, this personal God who is known and in relationship with his people, that's the name that's used. 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:11.679 And so we have this new context and this new name in Genesis 2. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:15.120 And finally, the man is created. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:16.720 Genesis 2, verse 7. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:27.919 It says, Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:39.679 So, whereas in Genesis 1, we saw the type of thing that man was, that he is the image of God, he created in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:41.279 That's what we saw in Genesis 1. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:44.000 But here in Genesis 2, we're up close. 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:48.080 We're in the event of humanity's creation. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:56.480 And in this creation of this one man, of just Adam, we see that the Lord God forms him and then he breathes into them. 00:13:56.639 --> 00:14:00.320 These are the two events of Adam's creation. 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:09.919 And so, the forming, we see this language of a craftsman who's gathering up materials that are already there in creation. 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:13.440 God forms Adam out of the dust of the earth. 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:17.519 And from the context, we know the earth was a pretty soupy place at that time. 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:18.960 There's mist and things. 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:23.279 And so it's probably this mud that God forms Adam out of. 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:29.279 And what that shows is that we are deeply material things. 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:33.840 God made us from the very dirt that we inhabit. 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:38.879 We are made of this earth and we are made for this earth. 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:41.120 We're so connected to it. 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:52.720 This earthiness and this grittiness and this formation shows this picture of a craftsman who's using all of his skill to form from the material world our humanity. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:15:02.159 You know, this paints such a different picture of the way that we relate to material existence than so many other worldviews provide. 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:08.960 Socrates, when he before he drinks the hemlock, he says, My soul will be freed from this material world. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:20.480 And Socrates' student, Plato, says after him, when he describes the allegory of the cave, he describes that all of material existence is just an illusion. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:31.039 And what you need to do is transcend the illusion of material existence so that you can participate in reality, which is the world of the spirit and ideas. 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:34.879 In fact, there's a really famous quote by C.S. 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:40.320 Lewis that says, you are a soul, you have a body. 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:42.559 And you know who never said that? 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:43.600 C.S. 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:44.480 Lewis. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:47.360 Have y'all heard that quote from him before? 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:48.799 Yeah, he never said that. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:50.559 It's like a famous quote attributed to C. 00:15:50.720 --> 00:15:50.799 S. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:52.320 Lewis, he didn't say that. 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:59.679 And it's good that he didn't say it because he is a good Orthodox Christian person, and that is not Orthodox Christian teaching. 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:06.399 It is not true that you are a soul and you just have a body that you're partaking in for a time. 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:09.519 That's very like Greek Platonic way of thinking. 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:12.000 We, you, you're a body. 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:17.919 You're a physical thing made for a physical world, and that's good. 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:23.120 The world, the physicality, that's not to be transcended. 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:27.759 It's something that's good to inhabit this physical world. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:36.559 Those, that working in the dirt and that organizing and building and all those things that humans do, it's a good expression of our humanity. 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:53.679 And out of this grittiness of God forming in the dirt, we see this new type of movement that God does, uh that is just this beautiful, perfect juxtaposition to the forming of the dirt, and it's what what it is that God does to make us a living creature. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:17:05.599 As he breathes, breathes on Adam, breathes into his nostrils, gives him the breath, God's own breath to inhabit Adam's nostrils. 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:07.680 It's beautiful, it's so intimate. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:19.279 You know, imagine breathing on someone, the warmth, it's like a kiss that God enters into with humanity to provide Adam with this life that makes him become a living creature. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:21.519 That's what we have translated here as living creature. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:28.160 That could just as well be translated a living being that Adam becomes by the breath of God. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:41.920 We see in this act of creation of humanity, in this breathing of life from God into humanity, that there is uh it's both an act of creation and it's an act of giving. 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:47.279 God is giving life to humanity from himself. 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:50.240 It is a pattern of self-giving love. 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:56.160 One of the commentators that I uh read for this had this beautiful quote, so I thought I'd share it. 00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:58.079 Uh this is Derek Kidner. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:06.799 He says, even at our making, then, the pattern that God so loved that he gave is already visible. 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:12.400 It's a beautiful image that we see in the creation of Adam. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:16.160 And God's giving continues. 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:21.920 So let's move into the provision that God gives to his new creature. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:24.000 Genesis 2, 8 through 9. 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:31.359 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:38.319 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:44.160 The tree of life was in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:52.319 So God creates Adam, and then he creates this home for Adam called Eden. 00:18:52.480 --> 00:19:00.480 And it's a particular place on the world, and he plants a garden there, and so he makes this beautiful type of environment. 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:10.799 And we see that God gives him every tree that you can imagine for food, so that Adam is perfectly taken care of, he's perfectly provided for, given all of his physical needs. 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:14.960 And the trees are not just good for food, but they're beautiful. 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:17.359 They're beautiful to look at. 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:25.039 See, God is creating an environment that satisfies both the physical needs of Adam, but it's also inspiring. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:28.559 He's satisfying the aesthetic needs of Adam. 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:30.640 Chose the type of creature that he made. 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:34.559 What is the environment that a human needs to thrive? 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:40.960 We need a place where our needs are taken care of, and it also needs to be beautiful. 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:44.000 That's the type of thing that we are. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:51.920 And so when God provides for this space, provides this space for Adam, he creates a beautiful home. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:54.160 He places two trees in the garden. 00:19:54.319 --> 00:20:02.720 One of them is the tree of life, which leads to eternal life when it is eaten, and the other is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:06.640 I'm sure you have some questions about that, and we'll get to them soon. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:13.119 In Genesis 2, 10 through 12, it continues: A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden. 00:20:13.359 --> 00:20:16.400 And there it divided and became four rivers. 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:18.480 The name of the first is Pishon. 00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:22.480 It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah where there is gold. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:25.039 And the gold of that land is good. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:28.640 Adelium and Onyx stone are there. 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:35.359 Okay, so we see Eden is created, Adam's home, with all that he needs. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:43.440 And then out of Eden flows this river, which splits into four rivers, kind of like the four winds that we'll see. 00:20:43.519 --> 00:21:00.720 This means that out of this place flows, uh flows this life that takes place in Eden, flows to the rest of the world, so that goodness might come out of this place of Adam's home and move into the rest of creation. 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:09.039 There are so many, uh there are so many seeds in this text that will get picked up on and used throughout the rest of Scripture. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:22.960 You know, you can picture the temple in Ezekiel, which has the what starts out as a small stream flowing from the Holy of Holies that becomes this mighty rushing river that you can't even walk in because it becomes so deep as as God's Spirit moves to the rest of the world. 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:40.880 Or what's picked up at the end of in Revelation uh 21 and 22, when we see this giant river that is flowing and it's giving uh it's it's keeping healthy these trees, which is the tree of life, which bring life to the nations. 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:45.359 You know, these images are are here in Eden. 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:58.240 And so flowing out of Eden, when you consider it just from Adam's perspective, beyond all that we know from the rest of Scripture, what's given here is a home and also potential for discovery and exploration. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:04.559 And it that shows something about God's intentions for humanity. 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:08.720 Because the gold and the onyx stone, those aren't in Eden. 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:10.400 So you'd have to picture the day. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:14.000 Adam would be like, yeah, all right, the river Paishaun, I'm gonna follow that one today. 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:15.039 And he follows it. 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:17.279 And he happens into the land of Havila. 00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:21.279 And when he discovers it, he says, Wow, look at this gold that's here. 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:22.559 It's good. 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:25.200 I haven't seen a material like this before. 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:26.960 It's beautiful and shining. 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:31.039 It's like I can hold the light of the sun in my hands when I hold it. 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:35.920 And the bedallium is this like wax that like myrrh smells really good. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:43.279 And the uh uh onyx stones, uh, the these we don't actually know exactly what those were. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:45.200 Um I'm sure they were nice. 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:52.240 Uh and uh these these things will get picked up and used later. 00:22:52.480 --> 00:23:08.400 So uh in just the next book in Exodus, when uh God is describing what garments Aaron should wear, we see that woven into the high priestly garments are gold and onyx stones. 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:20.640 In fact, they'll they're to gather 12 onyx stones and weave them in to the top of a priestly garment in order to uh represent the 12 tribes of Israel. 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:24.480 And gold is woven in, those are seated in gold. 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:28.880 And so we start, we're given this picture that what is the world for? 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:36.799 It's for the taking and the crafting and enjoyment of humanity for the purpose of the worship of God. 00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:46.720 That in this beauty that's set in the world, what's being what's being shown here is Adam is to move like a priest through these things. 00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:52.240 And that's exactly where this is heavy, that's exactly where this is headed. 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:56.799 As God enters into a covenant with Adam. 00:23:57.119 --> 00:23:59.920 This is Genesis 2, 15 to 17. 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:05.759 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:18.079 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:22.400 For in the days that you eat of it, you shall surely die. 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:32.559 Okay, so Adam is taken, and he's placed to work and keep the garden of Eden. 00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:39.680 Now, this is precisely the image of a priest working and keeping the temple. 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:45.839 It's where they would live, and it's where they would keep it prepared for the ceremonies for the worship of God. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:57.039 And so, uh, and in that same way, in this Eden temple that Adam is made the high priest of, he is granted immediate access to God. 00:24:57.359 --> 00:24:59.119 So that means unmediated. 00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:01.039 There's no one in between. 00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:15.519 God built Adam into Adam's home so that it would also be God's dwelling place, so that God would dwell with Adam in Eden. 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:32.799 And in God's dwelling there, Adam would enjoy God's own presence as the height, this the highest joy in all of creation, that Adam would be able to enjoy the very presence of God. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:46.160 Now, in this context of Adam as this high priest in the temple to the presence of God, uh, God enters into a covenant with Adam. 00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:58.720 Now, a covenant is a way of taking an implicit relationship and making it into an explicit relationship, taking something that might be implied and making it clear and concrete. 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:05.200 So that God is saying, I'm entering into a real relationship with humanity. 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:12.640 And the way that God interacts with humanity for the rest of Scripture is through these covenants, through these covenantal language. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:19.599 And the covenants have terms, and these terms carry with them blessings and curses. 00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:26.559 And so we see that clearly in this covenant with Adam, that he is given both a blessing, an opportunity for blessing, and a curse. 00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:33.200 It reads like this it says, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden. 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:36.640 So we'll stop there. 00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:42.559 Adam is given everything in the garden to enjoy. 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:47.680 All that is there is for Adam's enjoyment, for his benefit. 00:27:06.240 --> 00:27:11.279 Eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:17.279 Given access to everything in the garden for his enjoyment. 