God's Design for Life

Genesis 2:1-17


1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.
2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.
5 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.
6 But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.
7 Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
8 The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.
9 Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers.
11 The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
12 The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there.
13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush.
14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 
16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 
17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” 
 New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ge 2:1–17.
This first part of Genesis 2 is an informal retelling of the more formal narrative of Genesis 1. While the purpose of Genesis 1 is to give a technical account of creation, the purpose of Genesis 2 is to set the scene for the larger narrative of the Fall of Man in chapter 3. 

Today, we will see God's design for humanity as recorded in the utopian scene laid out in Genesis 2. Everything was just right in the Garden of Eden. There is a reason the word Eden continues to be synonymous with the concept of perfection. 
1. The Centerpiece of the Story - the Lord God
The creation story demonstrates to us both the kindness of the Lord and His original intention to have a relationship with mankind. Genesis 2:4 marks a sudden shift in the creation story because it introduces the personal name of God, Yahweh. With the exception of the dialogue between Eve and the serpent, Yahweh God is used for the rest of Adam and Eve’s story in Genesis 2-3. The use of Yahweh God throughout the narrative demonstrates God’s desire to have and maintain a personal relationship with man, whom He created in His own image and into whom He breathed the breath of life.
2. The Climate for the Fall - the Garden of Eden
Eden represented the best that God had made, and He made it specifically for His crowning creation - mankind. It was a fertile land, with plenty of water and food. At the center of the garden stood two named trees  - the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. These two stood in contrast of one another, for the first represented the life that God breathed into Adam but the second was the pathway to death. 
3. The Crescendo of God’s Creation - the First Man
Two things are said about the creation of man that stand out from the rest of creation. The first is that God made man in His own image (Genesis 1:26-27), and the second is that God breathed into him the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). The image of God and the breath of God - this is what separates mankind from the animal world. No other creation bears the image of God nor breathes the breath of life. 

Today's Invitation

How has God spoken to you today? Have you honored God with the life that He has given you? Do you use the breath He has given you to glorify Him or to dishonor Him? 

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