THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 3, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 27.

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

INTERNATIONAL SERIES

LESSON I.—JULY 7.—GOD THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS.

Lesson Scripture Gen 1:26 to 2:3, R.V.

Golden Text.—“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Gen 1:1.

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 creepeth upon the earth. 27 And God created man in His own 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 multiply, 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 yielding 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; 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. 30 And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. 1 And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

(1) After what image did God propose to make man? What exalted position was man to have? Verse 26. Note 1. (2) Besides creating man in the image of God, what other feature is mentioned? Verse 27. (3) What did God do for the man and woman as soon as they were created? What did He say to them? Verse 28. Note 2. (4) What provision was made for the man’s food? Verse 29. (5) What was given to the other creatures for food? Verse 30. Note 3. (6) What was the condition of everything that was made? On what day was the work completed? Verse 31. Note 4. (7) Was there anything created besides the earth? Ch. 2:1. (8) What did God do on the seventh day? Verse 2. Note 5. (9) What did God do for the seventh day after resting upon it? Verse 3. Note 6.

NOTES.

1. Image of God.—An image implies a similarity of form. Likeness usually embodies the same idea, but it is sometimes applied to immaterial things, as traits of character. As man was made “upright” (Eccl. 7:29), we are to understand that he was to bear the image of God both in form and character.

2. Replenish.—Replenish not only means “to fill again,” but it is also defined “to fill to the utmost capacity.” The Hebrew word from which “replenish” is translated literally means to “fill completely,” and some of the very best modern translations render it so.

3. Original Food.—It is very clearly set forth that God did not intend that any creature should live by taking the life of another creature. The man’s diet was to be composed of fruits and grains, and the food of birds and animals of all kinds was limited to vegetable substances. The resort to flesh food was the result of sin, and not of necessity. It will be noticed that after the flood, when flesh-eating was specially permitted by the Lord, the duration of human life was immediately reduced by one-half, and by Abraham’s time it had fallen away to less than one-half of the age of those born immediately after the flood. Again, by the time of the kings of Israel the life of man was only about half the duration of the life of Abraham and Isaac. It would seem that the permission to eat flesh was for the purpose of shortening sinful life, long life in sin having proved a curse to the race. The longer men live in sin, the worse they become. When Israel covenanted to keep the law of God, He gave them manna for food, and had they proved faithful they would have again enjoyed long life; but they apostatized, and demanded flesh food, and again became victims of disease.

4. The days of creation were days marked by the evening and the morning; and the fifth and sixth of these days were measured by the sun. God’s illimitable resources are shown in the fact that the four former days were measured without the sun, but that is no proof that they were any longer than the fourth and fifth days. The sun is not the “source of light,” as some “scientists” claim; it is only a lamp, or light-bearer. Light existed before the sun.

5. “Finish,” in verse 2 (“ended” in the common version), is used in the sense of ceased. God did no work on the seventh day, as we learn from the fourth commandment; hence the command, “In it thou shalt not do any work.” The commandment is explicit, “In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.” See Ex. 20:8–11.

6. The Seventh Day.—Thus early in the history of earth the seventh day was especially distinguished from the other days. First, God rested upon it, and enjoyed the contemplation of His great work. That made it different from all the other days, for in them He worked. Then He “blessed” it, and “sanctified” it. Thus He still further distinguished it from other days. In sanctifying the seventh day God set it apart for a holy purpose. He set it apart to be observed because He had rested upon it. By whom was it designed to be observed, or kept holy?—“The Sabbath was made for man.” Mark 2:27. It was made for man when there was but one human pair, the progenitors and representatives of the whole race. God’s way of making a Sabbath is to rest upon it, then to bless it and sanctify it, or make it holy. He never has done this with any other day than the seventh day. The Sabbath was made in the beginning, once for all. It is a memorial institution, designed to cause men to pause and contemplate the wonderful works of God, and to praise Him for His goodness and wisdom and power. When men assume to set up another sabbath, on the plea of a different purpose, we may well inquire, “Who hath required this at your hand?” See, also, article entitled “God the Creator of All Things,” on page 7 of this paper.