Dale Partridge - Genesis 2_4-14 - How Man is Connected to the Ground

00:00:00.000 Well, amen, and it's good to continue working through this book of Genesis, which we are not

00:00:12.760 going to get through all 50 chapters, but we're going to take some important selections, including

00:00:17.560 chapter 2. Now, last week, we looked at Genesis chapter 2, verses 1 through 3,

00:00:24.120 And it described the completion of creation.

00:00:29.360 And these verses not only concluded that portion of creation,

00:00:34.220 but they also were the foundation for the fourth commandment,

00:00:37.780 which is to keep the Sabbath holy.

00:00:41.100 And the practice of taking one day of rest and six days of work

00:00:45.120 was the discussion that we had last Sunday.

00:00:49.040 Now, if you remember, I argued that the Sabbath had shifted from the Old Covenant's seventh day,

00:00:55.880 which is Saturday, to the New Covenant's first day, which is Sunday.

00:01:01.840 Now, the rationale for this shift was that the Sabbath has always been a memorial of God's redemption of his people.

00:01:08.740 In fact, we see this even in the Old Testament,

00:01:11.920 where Israel was commanded to keep the Sabbath in remembrance of their deliverance from Pharaoh.

00:01:18.420 In the same way, it is the most coherent to see the Lord's Day, Sunday,

00:01:24.680 as the new covenant memorial of our both new creation in Christ and to our redemption through Christ.

00:01:33.680 Now, I gave lots of reasoning for that, but ultimately, Saturday pointed to the shadow.

00:01:40.620 Sunday points to the substance.

00:01:42.180 saturday anticipated sunday embraced the reality now some christians really struggle with

00:01:51.600 this shift because they they note that the sabbath was a quote forever command

00:01:56.780 in scripture how can it change it was a forever command to be on the seventh day

00:02:02.060 um what i did not mention last week which i was frustrated after i had got down from the pulpit

00:02:09.040 that I want to emphasize today is that Scripture uses the same forever language

00:02:14.960 in both the Passover and also circumcision.

00:02:21.260 And interestingly, no Christian struggles to see why these practices have been replaced

00:02:32.460 with the Lord's Supper and with baptism.

00:02:35.760 In other words, Christians readily understand the Passover and the circumcision as signs that were pointing forward to Christ.

00:02:44.920 While baptism and the Lord's Supper are signs pointing back to Christ. 0.64

00:02:53.720 So why are some willing to acknowledge the transformation of these kind of forever signs, but not the transformation of the Sabbath?

00:03:05.760 And that was the key question that I want to leave you as we transition into other texts.

00:03:10.860 But I really believe that is a piece that I missed last week that I wanted to deliver to you today.

00:03:20.380 Today, we're going to move into what I would say is the micro.

00:03:26.640 And if you will, we have kind of gone from chapter 1 in Genesis, from the micro, or from the macro to the micro.

00:03:34.620 From the macro to the micro, from the general to the specific.

00:03:40.980 That's what happens in Genesis chapter 1, which is the general, the macro.

00:03:47.100 And now in chapter 2, we get the details, the specifics of that same narrative that was in chapter 1.

00:03:56.040 So let's read verse 4 together.

00:03:58.940 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

00:04:03.080 in the day that the Lord made the earth and the heavens.

00:04:08.020 Now, this verse is actually a forward-pointing statement.

00:04:13.440 This word, these, it's a demonstrative pronoun, and it's a forward focus.

00:04:20.500 It's almost like a heading at the top of this section in your Bible.

00:04:24.820 If I wrote, this is the history of Kingsway, and then I listed it out,

00:04:30.060 That's basically what we're saying or what we're seeing here in this text.

00:04:35.100 So Moses's introduction from a shift to the broad to the specific, from the days of creation to really what happened in those days of creation.

00:04:50.820 Now, first thing you're going to notice that you'll probably miss actually in English,

00:04:55.060 but if you are a theologian or you have a Bible that might have used different translations of specific words,

00:05:02.400 is that Moses introduces a new name for God.

00:05:08.180 So in chapter one, up until this point, the name of God in Hebrew was Elohim.

00:05:15.900 but this is speaking to the creator element of god but here in chapter two we get an introduction

00:05:23.320 to god as yahweh and that is why you have the word lord god in your bible typically in english

00:05:32.600 bibles when it says lord and it's all capitalized it means that in hebrew it says yahweh and so

00:05:40.260 there's a variety of names of God that speak to a specific reality. Now, why is this important?

