The Creator Comes Close

Genesis 2:4-7

 

Christmas Apologetics

At this time of year, we start to hear Christmas music everywhere we go.  We even hear Christmas hymns about Jesus’ birth, like O Holy Night or Away in a Manger, in businesses like Starbucks that aren’t very friendly to the Christian message.

I wonder if this is because many in our culture believe that the Christian message is not fundamentally different from every other message?  Many in our culture believe that God is at the top of a mountain and there are many paths to the top of the mountain, and as long as you do your best on your path, you’ll get to him in the end.  This is the belief that all religions are fundamentally the same, just superficially different.

When people stop and listen to those hymns playing in Starbucks, they’ll realize that there’s something unique about the Christian message.  They’ll realize that Christianity says that the God at the top of the mountain didn’t wait for us to find our way up to him, but rather he came and met us where we are.  God didn’t leave us alone but rather came to us in Jesus.

Every other religion is built on the idea that we have to do something to get to God.  The uniqueness and beauty and mystery and wonder of our message is that the Creator of the cosmos came into his creation, not to destroy it, but to redeem and remake it.  At Christmas, we remember, reflect on, and rejoice in the Creator who’s come close.

Hints of Christmas in Genesis 2

As we continue our study of Genesis chapter 2, we’re going to see hints of Christmas realities in the second chapter of the Bible.  Genesis 1 was focused on God as a transcendent Creator.  Genesis 2 is focused on God as an imminent Creator.  The God of the Bible is both high and holy, and low and accessible.  He’s merciful and mighty.  He’s outside creation and inside creation.  He’s far and near.  He’s to be feared and enjoyed.  He’s Creator and Redeemer.

These realities find their perfect and fullest combined expression in the person of Jesus Christ.  But, as I said, these truths about God’s character show up in the opening chapters of the Bible.

In Genesis 2:4-7, we’re going to see a new name for God (v. 4), an untended earth (vv. 5-6), and a holy moment (v. 7).

The Importance of Genesis 2

First, let’s try to set this text in its context.  Verse 4 starts with, “These are the generations.”  This is a phrase used eleven times in Genesis.  It’s always followed by an account of what happened from the starting point named.  It’s a heading that announces the historical development of the subject mentioned.  It’s like saying, “This is what became of _______.”

Here in verse 4 it’s introducing the account of what happened to “the heavens and the earth,” echoing 1:1.  This section (2:4-4:26) describes what happened to the world that God created.  1:1-2:3 is about God taking chaos and creating a wonderful world.  2:4-4:26 is about a wonderful world devolving into chaos again because of sin.  One commentator says, “This text focuses on human persons as the glory and central problem of creation.”[1]

Chapter 2 isn’t a second creation account, but rather is an expansion of what we’ve already been told in chapter 1.  In chapter 2, Moses double-clicks on 1:26 and expands on it.  Chapter 1 tells us that man was created.  Chapter 2 tells us how.  Chapter 1 is like saying, “There was a parade on the sixth day.”  Chapter 2 then tells us how and in what order the floats passed by.

Chapter 2 is a massively important chapter because it prepares us for what happens in chapters 3-4.  Chapter 1 is about the creation of the universe.  Chapter 2 is about man’s creation.  Chapter 3 is about the entrance of sin.  And chapter 4 is about how sin spreads and expands in the world.  So Chapter 2 serves as the link between creation and corruption.

Without chapter 2, the disaster of chapters 3-4 wouldn’t be seen as the tragic and horrific events that they are.  Here’s how Old Testament scholar Allen Ross puts it, Genesis 2 “provides the necessary introduction to the record of the fall and the resultant curse.  The magnitude of that sin and destruction can be fully understood only when the nature and purpose of humankind is understood.  To know what God had invested in human life and what he had expected of it is to know what was lost at the fall.”[2]

In other words, for the fall of chapter 3 to make sense, we need to understand what we fell from.  Falling off your bed and falling off a cliff are two very different things.  One may injure you.  One will kill you.  We’ll never understand the horrors of sin until we understand the beauty of creation.  This is why the gospel message starts in Genesis 1 and 2, not Genesis 3.  Sin will only make sense within a worldview of an omnipotent God who created us in his image to know him personally.

A New Name for God

2:4 begins with a heading telling us that this section is about what happened with the “heavens and earth” that God created.  And what happened centers on God’s image bearers, in their unique creation and their unthinkable rebellion.

This brings us to the end of verse 4 where we see a new name for God, “the Lord God.”  This is the pairing of two Hebrew names for God, Yahweh and Elohim.  Genesis 1 exclusively uses Elohim.  This name for God highlights his transcendent power and glory, his role as Creator.

But then in verse 4, Moses starts calling God Yahweh Elohim, or “the Lord God.”  Yahweh is the personal name of God.  It’s the name he gives to himself at the burning bush with Moses (Ex. 3:13-15).  His name is linked to his covenant (v. 15).  It’s the name that connects God to his people and his promises.

