As you read the tragic story of Cain and Abel (and more notably that of Cain) you might be struck with the question of “where were their parents during all of this?”

Perhaps to be fair, we must remember that Adam and Eve had no parents themselves to teach them how to raise children, but on a more serious note, Eve’s response to bearing children is very telling…

Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced a man!” (v. 1, NLT)

True, Eve did give some credit to the Lord…He is, after all, the creator of all things. But noticed how she uses that word “produced” in reference to Cain. In fact, Cain’s name sounds very similar to a Hebrew word that means either to produce or to acquire. Both of these words carry with it the idea that “this is mine” or “I made this myself”.

The chapter continues by giving us the broad strokes of the result of Cain’s sin. What was Cain’s sin anyway? Of course, hindsight being 20/20, perhaps we think that Cain’s sin was that God requires the sacrifice of a lamb, not of crops. But of course, the law had yet to be given. Also, that would seem to make God look petty. One theme presented here that rings true throughout the Bible is this: God looks at the heart.

Cain presented some of his crops. Nothing special is denoted…apparently an opportunity for worship came up and perhaps he was taught to bring a gift to the Lord to symbolize this. Cain’s thought process is “No biggie…I’ll just grab some of the turnips I harvested yesterday and bring those.”

Abel’s sacrifice has much more meaning though. His thought process is “I’ve worked hard to raise this flock, but I wouldn’t have any of them if not for God. Therefore I will pick my prized possession and give that to God as an expression of my gratitude.”

Abel’s offering more adequately expresses a heart that says “I know where all of this came from, and I want to say thanks.”

Cain’s focus is not just directed away from God, it is also directed toward something else entirely – his work. Does that sound like anyone else you know? Perhaps someone you saw this morning in some reflective surface?

The worst part is that Cain’s mentality became generational. As the chapter continues to describe his descendants, we find that they are characterized by their achievements rather than their devotion to God.

Isn’t it great however that we serve a God of second chances?

Eve is blessed in the end with a third child. This time, she doesn’t mention producing or acquiring anything. Her attitude has changed and she names her son Seth. Do you know what Seth means? It means granted. Eve’s attitude is, “I have been given this son by the Lord, not merely helped by Him to produce one.”

This is the attitude we must have with everything we have been given. This is the attitude of true worship. It is attitude that concludes our passage with these words…

“At that time people first began to worship the Lord…”

My prayer is that all of us will experience such a time.

God detests sin. Why? It destroys what is good. He created us so that He could enjoy us forever, but He made us in His likeness. This means that we understand that there is a difference between good and bad, and that line is not blurry. What we have here is the forces of evil trying to destroy what God created, and the start of a war that has been waged ever since.

What we must not miss here is the aftermath. What happened as a result of man’s rebellion?

Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden… (v.22-23)

Perhaps in your Bible this passage is titled “God’s Judgment”, and indeed, it is. However, we must understand God’s reasoning for it. It’s not just about punishment for sin. There is something much more eternal at stake. The state of creation before this moment was a universe without death. Everything was designed, as far as we know anyway, to endure. When God says “then they will live forever”, He is not saying that he never intended that to happen. Of course God wants us to live forever and I believe he designed us to live eternally with him. He just doesn’t want the people that we have become to live forever.

From the beginning we were designed not for evil things, but to do good works (Ephesians 2:10). When Adam and Eve rebelled against God’s commands, we went off the reservation and started living to please ourselves rather than our creator. God knows that this is a path that can only end in our ultimate destruction, so he separates, in a sense, our spiritual self from our physical self. This is seen in our removal from the Garden, and our inability on our own to re-enter it. By allowing us to die, our sins die in our bodies while our spirit can be saved and made new again.

Notice that immediately Adam and Eve recognize and are ashamed of their nakedness. It’s like a picture of their failure to them and they can’t imagine allowing God to see them like this, and so they try to cover themselves up with leaves, but God is not satisfied and has a better solution already in mind…

And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife. (v. 21)

I don’t know if you caught that, but in that one verse lies the first hint of God’s plan for salvation. Where did God get the animal skins from? From animals of course. Dead ones. How did they die? We must assume that God put them to death, and shed their blood to provide a covering for the sin of Adam and Eve. What a sad, beautiful picture.

You see, Genesis is all about beginnings. We have learned about the beginning of the universe, the beginning of man, the beginning of sin and now, the beginning of God’s plan to put all of us broken people back together.

Rejoice today in this; that the same God who we offended with our sin also made a way so that we could spend eternity with Him in spite of it.

If we’ve already established that everything was made for man and that he is the crown jewel of creation, we now arrive at chapter 2, where after a brief description of how all life was formed from the ground up, God gives man purpose on earth.

This is the kind of stuff that should fascinate us about God’s Word. In Genesis 1, we are told that man was to “subdue” creation and have “dominion” over it. We all have our own ideas I’m sure of what that might look like, I would imagine many of them might not be good. These are terms that we perhaps equate with ancient kings and their tyranny over the people they rule. If we stop at Genesis 1, we might get the impression that God wants us to show plants and animals who’s boss, and not give much thought about their part in our ecosystem.

