You can hear it's Saturday and Sunday mid 3 pm looks like another beautiful day out there today a little warmer than yesterday look for highs today around 95 degrees under very sunny skies and lows tonight down around 61 degrees Time now for John MacArthur and Grace to you God saw all that he had made and behold it was very good this time he says it's very good that's the 1st time and not so much the parts but he saw all that he had made again reiterating that he is the creator and the maker of everything no death because no evil no Soon no fall. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur here on 7 10 am The word in a letter that was sent to several pastors an animal rights group argued that God created animals and these are their exact words to experience pain fear sadness and happiness just as we do the group also said that killing animals for food is surely the greatest denial of God in human history what do you think could you justify that view from scripture what should be on your dinner plate John MacArthur helps you answer those questions today as he continues his study of Genesis one titled The battle for the beginning now to review some specific aspects of God's creation of man here's John. Starting with the statement let us make man just stop at that point there are 4 features in the making of man that are outlined here 4 features the 1st one is the most defining one let us make man in our image and then it is said immediately another way according to our likeness down in verse $27.00 and God created man in His image in the image of God He created him as if we might somehow missed the point it's repeated 4 times man is made in the image of God number 2 man is not only made in the image of God Man is the king of the earth he is the king of the earth we look at that in vs 26 and 28 in verse 26 after saying let us make man in Our image according to our likeness God said let them rule and let them rule man then was given this sovereignty at the very beginning he rises above all the created order and is the sovereign the king of the earth thirdly we find in creation and this is also man's responsibility it says verse 28 And God bless them and God said to them Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth now in verse $27.00 it says that he made them male and female Now this is the 3rd responsibility of man and he is to manifest the image of God personhood in relationship. He has to be king of the earth he has to tend the garden of God and do everything he can in leading and subduing the created order to put God's glorious power on display and he is the propagator of human life is the propagator of human life so God made the male and female that was God's design for marriage and procreation we've been talking about the fact of procreation existant all of the animal world there is even a procreative capacity among the plants who reproduced by means of seed or seed in fruit a God gave man relational capacities and then God gave man a helper says in verse 7 of chapter 2 that God for man out of the dust of the ground breathed into his nostrils the breath of life he became a living being and as you read down this passage a little bit verse 18 the Lord God said it's not good for the man to be alone this isn't going to work because I'm going to have to keep creating people he can't have this I have to make a helper suitable for him now I know what most people think this means for somebody to do the dishes somebody to take out the trash somebody to make the bed that's not the kind of helper he needed help in one main thing and that was procreation propagation of the human race that was the issue here he needs a helper he needs a partner he needs a perfect match out of the ground of the Lord God formed everything but there was something different about the way he formed this helper back in verse 20. God. Looked all around his creation and there was no wasn't a partner for Adam there wasn't wasn't anything in the created order that was at his level we need to keep affirming that now to be a human being is not to be a glorified animal is to be an eternal being made in the image of God There was only one and that was Adam so God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man and he slipped. He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place and the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man and broader to the man and the man said this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she should be called Woman because she was taken out of men for this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother and so cleave to his wife and they shall become one flesh in the man and his wife are both naked and were not ashamed what was there to be ashamed of wasn't any sin so x. Chromosomes and y. Chromosomes were well known to God even though they don't appear in the book of Genesis the male had the genetic material so that a female could be taken out of him and be genetically related to him in the same kind and then through relationship with her be able to procreate both male and female and so together they fulfill that don't minyan mandated verse $28.00 Be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth fruitful and multiply that the technical word for that is fecundity it means the ability to procreate and by the way that's just all through Genesis I'm not going to take the time that you can Chapter 9 God bless know after the flood and his sons and said to them are right you got to carry on this original mandate be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth make babies in the vernacular produce