Adam and Mrs. Adam
June 13, 2010
"Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created." (Genesis 5:2)
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In these days of sensitivity concerning sexism, it is important to focus on God's own evaluation of the two sexes and their respective roles in the divine plan. As Creator of both, He alone can speak authoritatively about this matter.
Both man and woman were created in God's image (Genesis 1:27), and thus, in the categories of salvation, rewards, and eternal fellowship with their Creator, both are surely equal. "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. . . . There is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:26-28).
At the same time, when God created them, He named them both "Adam," as our text notes. This is actually the same word as "man," as in Genesis 2:7 ("the LORD God formed man"), etc. Thus it is biblical to use the word "man" generically, when referring to the human race in general. When the woman was formed out of Adam's side, Adam said, "She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man" (Genesis 2:23). Here a different Hebrew word is used for "man" (ish), and "woman" is isha.
Adam also gave his new bride a personal name. "Adam called his wife's name Eve |'life-giver'|; because she was the mother of all living" (Genesis 3:20).
There is, therefore, nothing demeaning in using "man" as a generic term for both men and women, for this usage is sanctioned by God Himself. Nevertheless, each individual has his or her own distinctive personal name, and God deals with each of us individually on that basis. Our obedience and faithfulness to the divinely ordained role each of us is called by Him to fill, is God's criterion by which He measures us for eternity. HMM
h/t: Henry M Morris, Institute For Creation Research
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Sunday Sermonette
The Thoughts of God
June 6, 2010
"How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!" (Psalm 139:17)
The motivating inspiration for the greatest scientists of the past (Newton, Kepler, Maxwell, etc.) was often expressed by them as seeking to "think God's thoughts after Him." The great achievements of these God-fearing men of science have enabled us to understand just a little portion of God's infinitely great and complex creation, but never can any group of men ever manage to think all His thoughts after Him. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD" (Isaiah 55:8). "How great is the sum of them," our text says. "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it" (Psalm 139:6).
Yet it is surely right to try, for God has commanded man to "have dominion" over the earth (Genesis 1:26), and this implies understanding its processes and systems. We are to seek also to incorporate His thought patterns into ours, for He said to "let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5).
In fact, our whole mission, in one sense as summed up in 2 Corinthians 10:5, is to be "casting down imaginations |or 'reasonings'|, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." We should, indeed, strive to think God's thoughts after Him, not only in our scientific research, but in every area of our lives.
There is one thing certain, of course. God's thoughts will never contradict His revealed Word, so this is the place to start. God surely "understandest my thought afar off" (Psalm 139:2), and He desires our thoughts to conform to His. For if we are truly Christians, "we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16). HMM
h/t: Henry M Morris, Institute For Creation Research
June 6, 2010
"How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!" (Psalm 139:17)
The motivating inspiration for the greatest scientists of the past (Newton, Kepler, Maxwell, etc.) was often expressed by them as seeking to "think God's thoughts after Him." The great achievements of these God-fearing men of science have enabled us to understand just a little portion of God's infinitely great and complex creation, but never can any group of men ever manage to think all His thoughts after Him. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD" (Isaiah 55:8). "How great is the sum of them," our text says. "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it" (Psalm 139:6).
Yet it is surely right to try, for God has commanded man to "have dominion" over the earth (Genesis 1:26), and this implies understanding its processes and systems. We are to seek also to incorporate His thought patterns into ours, for He said to "let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5).
In fact, our whole mission, in one sense as summed up in 2 Corinthians 10:5, is to be "casting down imaginations |or 'reasonings'|, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." We should, indeed, strive to think God's thoughts after Him, not only in our scientific research, but in every area of our lives.
There is one thing certain, of course. God's thoughts will never contradict His revealed Word, so this is the place to start. God surely "understandest my thought afar off" (Psalm 139:2), and He desires our thoughts to conform to His. For if we are truly Christians, "we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16). HMM
h/t: Henry M Morris, Institute For Creation Research
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Sunday Sermonette
The Eternal Cosmos
May 30, 2010
"He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass." (Psalm 148:6)
In this central psalm of the last five psalms comprising the "Hallelujah" epilogue to the book of Psalms, the entire physical creation is exhorted to praise the Lord, as all the universe is restored to its primeval perfection. All the people of the earth, all the angels, even all the animals, will praise the Lord.
