God Makes Adam And Eve Genesis 1:26-4:1

Transcription

1 Lesson 002 God Makes Adam And Eve Genesis 1:26-4:1

2 MEMORY VERSE Genesis 1:27 S o God created m an in His own im age; in the im age of God He created him ; m ale and fem ale He created them. WHAT YOU WILL NEED: As many quartered sheets of black, red, white, green and yellow construction paper as the number of children in your class and a stapler. As many white sheets of paper as the number of children in your class and markers or crayons. ATTENTION GRABBER! The Gospel Wordless Book Have your class make a wordless story book of the Gospel. Start with a black page, representing the death of sin, then a red page, representing the blood of Jesus shed to cleanse us from our sin. Next add a white page, representing that we are washed white as snow, then add a green page representing the growth we will have in Jesus. Finally add a yellow page, representing that we will one day walk the heavenly streets of gold. Staple the sheets of color in this order. Encourage the children to share their wordless book with a friend and tell them about Jesus.

3 LESSON TIME! In today s lesson we are going to study about the creation of Adam and Eve. There are some very important things that we can learn from this story. But one of the most important things that we will see is how that God loves us very much. The Lord has given us life and desires to have a relationship with us and for our lives to give Him glory. God gave us life. G EN ES I S 1:26-31 T h e n G o d s ai d, " L e t U s m ak e m an i n O u r i m age, ac c o r d i n g t o O u r l i k e n e s s ; l e t t h e m h av e d o m i n i o n o v e r t h e f i s h o f t h e s e a, o v e r t h e bi r d s o f t h e ai r, an d o v e r t h e c at t l e, o v e r al l t h e e ar t h an d o v e r e v e r y c r e e p i n g t h i n g t h at c r e e p s o n t h e e ar t h. " S o G o d c r e at e d m an i n H i s o w n i m age ; i n t h e i m age o f G o d H e c r e at e d h i m ; m al e an d f e m al e H e c r e at e d t h e m. T h e n G o d bl e s s e d t h e m, an d G o d s ai d t o t h e m, " B e f r u i t f u l an d m u l t i p l y ; f i l l t h e e ar t h an d s u bd u e i t ; h av e d o m i n i o n o v e r t h e f i s h o f t h e s e a, o v e r t h e bi r d s o f t h e ai r, an d o v e r e v e r y l i v i n g t h i n g t h at m o v e s o n t h e e ar t h. " An d G o d s ai d, " S e e, I h av e gi v e n y o u e v e r y h e r b t h at y i e l d s s e e d w h i c h i s o n t h e f ac e o f al l t h e e ar t h, an d e v e r y t r e e w h o s e f r u i t y i e l d s s e e d ; t o y o u i t s h al l be f o r f o o d. " Al s o, t o e v e r y be as t o f t h e e ar t h, t o e v e r y bi r d o f t h e ai r, an d t o e v e r y t h i n g t h at c r e e p s o n t h e e ar t h, i n w h i c h t h e r e i s l i f e, I h av e gi v e n e v e r y gr e e n h e r b f o r f o o d " ; an d i t w as s o.

4 T h e n G o d s aw e v e r y t h i n g t h at H e h ad m ad e, an d i n d e e d i t w as v e r y go o d. S o t h e e v e n i n g an d t h e m o r n i n g w e r e t h e s i x t h d ay. We first need to review the story of the creation of man from the first chapter of Genesis (Genesis 1:26-28). Some of the things we learned last week were that we are created in the image of God. That means that we have a body, a soul (mind, will and emotions) and a spirit. Just as God is a trinity, we see God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We also learned that God gave man authority or dominion over His creation. He also gave man a responsibility. He created man and woman and they were to be married and fill the earth with more people. Why did God make man? Did He make man because He needed him to take care of everything? No, God does not need us, but God wants us, loves us. Remember; God wants to have a personal relationship with us. God could have just as easily made a robot to take care of the earth; someone who would always serve Him and never disobey Him, always read His Word and spend all of his time doing what God wants. But a robot is programmed to do something and it has no choice but to do what it is told. God could have done that, but He didn t. God gave us a choice; we can both have a personal relationship with Him and follow His will, or follow our own will. So when we choose to follow Him it is because we want to and because we love Him. God gave us life. In today s lesson we are going to look more closely at what happened when God created man and woman and we will see God s wonderful grace. God gave us life. G EN ES I S 2:1-6 T h u s t h e h e av e n s an d t h e e ar t h, an d al l t h e h o s t o f t h e m, w e r e f i n i s h e d.