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:24.000 But there's one tree, one tree that he can't eat from. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:26.000 The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:32.880 And the the what's associated with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is if you eat from it, you will die. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:35.680 Look at the garden that he's in. 00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:37.279 Look at the proportion. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:41.920 He is surrounded by a garden of yes. 00:27:43.680 --> 00:27:45.279 Incredible opportunity. 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:50.720 All that he needs to thrive and enjoy the world is given to him. 00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:53.519 He's in a garden of yes. 00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:59.519 I heard a speaker once, and we've kind of tried to adopt this into our family, although maybe not. 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:03.920 Because I'll probably say this, and I'm looking at my wife right now, and she'll be like, I don't remember ever hearing that. 00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:14.000 But like with parenting, are you creating in your home a garden of yes with a few clear no's? 00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:18.559 Or does your home to your child feel like just a garden of no's? 00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:20.480 Just a no at every turn. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:23.519 Don't touch that, you can't do that, don't run there, don't, you know. 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:29.440 But we look at the proportion that God had with Adam, and he creates just this garden of yes. 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:34.160 Under every rock or tree, it's just this beauty, it's incredible. 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:37.279 And it but there's one clear no. 00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:44.160 And with the no is promised certain death. 00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:50.319 He's given certainty of access to joy and certain death with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:28:50.480 --> 00:28:55.440 So our question is, what then is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? 00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:56.640 What is that thing? 00:28:56.960 --> 00:28:58.720 What is the knowledge of good and evil? 00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:04.079 What does that mean when he receives uh what would that mean to eat that tree? 00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:10.079 Some people have posited that the knowledge of good and evil, that's the experience of sin. 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:21.920 And so what Adam gets is not just uh a sort of cerebral type of knowledge of sin when he eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but he gets the experience of sin itself. 00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:30.319 Others have uh posited that perhaps the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, uh, that's like a Hebrew way of saying everything. 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:33.839 It's the good and evil, you know, done with our categories. 00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:37.519 And so this is a way of saying this tree gives you the knowledge of everything. 00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:46.880 And so to eat from that tree would be a way of saying, I desire omniscience, I desire to know everything, and then I will be like God. 00:29:48.079 --> 00:30:06.880 So those may be true, those may carry with them parts of the truth, but I think it's important that we don't try and understand what the tree is in and of itself, apart from the prohibition from eating it. 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:16.640 The tree gains its true meaning in the fact that God says, don't eat from this tree. 00:30:17.839 --> 00:30:34.799 And what we'll see happen to Eve in the garden is she'll consider the tree, not in terms of the prohibition of what God said the tree was, but instead she'll consider the tree on its own terms. 00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:42.079 She'll say, you know, when I consider the tree on its own terms, the fruit looks beautiful. 00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:48.079 It's pleasing to the eye, and it looks good to eat. 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:55.920 Consider it on its own terms, and then it and even the deception was and it's called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:30:56.160 --> 00:30:59.200 So it looks like it maybe even be good to make one wise. 00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:10.880 By her own human deduction, by just looking at it in its own terms, she would think it must just be good in her own assessment. 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:18.799 But we know the tree's true character because of what God says about the tree. 00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:20.880 It's prohibited. 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:25.039 That same commentator, Derek Kittner, he says this. 00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:42.319 He says, as it stood prohibited, it presented the alternative to discipleship, to be self-made, wresting one's knowledge, satisfaction, and values from the created world in defiance of the creator. 00:31:43.599 --> 00:31:48.240 When we ask, what was so bad about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? 