Growintheword's Blog

Synopsis of Bible Study 11/02/16

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

1. Introduction:

1. First of all, Genesis means birth or new beginning. One thing that we notice in the book of Genesis is a lot of genealogies.
2. During time period at which the book of Genesis was written, there are stories told about how creation began. What we need to know is: At the same time the stories in Genesis were going on, there were others (not of Christian faith) who believed and shared stories about how creation began another way. So while our story of our beginnings was told, there were other stories going on at the same time.
3. Our story about our creation is told from a monotheistic point of view. Monotheistic means the belief in one God and that is the true and living God. The other stories of our creation come from a polytheistic point of view which means the belief of many gods.
4. Before we go any further, you have to know that though the polytheistic version of creation may seem very strange to you, know that they view our version as being just as strange to them.

1. Ancient Eastern Creation Stories
2. Enuma Elish

1. Enuma Elish, also known as The Seven Tablets of Creation and it is about the Babylonian Epic of Creation.
2. Below is short synopsis of the story:

This story, one of the oldest (if not the oldest in the world) tells about the birth of the gods and the creation of the universe and human beings. In the beginning there was only undifferentiated water swirling in chaos. Out of this swirl, the waters divided into sweet, fresh water, known as the god Apsu, and salty bitter water, the goddess Tiamat. Once differentiated, the union of these two entities gave birth to the younger gods.

These young gods, however, were extremely loud, troubling the sleep of Apsu at night and distracting him from his work by day. Upon the advice of his Vizier, Mummu, Apsu decides to kill the younger gods. Tiamat, hearing of their plan, warns her eldest son, Enki (sometimes Ea) and he puts Apsu to sleep and kills him. From Apsu’s remains, Enki creates his home. Tiamat, once the supporter of the younger gods, now is enraged that they have killed her mate. She consults with the god, Quingu, who advises her to make war on the younger gods. Tiamat rewards Quingu with the Tablets of Destiny, which legitimize the rule of a god and control the fates, and he wears them proudly as a breastplate. With Quingu as her champion, Tiamat summons the forces of chaos and creates eleven horrible monsters to destroy her children.

Ea, Enki, and the younger gods fight against Tiamat futilely until, from among them, emerges the champion Marduk who swears he will defeat Tiamat. He goes to battle with her armed with a bow, lighting bolt, and a net full of wind. They went to war and he spread his net and made it encircle her. He dispatched an evil wind behind him. She opened her mouth and he force the wind inside of her. She blew up like a ballon and Marduk defeats Quingu and kills Tiamat by shooting her with an arrow which splits her in two.From her eyes flow the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Out of Tiamat’s corpse, Marduk creates the heavens and the earth, he appoints gods to various duties and binds Tiamat’s eleven creatures to his feet as trophies (to much adulation from the other gods) before setting their images in his new home. He also takes the Tablets of Destiny from Quingu, thus legitimizing his reign.

After the gods have finished praising him for his great victory and the art of his creation, Marduk consults with the god Ea (the god of wisdom) and decides to create human beings from the remains of whichever of the gods instigated Tiamat to war. Quingu is charged as guilty and killed and, from his blood, Ea creates Lullu, the first man, to be a helper to the gods in their eternal task of maintaining order and keeping chaos at bay. As the poem phrases it, “Ea created mankind/On whom he imposed the service of the gods, and set the gods free.” Following this, Marduk “arranged the organization of the netherworld” and distributed the gods to their appointed stations. The poem ends in Tablet VII with long praise of Marduk for his accomplishments.

The Enuma Elish was read and recited widely throughout Mesopotamia but was especially important at the New Year Festival in Babylon. During this festival the statue of Marduk would be taken from the temple and, amidst the revelers, be paraded through the streets of the city, out the gates, to `vacation’ in a small house built for this purpose. The Enuma Elish, especially, it is thought, the praise from Tablet VII, would be sung or chanted during this procession.

