Are Adam and Eve Real?

Father, you know how often we censor ourselves, that we just don't speak because we are afraid of being laughed at.

We're afraid of being thought not smart. We're afraid, Father, of just being lower in people's opinion.

And Father, you see into our hearts, and you know how powerful that is.

Some of us very powerful, some of us maybe not very powerful, but you see us.

Father, do a work in our lives. Help us, Father, to have a confidence and a security that is based on the gospel,

on what Jesus did for us on the cross. Help us to have an unashamedness about your word.

And this we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen. Please be seated.

So there's an elephant in the room. Ken read very well that famous story of God creating Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

And the elephant in the room is whether or not the story is true, or at least in what sense the story is true.

A fair number of people are relatively comfortable with the idea that the story is, well, just a story.

It's like a myth. It's like a story that gives us some insight about how things work.

But the really big problem with a story that just gives us insight is that we all know that in life often we have to choose between stories whenever it fits.

I mean, you know, there's two sayings. It's not a story, but you could make a story to illustrate either of them.

You know, we all are familiar with the story, too many cooks, or the saying, too many cooks spoil the broth.

On the other hand, we say, many hands make light work.

You know, so when is it that you have too many people, and when is it that you need more people, right?

And we sort of just choose.

And so, you know, if the Adam and Eve story is just a story, but, you know, we know it's not true.

It's not, like, real.

It's not true like it's true that Sir John A. Macdonald was the first prime minister of Canada.

Then, you know, it's just very comfortable and very easy in our culture when we have different things come our ways

that we can just say, well, okay, for this instance, we'll use this story, and in this instance, we'll do, you know, another story.

And it's also very, very easy, especially in our day and age, to say, you know, this story probably came from people.

I mean, I had one.

I know somebody who thinks it comes from the Stone Age, but it comes from the Bronze Age.

It probably has roots way, way, way earlier than the Bronze Age.

And so it's very easy just to dismiss it.

So there's a bit of an elephant in the room.

Here I am up front on my hind legs, and I'm going to talk about this story.

And I am very, very conscious of what people are taught.

I was taught in high school and what's taught in university.

And so is the story of Adam and Eve true?

Are they real?

I'm going to tell you that they're real.

And by that, I mean they're just as real as I am real or any one of you are real.

That I think that's what the story teaches.

Now, some of you are having a yikes moment.

Some of you are having a hallelujah moment that there's actually somebody willing to stand up in Ottawa in 2017

in the best educated city in the country and say something like that.

And a lot of you are having an oh no, oh my moment when I say that I believe that the story of Adam and Eve is true.

That it's obviously written with some artistic and other symbolic types of aspects being highlighted in the story.

But I believe that Adam and Eve are real and true, just as real and true as you and I are.

So some of you, as I said, are going, yikes.

And so first we need to try to unpack this big claim, which I think is just what the Bible's teaching here.

So a couple of weeks ago, or a month or two ago, I had a conversation in a coffee shop.

And in it, there's a fellow who came to me.

And he's a guy who's talked to me quite a few times.

And he gave me this one piece of paper to read.

And he said, George, you've got to read this.

This will make you lose your faith.

It'll blow your mind.

It'll keep you awake at night.

But it's all for your good.

So it was a copy of a review in the New York Times review of books.

And it was by some scientist type.

The review was also written by a scientist of some scientific book.

And the book claims to have shown or proved how religious belief and religious thought can all be explained by the process of evolution.

That's basically how I'd summarize the whole page.

In fact, when I said this to my friend, he said, yeah, no, you've summarized it exactly right.

This scientist has shown how evolution proves that religious thought and religious beliefs are just a product of the evolutionary process.

And so I gave the paper back to him.

And I said to him, my friend, that I have an easy way of dealing with this question.

But this should keep you awake at night.

And this completely and utterly rocks your worldview and destroys your thinking.

And he looked at me and said, no, it doesn't.

And I said, here's the thing.

You can't have it two ways.

