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Today we’re going to study two very important things right in the first part of the book of Genesis. We reviewed the Creation last week. This week we’re going to study more in detail the creation of man and the Sabbath.
I’m going to read some of the things from the Interlinear Hebrew-English Old Testament by George Ricker Berry. He only did Genesis and Exodus, and I’m very sorry that that’s all that he did, because he does a very good job in translating.
We’re going to cover some very important things and first of all I want to concentrate on the creation of Adam and Eve first, because I think we’re going to find this very important; because the detailed instructions of Adam and Eve and their creation have to do with the finishing of the work on the sixth day. I just want to cover this thing concerning the Sabbath and the sixth and seventh day once again.
Genesis 1:31 (Int): “And evening was and morning was a day sixth.” As you saw in the Hebrew last time, the difference between six and seven is one little letter inserted between two of the other letters.
Genesis 2:1 (Int): “And were finished the heavens and the earth and their all their hosts. And finished God in the day sixth his work which he had made… [It should be the sixth day, not the seventh. There’s a little footnote there to verify that.]
…and, he rested in the day seventh from all his work which he had made. And blessed God the day seventh and sanctified it; because in it he rested…” (vs 1-2).
We’re going to learn an awful lot concerning rest. I want you to look at the word ‘rest’—see how that is written there, those three letters, because that is the basic three letters which are used for the Hebrew word ‘Sabbath’—Sabbath means rest.
Verse 7 (Int): “Then formed Jehovah God, the man out of dust from the ground, and breathed in his… [the man] …nostrils breath of life…”
We need to understand that everything else that God created, He commanded it and it was so. Let’s look at some Scriptures which will verify that, and this shows that God commanded and everything came into existence.
Psalm 148:1: “O praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise Him in the heights. Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts. Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars of light. Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and waters that are above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created]” (vs 1-5).
He brought them into existence by the Word of His power. He intended for those to tell us a story. He intended the creation of the heavens to be a witness of His power and His glory, and to be perpetually that which all human beings could see so that they would understand that something greater than themselves had to create that.
Psalm 19:1: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork. Day after day they pour forth speech …” (vs 1- 2). There are noises that they have been able, sounds, that come out of the heavens, right. Don’t they have these big gigantic tracking machines and radio, radar devices, huge great disks to try and pick up a message from outer space—maybe they’re trying to communicate to us is the reasoning behind it.
“…and night after night they reveal knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard” (vs 2-3). In other words, the things that God has created and commanded into being are there in such a dynamic way that every people, every language, every generation has learned from it.
It’s also very interesting to know that if you read the account of Josephus and Abraham, you find out that Abraham was a mathematician. And Abraham was the one who brought mathematics to Egyptians. So, Abraham was no mean, grunting barbarian stumbling over the stones of the Near East. He understood these things. And, of course, this also has to do with the ultimate, concerning our salvation.
Verse 4: “Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun.” Showing that the greater universe is out beyond what the tabernacle for the sun is. You could say the tabernacle for the sun is our solar system. And, it’s very interesting, when you view how the different solar systems or stars in the universe, they are shaped like discs, or as some people would say, flying saucers. I’m not going to get into a discussion of flying saucers, but I do believe there are phenomena, which are accountable for that.
Verse 5: “Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man set to run a race... [In other words, always cheerful, uplifting and an inexhaustible source of energy, is what it’s telling us here.] …its going forth is from one end of heaven, and its circuit is to the other end.… [they knew that things were in a circuit—wasn’t flat] …And there is nothing hidden from its heat” (vs 5-6). And then it reflects back to the Law of God beginning in v 7.
Now let’s go to Psalm 33 and we’ll understand even more concerning the creation of God and how it was that He made these things—and why then the forming of man, by God Himself, becomes a very important and deep thing for us to understand.
Psalm 33:1: “Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous ones; praise is becoming for the upright. Praise the LORD with lyre; sing unto Him with a harp of ten strings” (vs 1-2).
That’s why on the Sabbath it is good— when we can—to sing. That’s why, in the New Testament it talks about singing with ‘psalms in your heart.’ It’s very important, and especially on the Sabbath, because the Sabbath becomes a very important day and link to the creation of man.
Verse 3: “Sing unto Him a new song; play skillfully with shouts of joy, for the Word of the LORD is upright; and all His works are done in faithfulness…. [nothing wrong with what God has done and created] … He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the loving kindness of the LORD. By the Word of the LORD were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth” (vs 3–6).
God commanded, they came into existence. That’s why the Word of God is so powerful and so important. If God says something once, that’s quite sufficient for all eternity—is it not?
- Is not God eternal? Yes!
- Is not His Word forever? Yes!
Let’s go back to Psalm 19 and see the Word of God. What that is to do for us once we understand the great and tremendous creation of God. Th at is to help us understand that
- God is Lawgiver
- God does things in order
- God does things in organization
- God has made everything for a purpose for its own part in God’s plan that He has done
Verse 7: “The Law of the LORD is perfect… [nothing wrong with it] …restoring the soul…” This is the first step which leads you to conversion. Because then when you understand that the law of God is perfect then it becomes a standard to which you see you need to measure up to.
“…the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes” (vs 7-8) —giving us understanding and wisdom. God made us in such a way that we are to have understanding and wisdom and judgment and righteousness and goodness.
Verse 9: “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether, more to be desired than gold, yea, much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned…” (vs 9-11). Keeps you out of trouble—that’s why the commandments are you shall not.
Why did God give the commandments…? There is a positive commandment with parents:
- ‘Honor your father and your mother that the days, your days may be long on the earth.’
