Life
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Last week we explored death
Death is the consequence of sin
we all eventually die because our sin separates us from God who is the source of life
We are gonna explore that source of life thing in a bit
Some of us suffer a much more immediate death
Some is a form of judgement
much like the death penalty in our law code
Some is unjust in nature
this is stuff like murder
We also explored the most important death in all of human history - the death of Jesus
It is through this death that sin and death are done away with and we receive eternal life, which is what we explore today
Body
Body
The origin of Life
The origin of Life
Much like last time, we are going to start with the origin
Looking at Genesis 2
Moses, the author of Genesis, just described the creation with a wide view
in verse 5 he loops back to creation and begins describing things in more detail, particularly the circumstances around which Adam and Eve were created
In verse 7 we get an interesting line that very much applies to our topic today - Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being
Here we get a glimpse into exactly what brought man life
God breathed the breath of life into man, and man became a living being
Also the question stands “what is the breath of life?”
I would argue that breath is one very sure way to tell if an animal is alive or not
also interesting, the bible doesn’t seem to define plants as living beings
If someone or some animal is gravely injured, how do you tell if it’s dead or unconscious, see if it’s breathing
breathing is a universal indicator of life
Also an interesting tidbit about this verse, the Hebrew words that are translated “breath of life” are only ever used here, the other times in genesis we see “breath of life” pop up, its actually different Hebrew words
So here in Gen 2:7 we see the source of life to be God
Notice that God is the only one able to create life
Even looking at science, even with modern technology and advancements in science, life has not been created, life must come from life seems to be the consensus
If you leave some raw meat laying about in a completely sealed container, it cannot grow maggots, because they don’t spontaneously start to exist but must come from the adult version, commonly known as a fly
So God is the source of life
life cannot originate without Him
No matter how far you trace your family tree back, it has to start somewhere, and that somewhere is God creating Adam
He didn’t make Adam from any kind of beast, but from the dust of the ground
God took lifeless matter and turned it into man
There are two interesting tidbits if your interested in that
The Hebrew word translated as man in Gen 2:7 is literally Adam
We seldom appreciate how literal language can be
The first man was literally called man
Also most of us have heard the term “Dust to dust, ashes to ashes”
It of course refers to the inevitability of death and comes from Ecclesiastes 3:20
This saying and the verse in Ecclesiastes both refer to Genesis 2:7
We were made from dust, and to dust we shall return, it is a reference to God making man out of the dust
The upkeep of life
The upkeep of life
It should go without saying, but life requires constant upkeep
You need to work out and eat right in order to live longer
You’ll last like a month without food
You’ll last a week without water
You’ll last a few minutes without air
We need to constantly upkeep the life that we have
despite any amount of upkeep we do, it still isn’t enough, we still die
God accounted for this in the garden, he provided life
In Gen 2:9 we see God plant the tree of life in the garden of Eden
Gen 3:22 further explains that this fruit allows those that partake it to live forever
Who provided this fruit to Adam and Eve, God
It’s a very physical representation of what goes on spiritually
We see again and again in the bible, especially the new testament, that eternal life is connected not to some fruit, but to one’s relationship with God
Which leads us to our next topic which is connected to the whole new testament
Jesus’ offer of eternal life
Jesus’ offer of eternal life
What is one verse that absolutely everybody knows, John 3:16
It’s actually surprisingly hard to identify the speaker for this verse
In the previous verses Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and there isn’t any punctuation indicating that Jesus stopped talking and the narrator begins speaking
there seems to be a disconnect in content, however
What is being said sounds a lot like it’s John expanding upon what Jesus said
This actually was something brought to my attention by the Faithlife Study Bible
So people smarter than me have pointed this out
But this ultimately doesn’t matter too terribly much since the meaning here is the same
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life
It is through faith in Jesus that we receive eternal life
Jesus isn’t just a source of life, but is the source of life
Acts 4:12 - “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
this is the words of the disciples before the sanhedrin
they were asking the disciples to stop preaching about Jesus
Jesus is exclusively our source of salvation
Salvation from sin and death
Just like we mentioned last Sunday
Jesus removed sin, and now death can be done away with
The most telling part of this life given through Jesus and his conquest over death is in His Resurrection
If Jesus stayed in that grave then death would still reign, but He rose from the dead
death had no power over Jesus
Now it’s lost it’s permanence and power over us because of Jesus
Now the death of our bodies is only temporary, for we will be resurrected just like Jesus when he returns
Conclusion
Conclusion
Life originated when God breathed life into us
Adam was the first human being to receive life
Life is replicated through reproduction
more human babies are born each day
Death then entered the scene with Adam and Eve
They sinned, and separated themselves from God
They separated themselves from the source of life
we have done the same thing
From Adam to Jesus death reigned throughout the world
Only two men managed to escape death with a lot of divine intervention
Enoch and Elijah
Then Jesus came, and suffered a gruesome death
He took on our sin, offering us the greatest gift of grace we have ever known
The story didn’t stop there, but Jesus raised from the dead
Jesus in this action conquered death and secured our eternal life
Because like Jesus, we are no longer bound to death