You can't have an evolutionary theory that only accounts for religious thoughts.

If you have an evolutionary theory that forms and creates how we think, it does it for all thinking.

Now, I have a very, very simple and powerful explanation as to why that's completely wrong.

But you, you're an atheist.

You believe in evolution.

This article is telling you that your thoughts, you have no freedom in them.

You haven't really thought them.

They're completely and utterly controlled.

And he looked at me and changed the topic.

Which is, by the way, often what he does when he thinks he's got me.

And I, by God's grace, have some type of a reply.

So, you see, here's the thing.

It's a very, very important thing when we think.

And it's very easy because, you know, in our culture, people like me are in an unbelievable minority.

And there's a huge cultural consensus.

And when there's a huge cultural consensus, it means that often in a huge cultural consensus, people don't have to think about what they're saying.

Because, well, I mean, why do I have to think about what I'm saying?

Is my high school science teachers think this?

The university professors think this?

The CBC thinks it?

The Supreme Court of Canada thinks it?

You know, people who run museums and all they think it.

So, you know, I don't really have to think about what's being said.

But the fact of the matter is, is that ideas always, and scientific knowledge, always has to be dealt with, like, by everybody.

It's not just that these claims have to only be dealt with by Christians.

You see, in effect, what happens is that there's a little bit of a sleight of hand or a distraction where a scientific, this idea that's taught in a high school and university about evolution, that it's just sort of stated.

But there's never any type of discussion as to whether there's, in fact, very, very, very profound problems or very, very troubling and counterintuitive and maybe foolish ideas at the heart of it.

It's just sort of maintained in the culture.

But everything has to be dealt with by...

It's not just that Christians have to deal with something.

Everybody has to deal with particular things that arise in terms of knowledge.

So here's the thing.

I've said this to you before, but if you could put up...

Actually, the first one I didn't put up.

Could you put up the first one, Andrew?

This is the shocking thing that's proved that I am an ignorant hick and don't know anything.

Adam and Eve were real people, and their story told in Genesis is important to believe.

Trust and think upon.

That's sort of my big claim.

I think that's what the Bible's teaching, that Adam and Eve were real people, and their story told in Genesis is important to believe, trust, and think upon.

If you could put up the next thing, Andrew.

So here's the thing.

And, you know, I've said this a couple of times.

In fact, you're probably getting a bit bored of it, but it's a really, really, really, really big thing to get our minds around.

And once we start to get our minds around this, it takes a whole pressure off of us.

It allows us to have very different conversations and to start to read the Bible with greater confidence.

You see, there's a basic choice that is before us.

And the choice is that matter, pure chance, and cause and effect accounts for life and the intricate, fine-tuned universe.

Or God designed and created life and the intricate, fine-tuned universe.

That's the basic choice.

And, in fact, as I've tried to talk about over the last few, you know, the origin of the species was written 159 years ago.

So what we call of is the theory of evolution.

Now they call it neo-Darwinian because there's been some changes to it.

But this is the fundamental insight that we just know so much more about the world and about the universe

and about the chemical basis of life than was known 159 years ago.

And the more you know about the chemical basis of life, the things which have to be there,

it's not as if life can be created and then the earth has to be spinning at the right speed,

on the right axis, at the right distance from the sun, which has to be the right size for the distance.

If that isn't all right, then life can't happen.

If the chemical basis that life has to emerge from, if that doesn't happen, then life can't emerge.

And that intricacy has to happen purely and utterly by chance.

Natural selection can't touch it.

It has to happen purely and utterly by chance.

And it even gets harder.

And this is the thing which touched on my friend.

I almost said his name by accident.

But my friend who gave me this thing to rock his world.

If you could put up the next version of this same choice, Andrew.

Matter, pure chance and cause and effect.

That, and that's what you're, behind whatever you're taught,

they rarely come out and articulate it so clearly in high school and university.

Sometimes they do.

But then they'll articulate that and then they'll just move on

without just pausing for a second about the momentous claim.