5 An d o n t h e s e v e n t h d ay G o d e n d e d H i s w o r k w h i c h H e h ad d o n e, an d H e r e s t e d o n t h e s e v e n t h d ay f r o m al l H i s w o r k w h i c h H e h ad d o n e. T h e n G o d bl e s s e d t h e s e v e n t h d ay an d s an c t i f i e d i t, be c au s e i n i t H e r e s t e d f r o m al l H i s w o r k w h i c h G o d h ad c r e at e d an d m ad e. T h i s i s t h e h i s t o r y o f t h e h e av e n s an d t h e e ar t h w h e n t h e y w e r e c r e at e d, i n t h e d ay t h at t h e L O R D G o d m ad e t h e e ar t h an d t h e h e av e n s, be f o r e an y p l an t o f t h e f i e l d w as i n t h e e ar t h an d be f o r e an y h e r b o f t h e f i e l d h ad gr o w n. F o r t h e L O R D G o d h ad n o t c au s e d i t t o r ai n o n t h e e ar t h, an d t h e r e w as n o m an t o t i l l t h e gr o u n d ; bu t a m i s t w e n t u p f r o m t h e e ar t h an d w at e r e d t h e w h o l e f ac e o f t h e gr o u n d. In chapter two we see that God is reviewing some important things concerning creation. Most of what we learn about creation is found in chapter 1, but we are given some more details here in chapter two. Notice that verse 4 says that this is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created. One of the greatest things about the Bible is that it contains a history of the world. It is all true and inspired of God. If anyone wants to know how we got here and what has happened from God s point of view since man was created they only need to look at the Bible. God gave us life. There came a time when God created man. Man did not evolve from lower life forms over millions of years. Rather we are told historically that God on the sixth day of creation created man. Man was created special and different from the animal kingdom.

6 He was given a spirit, the only part of God s creation to be created in His image. He was given authority over creation. We were created different from the animals. It is very important for us to understand that we are created in God s image and not descended from an animal. God had much greater plans for us. Being created in His image, His plan for us was to bring Him glory. That was to be our purpose, in perfect fellowship with Him. But man disobeyed, breaking off that relationship. We will be studying more about that in coming weeks. We also get some insight into how God took care of His creation back then. It says that a mist came up from the earth. A kind of dew that would cover the plant life. There was not rain at this time. Weather was probably very different at this time because of the firmament, or layer of water that covered the earth s atmosphere. That must have helped the dew to return each morning to water and nourish the plant life. It doesn t rain until the time of Noah. G EN ES I S 2:7 An d t h e L O R D G o d f o r m e d m an o f t h e d u s t o f t h e gr o u n d, an d br e at h e d i n t o h i s n o s t r i l s t h e br e at h o f l i f e ; an d m an be c am e a l i v i n g be i n g. We read here that God formed man. It was like an artist drawing a picture or a potter forming his clay. God designed His creation and formed us from the earth. The Hebrew word for man (Adam, Genesis 2:20) is related to the word for ground. So we see that man is like God s work of art. That is how God originally intended man to be before sin entered the world. We read in Ephesians 2:10 that after we come to Jesus and have a relationship with Him that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. So in Jesus we can be restored to the work of art that God originally intended in the garden.

7 Sometimes we do not feel like a work of art, but rather we feel more like the dirt. But it was the Lord taking that dirt and forming it and then breathing into it that made a person. Even so God can take our lives, as simple as they may be and breathe into us His life and make us wonderful works of art. It is important to see that God breathed His breath into man. We don t see that for any of the animals. Man was created differently, again in God s image. We have a spirit, a will and emotions. That is very different from animals. Animals do everything by instinct. They just do what they do because they were made that way, they don t have a choice. But we have a choice as to how we will live our lives. To say that we came from animals is an insult to the Lord who created us. Our life is a gift from the Father above. God gave us life. Picture Perfect When Adam and Eve were created their world was perfect, without sin. Have your class draw a picture of a picture perfect world. Have them imagine if our world were perfect. What would it look like? What kinds of things would be different from how they are now? Let them use markers or crayons. G EN ES I S 2:18-25 An d t h e L O R D G o d s ai d, " I t i s n o t go o d t h at m an s h o u l d be al o n e ; I w i l l m ak e h i m a h e l p e r c o m p ar abl e t o h i m. " O u t o f t h e gr o u n d t h e L O R D G o d f o r m e d e v e r y be as t o f t h e f i e l d an d e v e r y bi r d o f t h e ai r, an d br o u gh t t h e m t o Ad am t o s e e w h at h e w o u l d c al l t h e m. An d w h at e v e r Ad am c al l e d e ac h l i v i n g c r e at u r e, t h at w as i t s n am e. S o Ad am gav e n am e s t o al l c at t l e, t o t h e bi r d s o f t h e