00:05:47.060 Because it shifted from God, the almighty, powerful creator, Elohim, to God, the faithful,

00:05:54.900 covenant-keeping, relational God, Yahweh. And so we're seeing a personal, relational shift

00:06:02.520 here in chapter 2. Now in verse 5, Moses shifts to this kind of geographic description of the

00:06:13.500 creation prior to man. So let's read it together, verse 5 and 6 actually. It says,

00:06:20.460 When no bush of the field was yet in the land, and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up,

00:06:27.280 For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground.

00:06:34.440 And a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground.

00:06:41.880 So this is a callback to the third day of creation, where there was the vegetation creation element of the earth.

00:06:49.180 And the purpose of mentioning it here is to show the chronology of creation.

00:06:57.280 Now, I want to explain what I mean by that.

00:06:59.920 He's highlighting that at this stage, at this stage of creation,

00:07:04.800 the earth was still unsuitable for man.

00:07:09.180 It was still unsuitable for man.

00:07:12.300 In Hebrew, the word bush or shrubs is speaking to inedible plants,

00:07:17.660 while the word plants is speaking to edible plants.

00:07:21.420 And so Moses is essentially describing a foodless place,

00:07:26.620 A foodless place that existed here.

00:07:30.180 In other words, he was communicating that God was preparing the world for something.

00:07:40.860 The whole world was prepared for God.

00:07:43.980 Or for, well, yes, for God.

00:07:45.580 But it was being prepared for man.

00:07:48.240 And that's what's trying to be communicated here.

00:07:51.180 If you look back to chapter or verse 5, it's like when no field was yet made and the land was not ready,

00:07:58.940 the Lord God has not caused it to rain yet, and there was no man to work the ground.

00:08:03.740 It's kind of anticipating something.

00:08:06.920 Well, it's anticipating the creation of man.

00:08:13.540 It says, well, actually, I'm going to make one more point.

00:08:17.680 I think that's helpful with kind of our liberal environmentalists today.

00:08:22.220 This also clarifies that the earth was made for man and not man for the earth.

00:08:27.660 The earth was made for man and not man for the earth.

00:08:31.880 This earth right here was made for you.

00:08:35.500 It was made for man.

00:08:39.540 We have people in this world that want to elevate earth above man.

00:08:45.560 We actually think that the earth is sometimes more valuable than man.

00:08:49.740 No.

00:08:51.000 No, man is more valuable than nature.

00:08:56.020 In fact, all of creation was made for man.

00:08:59.800 Man is the crown of creation.

00:09:04.000 In the last part of verse 5, we're also reminded that rain is God's doing.

00:09:09.240 We're seeing it here.

00:09:10.040 Anybody that's a farmer understands that rain is God's doing.

00:09:15.360 It's not some sort of atmospheric phenomena.

00:09:19.020 No, God is in control.

00:09:22.700 It is caused by Him, as it said in this text.

00:09:25.620 Every storm, every hurricane, every mist,

00:09:31.320 I think of Jesus in the storm and the disciples saying,

00:09:35.740 Who is this man that even the wind and the waters obey him?

00:09:42.660 Then comes this phrase,

00:09:44.520 And there was no man to work the ground.

00:09:48.680 Here again, the English is hard.

00:09:52.180 I want you to look at your Bibles,

00:09:55.680 because I want you to see what this is saying in the Hebrew.

00:09:59.160 the hebrew word for adam or for man is adam it's actually pronounced adam so if you look at the

00:10:11.520 hebrew for the word man it's adam and it's where we get our english word adam now the other thing

00:10:22.480 that's really beautiful is that the word for dust is adamah, adamah. And so a more literal

00:10:33.240 translation would be, and there was no Adam to work the adamah. So you can start to see

00:10:41.980 the beautiful connection. The wordplay kind of shows the meaning here. Now, why is that

00:10:51.560 significant? Why do we need to know this as Christians? Because while Scripture teaches 0.91

00:10:58.260 that both man and animals were both formed from the dust, and that we will return to it,

00:11:06.100 only man is uniquely described as being bound to the ground. Adam and Adama. Adam and Adama.

00:11:19.060 Now, one scientist said, our bodies and the earth are made of the same 13 elements.