1. Similarities between Ancient Texts and Genesis

1. Genesis 1:1 (NKJV) The History of Creation 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. – The first question that we have to ask is: In the beginning who was present? It was God.
2. Where was God when the beginning began? Genesis 1:2 (NKJV) says2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was[a] on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.  – Notice the waters mentioned in the scripture. Both stories (both from ancient text and Genesis) deal with water. The word that they translated into the English word meaning “deep” is the same word used for the goddess Tiamet.
3. Also, the planet earth mentioned in the scripture, didn’t look like how we see it today. The earth was void and without form.
4. What is heaven mentioned in verse 1? You have to examine the meaning of what heaven is.
   1. There are 3 heavens:
   2. First you have the 1^st heaven which is the area where the birds fly.
   3. Secondly, you have the heavens where the stars and the constellation reside (sort of like outer space).
   4. Thirdly, you have heaven as in where we believe God’s throne is.
5. Knowing this about the heavens suggests that when God created the heavens mentioned in verse 1, it was talking about space. Remember the earth was void (nothingness) and without form. God created space.
6. The Spirit of God went hovering over the face of the water. Where does water come from and what does it represent? There was chaos on earth and God brought order into chaos. Everything was everywhere in chaos and disorder and Gods spirit hovered over the face of water and created order.

• The Beginning According to Genesis

1. The First account of creation (Gen 1-2:4a)

1. All these things happen in six days according to the bible. Genesis 1:26 (NKJV) 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[a] the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”- On the 6^th day, God said let us make man in our own image. Now remember, Genesis is rooted in monotheism. The reasons other faiths had all kinds of gods was because their view was from a polytheistic perspective.  An interesting thing to note is when you write God’s name in lowercase, you are making reference to polytheism. Notice in this scripture, God is capitalized.
2. If this is a monotheistic creation, what is meant by the word “Us” when scripture says “Let us make man in Our own image? Additionally, If there is one God, why does the scripture use the words Us and Our? Genesis 1:27 (NKJV) 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. – We have now an insight of the triune nature of God. It was God who existed before creation. There is creation, here is God. It is God who navigates or initiates the creative act. His spirit moves over the face of the water.
3. God’s word created something out of nothing. God created man in his image. This means the image in which God created you contains attributes of God (within you). For example:
   1. Dominion is the Father and so dominion is inside of you. Authority is within the Father so authority is inside of you. Therefore, within you there is authority and dominion.
   2. The Holy Spirit brings order where there is chaos. In 1 Corinthians 14:40 (NKJV) ⁴⁰ Let all things be done decently and in order.- He says bring everything in order.
   3. The Word creates stuff. This is why the power of life and death is in the tongue. With the attributes God made within us when he made us in his image, we ought to have enough faith to reign, the ability to bring order in chaos, and the power to speak those things though they be not, as though they were. He put all of this inside of us. This is what God looks like. He rules, He reigns, and He makes stuff happen, when He opens his mouth.
4. The bible says God made man on the 6th day. There is a lot happening in the world other than what we read in the bible.
   1. One question that comes up is, “If all this happened, what about the dinosaurs?” Is this true? The dinosaurs did exist. There are fossils that serve as proof and evidence of this.
   2. So the question then becomes, did God create us in 6 days? In order to understand this, we must first realize that creation, has a different perspective than the creator. The creation is tied to time. Even if the created is trying to tell a story of what happened, he or she has to compare it using time as a frame of reference. The creator doesn’t use the context of time, because he existed before time began. When the beginning of time began, there was no concept of time. Time came in with sin in the garden. Remember, Adam and Eve were supposed to live forever.
   3. When God created the world, he did it from the perspective of eternity. After sin entered the world, that’s when time started. In the garden, Adam and Eve were created to live forever. When they sinned, God said they would surely die. They didn’t die that day, but they started to die. Every day after you are born and every day you live, you are walking towards death. Death is a direct result of sin. When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree, they allowed sin to enter into this world. That sin caused us to be punished by having to die instead of living forever. Because God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, so that we would have everlasting life and as a result, if I die and I am in Christ, I will go back to my original state of living eternally.
   4. One of the disciples said that Jesus was the son of the living God. That disciples name was Peter. This same disciple wrote in 2 Peter 3:8 (NKJV) ⁸ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. – After observing this issue, we have to realize that it is slightly possible that creation didn’t take place in 6 calendar days, but could have been God’s perspective on one day being as a thousand years to us.

1. The second creation story.
   1. Genesis 1:26-27 (NKJV) 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^[a] 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. – Notice the scripture says, male and female he created them. The first Adam was both male and female.
   2. Genesis 2:7 (NKJV) says ⁷ And 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.- God created us from dust. He later took a rib from Adam and formed woman. The first marriage, God created man and woman at same time. Both the male and female male attributes were placed inside the man. On the second marriage, God took a rib from Adam and made woman (called Eve). Just to be clear, God made Adam and put the spirit of the woman in him that was going to be his wife. When he took the rib out, Adam recognized her, because he had been carrying her in his spirit (inside of him) the whole time (up until God separated them).
2. The fall of humanity

1. The command. Genesis 2:17 (NKJV) says  ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”- These were rules that God made for the garden. The conflict only come in after Satan came in.

