• Teaching Point 1

God made the world perfect; there was no disease, death, trouble, evil or curse upon the earth in the beginning. God made the earth in six days and on the seventh day He rested from all His work. He spoke worlds into existence through His word. Everything that exists today, only exists because the one true God of the universe spoke it into existence, and it is Him that holds it all together. When God made the world, He said it was all good. When we look around today, it makes us ask questions. What happened to the goodness in the world? Why do bad things happen to good people? Where did sickness, pain and suffering come from? The Bible answers these difficult questions. In this first lesson it is important to understand God made a perfect utopia without suffering. The perfect creation represents who God is. He is good and He wants good things for His creation. In the first five days of creation, God displayed His awesome power and goodness by making everything that mankind would ever need to live well.

On day one, He made light and separated it from the darkness. He said that this was good. On day two, He created the atmosphere and divided the water that is below from the water in the sky. On day three, God gathered the water together into great oceans and called forth the dry land so people would be able to live, build, and explore. On this day, He also created the plants, the trees with fruits and all the vegetation that would cover the earth. All the plants were created with seed inside of them for reproduction. On day four, God used the power of His words to put the stars in their place and to separate light from darkness with the sun and the moon. God’s purpose in creating stars was so that mankind could have light on the earth and also for mankind to know the signs, the seasons, the days, and the years. On day five, God filled the oceans with fish and the air with birds of every kind. Everything was prepared for His greatest creations on the sixth and final day of creating things.

Genesis 1:24-31 (NLT) Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. 25 God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” 27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.28Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” 29 Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. 30 And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.31Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

• Teaching Point 1 Questions…

1. What is the only creature that God made in His image? (vs. 26-27)
2. What is the first thing God did to mankind after creating them? (vs. 28)
3. What did God tell the first man and woman to do after He created them? (vs. 28)

• Teaching Point 2

God made the first man and named him Adam. The first woman’s name was Eve. They lived in a beautiful place known as the “Garden of Eden.” This garden provided all they needed to eat and drink and to enjoy spending time with each other and with God. They took walks with God in the cool of each day as the sun was going down. They enjoyed a world with no evil, no trouble, no sickness, no pain, and no death. All their needs were met with wonderful fruit and rivers that ran throughout the garden. God commissioned Adam with a job to do and a simple commandment to follow. If obeyed, it meant Adam and Eve would never die, nor would this wonderful fellowship with God Himself ever end.

Genesis 2:15-25 (NLT)  The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.  16  But the LORD God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden  17  except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”  18  Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”  19  So the LORD God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one.  20  He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.  21  So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the LORD God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening.  22  Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.  23  “At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’”  24  This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.  25  Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.

• Teaching Point 2 Questions…

1. What two main responsibilities did Adam have? (vs. 15)
2. What did God use to make a perfect companion for Adam? (vs. 21-22)
3. When happens when a man and woman come together? (vs. 24)

• Teaching Point 3

Evil was never God’s intention for the world. God created everything perfect and said everything was good. God gave man a choice. As long as he remained obedient to God, it would remain that way forever. God promised perfect life and harmony if Adam could simply listen to God’s voice and do what He said. Disobeying God is known as ‘sin’. God wanted Adam to keep sin out of his heart, because sin causes separation from God and changes the very heart of man from having a heart of goodness to a heart of evil. Sin would also cause man to change from being a servant of God to becoming a slave to whatever he obeyed instead of God. The Bible teaches us that the devil came to deceive Eve and get her to disobey God. Eve then asked her husband to also disobey God. God knew that this sin would cause death, disease, evil, separation from God and every manner of wickedness to come upon the world. Therefore, God made sure Adam knew the consequences of such an action. Today’s final verse talks about how mankind disobeyed God and how this led to evil entering the world. This was not God’s best, but this was the consequence of going against God’s perfect design.

Genesis 3:1-17 (NLT) The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” 2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’” 4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” 6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. 8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the LORD God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the LORD God among the trees. 9 Then the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”  11  “Who told you that you were naked?” the LORD God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”  12  The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”  13  Then the LORD God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”  14  Then the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live.  15  And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”  16  Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”  17  And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.

• Teaching Point 3 Questions…

1. Why did Eve eat the forbidden fruit? (vs. 6)
2. What did Adam and Eve do as soon as they were aware that their relationship with God had changed because of their actions? (vs. 8)
3. What promise did God make to the devil who had used the serpent to tempt them into this fall? (vs. 15)

Summary

Man’s disobedience, also called sin, is the reason for all evil in the world. Every descendent since Adam and Eve’s union is born into a state of sin. Mankind inherits the tendency to do wrong and, from an early age, their thoughts tend toward evil. God was unwilling for this to continue. So, He made a promise in Genesis 3:15. This is the prophecy revealing God's plan of salvation through His own Son. God never said the offspring of a man would crush Satan, sin, and death. God promised the Savior would come from the seed of a woman. Jesus was born of a virgin. His Father is God. If His father had been a descendent of Adam, then Jesus would have had sin from birth. However, even though Eve gave Him flesh, Jesus’ Father was God almighty, and was, therefore, miraculously born without sin. Just like Adam, Jesus would have dominion on the earth and would be perfect and sinless. As we will learn, rather than disobey the Father like Adam did, Jesus chose to obey all the commands of the Father. His obedience has secured salvation for everyone who believes in Him.

Application Questions

1. What are some things we can learn about God from this study?
2. What are some things we can learn about people from this study?
3. Is there anything in this study that Jesus wants us to obey?
4. What will I do now that I know this?