00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:52.799 What was so bad about it was that God said it was bad. 00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:55.759 God said, don't eat it. 00:31:57.039 --> 00:31:58.720 And that should be enough. 00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:01.200 He's given you everything. 00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:07.599 You know, he's surrounded you with a garden of yes, he's demonstrated his goodness towards you. 00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:12.480 So we might ask them, well, why does he why does he add this prohibition? 00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:15.920 Why throw any tree in there that's prohibited? 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:19.759 And I think that there's good reason that we can consider. 00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:32.640 First of all, this establishes that humans, unlike other creatures, are given this ability to set and stick to our own course. 00:32:33.599 --> 00:32:48.160 We're given the ability to make a determination, to make a promise, make a commitment, and then we're able to hold to it even when it seems that from our own deduction it may be best to do something else. 00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:56.480 But with this one prohibited tree, what he grants to humanity is this strange type of freedom by this constraint. 00:32:57.119 --> 00:33:14.319 You know, Adam and Eve are walking around a garden that's just full of constant beauty, full of things that are calling to this, to the depths of their humanity, saying, come eat me, come enjoy me, come take pleasure in this, come be a part of this creation. 00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:15.599 That's a good thing. 00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:18.079 You know, that's by design, they're good things. 00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:20.799 Come get this gold, take as much of it as you want. 00:33:20.960 --> 00:33:22.960 It's here for you, it's here for the taking. 00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:26.559 You know, and that's true, that's true of the creation that they're in. 00:33:27.680 --> 00:33:49.599 But in this one prohibition, they are granted this type of freedom, which allows them to move through this good creation and say, I'm going to take it, not because I have to, not because I'm compelled by it, but because I'm choosing to. 00:33:50.480 --> 00:33:56.400 See, they're able to move through this garden of yes with an ability to say no. 00:33:57.599 --> 00:34:11.920 And when they're given that ability to say no, that means they're relating to creation in the way that they were meant to, as the ones that are masters over it, not as ones that are mastered by it. 00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:17.840 Given no opportunity, no requirement to say no to anything in all of creation. 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:25.920 What that would do is it creates this uh disproportionality for the way that they would value the creation that they're in. 00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:38.000 And they would say, this is the thing that deserves my yes all the time, and there's nothing, there's nothing in my life, there's nothing in all of existence that I would say no to creation for. 00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:43.360 So God puts himself in that position. 00:34:44.239 --> 00:34:50.159 And he says, Look, creation is good, but there's something better. 00:34:50.880 --> 00:35:00.559 And that thing that's better is the creator, the one who made you to enjoy creation, but to more than that enjoy me. 00:35:01.039 --> 00:35:05.920 To enjoy creation as a means to the worship of God. 00:35:06.719 --> 00:35:16.000 By prohibiting the tree, God creates that in us, creates that opportunity to relate in a real, legitimate way. 00:35:17.760 --> 00:35:20.480 So it causes us to consider, to step back. 00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:29.920 You know, uh oftentimes I think Denver can feel like a garden of yes, except for I-70 traffic. 00:35:31.199 --> 00:35:36.800 But other than that, I mean Megan and I went to Shake Shack last night. 00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:39.599 Yeah, come on. 00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:48.320 I was looking around and it's like there's whiskey being made across the street. 00:35:51.119 --> 00:35:53.440 Like this is this is great. 00:35:53.920 --> 00:35:55.679 This is a great place to be. 00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:57.920 It's just a garden of yes. 00:35:59.039 --> 00:36:02.159 And it's such a seductive narrative. 00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:08.400 Like I think that if I I think that I would really think like, yeah, this is this is it. 00:36:08.800 --> 00:36:09.599 This is it. 00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:25.920 If I could just make my way up and down this street, you know, eating and drinking at all of these places, like that would that would in like, you know, go shop there, buy those clothes, and like like look cool and stuff in these places, then like that's it. 00:36:26.239 --> 00:36:27.360 I think we got it. 00:36:27.840 --> 00:36:29.519 Talk about our weekends. 00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:36.159 There's we're we it just in our city, we have such a garden of yes. 00:36:37.280 --> 00:36:45.920 It's so important for us to be able to say no for something better. 00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:54.239 Otherwise, we're just getting tossed about by whatever restaurant happens to open up. 00:36:54.800 --> 00:37:00.320 Instead of being able to move through creation with the freedom that we are meant to be given. 00:37:01.119 --> 00:37:05.360 We're just tossed about by a narrative that's passed to us by our culture. 