children and in the 17th chapter of the Book of Genesis. The verse 16 speaks about Abraham and Sarah bless her Indeed I'll give you a son by her bless her and she shall be a mother of nations kings and people shall come from her in verse 20 As for Ishmael I will bless him make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly that's 2 to make you fruitful and multiply is the Old Testament expression for procreation So the male and female design would allow man to procreate which would allow Man and wonderful wonderful responsibility and privilege of producing others in the image of God what an incredible credible blessing you bring a little baby into the world that's an eternal person made in the image of God that's a and there's nothing like it there's absolutely nothing like it because that little life has a capacity for relationship or relationship and we have the privilege and the joy of enriching our own relationship in marriage by multiplying and bringing into that union others capable of deep personal communion conversation and fellowship we can enjoy with them the same personal relations that we enjoy with each other and therefore God is saying you can extend this dome Union over the face of the earth fill the earth Genesis 11 fill the earth same thing in Genesis 128 fill the earth God designed marriage one man one woman that's clear from what I read you at the end of chapter 2 the man leaves his father and mother clings to his wife they become one flesh in the way they become one flesh is in the life that comes from them. One Flesh could mean you have sexual intimacy one flesh could mean that you think alike and you do things together but that the truest and purest expression of one flesh is when both of you come together in one flash one life and that was man's mandate because in so doing man multiplies the image of God That's why we talk sold so strongly to Christian parents who have little children to understand the stewardship you have from God to bring that little one made in the image of God back to the knowledge of God through faith in Jesus Christ man then is created in the image of God He is created to be king of the earth he was created to be the propagator of life and finally he was created as the recipient of enjoyment God just wanted to bless Him It says it in verse $28.00 And God bless them God bless them he just wanted somebody he could bless you bless them how did he bless them well he blessed them with don't 1000000 he blessed them with the divine image he blessed them with the ability to have relationships he blessed them with personhood he blessed them with the ability to understand his creation he blessed them with the capability to know him as well as to know each other he blessed them with the ability to reproduce themselves and fill the earth with others made in the image of God and he blessed them one other way verse 29 God said Behold I've given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth and every tree which has fruit yielding seed it shall be food for you now did you ever ask why it is that God fill this world with such a variety of food. Just on the plant side alone just fruits and vegetables take away man because there's no death at this point so man is a vegetarian when he's originally created but there seems to be absolutely no end to all the vegetation all that grows it hangs on trees for the joy of man I mean I've often thought God could have made a brown sky and brown water in a colorless world and rice and so all you do all your life is eat rice or whatever else but why did God fill this world with such a vast array of plants and vegetables its fruits and vegetables just about every time I go to another culture another place in the world I I'm introduced to another thing that people get out of the ground and eat it's a pretty astonishing some of them I don't want to 2nd helping of but. That probably has more to do with how they're prepared than the what could be done for them you know like covering them with a lot of cheese or something. But I continue to be a major you know and God is accommodated this with another amazing human ability and that is the ability to taste you take that for granted don't you and the ability to smell you primarily think you taste but you really smell more than taste but God has given us the capability to taste certain things what a blessing so that we can literally just enjoy the immense bounty that God has provided for us. So Adam and Eve 1st word vegetarian they could eat every plant yielding seed on the surface of the earth every tree yielding fruit with seed in it was food for them and to every beast of the earth and every bird of the sky and everything that moves on the earth which has life I've given every green plant for food and it was so it was so again is that sort of punctuation statement that indicates this was the permanent established pattern man was a vegetarian and animals were also vegetarian and creation why because there was no death nothing died I think died God established this is the original fixed pattern it was permanent at that time it was so indicates its permanence Now there was just one exception chapter 2 verse 9 there was this tree of life in the midst of the garden this tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil also done in verse 16 and they were commanded you could you could eat from the garden anything you want but from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil You shall not eat for in that day that you eat from it you should surely die they could eat the tree of life all they wanted but it couldn't eat