8. Les Feldick Bible Study-8: Lesson 2 Part 4 Book 1 – Adam/Eve Created – 1:6 – 2:7

Adam and Eve Created – The Three Circles
Genesis 1:6 – 2:7
Let’s go back to Genesis chapter 2 verse 4, where we were in the last lesson.

Genesis 2:4

“These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,”

We pointed out last time that all through chapter one, we simply had the word God.

G-o-d. But now, since the six days of creation are complete, man is on the scene and the name of Deity is introduced as the LORD God or Jehovah God.

I think it probably helps if we can break down that name Jehovah a little bit. I feel real confident that I am on the right track because several years ago my wife and I were in Israel and we ran through this whole thing with a well educated young Israeli, who was a high school principal. He had his Master’s Degree and when we laid this out before him, not on a blackboard, of course, and not with the benefit of any notes per se, he was just aghast. He said, you are right! I can’t disagree with a bit of it. But, I can’t wait now to get home and look this up in my New Testament, because what we are really doing is bringing us all the way down to the appearance of Christ Himself.

So the name Jehovah really comes from two Hebrew words, the “Jahwe” that most of you have heard and the second Hebrew term is “Havah”. Now the definition for the Hebrew Deity name “Jahwe” was the I AM.

If you remember when Moses was at the burning bush and he said, “When I go back to the children of Israel and tell them that God has sent me, they are going to ask me “What is his name? What shall I tell them.” And remember what the voice in the burning bush said “You tell the children of Israel that I AM hath sent you.” The I AM THAT I AM. Alright that was the definition of “Jahwe”. The eternal preexistent I AM.

You add to that then, the definition of “Havah” which really meant the I AM is “to be revealed”. Now that is more or less the continuing action type of verb. So the eternal preexistent I AM would be more and more and more revealed as we come on up through human history.

The contraction of Jahwe Havah then as we see it in our Old Testament becomes the name “Jehovah”. And that is what it is, it is a contraction of Jahwe Havah. Jehovah then is the I AM who is to be more and more revealed.

The extension of the Hebrew word Jehovah into the Greek is simply the name Jesus. Isn’t that simple? And the word Jesus is a further revelation of Jehovah and in the Old Testament it was Jehovah Joshua. The word Joshua mean Savior. So, Jehovah Savior is in the Greek – Jesus. We normally refer to Him as Jesus Christ. Or Jesus the Messiah.

So this is a continuing revelation of the eternal I AM. Maybe it would help us and we will be doing it again when we get to Exodus but that’s a long way down the road. So, turn with me to Exodus chapter 3. I do this just to show that now with Adam on the scene, the eternal preexistent I AM, God the Son, is going to be the one that is going to be more and more revealed as we come up through the human experience.

All you have to do is to stop and think about it for a minute. First He walked with Adam in the Garden in the cool of the day. Then in a further revelation, we see Him reveal Himself to Abraham. And, if you want to see a good example of God appearing in human form in the Old Testament, all you have to do is read Genesis chapter 18.

That is where Abraham prepared the fatted calf and prepared the meal and the I AM, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, actually sat down and partook of that meal. Then you come on up to Exodus chapter 3 and we find Him in the burning bush.

In the burning bush He doesn’t appear in human form but He appears by way of a human voice. And as Moses is standing there on that holy ground where he was told to remove his shoes, then verse 13:

Exodus 3:13a

“And Moses said unto God,…“

Now see? There’s that term again. Even though we have separated Him out of the Godhead as the Jehovah, as God the Son, yet He is still God. Which brings me to something I was shown just the other evening that’s hard to comprehend. But, on the other hand, if someone prints it we have to believe it.

It was where a national magazine took a survey of preachers and pastors across the land and I won’t take time to do all of it but some of the questions were: Do you believe in the Deity of Christ? In other words, do you believe that Jesus Christ was God? And the answer to that question was NO from 89% of the respondents. Eighty-nine percent of those preachers and pastors did not believe that Jesus was God.

Another one that they asked was “Do you believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ?” They answered NO, 99%. These things are shocking! Then they wonder why people take the time to listen to this old layman, well I think I know the reason. Because I don’t answer NO to those kinds of questions.

In chapter 3 verse 13 continue on.

Exodus 3:13b

” Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name?”

Moses had been in Egypt for 40 years. He knew the very mentality of all those Jews as well the Egyptians and all the Egyptian gods immediately came to Moses’ mind. They had a name for every one. Now the Israelis living under that kind of a society for four hundred years were now in the same boat. Moses knew that. So he said, the first thing when I get to Egypt those Israeli people are going to say, God has sent you? Well, what is his name? There’s the setting. So, Moses says in the end of verse 13 when they ask that:

Exodus 3:13c-14

“What shall I say unto them? 14. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM; (that is always capitalized in every version that I have ever seen) and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”

Now, it is that same I AM that I have already broken down and the rest of the Old Testament will call Him Jehovah. In fact you can pick it up in chapter 6 of Exodus drop down to verse 2 and 3.