So when Moses calls God Yahweh Elohim in Genesis 2:4, he’s making a massive theological point.  He’s saying that the transcendent Creator God of Genesis 1 is also the personal redeeming God of the exodus.  He’s saying that the God who creates is also the God who relates.  He’s saying that Israel’s God is both Creator and Redeemer.

Moses uses this name for God twenty times in chapters 2-3.  Interestingly, the only place he doesn’t is 3:2-7, when Satan tempts Adam and Eve.  The god they’re talking about is manipulative, secretive, and malevolent, a character so different from Yahweh Elohim that Moses avoids using this name in their dialogue.

Moses begins this section of the narrative by making it clear that the one true and living God is both transcendent and personal.  He’s Creator and Redeemer, Mighty and Merciful, Lord and Savior.

The God of the Bible is Yahweh Elohim.  His image-bearers were made to rule his world and relate to him as sons and daughters.  He made us to rule for him and to walk with him.  He created us to rule and to relate.

A Covenant at Creation

The nature of this relationship is often expressed in terms of a covenant.  A covenant in the Bible is a relationship between two parties that involves “permanent and serious commitments of faithful, loyal love, obedience, and trust.”[3]  A marriage is often referred to as a covenant relationship because two parties make binding promises to each other.  A covenant isn’t a business contract, but a relationship with blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.

Many scholars believe that, though a covenant isn’t explicitly mentioned in Genesis 1-2, God enters into a covenant relationship with Adam and Eve upon their creation.  Following Professor Tom Schreiner, let me give you several of the reasons why many believe that there’s a “covenant of creation” in the early chapters of Genesis.  First, the word “covenant” doesn’t have to be present for a covenant to exist.  God enters into a covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7, but the language of “covenant” isn’t used.  Second, Hosea 6:7 seems to say that there was a covenant with Adam.  It says, “But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.”  Third, the elements needed for a covenant are present at creation: two parties, God and Adam/Eve, and there are requirements to keep.  Fourth, in Genesis 6:18, God says that he will “establish” his covenant with Noah.  This language of “establishing a covenant” is used when a covenant is being renewed, not created.  So God’s covenant with Noah is a renewal of his covenant with Adam and Eve at creation.[4]

Why does all this matter?  If God did enter into a covenant with Adam and Eve in the Garden, then it gives us yet more reason to believe that the transcendent God of Genesis 1 is also a personal God who wants to be in relationship with the people he made.  We can get there without a covenant at creation, but this covenant further solidifies what I’m trying to say is the main point of Genesis 2, namely, that the transcendent God is also a personal God.  He’s Yahweh Elohim, the Creator and Covenant-making God, the God who creates and relates.

Why Prayer is So Amazing

The God we approach in prayer as individuals and as a church is the God who created the universe, and he’s a God who wants to hear from us.  He enjoys listening to and responding to his people’s cries for help.  David says, “In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me” (Ps. 86:7).  In prayer, God invites us to talk to him.  And in prayer, we can take our praises and petitions, our confessions and laments, our joys and complaints, to the God who created everything and calls us friend.

An Untended Earth

In Genesis 2:5-6, we move to Moses’ description of the earth when man was made.  The picture here is of an untended earth.  These verses describe the land when God formed Adam.  The “noes” in verse 5 tell us why it was untended: no bush, no small plant, no rain, no man to work the ground.  The earth needed man to come and rule it, subdue it, and cultivate it.  The picture is of the world waiting on the arrival of man.

This verse reminds us of 1:2.  When God created the earth, it wasn’t initially a hospitable place.  The plants and animals needed to be cultivated.  There wasn’t any rain.  Verse 6 says that a “mist,” or “spring,” was watering the face of the earth.  It reminds us of the watery wasteland of 1:2.

The earth, in a sense, needed man to bring order and shape to it.  Yes, God created it all, yet he designed man to bring what he started to completion.  As one scholar says, “If plant life is to grow in this garden, it will be due to a joint operation.  God will do his part and man will expedite his responsibilities.  Rain is not sufficient.  Tillage is not sufficient.  God is not a tiller of the soil and man is not a sender of rain.  But the presence of one being without the other guarantees the perpetuation of desertlike conditions.”[5]

In other words, for things to work right in God’s world, man has to show up and do what he’s supposed to do.  This is so instructive for us!  Those with a high view of God’s sovereignty can sometimes minimize man’s responsibility.  Yes, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Ps. 127:1).  But the Lord won’t build if we didn’t bring the materials.

In the context of the church, this means that we must be faithful to preach and teach his word because his church won’t be built on anything less or anything more.  We must devote ourselves to prayer because God moves through the prayers of his people.  We must love one another and serve one another, or we won’t grow into the image of Christ.  We must share the gospel with the lost or they won’t be saved.  We must give generously to the church so that the ministry of the church can be propelled forward.  We must show up to church or we’ll never be ministered to or minster to others.  We must worship with God’s people, or our hearts will grow cold, and our faith will weaken, and doubts will grow.  We must practice meaningful membership and church discipline, or the church will start to look like the world.  We must apply ourselves to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord or we’ll stay like infants in the Lord instead of growing into strong and mature adults.