00:37:07.199 --> 00:37:17.599 So this is a Christian sermon, which uh which means that we can't just end here. 00:37:17.679 --> 00:37:25.199 Uh we've got to we've got to pick up some of these threads and and show uh how Jesus connects to these things. 00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:32.079 You know, Adam and Eve will eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:38.400 And they will no longer be able to say no to creation. 00:37:39.840 --> 00:37:46.960 And instead, they will exchange the glory of creation for the glory of God. 00:37:47.599 --> 00:37:50.480 And they'll be separated from the glory of God. 00:37:51.039 --> 00:37:53.760 The Bible describes that as being dead. 00:37:54.880 --> 00:37:58.880 They'll be dead in their trespasses and sins. 00:37:59.119 --> 00:38:01.679 And that's where we find our souls now. 00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:11.760 We have examined the world on its own terms, apart from God, and we've said this is all that matters, and this is the only place meaning can be. 00:38:12.480 --> 00:38:30.960 And so we're enslaved to it, and we've become distant from the true source of life and meaning, the one who made it all, and who made us to be in real relationship with him, intimate relationship with him. 00:38:32.639 --> 00:38:34.320 And so we're dead. 00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:39.440 Adam broke the covenant. 00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:48.639 But later, and we'll learn even more about this the week after next, a second Adam will come. 00:38:50.239 --> 00:38:55.199 And when that second Adam comes, he will fulfill the covenant that Adam broke. 00:38:55.360 --> 00:38:58.480 And what's the side of the covenant that can really be fulfilled? 00:38:58.639 --> 00:39:01.280 It's when you eat from this, you will die. 00:39:02.480 --> 00:39:06.239 Jesus comes and he dies. 00:39:07.760 --> 00:39:12.320 He takes on the death that Adam incurred. 00:39:13.679 --> 00:39:24.480 And in fulfilling that side of the covenant, he fulfills it on our behalf, on behalf of all those who would come to him. 00:39:25.920 --> 00:39:46.480 Just after Jesus dies, he's resurrected and inaugurates this new creation that we're looking forward to, so that Eden becomes not something that was lost, that was just lost in the past, but this hope of a better garden, one that's full and flourishing like a city in the future. 00:39:47.679 --> 00:39:52.880 And after Jesus is resurrected, he comes back to his disciples. 00:39:53.519 --> 00:39:58.079 And in John 20, verse 22, he commissions them. 00:39:58.639 --> 00:40:00.400 And he commissions them like this. 00:40:00.480 --> 00:40:09.360 It says John 20, verse 22, and when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. 00:40:11.119 --> 00:40:21.119 We were made by God, by his breath, to live in a world of his flourishing, and to be in perfect obedience to him. 00:40:21.679 --> 00:40:23.199 We disobeyed that. 00:40:23.440 --> 00:40:29.119 And so now we don't move through the world as its masters, we move through the world like its slaves. 00:40:30.960 --> 00:40:36.239 Being dead in our trespasses and sins, we needed to be recreated. 00:40:37.360 --> 00:40:44.800 We needed God Himself to come and breathe life into us again. 00:40:46.239 --> 00:40:48.639 In Christ, that happens. 00:40:49.440 --> 00:40:57.440 In Christ, we're able to regain this appropriate proportion of the way that we live in this beautiful creation. 00:40:57.920 --> 00:41:05.199 It can be beautiful again and not our master, because we're set back in the right relationship with God. 00:41:05.920 --> 00:41:10.000 So with that, let's take a question if we have one. 00:41:11.199 --> 00:41:12.159 Can you explain? 00:41:12.320 --> 00:41:14.000 Oh, I hope so. 00:41:14.880 --> 00:41:16.559 Everyone's looking at me. 00:41:17.280 --> 00:41:24.000 Can you explain how the ability to choose to eat from the tree of good and evil fits in with the sovereign will of God? 00:41:24.320 --> 00:41:26.000 How much time do I have? 00:41:29.119 --> 00:41:31.199 Yeah, great question. 00:41:31.679 --> 00:41:35.599 So uh uh it makes me think of six other questions. 00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:58.079 So first thing, when we consider the sovereignty of God, it's important for us to not consider it in competition with the free will of humanity. 00:41:59.760 --> 00:42:06.480 As difficult as this is for us to grasp, it is not a zero-sum game in that way. 00:42:07.519 --> 00:42:14.639 God is not the type of creature such that he inhabits our creation. 00:42:16.559 --> 00:42:20.960 And there's a limited amount of freedom within our creation. 00:42:21.280 --> 00:42:25.599 So if God takes up all of it, then there's none left for us. 00:42:25.920 --> 00:42:30.079 That's not the way we relate to the radical transcendence of God. 00:42:31.679 --> 00:42:36.159 In him we live and move and have our being. 00:42:36.400 --> 00:42:44.320 And so that means that any freedom that we have, it comes from the fact that we are made by a free God. 00:42:45.920 --> 00:42:49.039 He is perfectly sovereign amidst that. 00:42:51.360 --> 00:43:05.119 God is in control of all things, all things are his, and yet somehow in this, he creates it so that there can be what are called secondary causes. 00:43:07.840 --> 00:43:16.480 So that God is the primary cause of all things, and yet our will is a true agent in the world. 00:43:17.679 --> 00:43:20.559 The Bible teaches us to hold those things together. 00:43:20.639 --> 00:43:26.960 And the only term that I know to be able to hold those things together is the radical transcendence of God. 00:43:27.599 --> 00:43:36.079 We need to untrain our brains from thinking of God as a stronger, more powerful creature like us. 00:43:37.119 --> 00:43:42.000 He is the existence that all of our existence depends on. 00:43:42.239 --> 00:43:46.480 He is the freedom that all of our freedom depends on. 00:43:47.280 --> 00:43:50.079 He's not our competitor for freedom. 00:43:51.280 --> 00:43:59.119 Thing two God uh sets Adam and Eve in the garden so that they would eat the fruit. 00:44:00.559 --> 00:44:08.480