Exodus 6:2

“And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD:”

Now, I said that word LORD could be interchanged with Jehovah. So he says, I am Jehovah. Now verse 3.

Exodus 6:3

“And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not know to them.”

But now He is. The name Jehovah has been put out in plain language. Now let’s follow that up into the New Testament when theologians will say that Jesus never claimed to be God and that they don’t believe in His Deity. You see when they say that, then they have to throw Scripture away!

Turn to John’s gospel chapter 8 Here in this portion of Scripture the Pharisees are literally testing Jesus. They are trying to drive Him into a corner. And, to them whenever He would claim to be God, it was pure blasphemy, you know that. So this is what they really wanted to hear. They wanted to hear Him say in no uncertain terms that He was the God of Abraham. Boy, then they would have every cause to put Him to death. That was as blasphemous as they thought a person could get.

So after all this conversation going on between Jesus and these religious leaders of Israel, verse 52 says:

John 8:52-53

“Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou has a devil. (or a demon) Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying he shall never taste of death. 53. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? And the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?”

You see what they are driving at? Hey, you are talking about things that only God could do. Who do you make yourself to be anyway? Look at Jesus’ answer in verse 54.

John 8:54

“Jesus answered, If I honour my self, my honour is nothing; it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:”

You talk about caustic! I think that is what we’ve got here. Look what He says to these religious leaders in verse 55.

John 8:55-56

“Yet ye have not known him; but I know him; and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you; (now that is harsh words, isn’t it? That’s coming from the Lord Jesus Himself.) but I know him, and keep his saying. 56. Your father Abraham

rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it and was glad.”

Remember, I mentioned that back in Genesis 18, the Lord actually sat down in human form and had that meal of fatted calf with Abraham and God shared His covenant with Abraham. So Abraham knew all about the coming of this Son of God, one day, to the nation of Israel.

So Jesus rightly said, Abraham saw my day and rejoiced! Now look at the response of the religious Jewish leaders in verse 57.

John 8:57

“Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?”

How long ago did Abraham live? You remember our first lesson, when we took that overview, that timeline? Abraham was about 2000 BC. And what they were aghast at was that here was Jesus only thirty some years old is claiming that He knew Abraham that has lived 2000 years before.

That’s what they were saying. You mean to tell us that you KNEW Abraham? Oh, see their unbelief! But now look at Jesus’ reply.

John 8:58

“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you before Abraham was, I am.”

Now, isn’t that beautiful! What’s He claiming? He’s the I AM! See? He is the pre-eternal, self existent, I AM who would be more and more and more revealed.

Just follow that up. We have already seen Him revealed coming up through the Old Testament in various and sundry ways. Now He comes on the scene, born of Mary, in the flesh. Presents Himself to the nation of Israel. He goes to the cross. He is risen from the dead. And again He presents Himself to His followers for 40 days after His resurrection. Oh, it was the same one, but now He’s in that resurrected body. He’s in that body fashioned like the body we will one day have. It was a further revelation.

Then, we go on through the Scriptures and Paul begins to reveal Him as the God of all Grace. The Lord Jesus, who loved us and died for us and gave Himself for us. Oh, that’s a further revelation of the very person of Christ. His compassion, His love for us, that He actually went to the Cross in order to purchase our redemption.

Then in the Book of Revelation, and it is a misnomer to call it Revelation of St. John the Divine. It’s a revelation of Jesus Christ. And we see Him now coming in the clouds of Glory, to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You see, this constant reveling? We get more and more and more of who He is as we come on up through the Word of God.

Now, I think we are ready to move on in Genesis chapter 2 down to verse 7 where again it is just a summarization in one verse of that which took place back in chapter 1. Someone has asked the question, and I guess I had never really heard it put that way before, whether this was a different creation from the one in chapter 1. No, it’s the same one, it’s just simply a summarization.

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.”

That just puts the frosting on the cake! Man was created out of the natural elements and that’s all our flesh really is. It’s just water and the elements that are taken in the ground. When we die we go back to those same elements. But, the crowning act of creation was when the LORD God breathed into that new creation, the breath of life.

You remember in the last lesson, when He made man in His own image, by giving him a mind, will and emotion. He gave him three invisible entities that were all attributes of God as well, and that was all put in when God breathed into man the breath of life and he became a living soul.