Furthermore, in some way which can only be understood by faith, the entire inorganic creation--sun, moon, stars, mountains, winds, everything--will be able to praise Him. Even the primeval waters above the heavens (Genesis 1:7-9) will have been restored, and they will praise the Lord (Psalm 148:4-5).
And all of this will continue forever and ever! The new heavens and new earth--that is, the renewed heavens and earth, with the curse removed (Revelation 22:3)--the sun and moon and stars, with the eternal throne of the Lord Jesus established on the earth in the New Jerusalem, in the midst of all the redeemed men and women of all the ages--all of these will forever be a praise to God.
God is not capricious, and He does not fail. He will not "uncreate" what He has created. "Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever" (Ecclesiastes 3:14). The earth must yet be purged by fire (2 Peter 3:10), but it will be renewed in righteousness (v. 13) and without any evidences of the former regime of decay and death.
And then it will last forever. "And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever" (Psalm 78:69). "|God| laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever" (Psalm 104:5). "And they that turn many to righteousness |shall shine| as the stars for ever and ever" (Daniel 12:3). HMM
h/t: Henry M Morris, Institute For Creation Research
May 30, 2010
"He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass." (Psalm 148:6)
In this central psalm of the last five psalms comprising the "Hallelujah" epilogue to the book of Psalms, the entire physical creation is exhorted to praise the Lord, as all the universe is restored to its primeval perfection. All the people of the earth, all the angels, even all the animals, will praise the Lord.
Furthermore, in some way which can only be understood by faith, the entire inorganic creation--sun, moon, stars, mountains, winds, everything--will be able to praise Him. Even the primeval waters above the heavens (Genesis 1:7-9) will have been restored, and they will praise the Lord (Psalm 148:4-5).
And all of this will continue forever and ever! The new heavens and new earth--that is, the renewed heavens and earth, with the curse removed (Revelation 22:3)--the sun and moon and stars, with the eternal throne of the Lord Jesus established on the earth in the New Jerusalem, in the midst of all the redeemed men and women of all the ages--all of these will forever be a praise to God.
God is not capricious, and He does not fail. He will not "uncreate" what He has created. "Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever" (Ecclesiastes 3:14). The earth must yet be purged by fire (2 Peter 3:10), but it will be renewed in righteousness (v. 13) and without any evidences of the former regime of decay and death.
And then it will last forever. "And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever" (Psalm 78:69). "|God| laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever" (Psalm 104:5). "And they that turn many to righteousness |shall shine| as the stars for ever and ever" (Daniel 12:3). HMM
h/t: Henry M Morris, Institute For Creation Research
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Sunday Sermonette
Created and Made
May 23, 2010
"These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." (Genesis 2:4)
There are two accounts of creation in Genesis, with the above text marking the dividing point. In the first (Genesis 1-2:4), the name used for the Creator is "God" (Hebrew Elohim), and its termination is the summarizing "signature," as it were: "These are the generations (Hebrew toledoth) of the heavens and the earth when they were created."
The second account (Genesis 2:4-5:1) normally uses the name "LORD God" (Jehovah Elohim) in chapters 2 and 3 (except where the serpent and Eve used Elohim when she was being tempted) and then simply "LORD" (Hebrew Jehovah) in chapter 4. This second creation account ends with Adam’s signature: "This is the book of the generations |i.e., toledoth| of Adam."
Critics claim that the two accounts are contradictory. Actually they are complementary, the second merely giving more details of the events of the fifth and sixth days of creation week. The Lord Jesus (who was there as the Creator!) used them both, quoting from each (Matthew 19:4-6) at the same time in the same context.
Note also that "create" (Hebrew bara) is used seven times in Genesis 1, never in Genesis 2-4. In that second account, "made" and "formed" (Hebrew asah, yatsar) are the words used. Genesis 2:3 stresses the fact that "create" and "make" are different, when it tells us that God rested "from all His work which God created and made." Evidently the verb "create," which always has the Creator as its subject, refers to His work in calling entities into existence; "make" refers to systems constructed (by either God or men) out of previously created entities. The heavens and the earth were both "created" and "made" (see our text). HMM
h/t: Henry M Morris, Institute For Creation Research
May 23, 2010
"These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." (Genesis 2:4)
There are two accounts of creation in Genesis, with the above text marking the dividing point. In the first (Genesis 1-2:4), the name used for the Creator is "God" (Hebrew Elohim), and its termination is the summarizing "signature," as it were: "These are the generations (Hebrew toledoth) of the heavens and the earth when they were created."