00:11:28.580 Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, magnesium, iron, and silicon.

00:11:40.760 Showing that man truly is dust of the ground, end quote.

00:11:46.780 Now, what does that mean?

00:11:49.060 What does that mean for us?

00:11:51.480 Well, it should shape how we think about our relationship with the earth, that's for sure.

00:11:56.920 In a world where we've kind of nearly separated ourselves from nature,

00:12:01.700 we kind of live in this sterile, manufactured environment,

00:12:07.800 it reminds us that we are biologically and spiritually linked to the ground to which we come.

00:12:11.880 In fact, I would actually argue it's the justification for the health practice of grounding.

00:12:23.060 There's a real health benefits that have been proven there.

00:12:27.140 Well, I wonder why.

00:12:28.940 Oh, your body is reconnected to the thing that which is made of it.

00:12:33.280 Oh, that makes sense.

00:12:34.480 man and the ground share a unique relationship

00:12:41.960 and it's why we should start to cultivate that desire to be connected

00:12:46.580 to the earth in some degree

00:12:48.860 now second i want to talk about the moral dimension

00:12:53.480 there's a moral relationship between man

00:12:58.460 and the ground between the atom and the adamah

00:13:04.100 If Adam is faithful in the garden, God will cause the Adamah to bear fruit.

00:13:13.220 If Adam is unfaithful in the garden, God will curse the Adamah to bear thorns and thistles.

00:13:24.940 Now this teaches us that faithfulness to God directly affects our relationship to the land.

00:13:34.100 It really does.

00:13:36.060 In fact, it's why drought and famine are always thought of as curses in Scripture

00:13:42.820 and why rain and harvest are always thought as blessings.

00:13:48.340 Again, we live in a time where we can control a lot more factors,

00:13:51.600 but if you just go back about 100 years and you talk to a farmer,

00:13:55.440 He would understand the relationship morally between God, their sins, and the production of food.

00:14:09.580 It's also why we're going to return to the earth.

00:14:14.440 From dust you came, and dust you shall return.

00:14:20.320 One man said, holding up a handful of dirt,

00:14:23.480 quote, this is man's cradle, his home, his grave.

00:14:29.920 It's a very fascinating statement.

00:14:32.640 You can hold up a handful of dust and go, this is, at some degree, me.

00:14:41.900 Lastly, we see from Adam, one day will come forth another Adam.

00:14:49.280 God in the flesh

00:14:52.540 Fully divine and fully dust

00:14:55.260 Fascinating

00:14:57.800 Fully divine and fully dust

00:15:01.540 He will restore the relationship

00:15:06.080 Not just between God and man 0.98

00:15:07.920 But between the Adam and the Adamah 0.98

00:15:11.880 He will restore the relationship between man and the lamb 0.94

00:15:15.920 In other words, as humanity is redeemed, the Adama itself will share in that redemption.

00:15:27.840 I'm going to give you a few examples.

00:15:31.140 Ezekiel 36, it anticipates this messianic age. 0.52

00:15:37.320 And it's prophetic. 0.90

00:15:38.680 And it speaks to the true Israel, the church.

00:15:40.760 It says, quote, 0.99

00:15:42.500 And I will deliver you from all of your uncleanness.

00:15:49.280 Who's he speaking to?

00:15:50.320 Well, he's speaking to the church.

00:15:52.660 And he says, and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.

00:16:01.020 And I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the of the field abundant that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine.

00:16:09.300 And they will say, this land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden.

00:16:17.640 Romans 8, 19-20 also links this idea of redemption of man with the redemption of land.

00:16:26.880 Verse 19 says, for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

00:16:35.780 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it,

00:16:42.500 in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption

00:16:48.520 and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

00:16:54.220 In other words, God does not redeem Adam without redeeming the Adama.

00:17:01.380 It's an amazing thing.

00:17:03.380 It's an amazing thing.

00:17:05.780 And Moses moves into this detailed account of man's creation in verse 7.

00:17:11.080 He says,

00:17:12.060 Then the Lord God formed the man of dust.

00:17:18.660 From the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

00:17:23.700 And the man became a living creature.

00:17:28.460 Now the word form is actually the root word that we see for potter.

00:17:33.160 So this is kind of a picture of God pottered together.

00:17:39.440 What is a potter put together?