The word “living” is more than 70 or 80 or 90 years. This means ETERNAL. I can never emphasize it enough, that every human being is an eternal being. He is going to live in eternity someplace. This is why it behooves us to understand the plan of salvation that God has made so available and so free. That by simply believing Paul’s GOSPEL, we can live eternally in God’s presence. Whereas by rejecting Paul’s GOSPEL, by being disobedient, we are going to live forever separated from God. It is that separation from God that is by definition, the Second Death. We will be separated from God, unless we are united to Him by Faith in Paul’s Gospel.

Since I am mentioning The Gospel and I haven’t mentioned it in the first few lessons, maybe this is an appropriate time, because those of you who have been with me over the years you realize that even though we go verse by verse in the Old Testament, we are going to jump into the New Testament every chance we get.

So come with me to I Corinthians, if you will. In I Corinthians, when I make mention of The Gospel, I want everyone to take a note of it. To memorize it, if possible. And realize that The Gospel that we are responsible for believing tonight is most clearly put in I Corinthians 15, those first four verses. You cannot find another portion of Scripture where it is so simply put and so plainly put that there is no room for argument.

This is The Gospel, or as Paul says in different passages, “My Gospel” I always maintain that my classes include people from all kinds of backgrounds – denominationally. And, there may be differences, but on one point there can be no difference. I don’t care what our background, what our handle is, there is only one Gospel of salvation, and here it is laid out in I Corinthians 15. I will come back to it over and over and over as we come up even through the Old Testament as well as the New.

I Corinthians 15: 1a

“Moreover, brethren, (Paul writes) I declare unto you the gospel (He doesn’t use the article “a” gospel but “the”. There’s only one.) which I preached unto you, which also ye have received,…”

Again I have to make a point. Paul always writes to the believers. Whether it’s to the Romans or anything he wrote, he always writes to the believer. Now as he writes to the believer naturally the Word of God is going to have an effect on the unbeliever. But I think the whole idea goes back again to Romans chapter 10 where Paul again writes that how can they hear without a preacher, or a teacher or a go between. And how can they understand the Word unless some human instrument explains it to them. And then he comes to that capstone forfaith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

That’s why I teach. I hope that everyone of you will be skilled enough in the Scripture that God can use you to present this Gospel to anyone who may be searching and looking for the plan of salvation. Now let’s look at it again.

I Corinthians 15: 1-2

“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received and wherein ye stand; 2. By which also ye are saved, (by that Gospel) if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.”

In other words, you have to KNOW what you believe. Faith isn’t something blind. We have to KNOW what we believe. Then here it comes, verse 3 and verse 4! You will never find the Gospel of salvation presented any simpler or in plainer language.

I Corinthians 15: 3-4

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (that is, it was prophesied in the Old Testament that He would die) 4. And that he was buried, (He was REALLY dead. He didn’t just go into a coma, he didn’t just go into some unconscious state, He died! He was dead. And that three days in the grave proved it.) and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”

Now that’s The Gospel! You can’t add anything to it! You can’t take anything from it! That’s The Gospel!

Let me show you, for example, how Paul will refer to it. Come back to Romans chapter 10. We probably won’t get back to Genesis in this lesson but we’ll pick it up again in the next lesson.

Romans chapter 10 drop in at verse 9. Paul is writing to the predominately Gentile congregation at Rome and he said.

Romans 10:9

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, (here it comes now!) and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, (it doesn’t mention that He died, but you don’t rise from the dead unless you do, so that is implied. But, here he is stressing the Gospel, see? That if you will believe with all your heart that God has raised Him from the dead) thou shalt be saved.”

Can you get any plainer? Let me turn to one more. Back to I Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18. Paul writes:

I Corinthians 1:18

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; (what’s the preaching of the cross? That Christ died, was buried, and rose again. That’s it! But isn’t that what the world says? How can I believe that somebody 2000 years ago has anything to do with me today. But, oh, that’s the preaching of the cross.) but unto us which are saved (remember, we are precious few any more) it (the preaching of the cross or the preaching of the Gospel) is the power of God.”

I like to put it this way. It took greater amount of God’s power to save this old sinner than it did to create the universe. Oh, if people could just get a glimpse of this. That the very power of God has to become instrumental in our salvation. That’s why we can’t work for it, that’s why we can’t merit it. It takes the very power of God. How do we release that power? By believing the Gospel

I will never forget a lady in San Antonio looked at me one time and said “Les, you make it too simple.” You know what my answer was? I said ” If I made it any more difficult you would say that’s too hard.” That’s the human nature. But it is, it is so simple and yet it is so complex that I can teach it night after night and never exhaust it.

But it’s the power of God unto salvation, as Romans chapter 1 verse 16 puts it, to everyone that joins the Church? No. That is baptized? Takes communion? No. But to everyone that believeth. Remember, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

Oh how I pray that everybody I teach would be capable of using a few of these verses that we have just shown you: I Corinthians 15: 1-4. Romans 1:16, Romans 10:10 and I Corinthians 1:18 and show others how to be saved!!