But matter, pure chance and cause and effect accounts for the existence of right and wrong.

It has to account for human dignity, human worth, human freedom, meaning in life.

It has to account for the existence of love.

It has to account for how our minds know.

Or, God designing and creating all things accounts for right and wrong,

for human dignity and human freedom and human worth,

for love, for meaning, for beauty, for creativity,

and how our minds know.

Like, you just look at that thing here for a second.

Look at that first choice, which is what you are, in effect, taught

and how it's basically taught.

And see, people are so much better than their thinking.

And people often will talk about evolution and then they'll just sort of,

you know, like there's a place I pass,

and I think it's called evolutionary physiotherapy.

And I think, oh, so it's a physiotherapy that encourages the strong to eat the weak.

No, that's not their intent.

They believe that it somehow makes, like it's progress,

that it's some type of always getting better.

Evolution doesn't mean that.

It just means given a certain set of circumstances,

something survives and something doesn't.

Different circumstances later on might mean the other thing happens.

It doesn't mean they're better.

It just means one happens to survive the circumstances.

It has nothing to do with better.

You add better, that's contradictory to the thought.

But you just look at that first choice,

that matter, pure chance and cause and effect.

If that causes everything and accounts for everything,

how on earth can I actually love?

And how can I trust that my mind actually knows something?

That if everything that's going on in my mind

is just purely a result of cause and effect

and of chemicals and of processes of stimuli that affect the chemicals,

like why should I even think that thinking is true?

Like there has to be something outside of cause and effect

that's both in it but sort of outside of it

that transcends it in some way for me to have freedom.

And if in fact there just is this cause and effect,

you know, there really is fundamentally no difference in worth

than my poop or me.

And that's the big claim that's made.

And it's hidden that there's this fundamental choice.

And as I've said over and over and over again,

nobody really believes the first choice,

not when it comes to things that matter.

I'll tell a different version.

This is the third week I've told a version of this.

Just imagine for a second that there's a young man

and he's decided he wants to ask Alice to marry him.

And he knows that Alice loves to go for a walk in the woods.

Just, you know, a little bit, you know,

short drive from where she lives.

There's this beautiful walk she likes to go on.

And he knows that she loves this walk

and she loves creativity and she loves nature

and she loves crafts.

So he thinks, you know what I'm going to do?

I'm going to need some help,

but I know there's this one spot

and there's this nice sort of a bit of a slope.

And I think what I'm going to do

is I'm going to get up really early one morning.

I'm going to get Buddy to help me.

And we're going to go

and we're going to collect ground wood from the ground.

And we're going to use the wood from the ground

to spell Alice, will you marry me?

And we'll even plant it, make it so that,

you know, there's this beautiful little cluster of flowers

in a couple of places.

And I think we can just place it in such a way

that the little group of flowers

are like the periods on the eye.

Aww.

And so I'm just going to go for,

I'll get it all set up early in the morning.

I'll go get Alice and then I'll say,

you know, we'll arrange before

that we're going to go for a walk

and we'll walk hand in hand along the path

and we'll come around the corner

and she'll see Alice, will you marry me?

But, you know, he knows he needs a buddy to help him

put it together and then stand to make sure that,

you know, I don't know,

a whole bunch of 12-year-olds

don't come and scatter it

or reword it to say something rude, you know?

So he gets the buddy

and the two of them get there

and they sit it all up.

And then he said,

the buddy agrees he's going to stay there

to protect it

while the young man goes to get Alice.

And the young man, you know,

his buddy's standing there

and occasionally a group of women walk by

and several of them say,

my name's Alice,

the answer's yes.

A couple of guys walk by

and one of them says,

my name's Alice,

I say yes.

And, you know,

they all just laugh,

have some fun.

Anyway,

he gets the text from his friend

who's going to ask Alice to marry him

that they're just,

you know,

they're only about a minute away,

so they're two minutes away,

so the friend,

he goes, you know,

off to,

out of sight

and the young man and Alice

and they come walking along

and Alice sees it

and she says to her,

to the young man,

isn't that so weird?