Then the next one is:
- ‘You shall not murder.’ That is the extreme! You cross that line and you have sinned. Within it then there are a lot of choices that you can make.
- ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
Negative commands, because negative commands are the very best when you are given a choice, so that you determine your choices. When it says you shall not commit adultery, the positive command is that you will always be faithful to your wife—that is if you’re married. So, they’re good; they’re right. “…in keeping them there is great reward.
Who can understand his errors?…. [No one can because every way of a man is right in his own eyes, so he needs God’s Word to give him the understanding of his errors. I do; you do.] …Oh, cleanse me from my secret faults” (vs 11-12). This is really a New Testament doctrine. ‘Cleanse me from my secret faults’—in other words, my thoughts of sin that are in my own mind here.
Verse 13: “And keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; do not let them rule over me; then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer” (vs 12–14).
All of these things have to do with the tremendous creation and showing us that now man is different. God can command every one of these things. But, now he made man differently.
God did something that He did not do with any of the rest of the creation. He did several things here. Of all the rest of the creation, God commanded and it was so. And then God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and it was so.’
Now then, with man we have something that is quite different. None of the other creations of God were made like humankind. That’s something very important for us to realize. And this is a great death-mill for evolution, because the creation of man is very special in every way; well thought out, well planned and formed by the hand of God.
Genesis 1:26: “And God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness…’” God is saying here that He is giving human beings Godlike characteristics.
Now then, all of the others that God created said, ‘after their kind.’ Obviously, we are after the human kind and we pro-generate our own kind, but also being made in the image of God is the first fundamental step of being in the God Family. That’s why we’re made after the image of God. None of the other creatures. You can look at apes; you can look at chimpanzees and gorillas and you can see some humanlike characteristics in them, but I’m sure God made them that way for us to realize that even though you can have humanlike characteristics—in hands and some facial features— unless you’re made in the image of God you’re still a beast! Rather than we evolved from this thing.
We have to understand that we’re made in the image and the likeness of God. And then, He gave “…dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of heaven and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that crawls upon the earth” (v 26). We’re going to look at the continuing account of the details of the creation of man.
Verse 27 (Int): “And created God the man…” God personally formed. Now this, I am sure, is telling us that God wants to have a personal relationship with this part of His creation in a way that separate and different from all the rest of His creation. That’s why He made us in His image and after His likeness. The rest of the Bible then is to tell us that we’re going to be after His kind. He did not command the man to live. He could of, because nothing’s impossible with God.
Genesis 2:7 (Int): “…and breathed into his nostrils breath of life…” I think this shows that God wants us to have a close, personal, intimate relationship with Him. In other words, I believe—we’ll have to draw out of this from what we see—that He breathed into man, what is called the spirit of man and He imparted to his mind, at the same time, a fully functioning language; because man was an intelligent, talking, responding, decision-making being from the instant of his creation. Obviously, he had to be taught. In order to be taught he had to be teachable; in order to be teachable he had to have a language; in order to have a language, from creation it had to be put into him. I believe that that’s what God did at this point.
“…and became the man for a living soul” (v 7). God began to show a purpose in this creation. I believe that the final acts of His creation on the sixth day was the creation of man—and then the final act was the creation of woman. Then the Sabbath began.
But let’s carry on and see the events that happened on the sixth day, v 8 (Int): “And planted Jehovah God a garden in Eden from east[ward] and placed there the man whom he had formed…. [That’s interesting: He formed him, He made him with His own hands and formed him.] …And caused to sprout Jehovah God… [or the Lord God] …from the ground every tree pleasant for appearance and good for food; and the tree of life was in the midst of the garden…” (vs 8-9).
Now immediately, God wanted man to know something that’s symbolized by the Tree of Life. I am sure there was a literal tree. I am also sure that this Tree of Life symbolized the way that man would go, which then would be God’s way, which would lead to eternal life—or, the other tree:
And he says, v 9: “…and the tree of knowing good and evil.” Both of them were there in the midst. I don’t know if they were side-by-side. It could have been that they were side-by-side. We’re not told, but it says ‘in the midst,’ so I would have to take, by this account, that it was in the middle of the, the garden.
The rest of it describing where Eden was is really using the names of rivers that were known on the other side of the Flood, and it’s very difficult to find out where Eden was, because all of that was destroyed with the Flood—naming a general area where they thought it was close by after the Flood does not give us the direct geographical area. However, it would have to be somewhere, we would assume, in the Middle East. Some people assume that it would be somewhere in what is called the Holy Land today or what we know as Palestine or Israel—however your division divides on that. That could be, but that’s not the purpose of what we’re going through here.
Then God did something, and all the way through it shows responsibility, ability and accountability. Man has ability; he is responsible, and he is accountable.
Verse 15 (Int): “And took Jehovah God the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and to guard it” Very interesting translation here, isn’t it. Not just to keep it, but to guard it, to protect it. To make sure that it was done the way that God would want it done.
Verse 16 (Int): “And commanded Jehovah God (upon) the man saying…” Whenever God gives a command; it is a command!
Psalm 119 is one of my favorite Psalms, and this is the one I always try and use to stop the mouths of the gainsayers. I think this is important, Psalm 119:127: “Therefore, I love Your commandments above gold—yea, above fine gold. Therefore, I esteem all Your precepts concerning all things to be right…” (vs 127-128).
- if God is perfect—which He is
- if God is righteous—which He is
- if God does things which are correct and beautiful and wonderful
—would not all of His precepts be right concerning everything? Is any man going to go up and point out to God a sin that He has done? No, because God does not sin!
