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International S. S. Lessons

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 25, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 8.

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International S. S. Lessons.

By Editor

"So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading."—Neh. 8:8

LESSON I.—SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 1894.

THE FIRST ADAM.

[NOTE.—The questions which follow are merely suggestive for the student on the leading points of the lesson; it is presumed that the thorough student will think of many more as he studies the subject. References, which are given, always refer to the lesson scripture printed above. All other references are given in book, chapter, and verse. The text printed is that of the Revised Version, not because it is especially preferred, but because it is found in every family, as is the common version.]
Lesson Scripture, Gen. 1: 26-31; 2: 1-3.
  1. 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.
  2. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
  3. 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.
  4. 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;
  5. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat; and it was so.
  6. 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.
  7. And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
Introductory Note.—Our lessons for the first six months of the year are nearly all found in the book of Genesis, or the First Book of Moses. In these lessons, as they will be treated in the Signs of the Times, there will be made no attempt to reconcile the Scripture with so-called modern science. The word of God stands, and will stand forever. If science is in harmony with the word, that science may be considered true. If science is contrary to that word, it is "science falsely so called." "To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." The first part of the chapter in which our lesson begins, verses 1-26, gives an account of the first five days of the creation week, together with a part of the work of the sixth day. That these were literal twenty-four-hour days is the obvious sense of the entire narrative. This is also shown by the record concerning the sun, that it was to rule the day. The fourth commandment of Ex. 20: 8-11, where no figure of speech is permissible, states just the same thing. God spoke them into existence. "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." "For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." Ps. 33: 6, 9.
If God wished to create the earth, with all of its fossils as they now appear, in one day, he could have done so; or the changes which geology notes might have taken place previous to the six days of creative energy, as recorded in Genesis 1, or all of these geological changes may have taken place, and doubtless did, at the time of the deluge, when the fountains of the great deep were broken up. But men deny the account of the deluge, and therefore are led to deny the account of creation. Denying the creation record, they are led to deny the power of the gospel in the regeneration or recreation of man, and so "evolution" comes in. One word more: The writings of Moses are unqualifiedly indorsed by our Lord Jesus Christ. He said to the Jews: "Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" John 5: 46, 47. Prof. Marcus Dods well said that "if the word 'day' in this chapter does not mean twenty-four hours, the interpretation of Scripture is hopeless." Traditions of the creation exist in almost every tribe and nation.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

  1. After God had created the earth, with its animal life, what did he then say? Verse 26. Note 1.
  2. In whose image was man to be made? Note 2.
  3. Over how much was man to have dominion? Note 3.
  4. State how this purpose of creating man was carried out. Verses 27, 28.
  5. What did God give him for food? Verse 29. Note 4.
  6. What was given to the animal kingdom for food?
  7. What did God pronounce his work when it was finished? Verse 31.
  8. Upon what day was all of this done? Verse 31 and chap. 2: 1.
  9. What did the Lord do on the seventh day? Note 5.
  10. After his rest, what did the Lord do upon the seventh day? Verse 3, first clause. Note 6.
  11. Why did he bless and sanctify the seventh day?

NOTES.

1. Let us make man.—The word "God," from the Hebrew Elohim, is in the plural. We are told in 1 Cor. 8: 6 and Heb. 1: 2 that both Father and Son were engaged in the work of creation. It was the Father who said to the Son, "Let us make man," and in the creation the Father wrought through the Son.
2. In His own image.—We know that it is said that God is a Spirit, and hence "image" does not have reference to outward form; but the same expression in Gen. 5: 3, "In his own likeness, after his image," would mean outward form. Why would it not in Gen. 1: 26, 28? It is said of Christ in Heb. 1: 3 that he was the "brightness of his [the Father's] glory, and the express image of his person." This certainly has reference to outward form. While God is a Spirit, or spiritual Being, he is also a personal Being. This by no means precludes his omnipresence, because he is everywhere present by his Spirit; but while he is everywhere present by his Spirit, he has also a local habitation. "In our image, after our likeness," evidently referred not only to man's godlike form, but to his moral nature as well. So when God recreates, he first makes the moral nature after his own image (Col. 3: 10; Eph. 4: 24) and at his second coming he changes the bodily form (Phil. 3: 21). Evidently we know but little of man's nobility of form and being by what we see now. Sin and death have left their traces upon him as upon no other part of the creation. One word further. The fact that man was created in God's image no more shows, as some contend, that man was created immortal than it shows that man was created omnipotent or omnipresent. An argument that proves too much proves nothing.
3. And have dominion.—Man was given dominion over all the earth; but in yielding himself to Satan he yielded all, and the dominion fell into the hands of the usurper, who is now the god of this world. But that dominion, the earth, will be restored through the second Adam, and through him glorified, and inhabited by glorified beings. See Isa. 45: 18; Luke 19: 10; Micah 4: 8; Dan. 7: 27; Matt. 25: 34.
4. To you it shall be for meat.—It is worthy of note that the food first given to man was wholly vegetable. God did not design that the life of any creature should be taken to sustain the life of any other, and it is also a fact, based upon observation and experience, that a vegetable diet tends to develop in man the finer instincts of his being and render him more susceptible to divine influences. The word "meat" is used throughout the Scriptures for food of any kind. Here of course it is applied to herbs and fruits.
5. On the seventh day God ended his work.—That is, God ceased from his work. It does not mean that he did any part of his work on that day. It simply means that he ceased from work on that day.
6. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.—It took three acts to institute the Sabbath of the Lord. First, God rested; second, he placed his blessing upon it; third, he sanctified it, or set it apart to a sacred or holy use for man, for the Sabbath was made for man, not for man to use as he pleased, but to use as God dictates. The only way by which anything can be made holy is by God's presence; and the only way in which the seventh day could be sanctified or made holy was by the presence of God in the day. And he only is holy who has Christ within. And he only keeps the Sabbath day holy who, having Christ within, finds Christ in the Sabbath. Such an one receives double.