The branches must have fallen off the tree

in that arrangement.

Isn't that cool?

Now, no young woman would say that.

Nobody would say that.

Absolutely nobody believes that.

And let me tell you,

having wood put in the form of,

that says,

Alice, will you marry me?

Just ask,

there's people here

who do biochemistry

and ask them about DNA sequencing

and the chemical basis of life

and what would have to happen

for the chemical basis of DNA

to happen before there's life

is unbelievably more complicated

than having branches fall

and say,

Alice, will you marry me?

Like, of an incommensurable order of magnitude

and that's just one

of an incommensurable magnitude

of things

that this first thing,

this first choice

says has to happen

purely as a result of chance

and the way that after chance happens,

cause and effect happens.

Like, nobody believes it.

Sorry.

We just don't,

nobody believes that Alice,

will you marry me?

would happen by chance.

Nobody.

So,

you know,

when I say

that Adam and Eve

were real people

and their story

in Genesis

is important to know,

believe,

trust,

and think upon,

gosh,

I know that there's problems.

Some of you are going,

yikes, George,

you know how old

the Atlantic Ocean is?

You know what about fossils?

You know about all the,

you know,

you know about all the fossil record

and,

I mean,

George,

gosh,

good grief.

Do you know how many problems

are with your idea?

You know,

over the last couple of weeks

I've tried to hammer

one simple idea

that what's happened

is that Christians

have gotten mistaken

and dealing with

all of these questions

they've tried to go

first and foremost

to Genesis 1 and 2

and what they really

should have done,

what we really should have done

is gone to John chapter 1

John 1:1–4

verses 1 to 4

and Hebrews 1

and Colossians

and other texts

in the New Testament

that teach that God

creates all things

out of nothing

and meditate upon

the doctrine of creation.

That's where we should have gone.

In the beginning

was the Word

and the Word was with God

and the Word was God.

He was with God

in the beginning.

All things were made

through him

and without him

nothing was made

that was made

in him was life

and the life

was the light of men.

That's John

verses chapter 1

verses 1 to 4

and as I've

tried to say

that

and I've,

you know,

here's the thing

it's so funny

I was watching

the newest Star Trek movie

last night

which just frankly

was too much

of a yawn for me

but,

you know,

I sat all the way

through it

but,

you know,

in the three different,

I've shared before,

the three different

Star Trek series

which have Q in it,

that's the moment

that I understood

at an imaginative level.

It's very ironic

that a series

which is committed

to a basic agnosticism

and a basic belief

in human goodness

would actually give

an image

of the doctrine

of creation

that helps us

to start to realize

what's at stake

in the doctrine

of creation

because in this

character of Q

and he could make

something like

a forest

as if they're,

you know,

Robin Hood

or just out of nothing

and the viewer knows

that he's just made it

like that

out of nothing

in an instant

and yet when we look

at it

we know that the trees

aren't just an instant old.

We know that when

data tries to figure out

he would go

they could cut the trees.

They know that it was

just created like that

that instant.

They know that the bridge

of the Star Trek Enterprise

was created just like that

but they can look at it

and they can know

that this is metal

that had to have been made

so many years ago

and it had to be made

come from this type of planet

and it had to have been formed

over eons

and eons

of geological processes

and yet you look at it

imaginatively

and everyone who watches it

imaginatively

they understand

that it was just created

by Q

that instant.

That that's what

the doctrine of creation

implies.

And as I,

if you could put up

these points

I'll say them very quick

that the God

did not make a stage set

he made creation

with real heights

and depths

and a vast backstory

as I've said every week

if you went back in time

an instant after God

creates everything

and you're standing there

with Adam and Eve

and you cut down a tree

the tree has rings.

You look at the tree

you'd say

that's a hundred year old tree.