The second account (Genesis 2:4-5:1) normally uses the name "LORD God" (Jehovah Elohim) in chapters 2 and 3 (except where the serpent and Eve used Elohim when she was being tempted) and then simply "LORD" (Hebrew Jehovah) in chapter 4. This second creation account ends with Adam’s signature: "This is the book of the generations |i.e., toledoth| of Adam."
Critics claim that the two accounts are contradictory. Actually they are complementary, the second merely giving more details of the events of the fifth and sixth days of creation week. The Lord Jesus (who was there as the Creator!) used them both, quoting from each (Matthew 19:4-6) at the same time in the same context.
Note also that "create" (Hebrew bara) is used seven times in Genesis 1, never in Genesis 2-4. In that second account, "made" and "formed" (Hebrew asah, yatsar) are the words used. Genesis 2:3 stresses the fact that "create" and "make" are different, when it tells us that God rested "from all His work which God created and made." Evidently the verb "create," which always has the Creator as its subject, refers to His work in calling entities into existence; "make" refers to systems constructed (by either God or men) out of previously created entities. The heavens and the earth were both "created" and "made" (see our text). HMM
h/t: Henry M Morris, Institute For Creation Research
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Sunday Sermonette
Ascending Vapors
May 16, 2010
"He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries." (Psalm 135:7)
This striking verse is practically identical with Jeremiah 10:13 and Jeremiah 51:16, suggesting the possibility that the prophet Jeremiah may have written the otherwise anonymous Psalm 135. The two Jeremiah passages do preface this statement with the note that there is "a multitude of waters in the heavens" in connection with the processes described in the verse.
In any case, this thrice-mentioned mechanism beautifully summarized what we now call the hydrologic cycle, and it did so over 2,000 years before the cycle began to be understood by modern scientists. In order to provide rain to water the earth, there must be vapors ascending all over the earth (that is, evaporation from the world's great oceans), winds then blowing from God's unseen treasury (actually the global atmospheric circulation), and, finally, lightnings for (or "with") the rain (electrical discharges associated with the condensation and coalescence of the particles of water vapor in the atmosphere). All of this repeatedly transports purified waters from the ocean back over the lands to fall as rain and snow, there finally to run off back to the oceans after performing their life-sustaining ministries on the lands. "Unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again" (Ecclesiastes 1:7).
Not only does this hydrologic cycle sustain physical life on earth, but it also is a type of the spreading of God's Word, giving spiritual life. "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, . . . So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please" (Isaiah 55:10-11). HMM
h/t: Henry M Morris, Institute For Creation Research
May 16, 2010
"He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries." (Psalm 135:7)
This striking verse is practically identical with Jeremiah 10:13 and Jeremiah 51:16, suggesting the possibility that the prophet Jeremiah may have written the otherwise anonymous Psalm 135. The two Jeremiah passages do preface this statement with the note that there is "a multitude of waters in the heavens" in connection with the processes described in the verse.
In any case, this thrice-mentioned mechanism beautifully summarized what we now call the hydrologic cycle, and it did so over 2,000 years before the cycle began to be understood by modern scientists. In order to provide rain to water the earth, there must be vapors ascending all over the earth (that is, evaporation from the world's great oceans), winds then blowing from God's unseen treasury (actually the global atmospheric circulation), and, finally, lightnings for (or "with") the rain (electrical discharges associated with the condensation and coalescence of the particles of water vapor in the atmosphere). All of this repeatedly transports purified waters from the ocean back over the lands to fall as rain and snow, there finally to run off back to the oceans after performing their life-sustaining ministries on the lands. "Unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again" (Ecclesiastes 1:7).
Not only does this hydrologic cycle sustain physical life on earth, but it also is a type of the spreading of God's Word, giving spiritual life. "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, . . . So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please" (Isaiah 55:10-11). HMM
h/t: Henry M Morris, Institute For Creation Research
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