Only God can send the rain.  But if his rain falls on a field that hasn’t been cleared and cultivated and planted, nothing will grow.  It’s presumptuous to want God to do great things in your life, your family, your church, your school, or your office while you sit on your spiritual tush and do nothing.  God designed his world to flourish through men and women who “work the ground.”  The Creator created us to create something out of his creation.

A Holy Moment

This brings us to verse 7, one of the most intimate scenes in the Bible.  The God who spoke galaxies into existence stoops down and forms and fashions man out of the ground, like a potter skillfully working the clay, then he gently breathes his breath into him, animating him and bringing him into conscious awareness of who he is.

It says that the Lord God “formed” man from the dust.  This word “formed” tells us that man was carefully designed and that there was intentionality in what God was doing.  The same word is used later in Genesis 6:5 to refer to the “intentions” of man’s heart.  There was intention and purpose in what God was doing.  God’s creative hands – not blind biological reactions and natural selection over millions of years, fashioned and shaped and molded man.

 

Yes, the text says that man was made from the earth, or “of dust from the ground.”  Man is a creature made up of common chemicals with everything else.  Man (Hebrew adam) is made from the dust of the ground (Hebrew adama), so the “dust of the earth” is imbedded in his name – it’s part of who he is.  As one commentator says, “Dust is the womb from which man emerges and the receptacle to which one day he will return (3:19).  It defines the beginning and end of his life.”[6]

We’re raised from the dust to reign over the earth.  We should rejoice and be thankful that we have a dignity that other creatures don’t have, but we should also be humbled when we remember that we’re from the dirt.  John Calvin says, “The body of Adam is formed of clay and destitute of sense; to that end no one should exult beyond measure in his flesh.  He must be excessively stupid who does not here learn humility.”[7]  We must never forget who we are or what we are.  We reflect God himself, and we’re made out of dust.  So next time you’re at the gym standing in front of the mirror and boasting in how great your body looks, remind yourself that you’re made out of dirt.  God made us in a way that creates amazement and humility.

It says that God breathed “the breath of life” into the man’s nostrils.  1:30 says that the creatures of the earth also have the “breath of life,” so some suggest that mankind is fundamentally the same as the animals.  Yes, animals and humans are living and breathing beings.  But the way we arrived there is very different.  Verse 7 says that God himself breathed into us the “breath of life.”  It’s this act that makes us the image of God.  It’s what gives us a soul.  It’s where our capacity to hear God’s word, to create, to think logically, to know right from wrong, and to have complex emotions come from.  We’re not less than dust, but we are so much more.  We’re given breath by God himself.

This word “breathed” paints a deeply intimate, warm, and personal picture of this scene.  The Lord God, who’d just used his mouth to speak the universe into existence, now stoops down and gets face to face with this lump of dust.  He uses the same mouth that created galaxies to breathe life into man.  This was a holy moment.  The Creator came close to his creation.

This reminded me of how I spoke to my children when they were babies compared to how I speak to everyone else.  I would get down on the ground, lay beside them, and speak to them gently and tenderly.  The same voice I use to preach God’s word I used to speak to my babies.  In the same way, the creation of man is a picture of how a holy God stoops down and speaks words of life to clay vessels.

A Pattern of Self-Giving Love

God created us through giving of himself.  The way Yahweh Elohim created man foreshadows how he will later create his bride, the church.  On the cross, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).

After his resurrection, Jesus gives his Spirit to his disciples in a way that reminds of us Genesis 2:7.  When he meets them in the upper room, he says, “‘Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’  And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (Jn. 20:21-22).

Jesus breathes his presence into his people, eternally uniting them with himself and empowering them for their mission in the world.  This pattern of creating his people through self-giving love goes all the way back to Genesis 2:7, when God raised Adam out of the dust by his breath.  God creates his people by giving himself to them.  What grace!

Created in Adam, Raised in Christ

Interestingly, Paul quotes Genesis 2:7 in 1 Corinthians 15 to tell us that God will one day give us a resurrection body like Christ (vv. 42-49).  Paul’s argument is simple: Just as the natural preceded the spiritual in God’s creation of Adam, so also there’s a spiritual body represented by Christ that comes after the natural body represented by Adam.  All those who’re united to “the man of heaven” are “of heaven.”  And, “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (v. 49).

In other words, just as we’ve been like Adam, we’ll be like the second Adam, Jesus Christ.  The natural precedes the spiritual.  And if the natural is true, then the spiritual will follow.  Those who’re created like Adam will be raised like Christ.

This is the promise for everyone who turns from their sins and puts all their hope in Jesus, those who believe that God is Yahweh Elohim, Creator and Redeemer, those who know that only he can save them and that they must put their faith in him in order to be saved, and those who treasure a relationship with him above everything else.

[1]Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, Interpretation (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982), 40

[2]Allen P. Ross, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1998), 117.

[3]Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum, Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants, 2nd ed. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 165.

[4]Thomas R. Schreiner, Covenant and God’s Purpose for the World, Short Studies in Biblical Theology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 20-3.

[5]Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), 153-4.

[6]Ibid., 158.

[7]Quoted in R. Kent Hughes, Genesis: Beginning and Blessing, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2004), 52.