Genesis 1:24-31 "The Sixth Day of Creation"
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· 2 viewsOn the Sixth Day of creation, God made land animals and then His crown jewel of creation... mankind. God made man in His image and likeness; He made them male and female; and He commanded them, "Be fruitful and multiply."
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Good Evening Calvary Chapel Lake City!
Please turn in your Bibles to the Book of Genesis. Gen 1:24-31 tonight.
We have been looking at the origins of the created universe… which God created in six literal 24 hour days.
That’s our position here at Calvary Chapel… we take the Bible literally and don’t torture it to make it say otherwise.
It speaks plainly… and I’m simple enough to believe what the Bible says is true.
What a blessing that God… through Moses… gave us a glimpse of how all things began…
In the beginning God… NOT in the beginning “bang.”
Thus far we have seen God create…
The heavens and the earth (Day 1)… and said, “Let there be light”… not yet the light of the sun though…
Day 2, God created a firmament or expanse… dividing the waters above from the waters below…
Day 3, God made dry land appear… and brought forth vegetation… and seeds… and fruit… “according to it’s kind.”
Day 4, God created the sun and the moon… dividing light from darkness.
The Bible is clear the sun was formed after dry land and plant life.
Evolution teaches the opposite… that life came from the sun… just one of many errors in evolution which is plagued with removing God and morality from existence… which is evil.
We read in V16 “He made the stars also.”
As if the stars were just a mere footnote… and in some sense they are for they are not eternal… not like us.
Day 5, God filled the waters and skies with living creatures… fish… great sea creatures… birds… all according to it’s kind.
So, the stage was set… five days had past and five observations were made that “it was good.”
Leading up to “The Sixth Day of Creation” (our sermon title tonight)…
The sixth day when God would make man in His image and observe ALL He made and indeed “it was very good.”
Let’s pray and behold God’s good work now.
In reverence for God’s word, please stand as I read our passage today.
Genesis 1:24-31 “Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
Praise God for His word! Please be seated.
In vv 24-25, now God land animals… “according to it’s kind”… a phrase repeated 5x in these two verses… and 9x altogether in Chapter 1.
An important phrase that gives insight as to how Noah could fit all those animal in the Ark…
He didn’t need every breed of dog… just a male and a female… and over time with micro evolution… breeds would evolve.
The Bible allows for variation in species… and even illustrates this… consider Jacob and Laban in Gen 30… how Jacob bred sheep… some were spotted and some were speckled…
There was variation in species… but not kind… the sheep never became pigs.
Species do not evolve and become a different kind… dogs don’t become cats… apes did not become humans.
And fraudulent Evolutionists have been careless and desperate to find evidence to prove human evolution from apes…
That they have been guilty of awful archeology… one such example of their desperation is the Nebraska Man.
Where a tooth found by a rancher and geologist (Harold Cook) in 1917 Nebraska was passed onto his paleontologist friend (Dr. Henry Osborn) in 1922…
He and his expert friend verified the tooth as an anthropoid ape…
And, then got two more experts to verify… “Yep… that there tooth is an ape-man tooth.”
Then an article was published in Science a month later…
And, from just a tooth… an illustration was concocted… and I’m not sure but is that his sister in the photo…
Now from the tooth… there is a family… and the Evolutionists felt pretty good about all this for a few years…
I’m sure they got their pats on the back… and made a bunch of money at all their science conference and interviews.
Problem is… as they kept digging in 1925 and 1926… they found similar teeth… only they were attached to the skeleton of a pig.
Oops. So… Nebraska man was actually Nebraska pig… and the whole thing made a monkey out of the Evolutionists.
Another article in Science was published in 1927 retracting the findings.
There wasn’t an ape man… it goes against how the Bible describes “kinds.”
If two plants or animals can reproduce they are of the same kind.
Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes… apes have 24… that’s a chromosome mismatch. Different kinds.
And, as we will read today… mankind had no kind… because there is only one kind of man… and all nations, people, tribes and tongues are made in the image (lit. “in essence”) of God… who is eternal… who is spirit…
Remove that… and we are just a little higher than the monkeys… not a little lower than the angels (Ps 8:5)…
… and then morality is inconsequential… hell doesn’t exist…
Eternal judgment and justice become a mere fairy tale… and so does our faith.
