June, 1942
THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NE S S
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INTERNATIONAL LESSON Commentary Outline and Exposition Blackboard Lesson Children s Division Object Lesson Golden Text Illustration By B. B. S utcliffe By G retchen S ibley By H elen F razee -B ower . By E lmer L. W ilder By A lan S. P earce Points and Problems B y A lva J. M c C lain , President of Grace Theological Seminary, Winona Lake, lnd.
is room for all the ages geology might demand. The third verse begins the record of the renovation of the ruined earth, not the creation of it. The first step brought light into the darkness. This was the cosmic light, comparatively recently discovered by man. Verses 4 and 5 record the division of light and darkness into day and night. II. C reatures (24-31) The beasts and creeping things were all made “after his kind” ' tvs. 24, 25). This fact indicates that none of them evolved from different species. The record here clearly shows that the animals were ‘made, and that they continue, each "after his kind.” While there may be improvement within a species, there is no such thing as evo lution from a lower species to a higher one. For example, the improvement produced in a horse by careful breed ing never produces anything but a horse. III. M ankind (1:26-31; 2:1) This record declares that the crea tion of mankind was entirely depend ent upon God’s decision, upon His purpose, and upon His direct and im mediate act (vs. 26, 27). If God had not- decided to create man, man never would have been called into being. There was nothing existent at the time capable of “self-determination” to become something higher than, it was. Moreover, man was created ex pressly for God’s purpose; that is, to have dominion over all that God had created. F u r t h e r m o r e , man was created by God’s .personal and direct act. With this record before us, the claims of the popular evolutionary theory must be discredited by any one for whom Scripture holds authority. Having created man, God gave him instructions concerning how life was to be sustained (vs. 28-30). First, man was to multiply by becoming the' agent through which God would con tinue to populate this earth. Second, man was to have and to exercise do minion over all that God had made (cf. Psa. 8). Third, man was to be a vegetarian, eating the things that would grow from the ground. Not only mankind, but the animals also, were to subsist upon the vegetables. But in a creation into which sin and strife had entered, . God specifically per-
JULY 5, 1942 GOD THE CREATOR G enesis 1, 2
image» in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and .God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multi ply, and replenish the earth, and. subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed*, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and,, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were .the sixth day. 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. LES&ON TEXT : Genesis 1:1-5, 24-31; 2 : 1 . GOLDEN TEXT : «In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1 : 1 ). DEVOTIONAL READING: Psa. 33:1-9. from nothing, not out of existing ma terial. In the nature of the case, this is an appeal. to faith, not to reason. Those who accept this opening state ment of the Bible will have no diffi culty in accepting everything else in the Scriptures. The second verse indicates that, after God created the heaven and the earth, something happened—s o m e - thing that left the earth in a ruined condition (cf. Isa. 45:18). What that something was cannot be known in detail, but hints are found in the Word of God leading to the thought that it was the downfall of Satan when he attempted to overthrow God (cf. Ezek. 28:11-19; Isa. 14:12-14). Hence, between the time God created the earth in its perfect condition and the time of the ruin of the earth, there
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form» and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said» Let there be light! and there was light. 4 And God saw the light» that it was goods and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day» and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. v 24 And God said» Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind» cattle» and creeping thing» and beast of the earth after his kinds and it was so. 25 And God made the b e a st/o f the earth after his kind» and cattle, after their kind, and every thing that' creepeth upon the earth after his kinds And God: saw that it was good. 26 And God said» Let us make man in our image» after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air» and over the cattle» and over all the earth» and over every creeping thing that creep eth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own Outline and Exposition I. T he B ackground of R evelation 0 -5 ) • I N THE BEGINNING’’ refers to the dateless past. Science has various hypotheses concerning the date, but the variance of opinion' among those best fitted to discover the time reveals that no one knows exactly when the heaven and the earth were created. “In the beginning God"—and no proof is offered of the existence of the Creator. The Bible everywhere as sumes His existence and leaves it for man’s instinct, as a creature, to trust the Creator; for man’s conscience, as a moral creature, to acknowledge the Creator’s authority, and for man’s reason, as a rational moral creature, td recognize the Creator’s upholding of all things. “In the beginning God created." The word means to make something [Lesson material is based on outlines of International Sunday School Lessons copyrighted by the International Coun cil of Religious Education1and is used by its permission. Scripture portions quoted are from the King James Ver sion unless otherwise stated .]
B LACKBOARD LESSON
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