When we come over here concerning the commandments given to Adam and Eve, I think this has a great weight of importance; because the whole principle of God commanding, the whole principle of God instructing then is all found right here in the first part of the book of Genesis—which tells us that man then was responsible, accountable and had ability. He put them in the garden to guard it and to keep it!
Genesis 2:16 (Int): “And commanded Jehovah God upon the man, saying: From every tree of the garden eating, thou mayest eat… [In other words, anytime you want to eat, go ahead and eat.] …but, from the tree of knowing good and evil not thou shalt eat from it; for in the day of thy eating from it dying thou shalt die” (vs 16-17).
That is the literal meaning. It doesn’t mean in that very instant, in that day, that you would drop dead the minute you took a bite from it. But it means that once you transgress that and do this, then you are surely going to die and that’s how it’s translated.
They had as the sentence of their transgression, death imparted to their very being. Though they lived many hundreds of years after that, if the account of the time is correct, but they still died— yes, they did. I am sure that implied in that, ‘in dying you shall die,’ that also implies an aging process from which we all today suffer. So, if you want to blame anyone, you can blame Adam and Eve.
Verse 18 (Int): “And said Jehovah God: Not good is being the man’s to his separation… [That really means being a separate being. It is not good for man to be alone.] …I will make for him a helper as his counterpart. And formed Jehovah God from the ground every beast of the field…and brought unto the man…” (vs 18-19). Every one, all of the animals that God made, God had them all pass by. So we have the animals on ‘review-march’ with Adam, who was there.
So, the Lord “…brought unto the man to see what he would call to it…” (v 19). Adam had a full-functioning language; he was able to name all of the animals. It would be interesting to know what that was. He wasn’t polluted with any kind of wrong thoughts. He was not polluted with wrong notions at all. He was standing right there with God and God said, ‘All right, now Adam, here comes this animal, what do you think you should call it?’ So, he gave a name to it. This shows a great responsibility.
Doesn’t this indicate that the language that he had, had words in it that would fit? Yes! So, he had a complete language. Adam was made totally complete. There was nothing missing, except his wife. God intended that. He caused all of them to pass by to see what he would name them. And the reason for this was, so that Adam would realize of everything else that God had made, there was nothing in that which was wholly compatible for him.
So then, after that object lesson, v 20 (Int): “And called the man names to all the cattle and to the fowl of the heavens and to every beast of the field; and for a man not he did find a helper as his counterpart….” (vs 20-21). God wanted Adam to understand something very important, too: only God could make for him that which would be right for him.
Verse 21 (Int): “And caused the fall Jehovah God a heavy sleep upon the man, and he slept; and he took one from his ribs, and closed (the) flesh instead of it. And built Jehovah God the rib which He had taken from the man in to a woman, and brought her unto the man” (vs 21-22).
This also becomes very important for us to understand. As He made the woman, He also then had to breathe into her the breath of life so she could become a living soul. He also had to breath into her what would be, what we would call the spirit of man or human beings—and also give her a fully functioning language; because God did not want to produce an incomplete product and provide for Adam something which was not a counterpart and compatible, and somebody who knew nothing. She had intelligence, she had mind, she had ability and all of that sort of thing. The point here that is, I think the most profound thing for us to understand is this: God made both man and woman! In breathing into them the breath of life. He desired with this and showing this—that’s why this account is so important—that He wanted to have a personal relationship with them and be their God.
Verse 23 (Int): “And the man, this, now at last, (is) bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh…” (v 23). Which shows that God must have sat down and said, ‘Now, Adam, since there is nothing here for you in all of the animals and I didn’t create anything for you, I want you to see by looking and naming all the animals that there is nothing for you. I’m going to put you asleep and I’m going to take one of your ribs and I’m going to make a woman, a help meet, a counterpart for you.’ That’s why Adam, when he saw her, said, ‘this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.’
“…this, at last now… [in other words after everything else had been understood] …is bones from my bones and flesh from my flesh; to this it shall be called woman, because from man this was taken. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall become (for) flesh one. And were they two naked, the man and his wife, and not they were ashamed before each other” (vs 23-25, Int).
This was before they had sinned. Now, we also know that there is a great lesson for us in this, concerning marriage. What we are dealing with here now is the ideal complete state of the creation of God.
Let me read to you what I have written here in The Grace of God in the Old Testament, so we can, this will help summarize some of these things:
In order for us to fully understand that the entire Creation was an act of love and grace, we need to examine the Scriptural account of the creation of Adam and Eve. The very words of God reveal His love and grace where He said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image and after Our likeness and give them dominion’ and so forth. When we consider that, of all the creation of God, only mankind was made in the image of God. Such a blessing is a profound act and expression of God’s Supreme love and grace, which was created within and bestowed upon mankind.
To further reveal the uniqueness of the creation of mankind, when the Lord God made Adam and Eve He personally formed them with His very own hands. This act alone reveals that the Lord God intended from the very beginning to have a deep, personal and intimate relationship with them. Whereas all the other created things and beings which God created He brought into existence by the word of His command through the power of His Holy Spirit. However, in the account of the creation of Adam and Eve, notice what the Scriptures tell us.
And we just read those: formed them, breathed into them the breath of life.
The very act of the Lord God Himself breathing the breath of life into man, reveals the intimate relationship that God desired to have with mankind.”
That’s why He made the Garden of Eden, see, would be there with them. That’s a tremendous thing. And this all relates then, when we come to it, to the very first Sabbath.
