Gods Unending Love
Part One
Early in my pastoral service a young boy came to me after the morning sermon and asked; why does it take a preacher forty five minutes to say what God says in one verse? The message that morning was on John 3:16. John 3:16 is possibly the most quoted verse in the New Testament and often misunderstood.
This verse opens with the words, "For God so loved the world". When I first read this verse as an unsaved person I read; "For God so loves the world". It wasn't until sometime later that I realized the mistake I had made in reading this verse.
As we study the account of God's creation in the book of Genesis we find that God did indeed love the world that He created.
Genesis 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:26-31 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 the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 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." And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. "Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
In our study of this chapter of the book of Genesis we learn that God truly loved the world that He created.
God created man and woman in His image. The image of the sinless, perfect, all powerful, creating, sustaining, eternal God of the universe and made him overseer of all that He had created. Then God created an environment especially tailored for man to inhabit.
Genesis 2:8-9 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Clearly God loved the world that He created.
Genesis 2:15-17 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; "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."
Clearly Gods purpose was for the man and woman that He had created in His image to propagate and fill the earth the earth with offspring that would replicate the image of God who had created them.
Genesis 1:28 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."
God's one restriction on man was that "he should not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil".
Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; "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." The result of violating this restriction would be the loss of the life that God had breathed to the lungs of Adam giving him life and making him a living soul.
Genesis 2:7 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 soul.
The fall of mankind.
Mans violation of God's one resriction.
Genesis 3:1-7 Now the serpent (He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. Revelation 20:2)
was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' " And the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. (The Devil understood that they would not die physical, But God was referring to the Spiritual life that He had breathed into them. Genesis 2:7) "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
God appears to confront and pronounce judgment on the tempter and the violators.
Genesis 3:8-19 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." And the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." 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. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." 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." Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; (For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. Romans 8:19) in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return."
God so loved the world that He Originally created but the world that we live in is no t that world. That world was hijacked by the devil and Adam and Eve were willing participants in the process.
The created world order, the environment of human life, is not perfect as it was created (Genesis 1). It is a frustrated order cursed because of human sin (Gen 3). God's ultimate salvation includes hope for the created order. What we refer to as natural evil will one day vanish. Storms and catastrophes will no longer threaten us. Pain and laborious work seeking to make the earth fertile will cease. The enmity between the human and animal world will vanish. Romans 8:20
In part two of this study we will explore the devastating result of the defection and dismissal of God's command by Adam and Evehe defection and dismissal of God's command by Adam and Eve.