00:17:42.020 Clay.

00:17:43.300 What is clay?

00:17:44.880 Dust.

00:17:47.840 This beautiful craftsmanship.

00:17:50.520 God formed the man.

00:17:54.360 There's also a kind of artistic element here.

00:17:58.460 God is all wise and all perfect.

00:18:00.500 Do you think he's not good at forming something?

00:18:04.440 Anybody can look at the mountains and agree with that.

00:18:08.240 He is an incredible craftsman.

00:18:11.640 Everything we create is just a recreation of what he created.

00:18:19.380 And so God did not mass-produce humanity.

00:18:21.840 He personally shaped one man.

00:18:24.180 He formed him.

00:18:24.960 we often use this phrase intelligent design to describe the absolute miracle of the body

00:18:31.980 i remember when i had our first baby and the nurse told me she said mom's

00:18:42.760 milk will increase with the size of the baby's stomach in tandem as the baby increases stomach

00:18:52.200 size, so will the mother's milk supply. And I

00:18:56.120 thought, what an incredible little miracle. And there's

00:19:00.140 about a billion of those when you look at the human body.

00:19:06.560 God is an incredible

00:19:08.160 designer.

00:19:13.160 Genesis tells us that

00:19:14.860 God breathed into his nostrils the breath of

00:19:20.260 life. And man became a living creature. It's a very important phrase there. He doesn't

00:19:30.660 just say creature. He says a living creature. Now, the breath of life is not unique to man.

00:19:36.880 Genesis 7.22 says, everything on dry land and whose nostrils was the breath of life

00:19:42.280 died. So it's speaking about creature,

00:19:46.820 animal, beast, man, everything.

00:19:50.780 It's why Psalm 156 says, let everything

00:19:54.140 that has breath praise the Lord.

00:19:57.900 So when you see an animal being glorious, doing what it ought

00:20:02.260 to do, it is a way of praising God.

00:20:06.440 So what sets man apart from the animals? That's a key question I think a lot of

00:20:10.260 people cannot figure out today? Well, three things. One, man receives the breath directly

00:20:17.880 from God. It's not mentioned in Scripture that the animals received it directly from

00:20:23.880 God, but man, Adam, received it directly. Now, number two, as I said, man is called

00:20:30.480 not a creature but a living creature now why well because man has a soul

00:20:38.360 and the soul comes from god we know that there is physical death which is the separation of the body

00:20:49.400 from the soul and we know there is spiritual death which is the separation of the soul

00:20:55.780 from God. So God gave us life, spiritual life. We are not just creatures. We are living

00:21:06.840 creatures. And third, man is made in the image of God, the image of God. Now God's breath

00:21:18.120 in Scripture always reflects life

00:21:22.300 and power. Ezekiel 37, God

00:21:26.160 breathes on the valley of dry bones and

00:21:30.000 life erupts. We know that

00:21:34.140 in 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture is

00:21:37.840 breathed out and is authoritative and

00:21:41.720 profitable. Hebrews 4 says the Word of

00:21:45.820 God is living, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword.

00:21:52.260 Wherever God's breath is, life is. 0.81

00:21:59.860 I'd argue actually why the Protestants hold to Sola Scriptura.

00:22:06.120 Because the Word of God is God-breathed.

00:22:09.400 How are we to have any equal authority than the Word of God?

00:22:15.820 Ecclesiastes 12.7 says

00:22:19.600 The dust will return to the earth as it was

00:22:23.520 and the spirit will return to God

00:22:27.660 who gave it. Why is this important? Your soul

00:22:31.860 does not come from the dust. Your soul does not come from the dust.

00:22:37.400 Your soul comes from God.

00:22:39.840 Again, and the spirit will return to God

00:22:43.200 who gave it.

00:22:45.560 What is physical death?

00:22:47.360 It is the separation of your soul

00:22:49.360 from your body.

00:22:51.220 The body will go into the ground.

00:22:54.740 The billions

00:22:55.520 of people that have died

00:22:56.900 are now dust

00:22:59.180 in the ground.

00:23:03.380 Now this duality of

00:23:05.120 body and soul,

00:23:07.500 it's very important

00:23:10.500 because

00:23:13.000 while God redeems both the soul

00:23:15.480 and the body, the timing

00:23:17.640 of those redemptions is different.