Apparently, when God breathed the breath of life into the man He also imparted the special spiritual lessons called ‘the spirit of man’ which gives to mankind the special unique ability to think, to reason—hence, intelligence. Apparently, at the same time He also breathed into Adam the breath of life, God also imparted into his mind a fully functioning language. Furthermore, in order to show the close, personal relationship of love, which God intended man and woman to have as husband and wife, He personally formed Eve from one of Adam’s ribs…. [We just read the Scriptures on that.] … And then gave her the breath of life and imparted the ‘spirit of man’ into her with a fully functioning language.
Of all the other living creatures that God created, only man and woman were created to receive and to give love in a most intimate and personal relationship… [in a personal way] …None of the other created beings were made to give and receive sexual love face-to-face. That blessing was reserved for mankind alone.
This is also to reflect and show the personal relationship that God the Father and Christ have—that is face-to-face, though there is no sexual intimation in that because they are spirit beings. And being face-to-face, this means that God made it so that man and woman would also grow together and, as it were, see things God’s way: eye-to-eye. So, it’s really a very special thing.
That blessing was reserved for mankind alone. Moreover, through the process of pro-creation, all human beings were blessed with a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual ability to give and to rec eive love.
Greater still, only mankind was created to have a personal, spiritual, loving relationship with God, their Creator. This special blessing of love and grace was not extended to any of the other created beings which the Lord God created.
Now then, thousands of years later…
and then I put in here what David said.
Psalm 139 is also one of the Psalms of David; this is quite a very profound Psalm. I think we’ve covered this a couple of times in the past, but I think it’s good for us to review and go over, because this is really very scientific and up-to-date.
Psalm 139:13: “For You have possessed my reins; You have knit me together in my mother’s womb.” This shows that even though—in whatever the process may be—God, in creating mankind through pro-creation (legitimate or illegitimate) God is the One Who created that being.
Exactly how everything is done, I would have to surmise that each of us are able to impart half-life—father and the mother, the father determining the sex. I also believe that at the instant of conception that a spiritual thing takes place— whether legitimate or illegitimate—to give, because after all, the illegitimate child had no say so, so God is not going to deprive him necessarily just because it was not consecrated in marriage. There are going to be enough problems beyond that. We all understand that, looking out in, in the age today. And, I know there will be some people who will say, ‘Well now, legitimate or illegitimate.’ You might find that there are some of the people that God has used were illegitimate by birth—that is, father and mother were not married.
God still, being ‘no respecter of persons,’ gives the individual the spirit of man or the, the beginning essence of life. When there is that conception, God caused it to be—whether human beings by determination or by mistake caused it to be. In other words, God has a hand in every human life.
Verse 14: “I will praise You, for I am awesomely and wonderfully made; Your works are marvelous and my soul knows it very well. My substance was not hidden from You when I was made in secret …” (vs 13-15). Before an embryo becomes an embryo, which then is the stage before what they call a fetus. It is technically called today, unless they’ve changed the term recently, substance.
“…when I was made in secret…” And, it’s still a secret. No one really knows, do they, even with all the scientific endeavors, how human beings are created in the womb. They’ve done a lot of scientific investigation. They’re able to know and understand more than they ever have, but they still don’t know! I think it’s very important for us to understand when we bring up the subject of abortion, we need to understand this: that a human being is fully formed—or nearly so—in six weeks. Every feature of a human being is there. It’s just a matter of growth. The only difference between a newly conceived individual and us is a matter of growth and birth and age. Because once there is the conception of a human being, it is what it is from that instant forward—have to be. You did not become yourself sometime after you were conceived. You were yourself from the instant you were conceived and it will be until the instant you die.
When he’s talking about this, I think this is very interesting here, v 15: “My substance was not hidden from You… [In other words, God can know whatever He needed to.] … when I was made in secret and intricately formed in the lowest parts of the earth…. [that’s just a symbolic way of talking about in the womb] … Your eyes did see my substance, yet being unformed; and in Your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them” (vs 15 -16). In other words, until it was complete.
What they’re trying to do with the genetic coding of human beings today, and they actually use this terminology, ‘the book of your own genetics’ is what they’re trying to write. We find that here this is very scientific, and this is very up-to-date in the creation of all human beings.
Verse 17: “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!” So, David really had an insight concerning the creation of human beings—his own creation— reproduction of human beings.
Let’s go back to Psalm 8, because this tells us and gives to us an understanding concerning the reason why human beings were made in the first place—and the reason why we were ‘made a little lower’ than God, made in His image, having abilities like He has.
Psalm 8:1: “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens! Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings You have ordained strength because of Your adversaries, to silence the enemy and the avenger” (vs 1-2). I’m going to try and do this real soon, give a sermon concerning why God uses the least, the smallest. Here’s part of it right here. This is what David was alluding to.
Verse 3: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him? For You have made him a little lower than God and have crowned him with glory and honor” (vs 3-5). Now, the word ‘angels’ (KJV) here in the Hebrew is not angels. The word for angels comes from the Hebrew word ‘malak.’ This word here, in the Hebrew, is ‘Elohim’—translated everywhere else as God, or gods.
“…You made him a little lower than God... [which ties right in with the creation of man and woman after the ‘image and likeness of God.’] … and have crowned him with glory and honor.” YES!
One of the most gracious acts, one of the greatest gifts that God gave mankind was the whole world. You talk about an act of grace. A tremendous gift, and God says, ‘Here it is. Now, all I want you to do is take care of this garden, and then from there you’re to overspread the whole earth.’ That’s tremendous, brethren. That’s a wonderful, wonderful thing for us to understand.
We’ve got greedy men in there that buy and sell and parcel it up and fight and war and shoot, and all this sort of thing and try and take the best. Well, God is going to reserve that for the saints when they’re resurrected.
