Sunday: Our Dependence on the Creator
Genesis 2:7 depicts God as creating Adam individually, and represents
Image © Bjorn Thorkelson from GoodSalt.com
him to be an intelligent moral being rather than as an animal. The text does not say, but one can imagine God using His hands to form the dust into the intended shape and size. One might think that the great Sovereign of the universe would not stoop to get His hands dirty in the making of man, but the Bible reveals the Creator as One closely involved with the Creation. Scripture records many occasions when God willingly interacted with the material creation. Examples include Exodus 32:15-16; Luke 4:40; and John 9:6. Indeed, the incarnation of Christ Himself into humanity, into human flesh, where He day by day interacted with the created world much the way we do, refutes the notion that God would not stoop to “get His hands dirty” among humanity.
Read Genesis 2:16-17. What command did God give to Adam? What is implied in this command?
We may ask, What right did God have to make rules for Adam and Eve? Compare this situation to that of a child in a family. The child’s parents provide the child with a home and all of life’s necessities. They love the child and have the child’s best interests in mind. Their greater experience and wisdom can spare the child much misery if that child will accept their guidance. Some children find this guidance difficult, but it is universally recognized that as long as the child is dependent on its parents for its necessities, it is obligated to accept the parent’s rules. In like manner, because we are always dependent on our heavenly Father for life and its necessities, it is always appropriate for us to accept God’s guidance. Because He is a God of love, we can trust Him to always provide what we need for our own good.
Read Psalm 95:6-7 and Psalm 100. How does the psalmist express our dependence on God? What obligations does that dependence automatically place on you, especially in regard to the way in which you treat others?
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This is a comment on last week's lessons. Even though God hasn't seen fit for us to know everything about His awesome creation (we don't really comprehend what he has told us!), I still find somethings to be clear to me that others question constantly. For instance, the issue of light & day on the 1st day & then the sun & moon 3 days later. The unfallen beings were witness to His beautiful creation event so He said let there be light (around this otherwise dark planet called earth). Darkness already existed, so He just brought light to the scene so all could see, & He defined the dark as "night" & the light portion as "day." Then, to clarify things for us argumentative beings, He later made the Sun & Moon (& stars) & hung them as clocks for our benefit so it would be clear what a day was (24 hrs.) & so we'd know when His Holy Day began & ended. Easy-peasy. I collect rocks & hear all the time about how many millions of years old things are, & the answer to that is that when God created the trees, rocks, plants, etc. They were already grown & had their seeds in them to produce new plants. Since man & animals were taller & larger than they are now (less oxygen now & not pure like before), anyone blessed enough to find things from long ago, dates them as millions of years old, forgetting that when God/Jesus made them, they were already perfectly at their peak of grown size, but were not old or aged at all! To me, that explains that! Just wanted to share this. Love to all!
What is the light created in the 1st day? Is it a ''time'' or literaly ''light''? The sun and moon and stars created on the 4th day.
THE LIGHT ON DAY 1 WAS THE VERY PRESENT OF GOD, Light has ever been a symbol of the divine presence. As physical light is essential to physical life, so divine light is necessary if rational beings are to have moral and spiritual life. “God is light” (1 John 1:5); and to those in whose hearts the work of recreating the divine likeness is going on apace, He comes again today bidding the shadows of sin, uncertainty, and discouragement flee, saying, “Let there be light.
Nichol, Francis D., The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association) 1978.
God is light and in Him there is no darkness, so for God to say "Let there be light!" is the same as for Him to say "I am here!"
I love the insight given about things already being clear. I don't think things are confusing either. It makes perfect sense that when the trees were created, they were already full grown.
It is very evident that God prepared the world for us as perfectly as possible, just like we would prepare a baby's room before bringing him/her home from the hospital, so that everything is ready.
We are truly the apple of God's eye!
Good point on children's dependency on their parents, paralleling our dependency on God, our Father, Creator. When children obey their parents, the rewards are endless. On the other hand, when they disobey, they reap what they sow, sometimes, death is the consequence, physical, mental, or spiritual. When we obey/disobey God, our Father, Creator, the same applies.
I have a question, I'm wondering how can we define the love of God, when we clearly know that, knowingly God himself who can tell the ends before they exists, 'Isaiah 46:10' and that tells me that, He even knew that human race will fall into sin after being attempted by the devil and he knew this will exactly happen and he created that weakness/willingness to choose sin over God with them! As a result of that the very people God loves will come to get destroyed in the end when his son come back again.
Where this dependence on him who is perfectly and strong over sin is useful? why would some of us get saved and others left to die while this weakness has its roots from the very day of creation, the willingness to choose sin over God?
Hi Marva,
God could have chosen not to create humanity because He could foresee the Fall. He could have chosen not to give humanity freedom of choice -- to make robots. But God created humanity for companionship with Him and with each other. And at the very bottom of any relationship of love is freedom of choice. And that meant that humanity could choose to be independent of God, with fearful consequences.
God made provisions ahead of time for the terrible emergency of sin by choosing to risk His own position in becoming a human baby and living life on this planet. He became truly "Immanuel," God with us forever, in order to save us. In the process He revealed His character of self-renouncing love more fully than it could have been revealed any other way.
And that reminds me that self-renouncing love is the very opposite of a striving for rights for oneself. The striving for "my right" is the way of the world, not the way of Christ.
I am certain that all who would be comfortable in heaven -- in the presence of a pure and holy God -- will be there. The only ones who will not be there are the ones who unfitted themselves to be in the presence of God. If forced to be in His presence, they would beg to be destroyed. Since God will not force the will, even at the end of earth time, He will annihilate all those who literally and figuratively cannot stand to be in His presence.
And, by the way, God keeps all humanity alive by the continual exercise of His life-giving power -- even those who reject Him and want nothing to do with Him. However, in the end, He will give sinners the choice they crave -- the "right" to be independent of God. And since He is the Source of life, they will necessarily die.
God did not create mankind with a weakness/willingness to sin. He created mankind perfect with no propensities or natural desire to sin what-so-ever. God created mankind with a mind for rational thought and decision making.
In order to sin, Adam and Eve had to make a calculated decision to go against the very nature that God had placed within them, as well as go against God's command.
Once this decision to over ride their God given nature was made, only then did this weakness/willingness to sin take hold of their natures and make it the natural response (which is passed on to all future generations) and that can be corrected only by power of Christ in our lives.
Marwa, how would He demonstrate His love to us if He did not give us our independent choice to choose to love Him in return or not to love Him? I think this question may hold the answer to your question because we all know that true love cannot be forced. A somewhat good example is the old saying, "If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it is yours. If it doesn't, it never was."
God can make a pearl without needing the oyster. He can make a virgin conceive without needing a man. He can create light without needing a light source.
We have this as fact and nothing more. The light on the first day was just that, since the sun came later. Sure, we can say it was God's presence, but then why would He need to bring it forth if He was already there?
We won't solve every mystery now, but we can acknowledge the power of God as He has demonstrated it and leave the mysteries until we see Him face to face. Talk about a mystery! Sinners...talking face to face with God!
Mine question, does the bible bring turmoil on the matter of creation when it says Eve and Adam were created on same day(Gen 1:29),And in chapter 2 EVE was made from Adam~s ribs?