If you go to that part

near Jerusalem

you know

and you know that fig trees

can be thousands of years old

you might say

that's a two thousand year old fig tree.

You might say

that's a young river

that's an old river.

You might fly

and you go to Atlantic Ocean

and you look

and you see how old

the Atlantic Ocean is

and you look in the stars

and you see things

that had been black holes

and supernovas

and things which are

hundreds of light years away

and it all was just

created like that

just an instant before.

That's what the doctrine

of creation out of nothing means.

And we've lost

thinking about that

and realizing that

that carries the heavy lifting

and then Genesis 1 and 2

they're true

but they're also communicating

other types of things

that God wants us to know.

In the beginning was the Word

and the Word was with God

and the Word was God.

He was with God

in the beginning.

All things were made

through Him

and without Him

nothing was made

that was made.

In Him was life

and the life

was the light of men.

To put up the next point

the biblical doctrine

of creation means

that we cannot know

scientifically

when God created.

We can only begin

to map creation's

heights and depths

and widths

and explore

its backstory.

Next thing.

And so that means

that the choice

is not between

science and faith

the choice is between

two faiths

two beliefs.

That's the choice.

And the choice

is between

two beliefs

two faiths.

And why do you say

well George

is it just two?

And I don't mean

to insult you

if you're here

but listen

nobody has ever heard

if you tell me later on

if I've missed this

nobody goes to say

we're going to contrast

the Mohawk creation myths

with evolution

to prove that the Mohawk

creation myths

are true.

Or the Iroquois creation myths

or the Navajo creation myths

or the creation myths

from Greek mythology.

Nobody says

there's a choice

there's actually

a third way George

you have the Mohawk

creation myths

you have the Bible

you have science

nobody does that.

Nobody has conferences

about the Hindu creation myths

but fundamentally

there's two choices.

And by the way

there could be people

who don't accept the Bible

who just would accept

the idea

that there must be

some type of God

to have created things

but you know

this is just so

and there's a whole other

type of thing

but if you begin

to go that

and you begin

to look at the

wisdom of the New Testament

the way it's articulated

it's connection to Jesus

and the resurrection

and the narrative

and the fall

and it's just

there's no other

effective

effective option

than between

what we're taught

in high school

and university

and by the media

and what the Bible teaches

there's only a choice

of two.

There really is.

So

you know

believe it or not

I actually shared

this week

with somebody

somebody in a Starbucks

asked me what I was

going to be talking

about this week

and I said

I was going to talk

about Adam and Eve

and

and

there was a bit

of a pause

and

you know

she said to me

you know

it's really hard

for me to know

what to believe.

It was a bit

of an interesting

take on it.

I was expecting

I was sort of

bracing myself

I wasn't bracing myself

I'd been thinking

about this affair

but I was prepared

to have a conversation

about it

and

and she said to me

you know George

I really don't know

what to believe

and I said to her

you know

here's

here's how thinking

really works.

The fact of the matter is

I mean

I said

I told her

David Hume

this is true

he's a famous philosopher

David Hume

famously pointed out

that we can have

rational doubts

as to whether

the sun will rise

tomorrow.

you can have

rational doubts

and I said to her

you know

we've had a few

conversations

about the Christian faith

and you always

have doubts

and problems

so if you're

searching for something

that will never

have any doubts

and never have

any problems

you're searching

for something

that will never exist

because

you're like

David Hume

and you will

even doubt

if pushed

whether the sun

will rise

tomorrow.