A different tooth story… This past week… my son Ethan had his wisdom teeth extracted, and I asked the oral surgeon why do we have wisdom teeth…
And, she said that when we were neanderthal (some 50-100,000 years ago) we ate more meet and needed the extra teeth… something like that. And, that she thinks humans will eventually evolve where we won’t have those teeth.
I’m confident I used the word “design” in a sentence, but we were pre-surgery for my son… not the time for a debate!
Anyhow… I did find several articles about wisdom teeth from researchers and dentists on the Answers in Genesis website… (just search wisdom teeth)… and I was not surprised that they have creation oriented theories on wisdom teeth…
And, suggest that wisdom teeth are pulled far too often.
I’ve already paid $1500 for the extractions… and am waiting on the remaining balance.
And, I stand here wondering… ‘was it really necessary?’
Back in V24… God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature...”
So… various kinds of land animals now burst forth on the scene… what a day…
First is mentioned “cattle”… lit. “beasts” meaning domestic livestock… herds… today we call them “steaks.”
I prefer mine medium-rare.
And, God brought forth “creeping things”… animals that crawl… reptiles… snakes, lizards, chihuahuas…
Those that creep close to the surface of the ground…
And, “beast of the earth”… referring to large wild animals… lions, elephants… very likely dinosaurs would have fallen in this category.
And, clearly you see that God is has a sense of humor in creation…
The platypus… it has a duck-bill… a beaver-tail… and otter-feet.
It’s a mammal, but it lays eggs…
It has sharp venomous stingers on the heels of its hind feet…
It’s been called, “The King of Weirdos.”
So many strange creatures in God’s creation… the T-Rex with it’s tiny arms and massive head…
Elephants with their massive ears and large trunk… Giraffes with their long necks… so many bizarre creatures.
Peacocks (a male peafowl) also baffle evolutionists. They stand as a contradiction to ‘survival of the fittest’ notions… because…
Peahen (female peafowl)… choose the peacocks with the biggest fans… the longest, broadest, brightest tail feathers…
But, this large fan makes it more difficult for the peacock to escape predators… they have the least chance for survival.
Darwin once said ‘looking at a peacock's tail made him feel sick’ because it contradicted his theory of natural selection.
Evolution suggests the peacocks tails would disappear, but go to the zoo and there they are.
You should listen to Joe Focht teaching through Genesis 1… he goes on and on describing so many animals… and details their intricate design…
It’s just jaw dropping… the designer is evident.
And so… V24 states “Then God said...” and V25 states “And God made”…
Made is “asah” in Hebrew… different from “bara” in V1… which implies ‘creating something from nothing.’
The word “make” in V26 is also “asah”… used when God makes man…
And, both man and animals on land were… as V24 states ‘brought forth from the earth’ or the ground.
NOT something from nothing, but composed of the same elements as the earth.
Gen 2:7 states, “… the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
And, before we focus on man… observe the final words of V25… “And God saw that it was good.”
There was harmony… no evolutionary struggle… no death… all vegetarians… no meat eaters (which may be the only advantage of the fall… I do like meat)…
But, in glorification… meat doesn’t matter… in the Millennial Reign… we go back somewhat to an Edenic state…
Where there is harmony…
Isa 11:6-9 reads, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. [bears and lions become vegetarians] 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.”
In Eternity… Rev 21:4 declares there will be “no more death.”
These are former things. They will pass away. Bye bye steak.
It won’t matter… we will be changed… and the conditions and food of heaven will be beyond enjoyable.
Now… in V26, God shifts to make man… uniquely different from the “living creatures” of the land, sea, and air that had “souls”…
The word “living” in vv 20, 21, 24… Hebrew “nephesh” means “soul” or “breathing”… it’s the immaterial part of a person…
The seat of emotion and desire…
You’re dog has a soul… a consciousness… it has desire… affection… to eat… to chew bones… to protect… and not much more…
But… there’s something in there… they respond. I look in my dogs eyes or give them verbal commands and there is understanding…
The word for ‘soul’ was not used to describe plant life. If you hug a tree… then… you’re weird.
Because there’s not reciprocity. There’s not communication. The only thing you get in return… is dirty.
Bark on your clothes… or sap if your dumb enough to hug a pine tree…
Now… where we are distinct from our pets… is we are made in God’s image… “image” in V26 means “shade”… we are like a shadow of God…
We read in V26 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness...”
Who’s “Us”? In conversation, Joe Focht asked a Jew in Israel, “Who is God talking to in V26?”
And the Jew said, “We believe God is talking to the angels.”