Verse 6: “You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet… [Everything!] …all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the birds of heaven, the fish of the sea, and all that pass through the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!” (vs 6-9). David understood that we were “…made a little lower than God...” This also helps reveal the purpose that we are to be eventually in the fullness of the God Family.
- -John 3 is for us to understand and realize and to inspire us! God did not make us so that He could whip us, that He could beat us, that He could scourge us, that He could do all of those things. When there is sin, sometimes some of those things are necessary. But, as we will see, even with The Grace of God in the Old Testament, God didn’t, didn’t bring those things upon people except as a very last resort.
Here’s the whole purpose: Once we receive the Spirit of God and know the Word of God, 1- John 3:1: “Behold! What glorious love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God!.…” This shows us here in the New Testament that we’re going to be ‘after the kind’— the God kind! But, in order for us to be after ‘the God kind’ we have to be made first in the image and after the likeness of God so that then we can learn of God’s way and have that become a very part of our being through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, so that at the resurrection we can be born into the Family of God.
Verse 2: “Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be; but we know that when He is manifested, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him exactly as He is.” Remember, human beings started out face-to-face with God—correct? Yes!
They started out in their rest. We are to enter into the ‘rest,’ which is: after we have been all detoured because of the sin, we have to be redeemed, but God’s goal is still the same, that we are going to be in the Kingdom of God and be as God is God. And that is not a doctrine of Satan. That is a doctrine of God. However, as we are going to see, Satan counterfeited that doctrine and said, ‘I’m a god, you can be like god’; that is ‘like me.’ That is Satan’s doctrine. God’s doctrine is that we will be ‘like Him.’
This is to inspire us, v 3: “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure.” That’s through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. To inspire us, to uplift us, to just thrill us to the bottom of the souls of our feet, as it were. That’s a tremendous thing, brethren. And that’s what God wants for all human beings. Even though being called and having received the Holy Spirit of God, we are Abraham’s seed, where there is:
- neither male nor female
- neither Jew or Greek
- neither free or bond
- neither Scythian or barbarian
That still does not take away from the fact that it’s our spiritual relationship with God; does not take away from the fact that we are still human beings. We still have human problems in relationship to the way that God made us and created us, and the order of things as they need to be.
- -Corinthians 11:1: “Be imitators of me, exactly as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, because you have remembered me in all things, and you are keeping the ordinances in the way that I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that the Head of every man is Christ…” (vs 1-3).
When God created man and woman, He set also in order a natural order of things that God intended to be. God always intended that the man always be under God, under Christ. Meaning that everyone is under the authority of God—one way or the other. You can’t get away from it even if you sin, because ‘the wages of sin is death’ as Adam and Eve found out.
Verse 3: “But I want you to understand that the Head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man…”\ [Now, in the marriage estate nothing can change that. That’s just the way it is. And so, it’s not a matter of going against God or trying to set down some sort of rule or something that isn’t right.] …and the Head of Christ is God” (v 3).
Let’s go back here, there are a few Proverbs that we need to cover here I think are important concerning, concerning man and woman and so forth.
Proverbs 8:35: “For whoever finds me finds life… [the wisdom of God] …and shall obtain favor from the LORD. But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; all who hate me love death” (vs 35-36). This is just a general principle applying to all the relationships of men and women. All the relationships in our life and our relationship to God.
Proverbs 9:10 says in relationship to this then: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” And God is the One Who gives us understanding. He’s given us a mind; He’s given us a language; He’s given all these things so we can understand the ways of God.
Proverbs 18:22: “Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.” Well, God intended that to be from the very beginning. Husband and wife—man and wife—and that’s the way God made it. That’s the way that God intended it to be—and so should it be.
Proverbs 19:14: “Houses and riches are the inheritance of fathers, and a prudent wife is from the LORD.” We saw in the creation that woman was to be a counterpart to man.
Trust me, there are a lot of instructions in here for men, and God is going to hold men accountable as well women accountable. It is all there. These things are very important for us to realize.
Proverbs 12:4: “A woman of virtue is a crown to her husband, but she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones.” Well, you can turn it around the other way, too. When you have a husband who’s a rotten fool and a philanderer, and goes around and does the things he shouldn’t do, it’s misery and wretchedness and pain and suffering and sickness and disease, too—is it not? Yes! And it’s harder on a woman when she suffers those things because she was made to be a counterpart for man and for the man to be ‘the head.’ Now, that’s why a husband and wife relations are most important and the way they need to be.
You can go through the entire Bible and you can see that God never slighted women in the least. As a matter of fact, Jesus Christ did a lot to show, and Luke did more, in showing his relationship in teaching women and things like that than any of the others.
There is just a slight thing that we need to cover today, which is very important, which is not a big problem but it is something that just needs to be covered. Today we’re going to get into just a little touchy area, because I see it wherever I go and I will have to that many women—and they have it on Star Trek, too: bald-headed, shavedheaded women. And then there’s this Susan Power who encourages every woman to become whatever she can be, separate and apart from a man— whatever that may be!
Let’s just understand something here very, very clearly. God says it’s not good for a man to be alone, therefore, it’s not good for a woman to be alone. Whenever the circumstances are that way, and nothing can be done about it, you don’t go out and create another problem by running out and marrying the first one that comes along; because now then you end up with a dual problem. Maybe you weren’t made for each other. So, you get a double set of problems. I’m not advocating immediate running out and marriage because you happen to be alone. Please understand that.
But, we’re living in a time where the Babylonian woman rides supreme. I see it everywhere I go. And sometimes it gets very obnoxious. There’s also another thing about, about men that women, I’m sure know: when things get very contentious, we’re cowards! We run and hide, because we don’t like animosity and hatred and shouting and yelling and screaming anymore than anybody else. Even though I’m sure all of us can do a pretty good job of it if we have to.