I said

what you need

to look at

isn't something

that has

no problems

with it

no objections

to it

you need to look

at what the

different problems

and objections

are

and which viewpoint

has the most wisdom

and the most

coherence

and the most truth

and the fewest

problems

problems

and you know

she was thoughtful

about that

and then somebody

came

because she was

a barista

and then

we didn't continue

the conversation

at that particular

time

but that's how

real thinking

really goes

especially for us

as fallen creatures

we really

can

if necessary

pull some

final bit of

doubt

and skepticism

out of our pocket

and so we really

do just need

to sort of

realize

that that's

what the

choice is

not problem

free thinking

but the fewest

problems

the thing

which has

the most truth

and so you know

are there problems

with Adam and Eve

being real people

yeah I understand

that there's problems

if you could put

that point up there

please Andrew again

I understand

that there's problems

Adam and Eve

were real people

and their story

told in Genesis

is important to trust

and to believe

and trust

and think upon

and know

I know that

there's some problems

with that

I can't answer

all of the different

aspects of it

what I can tell you

is this

is that at a very

simple literary level

if you read through

the book of Genesis

it seems as if

Adam and Eve

are described

in the same way

that they describe

Abraham and Isaac

and Jacob

and Joseph

and if you look at

other times

in the Bible

where they obviously

have more mythological

or visionary

or archetype

there's in fact

a story in Ezekiel

that sort of recounts

the Garden of Eden

in very figurative

visionary type

of language

and if you just

read that in Ezekiel

and you read this

the literary structure

is vastly different

like it's just so

obviously different

when you start to read it

or you compare

how some things

are written

in the book of Revelation

to Genesis

it's just so radically

different

and then if you look

at the New Testament

and other parts

of the Old Testament

it seems obvious

that Jesus seems

to believe

that Adam and Eve

were real people

as does the different

New Testament writers

and I'm not saying

that it's obviously

the book of Genesis 2

isn't written

in a literalistic

scientific way

but that's fine

who says things

in the Bible

always have to be

written that way

there's no rule

for God

that he has to write

things those ways

it's obviously

a stylized type

of story

it's more artistic

and more literary

and it's very

carefully crafted

so that some

of the details

are something

that artists

can ponder

and that poets

can ponder

and that musicians

can create around

and visual artists

can paint

and that we can

just think upon

the deeper meaning

of the aspects

it obviously has

that artistic quality

about it

but at the end

of the day

I believe

that if I have

to choose

between the two

stories

and I have

no other

fundamental choice

than between

matter,

pure chance

and creating

everything

or God creating

everything

and that this

is just

I believe

Adam and Eve

were real

and I've spent

a lot of time

on this point

I haven't even

read the Bible

yet

we're going to

read the Bible

in a moment

and I spent

a lot of time

on it

because I know

at the very

beginning

of this service

that if I was

to have said

to you

how comfortable

would you be

to lead a

discussion

on Genesis 2

in your office

tomorrow

like just

about every

one of us

would have

squirmed

because the

fact of the

matter is

is that we're

afraid of

reading the

text

many of us

not all of us

but many of us

are just deeply

afraid of

reading the

text

and as I've

shared before

like if we

don't understand

Genesis 1

and 2

and 3

like just

about everything

in the Bible

doesn't make

sense

like you see

that's even

what you see

in John

John 1:1–4

chapter 1

verses 1

to 4

which goes

on to tell

us these

wonderful

things about

and the

word became

flesh and

dwelt among

us

and we

have seen

his glory

the glory

of the

only begotten

of the

father

that is

all part

of one

thing

which

begins

with

in the

beginning

was the

word

and the

word

was with

God

and the

word

was

God

he

was

with

God

in the

beginning

all things

were made

through him

and without

him

nothing was

made

that was

made

in him

was life

and the

life

was the

light

of men

and the

word

became

flesh

and dwelt

among

us

and we

have

seen

his

glory

glory

as of

the

only

begotten

of the

father

full of

grace

and

truth

I want

to try

to give

