The Seventh Day
On the seventh day, God rested from his work. That is, he ceased his work of creation.
The seventh day pictures the “day of the Lord,” when Christ will reign on the earth for 1,000 years.
Each day of creation is a literal 24-hour day. You know this because each day is defined as an evening and a morning.
According to 2 Pet. 3:8, “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Thus, each of the days of creation is comparable to a 1,000-year period in history.
Adam was created around 4,000 BC. There were approximately four 1,000-year periods of history before Christ. Following Christ’s first coming, we have had two more 1,000-year periods of history.
Therefore, there were six days of “work” followed by a seventh day of rest. We have had 6,000 years of history that should be followed anytime now by Christ’s 1,000 year day of rest, Heb 4:1-11. This day of rest is the peaceful 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ found in Rev 20:1-7.
God chose the seventh day as the sabbath day of rest for the Jews, when Moses gave the law. In Gen 2:1-3, he did not give the sabbath as a day of rest to man. Neh 9:13-14 clearly shows that God made the sabbath known to the Jews on Mount Sinai when he gave the precepts, statutes, and laws to Moses.
This is because the sabbath is a sign between God and the Jews, Ex 31:13. God gave it to the Jews in Ex 20:8-11, and that’s when he called the seventh day the “sabbath day.”
The reason that Christians don’t keep the sabbath is that we are not under the law, Gal 3:23,24. Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week, Jn 20:1; Matt 28:1. Thus, Christians began meeting on the first day of the week, Acts 20:7. They were also instructed to take up their collections on the first day of the week,1 Cor 16:1,2.
More Details on Creation
In Gen 2, God fills in some details about creation that he didn’t mention in Gen 1. In this lesson, we’ll do an overview of Gen 2 and then, in a couple of subsequent lessons, we’ll study the specific details in more depth.
“In the day that the Lord made the earth and the heavens,” v.4, tells us that the Lord is adding details to Gen 1, rather than presenting a different account of creation, as some have speculated.
Plants and Herbs
“Every plant… before it was in the earth” and “every herb… before it grew,” v.5, indicates that God created vegetation as plants and herbs, rather than as roots and seeds. When they were planted in the earth, they began to grow.
Hydrology
In v.5-6, we see that the source of water for the plants and herbs was from underground, from which a mist went up to water the ground. Initially, the earth was not watered by rain. The first rain produced Noah’s flood.
Cultivation
According to v.5, man didn’t till the ground to “plant” the plants, herbs, and trees. Instead, God created the plants, herbs, and trees, and even planted the ones in the garden, v.8. Man simply had to “dress it and keep it,” v.15.
Man
Verse 7 gives details on the creation of man. God formed man of the dust of the ground. This was his body and this is why man’s body returns to dust following his death, Gen 3:19.
God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Without the breath of life, man couldn’t live, Gen 7:22. And when God takes the breath of any man, he dies, Ps 104:29.
“Man became a living soul,” 1 Cor 15:45. Thus, as we have seen, man was made a tri-part being: soul, spirit, and body.
The Garden of Eden
“God planted a garden eastward in Eden,” v.8. This is where he put the man whom he formed. In v.9, God made trees, which were pleasant to the sight (ornamental) and good for food (fruit), to grow out of the ground. There were also the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
There was a river that went out of Eden to water the garden. This river parted and “became into four heads,” Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel (also mentioned in Dan 10:4, Tigris), and Euphrates.
The Forbidden Tree
In v.16-17, God commanded man to eat freely of every tree of the garden, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He said, “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
The Help Meet for Him
Out of the ground, God formed every beast of the field and fowl of the air and brought them to Adam to name them. Adam named all the cattle, beasts, and fowl, v.19-20. But there was not found an help meet for him.
God said, “It is not good that man should be alone,”, v.18. So, God took a rib from Adam and made a woman and brought her unto the man, v.21-22.
Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” Thus, he called her Woman.
Then, God added two details. First, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh,” v.24. This set the pattern for marriage. Second, “they were both naked… and were not ashamed,” v.25.
To study the previous lesson, click on The Sixth Day.