00:23:19.540 This is key. Pay attention here.

00:23:22.220 If you are in Christ,

00:23:24.120 your soul has been redeemed.

00:23:25.800 Past tense, it's done. Finished.

00:23:28.760 Your soul

00:23:29.520 has been redeemed.

00:23:31.600 But your body

00:23:32.680 has not yet been

00:23:35.380 redeemed. When will your

00:23:37.440 body be redeemed?

00:23:39.680 On the day

00:23:40.580 of the great resurrection.

00:23:43.000 We await the resurrection of the body

00:23:48.900 Until that day

00:23:54.320 Scripture teaches that our bodies

00:23:57.240 Are at war with our souls

00:24:00.320 Galatians 5.17 says

00:24:04.120 For the desires of the flesh

00:24:05.680 Are against the spirit

00:24:08.560 And the desires of the spirit are against the flesh

00:24:11.640 for these are opposed to each other

00:24:13.060 to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

00:24:18.700 Romans 7,

00:24:20.120 For I delight in the law of God and my inner being,

00:24:23.020 but I see in my body, my members,

00:24:26.160 another law waging war against the law of my mind

00:24:30.020 and making me captive to the law of sin

00:24:33.320 that dwells in my body.

00:24:37.640 Your soul has been redeemed,

00:24:39.160 but your body still has sin in it.

00:24:41.540 You know, that's important because Jesus and Paul,

00:24:45.740 well, I'll talk about Paul.

00:24:47.180 Paul is like, why do I keep doing the things that I don't want to do?

00:24:50.640 And the things that I do want to do, I can't keep doing. 0.92

00:24:53.860 Oh, this wretched death body of mine. 0.96

00:24:56.860 I can't wait until it's gone. 0.95

00:25:01.640 He understands there's a reality, a war within us.

00:25:05.240 And already, but not yet.

00:25:07.740 And already, but not yet.

00:25:11.460 Peter says, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

00:25:25.180 Why does this matter?

00:25:28.420 Well, a lot of people grew up in a church that taught that God has here to not just redeem the soul right now, but to redeem your body right now.

00:25:41.740 Some of it has been called maybe health and wellness gospels.

00:25:46.320 I want to talk about that just for a minute.

00:25:51.720 I believe this distinction clarifies that while the soul is resurrected, the body is still fallen.

00:25:57.400 The soul is resurrected, the body is still fallen.

00:26:02.120 All twelve apostles died.

00:26:04.020 in fact the word for paul's thorn in his side is actually the greek word

00:26:09.760 infirmity it's the same greek word that is used for jesus when all the sick come to him

00:26:14.940 and they say they brought their infirmities to him we don't know what it is

00:26:20.500 it could have been a muscular pain could have been appendicitis it could have been his blindness

00:26:26.800 We don't know.

00:26:30.080 All we know is that God does say to Paul, this weakness that you keep praying of,

00:26:36.460 says, my greatness is made perfect in your weakness.

00:26:40.220 My grace is sufficient for you.

00:26:44.500 I don't know if anybody has struggled with their body.

00:26:48.940 I have.

00:26:50.940 I had five years of being extremely ill.

00:26:55.100 I still fight.

00:26:56.800 Illness, even today, I'm struggling to breathe as I'm preaching right now. 0.97

00:27:03.580 Oh, this wretched body.

00:27:06.740 I can't wait for its resurrection. 0.97

00:27:11.200 Joni Erickson Tata, who I think at the age of around 16 years old, dove into a pond only to break her neck.

00:27:22.980 And she became a paraplegic.

00:27:26.800 she went on to preach the gospel to many people,

00:27:31.380 and I love one of her famous quotes that says,

00:27:33.740 someone asked her,

00:27:35.120 what is the first thing you are going to do on resurrected legs?

00:27:40.260 And she said, fall down on resurrected knees.

00:27:46.940 The body is not resurrected yet.

00:27:49.640 We wait.

00:27:51.360 And we wait in pain and brokenness

00:27:53.740 and bodies that are still afflicted by sin.

00:27:56.800 Too often people confuse the cure of our spiritual condition with the promises about our physical condition.

00:28:05.860 For example, Isaiah 53.5, which says,

00:28:10.600 But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.

00:28:15.960 The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.

00:28:22.260 Now I've read, I've studied, I've even preached on Isaiah 53.