you some

confidence

to not

be afraid

of the

Bible

and to

read it

to think

upon it

and to

know

upon it

we're

going to

do

now

if you

open

your

Bibles

we're

going

to do

a

simple

reading

through

the

Bible

or two

and they'll

have to

be very

brief

just so

you know

next week

we're going

to flip

back

over the

next few

weeks

we're going

to talk

about the

transgender

issues

we're going

to talk

about same

sex attraction

issues

we're going

to talk

about marriage

we're going

to talk

about sex

we're going

to talk

about the

origin

of religion

nothing

controversial

over the

next two

or three

weeks

and it's

because we're

going to

zero back

and look

at parts

of Genesis

1 and

parts of

Genesis

2 that I

won't touch

on this

this week

because I

want to

get you

this big

picture

of just

having a

confidence

and then

let's

read the

story

so if

you have

your

Bibles

Genesis

Genesis 2:4

chapter 2

verses 4

and following

these are

the generations

of the heavens

and the earth

when they were

created

in the day

that the

Lord God

made the

earth

and the

heavens

just notice

here that

the word

created

is used

again

the main

thing I

want to

just point

out to

you

is that

the book

of

Genesis

has a

it's a

very

very well

crafted

and in

the book

there are

ten

sort of

sub-books

and each

of these

sub-books

begin

with

these are

the

generations

and it's a

literary device

that marks

different units

of the book

so actually

this

these are the

generations

is marking

a section

that goes

from here

till the end

of chapter 4

is one

literary unit

and then you'll

see these are

the generations

and it's

another

literary unit

that's

it's

how the

book

is crafted

verse 5

when

excuse me

when no bush

of the field

was yet in the land

and no small

plant of the field

had yet sprung up

for the Lord God

had not caused it

to rain on the land

and there was no man

to work the ground

and a mist

was going up

from the land

and was watering

the whole face

of the ground

here's the

the big verse

to jump out

at you

then the Lord God

formed the man

of dust

from the ground

and breathed

into his nostrils

the breath of life

and the man

became a living creature

Andrew if you could

put up the point

here's the big point

of Genesis 2

there's more than this

but for today

because what we're

really doing is

last week

and this week

I want to try

to bring out

what Genesis 1

and 2

tells us about God

and then the next

two weeks

we're going to go

back and look

at Genesis 1

and Genesis 2

about what it

tells us

about being human

and what it's

saying is this

man and woman

image bearers

of your creator

know him

the one

imminent

personal

and covenant

making God

man and woman

image bearers

it's just talking

about the man

right now

but it's very obvious

as we read

through the story

that it's

when Eve

is made

out of Adam

that the

implication is

that this

early

forming

and early

sort of

the big picture

of this story

equally applies

to men and

women

men and

man and

woman

image bearers

of your creator

know him

the one

imminent

personal

and covenant

making God

now here's the thing

when I say the word

imminent

creator

one

imminent

personal

covenant

making

okay I don't know

what the percentage

is but there's a

significant number

of us

as soon as I say

that phrase

what's on Netflix

tonight

where am I going

to go to have

lunch after the

service

that's how our

minds work

we hate abstract

ideas

true confession

I love

phrases like

this

I can spend

weeks on

phrases like

this

I love

abstract

thought

but a lot

of people

those abstract

terms

imminent

one

creator

blah blah

blah

yada yada

blah blah

blah

that's just

we're just

wired differently

right

but what

for those

of us

who don't

like those

abstract

ideas

this story

as it

grips us

communicates

all of those

truths to

us

in the

form of

a story

and so

you just

look at

verse 7

again

this is a

very very

very powerful

text

and even if

we don't

get to read

most of the

rest of it

just because

of time

it's a

very powerful

text

look again

at how it

goes

verse 7

then the

Lord God

in the

original language

of Hebrew

this is a

very very

unique phrase

that mainly

occurs in

chapter 2

and virtually

nowhere else

and what it

is

it's actually

and Jewish

people have

forgotten how

to say this

word because

it was so

holy that

they didn't

want to

say it

it's the

same word

as is revealed

to Moses

in the

burning bush

it's the

word I

am or I

am that I