However, Genesis chapter 2 paints a very different picture of man’s relationship with creation. First, recognize that God makes a point in chapter 1 to say that plants and animals were here before man (which, by the way, science agrees with). Not only that, but here we are told that we were all formed from the same ground. I believe he does this to rightfully setup the next big “ah-hah” moment. It may sound a little like “tree-hugger” stuff, so get ready…

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (v. 15)

Let’s have a look at those words for a moment. First, the word translated for “work” is the Hebrew word “abad“. This word’s meaning is to work for something or better yet, to serve. In fact, as you read the earlier portions of the chapter, you see that plants and trees were designed to be in need of man’s care…

“…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.” (v. 5)

Second, the word for “keep” is the Hebrew word “shamar” which means to keep, watch or preserve. It is used elsewhere in the Bible in reference to bodyguards, gatekeepers and watchmen.

No matter what side of the political aisle you are on, God’s word is clear in these few words that we are to serve and to protect our planet with the utmost care. It also supports us by way of food, oxygen, etc. Perhaps the best word to summarize God’s intention for the relationship between man and creation is harmony.

We are given another purpose at the end of the chapter in the creation of woman. Adam had noticed that other creatures were not alone, but until then he had been. He put it best saying,

“This at last is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (v.23)

While this goes on to specifically speak of marriage, if you keep it in the context of God’s command to multiply in chapter 1, we realize here that we are to continue to grow as a human race and the best way to do that is to recognize that we are all human, as Adam did. That we were created equal, and that we need to live in relationship to each other.

In summary, it is here we find 2 of the 3 great purposes for man: to live in harmony with creation and in fellowship with each other. Perhaps now the next time you bring flowers home to your wife, it will have much more meaning!

You may not know, but there is a fierce debate over Genesis 1:1. In this day of amazing scientific breakthrough, it is easy to look at the first words of the Bible and pick a fight. In one corner, skeptics will ask legitimate questions of God’s Word…

• Why does the Bible say the earth and universe were created at the same time when science says the universe is older?
• Why does the Bible call the moon “light” when it only reflects the sun’s light?
• How does light exist before the sun and stars?
• How are plants made on the third day with no sun yet to feed them?
• Why are we given every plant to eat when we know some are poisonous?

The list goes on and on, and has convinced some that God’s Word can’t be trusted.

In another corner are Christians who prefer a literal interpretation of this chapter that God made the universe in six 24 hour periods in the order that is laid out here. Any scientific evidence to the contrary is, to them, wrong. To them, science cannot be trusted.

Still in another corner there are those who are more than skeptical and have made it their mission to destroy God’s Word. They may be scientists, but a true scientist has no other motive…a true scientist studies science and draws conclusions about things that DID happen. They make no claim to what DIDN’T happen (eg. whether or not a snake ever had feet or something like that).

Finally, and I know I’m oversimplifying this, in the fourth corner are people like me. People who believe that Bible is the infallible Word of God and that science is a gift from that same God. True science can’t possibly ever disprove God’s existence, simply because science is limited to the physical and natural world. God is spirit and his power is supernatural. The study of the universe is science. The study of God is theology.

So if you, like me, find yourself in that fourth category, what are your takeaways from Genesis 1?

Let’s start at verse 1…

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

That’s a statement of fact, not a statement of order. It’s not saying “the universe was created at the same time as the earth”. You have to remember that while God’s Word has great application for our lives today, it needed to be just as applicable to the people to whom the original Word was delivered. I may be going out on a limb here, but I don’t believe the question of “which came first, the earth or the universe” could possibly have been asked back then. To me, the question itself necessitates a certain level of scientific discovery before one can even conceive of it.

This is a statement of fact, and an answer to perhaps a much simpler question that people over 3000 years ago certainly had enough sense to ask… “Where did all of this come from?” The answer, God created it. Everything you see around you was at one point created by God.

In fact, as you continue to read through the chapter, you will see that God not only created everything, he also had purpose behind everything. He designed it, and it wasn’t random. He had a plan, and that plan centered around the crown jewel of creation…you and me. Mankind. With that in mind, this is what Genesis chapter 1 is really about.

1. God made the physicial universe in an orderly fashion with a sense of purpose.. (v.1-10)
2. He made everything on earth for the specific purpose of sustaining life (v.11-13, 29 -31).
3. He made life, with the ability to multiply. (v.20-25)
4. His most special creation was man, and he was made different than other creatures. (v.26-27)
5. He gave man purpose…to multiply and understand that God made/gave all of this for them. (v.28)

That’s what Genesis 1 is about. It’s not God’s attempt to explain particle physics to us. It’s about you.

When all is said and done, God is setting the stage for the next 2 chapters, when he reveals what he truly wants…relationship with us. So take heart in this one thought when you go about your day…everything that is beautiful in the world was made that way by God for your enjoyment.