Now, here’s a principle that we need to understand, because I think this is a slight problem in the Church, which I’m sure that can be corrected very easily.
- -Corinthians 11:4: “Every man who has a covering on his head when he is praying or prophesying puts his Head to shame….” Who’s the head of the man? Christ! And, I think it interesting that the Orthodox Jews will not pray without hats. They won’t go into the synagogues without them.
Verse 5: “But every woman who has her head uncovered when she is praying or prophesying puts her head to shame … [the man] …for it is the same as being shaved. For if a woman is not covered, let her be shorn. But if it be shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered” (vs 5-6). We’re not talking about an outright sin. It is something which is a shame.
Verse 14: “Or does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a shame to him?” We used to have that problem more than we do today. And I can never figure it out. When I watch some of these, some of these singers—like on TNT or something—they’ve always got to have this long hair hanging down all around, and it just makes you wonder about it. It always looks bad!— at least it does to me.
It’s says, “…it’s a shame.” That’s why, with a Nazarite vow, what happened was this: when the vow was taken, then the man shaved his head and he did not cut it—or do anything to it— until the vow was over and the hair would grow. Now, this was to show the sign of humility and shamefulness. In other words, in this vow a man was to show that he wanted to yield himself to God and so put himself in this shameful condition.
When we understand that John the Baptist was a Nazarite from the beginning, from his birth, and never cut his hair, never drank wine, never took anything that was made of the grapes, nor any strong drink. He was put into that position physically because he was the one who was to announce the coming of Christ. We find that very important.
We’re talking about something that is not an absolute sin, but is something that is not necessarily right—and Paul covers it here: let her be covered! We’ll find out what the covering will be.
Verse 7: “For, on the one hand, a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but, on the other hand, the woman is the glory of man…. [In fact, taken from his rib, made from his very inner most being.] … For the man is not of the woman…” (vs 7-8). This means in the Greek, for the man was not taken out from the woman. That’s why the creation was the other way around.
“…but the woman is of the man. And also, the man was not created for the sake of the woman, but the woman for the sake of the man” (vs 8-9). He’s saying, We’re going all the way back to the proper order of creation, which everything that God has done is right and everything that He’s done from the beginning is true and righteous all together.’
Verse 10: “For this reason, it is necessary for the woman to have a sign of being under authority on her head because of the angels”—which means you ought to have a covering and sign that she is under the power of her husband because of the angels.
I think the slight thing that needs to be taken care of—and I’ve seen this a lot wherever I go, especially in traveling—and I have not mentioned it, even though it may have been brought up to me on several occasions, but here’s an appropriate time to handle it and take care of it. And I think, just as any of us who want to go ahead and do the things that are pleasing to God, that this should also be taken care of for men and women in the right way.
Verse 11: “Nevertheless… [he goes on to say, this doesn’t take away from the fact that] … neither is the man separate from the woman, nor the woman separate from the man in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, so also the man is by the woman…” (vs 11-12). Of course, even Christ was born of the woman—right? Yes, of Mary!
“…but all things are of God. You judge for yourselves. Is it becoming for a woman to pray to God uncovered?…. [Then he says the other way around]: …Or does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a shame to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; because the long hair has been given to her instead of a veil to cover her head” (vs 13–15).
This is not the first age of mankind when they ran around with shorn-haired women—or shaved-headed women. Apparently Paul had that problem back in Corinth. It’s not unusual that we would also have—we don’t have a great raging problem concerning it—but it’s something that each one should address themselves before God in their own way in their own lives. I’m sure that, that since these things are so, the blessings of God will come when this is taken care of in the way that’s pleasing to God.
Don’t ask me how long is long; don’t ask me how short is short. I think it’s quite evident. It’s one of these things that you make a judgment. Verse 13 says you judge this yourselves. So, I’ll leave the judgment to you.
Verse 16: “But if anyone is contentious over this issue, we have no such custom, neither do the Churches of God.” That is, concerning the subject that he just covered here. I think that since we’re going back and talking about the creation of man and woman and so forth, then we need to cover this in this particular way.
Now then, so everyone will know that this is not picking on women’ time—hope you all understand that—read all the book of Proverbs, if you want to, men and women take the instruction there because there are a lot of spiritual lessons for us that we can learn. I might mention that that’s New Testament doctrine.
Let’s come look at the situation concerning the Sabbath, because this becomes very important. Let’s go back to Genesis 2 and let’s read that again. There are some things we need to learn about it. Let’s understand this: the very root word for Sabbath is rest.
Genesis 2:2: “And by the beginning of the seventh day God finished His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day... [When God blesses something, it is for a particular purpose.] …and sanctified… [When God sanctifies something that means it’s set -aside for a Holy purpose. So, this is a day which is set aside.] …because… [the first Sabbath is very important] …on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (vs 2-3).
What was the last thing that He made? Eve!. Now, the next morning, on the Sabbath Day, what do you suppose happened? God ran off and hid some place? If God blessed it and sanctified it, He did it for a very purpose—didn’t He? Yes!
Let’s look at a couple of things showing what the Sabbath Day is for, and then we’ll come back and establish that the seventh day we have today is the same seventh day which they had then. All right, I’m going to read to you just a little bit out of this because I think it summarizes it quite well.
from: The Grace of God in the Old Testament:
In addition to God’s loving and gracious act of His Creation, God further expressed His love and goodness by blessing them (Gen. 1:28). To reinforce their own their own personal state of grace, so they would always know their Creator, so that they could be with the Lord God Himself, in His personal presence, He specifically created and made the seventh day as a perpetual day of rest and fellowship. The weekly seventh-day Sabbath was intended to be more than a memorial of God’s creation. Few realize that God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath day as an act of kindness and goodness for all mankind, so that mankind could fellowship with Him, their personal Creator.