am or I

will be

that I

will be

in fact

it's a

name which

is also

a sentence

it's a

name that's

a verb

and it's

the word

it's the

way that

God

communicates

to his

people

that he

is to

have a

personal

relationship

with them

he is in

a sense

like when

we use

the phrase

our heavenly

father

which is

really

what

when Abba

I would

refer to

my dad

as dad

some of

you might

refer to

your dad

as daddy

or papa

or whatever

it might

be

pops

but it's

that intimate

personal

relational

word for

God

and the

word God

here

is Elohim

it's

plural

but because

the other

the verbs

are singular

it has to be

translated as

a singular

and it's the

abstract word

for God

it's the

generic word

for God

it is the

word for God

that when you

want to make

the distinction

between what

the Babylonians

say and the

Greeks say and

the Assyrians

say and the

Jewish people say

and you want to

have that one

category

it's the word

God

it's the most

abstract

distant word

and so it's

very interesting

that in only

here that the

two words

are put together

to make one

name for God

it actually

shows at a

literary level

how the two

stories are

supposed to be

understood together

because the

first story

uses the abstract

word

the second story

is saying that

that intimate

personal

relationship

walk with

you God

spend your

day with

you God

is the

same God

who is the

abstract God

who is

transcendent

and has

created all

things

trying to

communicate

imminence

and intimacy

and you look

at the verse

again

verse 7

then the

Lord God

formed the

man of

dust from

the ground

and breathed

into his

nostrils

the breath

of life

and the

man became

a living

creature

the word

formed

is from

the pottery

studio

and it's

an image

the book

of Romans

has a very

powerful thing

that comes

right from

this word

in Genesis

2

of how

we're formed

like a potter

forming clay

and it's

this image

as if God

is pushing

the wheel

with his

foot

while he's

taking the

clay

and maneuvering

it with his

hands

that God

touches

Adam

with creativity

and with love

and affection

as he forms

him

I mean

now you see

here's where

to lose this

story is to

lose so much

like just

think about

that for a

second

how important

is human

touch to

us

how important

is it for

so many

people that

they wish

that God

would touch

them

can't we

see that in

some ways

long before

the fall

in our

memories

of this

very very

fundamental

way that

not only

our ancestors

but therefore

all of us

were formed

involved this

intimate

wet

creative

loving

intelligent

touching

of us

to form

us

that's

imminence

isn't it

and then look

at the other

word which is

used here

because

in

in

in

in

Genesis

1

the two

the word

that describes

human beings

as a noun

in the

in the

in Genesis

2

it's verbs

it's very

very

it's very

carefully

written

and look

again at

verse 7

then the

Lord God

formed the

man of

dust

from the

ground

and breathed

into his

nostrils

the breath

of life

and the

man became

a living

creature

just notice

this

how intimate

is that

like for

somebody to

blow into

my nostrils

it's

it's to

get

way more

close and

personal than

anybody other

than my wife

should be

okay

unless I'm

dying

and you

need to

give me

you know

get me

living again

you know

it's

it's very

very close

it's very

intimate

and it's

this picture

of God

being right

face to

face

and not

face to

face in

the sense

that we

say in

my face

in an

aggressive

way but

face to

face to

create me

and to

give me

life

and it's

breath

it's

personal

it's

moist

it's

coming

into us

it's

this idea

that God

is closer

to me

he in a

sense

is my

breath

he's

closer to

me

than my

breath

his

first

breath

is why

I

have

breath

it's

this

profound

close

face

to

face

sense

and

isn't

that

at the

end

of the

day

all

human

longing

to

see

the

face

of

God

don't

we

wonder

why

is

God

so

distant

and

don't

we

wonder

if

God

is

so

distant

doesn't

that

imply

that

there's

some

basic

sense

within

us

that

the

way

it

should

be

is

as

close

to

us

as

our

breath

face

to

face

with

affection

and

creativity

and

intelligence

and love

and

patience

you

see

if

we're

afraid

to

read

these

chapters

of

Genesis

because

it'll

make

us

look

like

Hicks

we

cut

ourselves

off

from

so

much

imaginative

and

so

much

that

helps

to

correct

basic

misunderstandings

we have

about

who

God

is

the

God

who

does

exist

who's

made

us

in

his