00:28:27.620 Throughout Scripture, sin is often referred to as a sickness.

00:28:33.940 In fact, the whole mirror image of the idea of, I'm drawing a blank, on leprosy.

00:28:45.420 There we go.

00:28:46.680 Leprosy is the metaphorical reality of how sin erodes and rots at your soul.

00:28:56.800 A lot of people will take that verse as speaking to physical healing.

00:29:01.560 That God has somehow redeemed our bodies already.

00:29:05.440 And that we should be acting in that way now.

00:29:10.120 But the entire context of Isaiah 53 and 1 Peter 2.24, which interprets this text in the New Testament,

00:29:17.620 it does not speak of physical illness.

00:29:19.440 It does certainly speak of spiritual sickness, of sin.

00:29:24.500 Of sin.

00:29:26.040 Your soul had leprosy on it.

00:29:29.600 Your soul needed to be cleaned.

00:29:35.040 Peter says, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

00:29:43.760 By his wounds you have been healed.

00:29:46.540 Of what?

00:29:48.420 Well, I've been healed of the sickness of sin that was about to kill me.

00:29:54.580 Eternally.

00:29:57.320 Now this doesn't mean that God doesn't offer, out of mercy and grace, physical healing.

00:30:03.660 I believe He does.

00:30:06.400 I believe that God does heal people through the prayers of His saints.

00:30:13.980 But I do not believe God owes healing to any of us.

00:30:17.940 i believe in fact sometimes god uses or allows certain trials and tragedies and illnesses

00:30:27.680 to sanctify us in fact i don't know about you but the most sanctified experience of my entire life

00:30:34.180 was in a season of difficult illness

00:30:37.300 i think anybody can read job and see the absolute difficulty

00:30:46.100 job wonders why why am i ill why am i sick why am i afflicted

00:30:52.420 i often remind people that it was god who said have you considered my servant job

00:30:59.600 And he goes on to afflict Job in only the ways that God permits to be afflicted.

00:31:11.740 And God sits there and watches Job wonder why he is suffering.

00:31:19.880 And Job, towards the end, maybe around chapter 37, finally speaks up.

00:31:28.860 Why?

00:31:30.560 And God spends about two full chapters asking Job many questions.

00:31:37.780 Question after question.

00:31:39.280 Where were you when I formed the foundation of the world?

00:31:42.300 Do you know where the storehouse of snow is?

00:31:44.920 Do you know the birthing cycle of deers and goats?

00:31:48.620 It's amazing.

00:31:50.480 He asks all these questions that have an inevitable no, I don't know.

00:31:53.900 it was a way for God to communicate to him

00:31:58.640 you are not God

00:31:59.840 you do not understand these things

00:32:01.980 for as high as the heavens are above the earth

00:32:03.920 so are my ways higher than your ways says the Lord

00:32:06.260 and what does Job say at the end of all this

00:32:10.920 he covers his mouth and says I am vile

00:32:14.580 again we

00:32:20.920 we do not want to apply

00:32:24.000 the eternal promises

00:32:26.720 of a healed body

00:32:28.560 to the present.

00:32:32.300 Yes, we are to be healthy.

00:32:34.300 Yes, we are to desire to take care of these bodies.

00:32:37.280 Yes, we are to pray if we are sick.

00:32:40.700 But we are not to expect that the redemption that is to come

00:32:44.460 is applied to the present.

00:32:47.380 And that is why we fight

00:32:49.140 constantly with this bag of bones on us.

00:32:56.180 It is at war with the soul.

00:32:59.640 It is truly the already and not yet.

00:33:04.220 We have redeemed souls, but still broken bodies.

00:33:08.880 The good news is this, right?

00:33:10.880 God causes all things to work together for good.

00:33:13.780 Even trials, even sicknesses, even tragedies,

00:33:17.580 even stillborns, even miscarriages, even assassinations.

00:33:23.340 God causes all things to work together for good for those who love him

00:33:30.380 and are called according to his purpose.

00:33:34.380 Now, I know that felt a little bit like a sidetrack, but I had to go there.

00:33:39.060 Lastly, I want to talk about this last section here, which is really 8 through 14.

00:33:44.280 It's a big section in our text today.

00:33:46.160 and Moses offers clarity on Adam's destination.

00:33:49.360 He says, and read along with me.