8 ai r, an d t o e v e r y be as t o f t h e f i e l d. B u t f o r Ad am t h e r e w as n o t f o u n d a h e l p e r c o m p ar abl e t o h i m. An d t h e L O R D G o d c au s e d a d e e p s l e e p t o f al l o n Ad am, an d h e s l e p t ; an d H e t o o k o n e o f h i s r i bs, an d c l o s e d u p t h e f l e s h i n i t s p l ac e. T h e n t h e r i b w h i c h, t h e L O R D G o d h ad t ak e n f r o m m an H e m ad e i n t o a w o m an, an d H e br o u gh t h e r t o t h e m an. An d Ad am s ai d : " T h i s i s n o w bo n e o f m y bo n e s An d f l e s h o f m y f l e s h ; S h e s h al l be c al l e d Wo m an, B e c au s e s h e w as t ak e n o u t o f M an. " T h e r e f o r e a m an s h al l l e av e h i s f at h e r an d m o t h e r an d be j o i n e d t o h i s w i f e, an d t h e y s h al l be c o m e o n e f l e s h. An d t h e y w e r e bo t h n ak e d, t h e m an an d h i s w i f e, an d w e r e n o t as h am e d. Here we have the account of God creating woman. When God created man He didn t create a woman right away. Adam spent some time alone enjoying all of creation. There was only one problem though. He was all alone. Notice that it the Lord who says, It is not good that man should be alone God who created us knows all of our needs even before we know what we need. He sees that Adam needs a helper, someone who is like him and can share God s wonderful creation with. Have you ever wondered if God knows what your needs are, or whether or not He wants to take care of your needs? Something very important that we learn from these scriptures is that God knows our needs before we even ask Him. He desires to take care of

9 us. What needs do you have in your life? Go to the Lord and ask Him for help. He will take care of you. God then says that He will make a helper for Adam. This helper would be someone like Adam. So not only does God see what Adam needs but begins to take care of him. Next we see the Lord bringing all of the animals to Adam to name them. Imagine all of the animals in the world needing names. That is a lot! Adam must have been a very smart man to be able to give names to every single animal. After naming all of the animals none of them were comparable to him. Again this shows how different that man is from the animal kingdom. Although man may have similar characteristics with animals, God created man very unique from all other creatures. Adam now realizes that he needs a helper. All of the animals had mates, yet Adam had no one for him. So God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. He took one of Adam s ribs and from that rib He formed a woman. He then brought the woman to Adam. God made Eve comparable to Adam. Notice that she was not inferior or better than he was, but comparable. She was to complement man, make him complete. Some commentators have noticed that Eve was not taken from Adam s head so that she would be over him or rule him; she was not taken from his feet so that he would walk on her; but rather from his side to complement, help and be one person with him serving the Lord together. Here in Genesis chapter 2 we have the beginning of a special relationship between a man and a woman called marriage. Marriage is very important because God began it. His plan was for a man and a woman to come together in marriage and live the rest of their lives as one flesh.

10 The world tries to tell us a lot of different things about marriage today. For many, marriage is not very important. That is sad, because marriage and the family come before anything else in the Bible. God has a plan for our lives and our relationships with others so we need to learn what that is. Some day when you are grown up the Lord may have someone for you to marry. Remember that the marriage relationship is VERY important in the eyes of the Lord and He has a lot to say about it. He wants your happiness and desires to bless you. It is important that we follow what He says. We see that God made Eve comparable to Adam. Man was made last of the creatures, as the best and most excellent of all. Even being made after Adam, and out of him, God puts an honor on Eve, as the glory of the man (I Corinthians 11:7). If man is the head, she is the crown, a crown to her husband, the crown of the visible creation. We need to thank the Lord for His creation and for giving us life. It is amazing to consider how He made us. As you grow up and go to school you will be studying about the human body. It is amazing how the heart works, how the lung works, how blood carries oxygen through our bodies, etc. Consider how complex and wonderful our bodies are. How could that happen without one to design it? God gave us life. There is a designer in heaven. He is a wonderful artist in heaven who created us and gave us the breath of life. And He has a plan for our lives and desires to walk with us and have a relationship with us. We can do that through His son Jesus. If you have never asked Jesus into your heart you can do so today.

11 The Gospel Wordless Book Have some of your children tell the story of the gospel to your class using their wordless books that they made at the beginning of class time. Serving God Ask your class to name some things that they can do for God. Write these ideas on the chalkboard and discuss with your class how they impact the world around us. Explain to your class that we were created for God s good pleasure. We find our highest fulfillment in serving God, because that s why we were created. PRAYER Lead the children in a prayer of thanksgiving for God s great love for us. If any children have not yet responded to the Gospel, give them an opportunity to do so.