Monday, August 11, 2014

GENESIS: Man's Responsibilities from the Beginning: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it; animals brought to Adam to see what he would call them; and the Lord God made a helper comparable to him!"

The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. (Genesis 2:8) Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. (Genesis 2:15) 

If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. (II Thessalonians 3:10)
This was true from the beginning, even in the Garden of Eden!  Everything man wanted was there for him, but he still was given the responsibility
 to tend and keep it. Tend means to maintain, take care of, nurture, cultivate, manage. The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men. (Psalm 115:16)

We are supposed to take care of God's creation. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:27-28)

Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. (Genesis 2:19-20)

Just as the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, He also formed every animal from the dust of the ground. “Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.” For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust. Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?" (Ecclesiastes 3:18-21)

Man has no advantage over animals, in that both will experience death and their flesh will return to dust.  But man does have the advantage of God saying,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 the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26) Just as God said, and it was so, He has given us that same power.  Animals are under man's dominion, not the other way around.  The Lord God gave man the responsibility to name the animals and to take care of them, just like he was supposed to tend and keep the Garden.

Yet, the animals are not a helper comparable to man. Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion. (Leviticus 18:23) Humans are not to mate with or lie with animals.  That should be obvious, but obviously not because God had to include it in the commandments later, along with other sexual morality laws.

And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” (Genesis 2:18) And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. (Genesis 2:21-22)

The Lord God said, “I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Not a helper just like him, but comparable to him. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. (Leviticus 18:22) If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. (Leviticus 20:13)  God made a helper for man, who was opposite of him, but complimented him.  They "fit" each other, and through their natural union, they are able to  fulfill God's commandment, ...male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it;... (Genesis 1:27-28)

And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:23-25)

This is God's definition of marriage, and the definition did not change after Christ came to the earth and later died, resurrected and ascended back to the Father.  He Himself said, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6; Mark 10:6-9)

Of all that God created, man is the most like Him; we are to work, to take care of and have dominion over God's creation. We are also to have a relationship with a helper comparable to us. Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. (Hebrews 13:4)  As the Apostle Paul said, It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. (I Corinthians 7:1-2) This is the Word of God! AMEN!

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