But, it can’t be angles… as this interpretation does not fit with the rest of Scripture.
Angel have no part in the creative act… in fact angels are created beings… not co-creators with God.
In Ps 148:2, the Psalmist writes, “Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts!”
And, the Psalmists tells all kinds of created things to praise God… sun, moon, starts, heavens…
Ps 148:5 reads, “Let them praise the name of the Lord, For He commanded and they were created.”
Angels were created…
When God condemned the anointed cherub Lucifer in Ezk 28… He said in Ezk 28:13 “The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created.”
Satan was of the order of cherubim… and was created.
Also, humans are made in the image of God… not in the image of angels. Nor does scripture declare that angelic beings are created in the image of God.
They are unique… one needs only read the description of a cherub in Ezk 10 to see we are very different from them.
4 heads… 4 different faces… 4 wings… wheels… eyes all around…
Some of us wake up in the morning… and we look rough… disheveled, but even on our worst day… we don’t bear this image.
And, creation belongs to God and His will alone… there was not a counsel that included angels in the creative act.
And, this idea of a counsel… to explain who God is talking to in V26 “Let Us make man in Our image...”
It’s dangerous.
One cult… Unitarians… on one of their websites they wrote V26 most likely is “referring to God speaking to His divine council, which is His council of spirit beings that God works with in ruling and running His creation.”
Unitarians hold Jesus is a prophet, but NOT God… and this is clear even on their websites tagline which reads: “A website about God & His son Jesus Christ.”
They capitalize the words “God” and “His” (referring to God), but write the word “son” with a lower case “S”… removing the deity of Jesus Christ.
Joseph Smith (founder of the Mormon cult) taught, “In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted [prepared] a plan to create the world and people it” (History of the Church, 6:308). This council included the Lord Jesus Christ and others.
And, be careful… Mormons are quick to say, “Jesus is my Savior” or “Lord”… and they deceive this way.
But, pin them down and ask if Jesus is God and if God is a trinity… and they will say, “No.”
I went on the LDS website and searched, “Is Jesus God?” and “Who is Jesus?” and there are articles that craftily talk about Jesus, but avoid the direct topic.
If you hold that God spoke to a counsel of heavenly hosts… again this is dangerous… this is a preferred view for cults… buyer beware.
Another cult that denies the Trinity and that Jesus is God is Jehovah’s Witnesses… JDubs…
JW.org reads “God said: ‘Let us make man in our image.’” Before Jehovah God a made anyone or anything else, he created a powerful spirit being who later became known as Jesus. By means of Jesus, “all other things were created in the heavens and on the earth.”
They say Jesus is the “image of God” (based on Col 1:15) and reflects Jehovah’s personality, but not God…
In fact, they changed the word of God… namely John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
They changed “the Word was God” TO “the Word was A God”… in their New World Translation of the Bible…
Despite Scripture declaring,
Deut 4:2 “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it…”
Repeated in Deut 12:32
Pro 30:6 “Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.”
Revelation 22:18–19 “If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life...”
If you add to or take away from His word… you’re playing with fire. These are God’s Holy Scriptures… to change them is to misrepresent God.
It’s why we teach the ‘whole counsel of God’… every chapter… every verse… we don’t skip subjects that are not popular with culture… or topics that cause offense.
“I don’t like hearing about hell… that doesn’t make me feel good.”
It shouldn’t. It should make you grieve deeply knowing that is the eternal destination for the lost.
And, it you’re saved, it should make you rejoice in God for salvation.
And, it should motivate you to share the Gospel for the lost… for we are Ambassadors for God.
These cults that take away from the deity of Christ stand on dangerous ground…
The Bible is clear that Jesus is God…
ISAIAH proclaimed the coming Messiah would be “called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
PAUL called Jesus: “our great God and Savior” (Titus 2:13)
JOHN wrote “the Word [Jesus] was God” (John 1:1)
THOMAS called Jesus: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)
JESUS declared “before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58)… taking the name of God revealed to Moses in the burning bush (Exo 3:14).
Jew sought to kill Him for “making Himself equal with God” (Jn 5:18) and for ‘making Himself God.’ (John 10:33)
In Hebrews, GOD the Father called Jesus “God.”
Heb 1:8 “But to the Son He says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever...”
There’s a lot of Scripture you must overlook and torture to remove the deity of Christ from Scripture.