00:33:52.080 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden,

00:33:55.200 in the east,

00:33:56.600 and there he put the man whom he had formed.

00:34:00.240 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up

00:34:03.000 every tree that is pleasant to the sight

00:34:05.200 and good for food.

00:34:08.920 The tree of life was in the midst of the garden

00:34:11.200 and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

00:34:13.840 And a river flowed out of Eden to the water, the garden

00:34:17.320 And there it divided and became four rivers

00:34:19.980 The name of the first is the Pishon

00:34:22.360 It is the one that flowed around the land of Havilah

00:34:25.940 Where there is gold

00:34:28.560 And the gold of that land was good

00:34:31.480 Bidelium and onyx stones are there

00:34:34.200 The name of the second river is the Gihon

00:34:36.460 It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush

00:34:39.600 And the name of the third river is the Tigris

00:34:42.360 which flowed in the east of Assyria

00:34:44.360 and the fourth is the river Euphrates.

00:34:46.300 You can start to see now

00:34:47.620 the macro to the micro.

00:34:50.640 You can start to see

00:34:51.580 the general to the specific.

00:34:55.660 First, I want you to notice that Eden

00:34:57.260 is the larger area.

00:34:59.220 It's the larger region

00:35:00.220 while the garden is just a specific section

00:35:02.940 in the east.

00:35:05.300 Okay, it's not just one whole piece.

00:35:07.480 There's Eden

00:35:08.140 and then there's the garden of Eden.

00:35:10.760 the word Eden means delight

00:35:14.700 it means delight

00:35:16.940 and wherever mentioned in scripture

00:35:19.520 it typically associated with the

00:35:21.420 flourishing relationship between

00:35:22.900 man, the Adam, with the 0.97

00:35:25.460 Adamah, that is 0.94

00:35:27.280 Edenic

00:35:27.980 when man is in perfect harmony

00:35:31.420 with the land

00:35:32.160 and without sin

00:35:34.860 that is Edenic

00:35:37.060 it's what we long for

00:35:38.960 In fact, this earth that has fallen right now, we think it's beautiful.

00:35:43.060 Oh, you have never seen Edenic reality.

00:35:48.120 We're watching fall come in.

00:35:51.440 We're watching dead plants behind us.

00:35:55.380 In Eden, there are no such things.

00:36:00.600 Matthew Henry commented on this passage.

00:36:02.900 He said, quote,

00:36:03.720 The place fixed upon Adam to dwell in was not a palace, but a garden.

00:36:08.660 The better we take up the plain things of life,

00:36:11.560 and the less we seek the things that gratify pride and luxury,

00:36:15.000 the nearer we are to approach godliness.

00:36:20.660 What delights you?

00:36:23.680 Are you more impressed with a sanctuary than a sunset?

00:36:29.680 Do you like interiors more than exteriors?

00:36:34.060 The most beautiful things on earth are outside.

00:36:37.820 It doesn't mean that we can't create wonderful things.

00:36:41.100 The cathedrals of the medieval era are incredible architecture, beautiful and glorious.

00:36:45.240 But you set them next to the mountain ranges and they are nothing.

00:36:49.300 They are nothing.

00:36:54.340 The most glorious things on earth are not man-made.

00:36:58.340 Eden.

00:36:59.400 Eden was a garden.

00:37:04.380 God placed Adam in the garden.

00:37:07.820 which was distinct from kind of the general vegetation and creation of the area.

00:37:13.500 This was an abundantly fruitful place.

00:37:15.760 It was filled with shrubs and trees.

00:37:18.240 It was also good for fruit, both pleasing to the eye and good for food.

00:37:25.320 This is an amazing statement.

00:37:28.320 What an amazing thing that God cares about aesthetics.

00:37:32.140 I don't know about you, but I find myself often walking and I look at this tiny little flower

00:37:37.360 and I'll stop and I'll pick it up and I'm like, this is amazing.

00:37:43.440 God doesn't just make frogs, he makes beautiful frogs.

00:37:47.900 God doesn't just make birds, he makes beautiful birds.

00:37:51.540 God doesn't just make hills, he makes beautiful mountains.

00:37:56.900 God actually cares about aesthetics.

00:37:59.120 Why does this matter?

00:38:00.440 Because you should care about aesthetics.

00:38:02.460 In fact, it's why we care about where we worship.