God specifically created and made the seventh day for mankind. Jesus Christ, Who was the Lord God of Creation, made this fact absolutely clear and declared that He and He alone was Lord of the Sabbath day—not any other day. He said, ‘The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the So n of man is Lord also of the Sabbath’
Which means that’s the New Testament day of worship. We have a more profound way of understand ing it today.
Moreover, from the Scriptural account of this first Sabbath, combined with other Scriptural commands, we can learn a great deal about the grace of God. God personally rested and kept this very first Sabbath—obviously with Adam and Eve. Undoubtedly, He fellowshipped with them and instructed them [would he not? Yes He would!
He would have to tell them, then, about the tree of life and what it meant. He would have to tell them why He created them. Would not God want them to know that first? Yes, He would! From the other accounts in Genesis, chapter three, we know that they were personally taught by God. They saw God face-to-face. They talked with God, they walked with God before they had ever sinned. This means they kept this first Sabbath with God in a perfect state of grace in His presence.
Therefore, there can be no doubt that God instructed them on that first Sabbath. What a marvelous day that very first Sabbath must have been. There could be no greater grace than being in the presence of, and being taught by the Lord God Himself, their very Creator.
Now then, let’s go to the book of Isaiah and let’s put a couple of Scriptures together to show the whole meaning and the intent of the Sabbath. This is a key thing for us on how to keep the Sabbath and why we keep it the way we do.
Do you think that God, being the ‘same yesterday, today and forever,’ would have instructed Adam and Eve any differently than this? Some people say because it’s not told that Adam and Eve fellowshipped with Him and kept that first Sabbath, therefore, there’s no indication that they kept it. And I say that is reasoning from your carnal mind to destroy the Sabbath. Here is what God says concerning the Sabbath thousands of years later— so, would this not also be the instruction that He would give back then?
Isaiah 58:13: “Ifyou turn your foot away from the Sabbath, from doing your own desires on My Holy Day…” When was it Holy? When God sanctified it, when God blessed it! That’s when it was Holy—correct? It’s God’s Holy Day from the beginning. Does God run down here and destroy every person who’s breaking the Sabbath? No, He does not! He let’s them go their own way, and they are missing a tremendous blessing of God.
Let’s notice we’re not to do ‘our own pleasure.’ That doesn’t mean that we don’t do things which are not pleasurable—it’s a pleasure to eat; it’s a pleasure to fellowship. But, why should this day be the way it is? Let’s go back and think of the first Sabbath. What do you suppose that God told them? ‘I’m your Creator. I’m your Maker. This is a special day of a memorial of My Creation. This is a day in which we are going to come together every week and I’m going to teach you what you need to know. And we’re going to have a personal relationship. I’m your Creator and you have a great and fantastic opportunity as the very first human beings.’ Don’t you think that God told them what was going to be if they would obey Him? Yes!
“…from doing your own desires on My Holy Day, and call the Sabbath a delight…” (v 13) —and what a delight that must have been—the first one. No sin, no hostility, no animosity, no television, no radio, no driving a long way to come to Sabbath services, no worrying about anything. God provided it all—and I just wonder if God did not provide the food for the Sabbath for that very first Sabbath Day. They had it all right there, didn’t they? Yes, they did! Now, it would not be a sin on the Sabbath while you’re sitting there with God and maybe God reached up and plucked some food for them to eat—I don’t know. Very possible.
“…the Holy of the LORD… [belongs to Him] …honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor pursuing your own desires, nor speaking your own words…” (v 13). What does this mean? This means we’re to:
- know the words of God
- speak the words of God
- study the words of God
That’s why today, in Sabbath services, it’s important that we study the words of God—because these are not our words—are they? No! God inspired them—this is instruction for us!
And it’s the same way with our fellowship, too. It should be centered on those things in our lives that have to do with serving and loving God. And too many times, in the recent past—and I’m sure this is something that all human beings cycle through—that the Sabbath became more their own day, and their own day of doing what they were going to do for their own social things.
When you do this, notice it is if, which means that if you don’t do v 13, the if, then you’ll never understand v 14, because ‘great understanding have they who do His commandments.’ Verse 14: “Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD…”
Now, you go back and think of all the Sabbaths that you have kept that turned out to be kind of a dud. What happened? You didn’t do v 13—did you? No, you did your own thing! And I found this, I’ll confess it’s no work to sit in front of a TV. So therefore, you can sit in front of a TV and kind of justify yourself, ‘Well, this is really not working.’ But, is the TV from God? Did God send it into the tube for you to watch? No!
I found that when I have done that, when I shouldn’t have done it, my Sabbath turned out to be a dud! You can draw the parallel, not just TV, but whatever it may be. I’ve also found this: I’ve tried to have, or someone talk me into having a wedding on the Sabbath—it was just to be a simple affair. It became very complicated and the Sabbath was a dud. Why? Because we were not doing what God wanted us to do!
When we do that; when we do all of v 13: “If you turn your foot away from the Sabbath, from doing your own desires on My Holy Day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the Holy of the LORD, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor pursuing your own desires, nor speaking your own words, then…” (vs 13-14). They had all of that with the first Sabbath. Absolutely did! Plus being in the very presence of God. Today we have the blessing of fellowshipping with God spiritually. Then they had it face-to-face.