And, look… to SEE these things… unbelievers… be it Atheists, Agnostics, or Cultists… they need prayer, because their blindness is spiritual…
Saul was a very religious man… he knew the OT scriptures, but he couldn’t connect them to Jesus until the road to Damascus…
Jesus supernaturally revealed himself and Saul… and what happened… he was struck blind for three days…
Which was his true spiritual condition… and then when Ananias came to pray for him… as instructed by the Lord… Saul was “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Spiritual birth) and ‘there fell from his eyes something like scales...”
Physical sight was restored…
Something like scales rests upon the eyes of all those who have not come into contact with the Lord Jesus Christ… there is a spiritual blindness that plagues them…
They need the same spiritual birth that Paul encountered… to believe in Jesus… to be filled with the Holy Spirit… and to have sight restored.
For many unbelievers… only then will they be able to see and agree with the conviction held by early church fathers, that when Elohim stated, “Let Us make man in Our image”…
This communicates a complex and unified expression of the Trinity.
God is speaking to Himself… Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… these three are one.
We see the plurality of God in Gen 1:1 “In the beginning God” [plural]…
The Spirit is there hovering over the face of the deep…
Col 1:16 and several other verses testify that Jesus was creator, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth… [at the end of that verse…] All things were created through Him and for Him.”
Henry Morris wrote, “God could only have been speaking to Himself; one member of the uni-plural Godhead was addressing another member or members.”
The Father was speaking to either or both the Son and the Holy Spirit…
And in various ways… the Bible consistently shows different persons of God… and communication between these figures of the Godhead… all unique… all God… all One…
Isa 48:16… “the Lord GOD and His Spirit have sent Me.”
Ps 110:1… “The LORD said to my Lord...”
Matt 3:17 & Matt 17:5 at Jesus’ baptism & Transfiguration… the Father proclaimed, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Jesus in His High Priestly prayer John 17… spoke to the Father… and expressed unity with Him… which always was from the beginning…
John 17:5 “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
Beautiful prayer.
In Genesis… God was not just speaking to convey His dignity and splendor… a device called “plural of majesty.”
This was not a “plural of deliberation”… a technique of language when the speaker consults himself like in Isa 6:8 when God asks, “‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us?’”
Gen 1:26 is the Godhead…the Trinity… “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness...”
“Man” is a generic term to include both male and female. Thus, this refers to all “mankind” or “human beings” regardless of the TWO genders God created… male and female (more on that in a moment).
Mankind is made in the image and likeness of God… which makes mankind unique.
This was not said of any of God’s other acts of creation… not of animals… not of galaxies…
Man was formed in the same way as the bodies of animals… from the earth.
Surely… all were given the breath of life.
Animals and mankind have a soul.
But, the soul of mankind… especially in cognition and learning is far more advanced… more complex.
Over animals our memories are more advanced… allowing us to better draw on past experience and learn new things… even nested scenarios to anticipate various outcomes.
Our motivation to learn and acquire new skills and knowledge… and to share our thoughts with others… … is greater than animals.
This is one way we are made in the image of God.
Additionally… when God gave us the breath of life… physical life was not only given… but also spiritual life.
All of mankind are eternal beings… some made for eternal life and some for eternal death.
John 4:24 declares, “God is Spirit.”
And, so is mankind… made in His image… eternal.
Solomon observed similarities and differences between mankind and animals…
Just as we discussed all are made from dust, and return to dust… physically. All have been given life and all die…
But Solomon stood ignorant as to what happens at the time of death… asking in…
Ecc 3:21 “Who knows [or who can prove that] the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?”
All we observe upon death is a lifeless body… what proof is there that the spirit of men actually ascends to heaven?
From the NT… we know…
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord… 2 Cor 5:8
Luke 16… the rich man and Lazarus shows two outcomes… heaven or hell… after death.
Rev 20… at the Great White Throne Judgment… describes how people will be judged and how their eternal fate will be determined…
Either you’re written into the Lamb Book of Life through faith in Jesus Christ…
Or judged upon your works… which will not stand.
There are many examples… all written of mankind…
For mankind is the crown jewel of God’s creation… Ps 8:5 declares, “You have crowned him [mankind] with glory and honor.”
He gets the greatest glory and honor, but we too partake in this blessing… as His image bearers.
Various scriptures describe God seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, tasting, speaking… as do we.
And, all these senses… are they created just for this temporal time on earth?
I think not. In our glorified state… how we were likely originally designed and clothed before the fall…
I imagine all of these senses will be amplified… NAMELY so we can behold God… and really take Him in… to fully appreciate and worship Him.
