The Good, The Very Good and The Not So Good – Genesis 2:4-25

And God saw that it was good….And God saw that it was good…. And God saw that it was good…. God saw all that He had made, and it was very good…. Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 1:18, 21, 25, 31, 2:18, CSB).

Seven times in Genesis 1, God observed His creation to be good. In Genesis 1:4 after He had spoken light into existence, God declared it to be good. In vs. 1:10 after separating the water from the land, God called that good. After creating plant life in vs. 1:12 God saw that it was good. In vs. 1:18 after setting the solar system in place and spinning the earth on its axis to create seasons and night and day, God calls that good. In vs. 1:21 after creating animals to populate the water and the air, God determined that to be good. In vs. 1:25 after populating the land with animals and insects, God calls that good as well.

Then, after creating humanity as the capstone of His creation (vs. 1:26–30), God observed all He had made and declared it to be not just good but very good.

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Creation Story, Part 2: Gender Equality – Genesis 1-3

Adam&EveInGardenOfEden2The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18, NIV).

In the Creation Story in Genesis 1 God created man and woman at the same time (Genesis 1:27). Genesis 2 seems to describe a second creation story providing details about human origins. In fact, most of us consider Genesis 2 an elaboration or embellishment of the first creation story, believing it to amplify the description of the sixth day of creation in Genesis 1.

Instead of a replay of the Creation Story described in Genesis 1, perhaps Genesis 2 is a continuation of the Creation Story, possibly the next chapter, in God’s already created order describing the first people God chose to work His redemptive plans and purposes for all of humanity.

Nevertheless, we must not interpret the Creation Story as a scientific explanation of the origin of human beings. We should receive the story for the redemptive message it delivers regardless of how allegorically or literally we believe the message is expressed.

To find a suitable helper for Adam, God had Adam search through all the animals and none were equal to him to become a “suitable helper.”

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The Immortals – Luke 20:27-40

Jesus-angels“Jesus replied, Marriage is for people here on earth. But in the age to come, those worthy of being raised from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage. And they will never die again. In this respect they will be like angels. They are children of God and children of the resurrection” (Luke 20:34-37, NLT).

The Sadducees were a branch of Judaism that did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. To refute the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, they posed an ad absurdum argument to Jesus regarding a woman widowed seven times.

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