Verse 14: “Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth…” (v 14). This is going clear into the spiritual salvation that God is going to give us. So, understanding God and His way, and the purpose of being created are intrinsically tied to the Sabbath. Intrinsically tied! The Sabbath is to be e very week when we draw close to God
- to know of His way
- to study His Word
- to pray to God
- to fellowship with Him
- to fellowship with each other
And since this is true, going all the way back, it had to be true of that very first Sabbath.
Let’s understand a principle that follows all the way through. Whenever you truly begin to enter into a relationship with God—or God begins dealing with you—then the Sabbath question always comes up—does it not? Yes, it does! When Moses first went into Pharaoh:
Exodus 5:1: “And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel, “Let My people go that they may hold a Feast to Me in the wilderness.”’ And Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.’” (vs 1-2). After all, Pharaoh was god on earth—right?
Verse 3: “And they said, ‘The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go, we pray you, three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest He fall upon us with plague or with the sword.’ And the king of Egypt said to them, ‘Moses and Aaron, why do you keep the people from their work? Get to your burdens!’ And Pharaoh said, ‘Behold, the people of the land now are many, and you make them rest from their burdens.’” (vs 3-5). Has to do with the Sabbath, the very first question was resting. You truly, truly cannot understand God, nor fellowship with Him, when you’re busying doing your own works and your own business.
A lot of people claim there was not Sabbath- keeping from Genesis all the way here. We’re not going to take the time, we’ve proven that other places, but you know that Abraham, if he did the things that pleased God, he kept the Sabbath—so did Isaac, so did Jacob—everyone who comes in contact with God keeps the Sabbath. If they don’t, then they’re not in contact with the right God or they have the wrong doctrine, one of the two.
We have then the renewing of the Sabbath for the children of Israel. Remember they started counting —didn’t they? They counted:
- day one—getting the manna
- days two, three, four, five
- day six—double manna
Exodus 16:23: “And he said to them, ‘This is that which the LORD has said, “Tomorrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil. And that which remains over, lay up for yourselves to be kept until the next morning.”’ And they laid it up until the next morning as Moses said. And it did not stink; neither was there any worm in it” (vs 23-24).
They were all in close quarters—weren’t they? God was right there in the pillar of the cloud by day and the fire by night—wasn’t He? Therefore, they were in the very presence of God.
Verse 23: “And he said to them, ‘This is that which the LORD has said, “Tomorrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath to the LORD… [it’s to the Lord all the way through. One of the greatest arguments thrown against the Sabbath is that it was given to the Jews. Not so! Never says so in the Bible. It is the Sabbath of the Lord]: …Bake what you will bake today…”
Verse 26: “Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, in it there shall be none.”
- Did God cease from the work of creating the manna? Yes!
- God also rested on the Sabbath and ceased from His work—didn’t He? Yes!
- What kind of work is God interested in doing on the Sabbath? Spiritual work!
That’s what He does.
Now let’s look at another one to know that they had exactly the right day. The Sabbath was intended to be more than just a memorial of Creation. But the Creation, and the fact of it, tells us what God is meaning in relationship to the day.
Exodus 31:13: “‘Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, “Truly you shall keep My Sabbaths… [plural; it’s not an option whether we decide to or not] …for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations to know that I am the LORD Who sanctifies you.” You cannot know the Lord unless you keep His Sabbath Day. That’s very simple! And with it we are sanctified.
Verse 14: “You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is Holy to you. Everyone that defiles it shall surely be put to death, for whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest…” [ ‘sabbath’ and ‘rest’ are almost identical words] …Holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath Day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant” (vs 14- 16)—which, as we have covered before, is always ongoing continuously.
Verse 17: “It is a sign… [the Sabbath] … between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.” This tells us that they had the same exact seventh Sabbath Day as the day that God rested on.
- If God tells us to keep the seventh day Sabbath, would He change the day? No!
- Would He hide the knowledge of it if it’s required? No!
- Who is the one who have put up arguments that it was changed? Men!
Nowhere in the Bible has the day ever, ever, ever been changed. The knowledge of why we were created is intrinsically linked together. That’s why it begins with the Sabbath Day. There may be another thing or two that we can learn from this.
Is this where people take it? Well, they take it because the Jews claim that they are all of Israel and actually, when you understand how the Jews feel about the Sabbath, they don’t feel anybody but Jews only should keep the Sabbath. That’s why they’re very anxious to get anybody who is not a Jew off from keeping the Sabbath. They want them keeping Sunday.
All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful V ersion (except where noted)
Scriptural References:
- 1.) Genesis 1:31
- 2.) Genesis 2:2, 7
- 3.) Psalm 148:1-5
- 4.) Psalm 19:1-6
- 5.) Psalm 33:1-6
- 6.) Psalm 19:7-14
- 7.) Genesis 1:26-27
- 8.) Genesis 2:7-9, 15-16
- 9.) Psalm 119:127-128
- 10.) Genesis 2:16-25
- 11.) Psalm 139:13-17
- 12.) Psalm 8:1-9
- 13.) 1 John 3:1-3
- 14.) 1 Corinthians 11:1-3
- 15.) Proverbs 8:35-36
- 16.) Proverbs 9:10
- 17.) Proverbs 18:22
- 18.) Proverbs 19:14
- 19.) Proverbs 12:4
- 20.) 1 Corinthians 11:4-6, 14, 7-16
- 21.) Genesis 2:2
- 22.) Isaiah 58:13-14
- 23.) Exodus 5:1-5
- 24.) Exodus 16:23-24, 23, 26
- 25.) Exodus 31:13-17
Also referenced: Books:
- Josephus
- The Grace of God in the Old Testament by Fred R. Coulter