We are made in His image in that we have the capacity to reflect attributes of God (like love… and righteous anger… and compassion)… we have a moral consciousness… we can think abstractly… we understand and create beauty… and express deep emotion… and have the capacity to worship and love God.
All unique from the animal kingdom.
We are also made like God in that we are a trinity.
God is a trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit.
And we are a trinity of body, soul, and spirit. A singular plural.
God is One and more than one… as are we.
Now… we are NOT like God in that we are not omnipotent, omnipresent, or omniscient…
But, even as Jesus came to earth and as Scripture declares Col 1:15 that Jesus “…is the image of the invisible God...” (2 Cor 4:4 reiterates this).
Or Heb 1:3, that Jesus is “the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person...”
Even as Jesus laid down characteristics of God… like omnipresence to take on humanity…
He still was an image bearer of God… as are we.
All of this should give us a deeper appreciation for life… from babies in the womb… to any adult… from any nation.
God puts value on human life… and how we view human life should be screened through scripture.
Which this could be said of all things… make sure you view culture, for example, through the lens of scripture… not the other way around…
… don’t view scripture through the lens of culture as many are guilty of so doing.
… culture changes with the wind… and digresses with time.
Scripture is eternal. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” (Matt 24:35, Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33)
If you view human life as God does… and “God so loved the world...”
Then you will love more… you will be more patient with unbelievers and mourn more when you see them reject Christ.
Even those deep in depravity… from the drug addict on the street… to the most godless person…
Even if they have not come to faith in Jesus… they still bear the image and likeness of God.
And, God is very patient. The forbearance of God to endure patiently… to show love… to extend forgiveness… and withhold punishment or vengeance…
This is a divine virtue that we do well to keep in mind.
We see this early in the Bible… God declared to Abram that it would be over 400 years before Israel would take the land He promised…
“… for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” (Gen 15:16)
God’s great forbearance towards His creation… made in His image and likeness.
Continuing in V26… God also declares that mankind is granted “dominion” over fish, birds, cattle, and creeping things.
Psalm 8:6 declares, “You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet...”
Sheep, oxen, beasts, birds, fish…
Dominion speaks of governance… rule… reign…
“The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness...” (Ps 24:1), but we have been entrusted to steward the planet.
Not even Angels were assigned this task… not now… and not when God creates a New Heaven and a New Earth…
Heb 2:5 declares, “For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels.
God created the world for us… and entrusted us with it’s stewardship…
Thus we should be good and wise stewards of the world and animals… we should not abuse creation.
Nor should we worship creation as some do… and have done throughout the generations.
In V27 we see the origin of genders… “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
When Jesus was questioned about divorce, Jesus He answered that divorce was permitted (of course only in certain circumstances), but divorce was not God’s original design…
The original design was God created male and female from the beginning of creation and in those passages in Matt 19 and Mark 10… Jesus also linked marriage to be between male and female.
And, boy has culture really twisted these up.
I skimmed an article… written by two M.D.s a year ago… I’m sure quacks… and they detailed 72 genders besides male and female… and described them…
Let me read three…
Aerogender: this gender identity changes according to one’s surroundings.
Condigender: The person feels their gender only under specific circumstances.
“Ahh… Circumstances have changed… the wind blew… now I’m a different gender…”
Mirrorgender: Changing one's gender type based on the people surrounding.
Man are those nuanced. 72 genders like these! What nonsense. What deception.
The world says that gender is not fixed… that gender isn't about anatomy, it is about who one knows them self to be.
My Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” (Jer 17:9)
How can you know or trust what you think or feel when left to your own deceitful heart? It’s wicked.
The Bible makes this simple… male… Hebrew zakar… means “boy or man”…
female… Heb. neqebah… means “woman.”
Both of these words by definition speak of one’s physical sexuality… or anatomy.
The verse states, “God created man”… Heb. adam… mankind…
And, then distinguished mankind into “male” and “female”…
There was divine order in creation… God created genders… and gender roles… in home and church…
Not that one gender is superior, but genders are distinct…
Later in the law… God would even make sure that His people understood there should be distinct dress codes for male and female.
Deut 22:5 “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the LORD your God.”
And, the world wants to blur and distort original design…
Anything against God… this is Satan’s agenda. If God said, “In the beginning there are 72 genders…”
Satan would have said, “Did God really say?” And, then would have changed that number to something else.
