Bible Stories for Adults

God Promises a Savior

Genesis 2:4 - 3:24

Next Week - God Makes a Covenant with Noah (Genesis 8:15-9:17; 1 Peter 3:20-21)
Bible Words to Remember:
He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel. Genesis 3:15

What do the first few words of Genesis tell us? = Genesis means origin, beginning
Genesis 1:1 = In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

What is the literary style of Genesis 1:1 - 2:3? = Poetry
What is the message of each verse part?
- "And God said" = All it took was God's word
- "Let there be" = God wanted what He was creating
- "And it was so" = No question of God's power
- Particulars are restated = God took care of every detail
- God gives names or blessings = God loves & owns his creation
- "And God saw that it was good" = Creation is good, God is pleased
- "And there was evening and there was morning" = God's plan steps

How do days 1-3 correspond to days 4-6?



Forming from Chaos		Filling the Empty
1	= Light / Darkness	4	= Lights in Day / Night
2	= Sky / Waters	5	= Birds in Air / Fish in Waters
3	= Land from Sea	6	= Animals on Land


What does this pattern say about God and His creation?
Ephesians 1:11 = He had a plan from the very beginning

Was man just one of the animals that God decided to "Let there be"?
Genesis 1:26 = No, He made man in His own image (v24 - land produced animals)
What does it mean to be created in God's image?
Ephesians 4:24 = be like God in true righteousness & holiness
How did God feel about His creation after it was finished?
Genesis 1:31 = It was very good

What literary style takes over after the prologue poem?
Genesis 2:4a = Narrative
When does Chapter 2 take place? = No crop had been tilled yet by man, other plants lived
Genesis 2:4b-7 = Starts on day 6 - Hebrew word for breath is same as for spirit
Does Chapter 2 belong more with Chapter 1 or Chapter 3? = Chapter 3

What did God do even before creating man that showed His tremendous love for man?
Genesis 2:8 = He had planted a magnificent garden in Eden
Why did God create the Garden of Eden?
Genesis 2:9 = For man's enjoyment and nourishment (Eden is Hebrew for Delight)
Where was the Garden of Eden? = Other 2 rivers likely wiped out by the flood
Genesis 2:10-14 = Probably where Tigris & Euphrates begin in Turkey (a real place)

Was this man that God created supposed to just sit back and delight in what God gave him?
Genesis 1:28; 2:15 = Had responsibilities of ruling, working & taking care of earth
Was this man given "free rein" over what he did in God's Garden and how he did it?
Genesis 2:16-17 = He was given "free rein" up to a specific limit

What did God already realize that this man had to learn?
Genesis 2:18 = Man was a social creature and needed a mate
How did God show this to the man? = Adam is Hebrew for man, Adamah for ground
Genesis 2:19-20 = He brought animals to Adam to name, no suitable helper was found

Did God create this helper for man by speaking a command or forming dirt?
Genesis 2:21-22 = He went further and made the helper from a part of the man
What was significant about the way God created this helper?
Genesis 2:23-24 = The two were one, the first marriage

What does Adam's acceptance of this new helper remind those of us who are married?
Ephesians 5:28 = Husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies
Are married couples truly considered as one flesh?
Matthew 19:3-6 (1 Cor 6:15-17) = What God has joined together, let man not separate

What can we learn about man's original nature and character?
Genesis 1:27 = In God's image, holy & righteous
Genesis 2:7 = God formed man from ground, had God's breath of life
Genesis 2:25 = Naked and without shame

How did Satan cleverly try to change man's perfect obedience to God?
Genesis 3:1 = He worded a sentence to cast doubt on God while invoking a reply
Did Adam and the woman clearly understand their freedom within limits?
Genesis 3:2-3 = They had drawn the limits even tighter - God had said eat & die
How did Satan play on the woman's mistake and then lie to push her to sin?
Genesis 3:4-5 = He made her question why God had set the limits
How much more tempting did Satan need to do before the man and woman sinned?
Genesis 3:6 = None, they liked and desired what they saw and ate the fruit

Had this sin made them more God-like in knowing good and evil? = Contrast 2:25
Genesis 3:7 = They now knew good & evil, but from a sinful perspective
What is the problem with learning about good and evil from a sin perspective?
John 8:34 = He who does so is a slave to sin

Is it a sin to be tempted?
1 Corinthians 10:13 = No, as humans we will be tempted
Then what is wrong about temptation?
Matthew 26:41 = It is easy for sinful humans to succumb to temptation and sin

Is it possible to stand up to strong temptations?
Matthew 4:1 = Jesus did
Adam saw that the tree was good for food and gave in to his desires. Did the second Adam?
Matthew 4:2-4 = Not even after 40 days and nights of fasting - desire was very strong
Adam felt the fruit would give him wisdom and fed his pride to show off. Did the second Adam?
Matthew 4:5-7 = Didn't even take a dare to prove how important He really was
Adam found the fruit pleasing to the eye and took what he saw. Did the second Adam?
Matthew 4:8-10 = Not even after seeing all the world's kingdoms in their splendor
Angels kept Adam from God's Garden. How were angels used with the second Adam?
Matthew 4:11 = Angels came and attended Him