00:38:05.860 It's why we actually want to save for a beautiful church building.

00:38:09.280 It's why we care about our logo or our brand and our website or the clothing that we wear

00:38:13.820 or our bodies and the health in which we have.

00:38:17.020 Aesthetics do have value.

00:38:19.760 They do.

00:38:22.720 It is something very strange

00:38:24.540 to see something that externally is not aesthetically pleasing

00:38:33.180 but internally is.

00:38:36.400 There's a conflict there

00:38:37.340 that we don't like

00:38:38.080 in the human condition.

00:38:39.740 We want things to be beautiful.

00:38:41.880 It is a good thing

00:38:42.940 for beauty.

00:38:48.460 We have the mention of two trees

00:38:49.840 and I'm going to very quickly

00:38:51.280 touch on this

00:38:51.900 so we can get closed up here.

00:38:53.680 We have the tree of life

00:38:54.760 and we have the tree

00:38:55.280 of the knowledge of good and evil.

00:38:56.420 I'm going to give sermons

00:38:57.300 that will have far more

00:38:58.780 information and preaching

00:39:01.340 on these two particular trees

00:39:02.780 Had Adam remained obedient

00:39:05.560 He would have eventually eaten of the tree of life

00:39:09.740 And lived forever

00:39:11.320 We know this to be true because

00:39:13.760 Genesis 3.22 says

00:39:15.560 Then the Lord God said

00:39:16.380 Behold the man has become like one of us

00:39:18.300 Knowing good and evil

00:39:18.980 Now lest he reach out his hand

00:39:20.780 And take also the tree of life

00:39:21.860 And eat and live forever

00:39:22.680 He had not yet eaten of it

00:39:25.800 But had he not sinned

00:39:27.580 He would have gone and eventually eaten of that tree

00:39:29.380 now Christ we know is the true tree of life

00:39:34.740 he is the substance of that reality

00:39:39.140 Revelation 2 7 actually says

00:39:41.140 he who has an ear to hear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches

00:39:44.180 to him who overcomes I will grant them to eat

00:39:49.460 of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God

00:39:53.220 the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not inherently evil

00:39:59.440 It's not like this dark and deadly tree.

00:40:03.160 It's just another tree in the garden.

00:40:06.720 But it was good to not eat from it.

00:40:11.840 And it was evil to eat from it.

00:40:16.020 Now, why is that important?

00:40:17.140 Because it represented God's sovereign ability to determine what is good and evil,

00:40:23.160 what is right and wrong, and what is blessing and cursing.

00:40:29.980 It's not inherently evil.

00:40:32.380 God just says that it was evil for us to eat of it.

00:40:36.920 And lastly, verses 10 through 14, you look at these rivers.

00:40:42.220 And you go, what does this have to do with me?

00:40:44.300 Well, I think the geographical details tell us at least one thing.

00:40:53.780 These are real locations on earth.

00:40:55.880 On this earth.

00:40:57.600 In fact, two of those rivers are still on maps today.

00:41:01.640 And so it's a really wonderful thing to see the beauty of Genesis back up and authenticate reality once again.

00:41:11.780 History matters because origins, understanding the Adam and the Adama,

00:41:19.480 understanding the tree and the garden, understanding the reality and the process of creation,

00:41:26.760 They shape our identity.

00:41:29.380 But more than that, when we see who we are, we see what we need and how we need Christ.

00:41:37.560 Amen?

00:41:38.560 Let's pray.

00:41:39.960 Father, we thank you, Lord, that you have not left us in mystery.

00:41:46.780 Lord, that you have revealed to us the origin story of humanity.

00:41:52.920 Lord we ask that you would give us more clarity

00:41:55.560 that we might understand fully

00:41:58.040 your word

00:41:59.260 that it might benefit us

00:42:02.000 and edify us

00:42:03.800 Lord that you would restore

00:42:06.140 us

00:42:07.140 and Father we pray

00:42:09.000 and we long

00:42:10.400 for our resurrected bodies

00:42:12.640 we pray for the restoration of all things

00:42:16.140 the Adam and the Adama

00:42:18.360 we ask for these things

00:42:20.140 in Jesus name

00:42:20.960 Amen

00:42:22.180 Amen.

00:42:23.180 Amen.

Dale Partridge - September 30, 2025

Genesis 2_4-14 - How Man is Connected to the Ground

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