1. Where did Satan come from? God created Satan. He was made to worship God, just like the other angels.
2. Where did God create him? In the third heaven, where believe God’s throne resides. There are cherubim around the throne that tend to God. All there is praise and adoration for He that sits on the throne. Ezekiel prophesies what happens to Satan.
3. Lucifer who later came to be know Satan, was an angel that God created that was perfect and beautiful. Ezekiel 28:11-12(NKJV) ¹¹ Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹² “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
4. When God made Lucifer, in his intestines, was music. He had timbrels and pipes inside of him. He was the chief musician in heaven. Ezekiel 28:13 (NKJV) says ¹³ You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created.
5. He was with God in the third heaven. Ezekiel 28:14 (NKJV) ¹⁴ “You were the anointed cherub who covers;
   I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
6. Satin sinned and God cast him out. God took his authority, because of what Lucifer did. Because Lucifer was filled with pride, God cast him out. Ezekiel 28:15-16 (NKJV) ¹⁵ You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. ¹⁶ “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones.
7. The prophet says he saw Satan fall from heaven. Isaiah 14:12 (NKJV) The Fall of Lucifer ¹² “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,^[a] son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! He says the dragon took a third of the stars (angels) with him.
8. What we discover is that Satan got to Eve. He came to her as a serpent with legs. Satan tried to change the consequences by saying God didn’t mean it what he said about the forbidden tree. Satan tempted Eve.
9. Satan was punished. Genesis 3:14 (NKJV) says ¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.-
   1. God punished Satan by putting him on his belly.
10. Woman punishment – From that point on, she would bear children in pain. Also man would be over the woman as punishment. They would no longer be equal. Genesis 3:16 (NKJV) ¹⁶ To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”
    1. Man’s punishment – God says from now on he man would have to work hard and sweat and now you going to die. Genesis 3:18 (NKJV) ¹⁸ Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.- they were suppose d to live forever and the devil tricked them over a piece. They gave everything up for piece.
11. Life after garden

1. Birth of Cain and Abel

1. Cain killed Abel because he was jealous of his offering. Genesis 4:15 (NKJV) ¹⁵ And the Lord said to him, “Therefore,^[a] whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.- Cain asked God to cover him, even though he had been ordered to leave the land, after killing his brother Abel. God put a mark on him so that others would not try and kill him.
2. Cain settled in the land of Nod. Genesis 4:16 – 17 (NKJV) ¹⁶ Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. ¹⁷ And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch. – One question that arises from this is, “Where did Cain get his wife?”
3. Where did Cain’s wife come from? Some people say that Adam and Eve had other children. Some say there is no information about things that happened after Cain killed Abel. We don’t really know. Cain’s marriage could have been more than 50yrs down the road. We simply don’t know for sure.
   1. Adam and Eve could have had many sons and daughters. This would satisfy another theory bout concerning where Cain’s wife came from. Some say his wife could have actually been one of his sisters. The truth is we really don’t know.
      1. Seth was another son of Adam and Eve. Genesis 4:25 (NKJV) says ²⁵ And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” – God appointed another seed for Adam. He was the redemption for Adam and Eve. As a result, Adam had a son named Seth when he was 130 yrs old.
   2. The geology of this is found in 1 Chronicles 1:1-7 (NKJV) The Family of Adam—Seth to Abraham 1 Adam, Seth, Enosh, ² Cainan,^[a] Mahalalel, Jared, ³ Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, ⁴ Noah,^[b] Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ⁵ The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ⁶ The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Diphath,^[c] and Togarmah. ⁷ The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshishah,^[d] Kittim, and Rodanim.^[e– Adam fathered sons and daughters after Cain and Abel. In fact, Adam was 930 yrs old when he died. Remember, in the garden, they were in a perfect environment. The garden was setup for a creation that was supposed to live forever.
4. God saw something was going on. God saw men and women intermingling with fallen angels (otherwise called demons). God saw this wickedness and decided that he was going to destroy his whole creation. Genesis 6:1-8 (NKJV) says The Wickedness and Judgment of Man 6 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, ² that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. ³ And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive^[a] with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” ⁴ There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. ⁵ Then the Lord^[b] saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.- God was going to destroy everything, but he found grace in Noah. God saw one that was worth saving and so he gave us all another chance.