Satan has been attempting to confuse and deceive mankind since Gen 3… deceiving Eve… we’ll come to that scene in weeks ahead.
Pharisees one time questioned Jesus… and what He said to them could apply to the unbelieving world today…
Listen to this John 8:42-44 “Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. 43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”
The same lies and deceptions of the devil have the ear of so many people today. They are not able to hear God’s words…
They see but they do not perceive… they hear, but they do not understand… (Isa 6:9)
“The word of the LORD is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it.” (Jer 6:10)
They are “stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! [They] always resist the Holy Spirit...” (Acts 7:51)
This is a spiritual condition… and people need Jesus… pray for the people in your life that are under Satan’s influence.
Many of them are unknowingly following a liar and a murderer… pray for them to have spiritual sight and hearing… to come to Jesus.
There is divine order in creation. Culture has abandoned God’s order and classifications which is a sign we are moving away from God.
After, God’s creative act of making mankind in His own image and likeness… and making them distinct in gender… then God gave mankind His first command…
This is a good Bible quizzing question… “what was the first commandment of God?”
V28 “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth…”
Multiple imperatives or commands in that verse…where God now for the first time speaks directly to His creation.
Previously, God only spoke about His creation… He didn’t talk to the trees or to the animals…
I’ll admit… I do talk to my animals… I like interacting with my dogs… it’s not much of a conversation, but we have fun.
But, God’s first recorded words to creation directly are reserved in His interaction with mankind.
Adam and Eve… and Chapter 2 will expand upon the events of this sixth day… which we’ll see… Lord willing… in a future study.
Be fruitful and multiply… God commands Adam and Eve to have children.
Ps 127:3-5 declares, “Behold, children are a heritage [and inheritance… a gift] from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. 5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them...”
If you were God… what would be your first command? God tells His creation to have children.
Culture tells you the opposite. Culture says don’t have kids… or not too many… or not too soon. Put yourself first.
People so often wait to have kids to be in the best financial position… or to have time together as a couple without kids… and some wait and they don’t even know why they are waiting.
My wife and I certainly waited two years of being married before we had kids… just to have some initial time just us.
My Pastor shared he and his wife were waiting until he heard a sermon on “Be fruitful and multiply” and he asked her, “Why are we waiting?”
Neither of them had an answer… 9 month later their first child was born.
In the 1960’s, there was an agenda called “Zero Population Growth” or ZPG…
Maybe some of you remember that?
There was even a dystopian movie titled the same thing.
The agenda or movement advocated for policy to limit population growth due to potential negative impacts on the environment and resources (like food and water).
This was all popularized by a book called “The Population Bomb.”
A key slogan was “stop at two”… have kids and no more.
But, looking back… we can see the hunger issue is not a population issue.
In 1969, the world population was 3.6 billion around 875 million people lived in hunger.
Today, in 2025, the world population is 8.2 billion, and around 733 million people live in hunger.
142 million less than 1969.
But, the agenda… still went out.
The Bible says “children are a heritage from the LORD”… If you’re waiting… you’re withholding a blessing from God.
I encourage you to consider… What are you waiting for? And has God told you to wait or was this your thinking influenced by culture?
Pray about it. Seek the Lord on this.
Culture says wait… you’re not ready… God says I’ll bless you and be fruitful and multiply.
And, besides… we’ve got a church growth plan and we need you to do your part. That’s a joke!
Wrapping up… God reiterates in V28 mankind is to have dominion and subdue the earth… again a command for good stewardship.
And, then in vv 29-30… in the original creation God tells man He gave them herbs and fruits for food.
The Father tells His creation, “Eat your fruits and vegetables.” This may be my only complaint against Eden.
Where’s the beef? I mean… it was there, but beef was NOT what was for dinner.
Man… beast… bird… everything that had life… a soul… God gave them veggies.
Death… as we discussed earlier was NOT in God’s original design… and nor will it be in the Millennial reign. So, no meat.
Not until Gen 9:3 when God tells Noah, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.”
And to that I say, “Amen!”
Worship team you can come.
Wrapping up… V31… now that God finished His creative work… we read, “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. [first mention of “very good.”] So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
No matter what culture says about creation…
God gave us the truth in His word… and His analysis of creation is… “it was very good.”
Read ahead… next time… Chapter 2.
Let’s Pray!
If you need prayer for anything before you go, we are here to pray with and for you.
God bless the rest of your week ahead.