Were Adam and the woman proud of their new-found knowledge of good & evil?
Genesis 3:8 = No, they had the sense of guilt and hid, just like humans today
Did they readily confess their sin?
Genesis 3:9-10 = No, they made an excuse - just like humans today
How did the humans react when faced with the facts?
Genesis 3:11-13 = They tried to pass the blame, just like humans today

How did God curse the serpent for being the form that Satan used to tempt the humans?
Genesis 3:14 = Become the most despised animal, crawl on belly in dust
How did God continue cursing the serpent that also cursed Satan, but blessed the humans?
Genesis 3:15 = First prophesy of the Messiah
I will put enmity between you and the woman = were allies, now natural enemies
and between your offspring = Satan's legions
and hers; = Jesus Christ descended from Eve
He = Jesus Christ, note the singular form
will crush your head = Christ will destroy Satan, the head of his legions
and you will strike His heel. = Satan will attack Christians (heel is Christ's body)
What curses did God give the woman for falling into Satan's temptation?
Genesis 3:16 = Pain in childbirth, natural role of serving husband would lead to friction
What curses did God give Adam for falling into Satan's temptation?
Genesis 3:17-19 = Rule over earth would take pain & hard work, will die physically

Realizing that they would eventually die, what responsibility now faced Adam and the woman?
Genesis 3:20 = Be fruitful and multiply (1:28) - Eve probably means living
What did God do that showed His unfailing love for the Crown of His Creation?
Genesis 3:21 = Gave them clothes to help their shame
What else did God do that showed His love for Adam and Eve? = Would live forever in a sinful state
Genesis 3:22-24 = Locked out of the Garden so they wouldn't eat of the tree of life
Besides living forever in sin, why else should Adam and Eve not eat of the tree of life?
1 Corinthians 15:50-54 = Earthly bodies cannot inherit the paradise of heaven
Does the tree of life still exist?
Revelation 22:1-3a = It is waiting for us in heaven; No longer will there be any curse

God created the heavens and the earth.
² Now the earth was formless and empty,
darkness was over the surface of the deep,
and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

"Let there be light",
and there was light.
⁴ God saw that the light was good,
and he separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light "day",
⁵ and the darkness he called "night".

And there was evening,
and there was morning -
the first day.

"Let there be an expanse between the waters
to separate water from water."
⁷ So God made the expanse and separated the water
under the expanse from the water above it.
And it was so.

⁸ God called the expanse "sky".

And there was evening,
and there was morning -
the second day.

"Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place,
and let dry ground appear."
And it was so.

¹⁰ God called the dry ground "land",
and the gathered waters he called "seas".
And God saw that it was good.

"Let the land produce vegetation:
seed-bearing plants
and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it
according to their various kinds."
And it was so.

¹² The land produced vegetation:
plants bearing seed
according to their kinds
and trees bearing fruit with seed in it
according to their kinds.
And God saw that it was good.

¹³ And there was evening,
and there was morning -
the third day.

"Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky
to separate the day from the night,
and let them serve as signs
to mark seasons and days and years,
¹⁵ and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky
to give light on the earth."
And it was so.

¹⁶ God made two great lights -
the greater light to govern the day
and the lesser light to govern the night.
He also made the stars.
¹⁷ God set them in the expanse of the sky
to give light on the earth,
¹⁸ to govern the day and the night,
and to separate light from darkness.
And God saw that it was good.

¹⁹ And there was evening,
and there was morning -
the fourth day.

"Let the water teem with living creatures,
and let birds fly above the earth
across the expanse of the sky."
²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea
and every living and moving thing
with which the water teems,
according to their kinds,
and every winged bird
according to its kind.
And God saw that it was good.

²²God blessed them and said,
"Be fruitful and increase in number
and fill the water in the seas,
and let the birds increase on the earth."

²³ And there was evening,
and there was morning -
the fifth day.

"Let the land produce living creatures
according to their kinds:
livestock,
creatures that move along the ground,
and wild animals,
each according to its kind."
And it was so.

²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds,
the livestock according to their kinds,
and all the creatures that move along the ground
according to their kinds.
And God saw that it was good.

"Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,
and let him rule
over the fish of the sea
and the birds of the air,
over the livestock,
over all the earth,
and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

²⁸God blessed them and said,
"Be fruitful and increase in number;
fill the earth and subdue it.
Rule over the fish of the sea
and the birds of the air
and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

²⁹Then God said,
"I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth
and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.
They will be yours for food.
³⁰ And to the beasts of the earth
and all the birds of the air
and all the creatures that move on the ground
- everything that has the breath of life in it -
I give every green plant for food."
And it was so.

³¹ God saw all that he had made,
and it was very good.

And there was evening,
and there was morning -
the sixth day.

²By the seventh day
God had finished the work he had been doing;
so on the seventh day
he rested from all his work.

³ And God blessed the seventh day
and made it holy,
because on it he rested
from all the work of creating that he had done.