the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to eat what was forbidden would devastate the original design producing death and decay was a sad story isn't it that's exactly exactly what they did chapter 3 tells a terrible story and we don't know how much time passed we don't know whether it was decades or whether it was hundreds of years but the time came when Eve was beguiled by the serpent and the serpent lied to her and she bought the lie and she disobeyed God and she ate and then Adam knowingly disobeyed God and ate and every thing change everything chapter 3 verse 19 all of a sudden taking care of the garden wasn't easy well that back to verse 17. Because you. Have eaten from the tree about which I commended you saying you should not eat from that curse it is the ground because of you and usually you know that all the days of your life thorns and thistles are going to grow new you shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground your whole life is going to be one very very great challenge you're going to have to work hard for your food from vegetation that once was readily accessible to you and then in verse 21 says the Lord God made garments of skin and that's the 1st death in order to make a garment of skin God had to kill the animal God killed the 1st animal to cover the nakedness of that him and his wife down in chapter 4 and verse 4 Abel brought 1st ladies of the flock and their fat portions that means he brought an animal sacrifice killed an animal and the Lord had regard for Abel and is offering the Lord accepted the death of animals as a sacrifice which means animal and death was inaugurated by God acceptable to God within the framework of his sacrificial system because of course it pointed to the wages of sin which is death and God later allowed people to eat meat over in chapter 9 when Noah and his sons came out of the Ark God said be fruitful multiply and fill the earth Chapter 9 verse 2 and the fear of you and the terror of you shall be on every beast of the earth now all of sudden you're going to be king of the earth you're going to have authority over these animals but they're not going to be amiable to that they're going to fear you every beast of the earth every bird of the sky everything that creeps on the ground all the fish of the sea every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you I give all to you as I gave the green plants I don't think being a vegetarian is the Christian way it was originally that way but once there was sin God allowed people to eat meat. And I think that was very very important because God demonstrated through those deaths originally that there was death for sin death required of sacrifice death even required a substitute you know in the glorious millennial kingdom to come the question could come up is going to be the same well no animals are going to be tamed not wild but there will be some animals killed during the millennial kingdom for according to $40.00 to $48.00 there will be sacrifices held in the millennial temple so some of them will be killed at least for commemorative feasts in the millennial temple and sin will exist as I said in the millennium but there will be some return to the original design. The prophet Isaiah wants us to understand and I noted some reference to that earlier but he wants us to understand that the world will be to some degree different the Callon the bear will graze the young will lie down together in the lion will eat strong like an ox the nursing child will play about the whole of the cobra that we need a child will put his hand in the Vipers Dan and it won't be harmed so there is definitely going to be some reversal of the curse though it's not going to be total in Isaiah $6525.00 the wolf in the lamb shall graze together the lion strong like an ox it cetera and a serpent will eat dust so there will be some changes well summing it up God created man in his own image created man to be king of the earth created man to procreate to propagate and fill the earth with others who would be made in the image of God He created man to enjoy the bounty of his blessing and when that was all done verse 31 says And God saw all that he had made and behold it was very good. Not just the parts he's commented on the parts being good this time he says it's very good that's the 1st time and not so much the parts but he saw all that he had made again reiterating that he is the creator and the maker of everything no death because no evil and no sin and no fall in this folks that ends all possibility of evolution including any kind of theistic evolution which depends on death there was no death things weren't mutating and dying for billions of years during this time when God says a day he means an actual day and so you come to chapter 2 verse one thus the heavens and the earth were completed and all their posts that's it folks there ain't no more that's the story it started and ended $32.00 verses. Gave us the complete picture of the created universe and all its wondrous perfection you believe that. God's word isn't. Scots. You're listening to John MacArthur John is chancellor of the Master's University in seminary today he wrapped up his foundational study the battle for the beginning we're highlighting this classic series as part of our year long 50th anniversary celebration here on Grace to you and John I almost hate to see this series and we've seen today and over these past weeks that what a person believes in terms of evolution and creation has serious and far reaching implications it really kind of governs how you see all of Scripture and the battle that's being fought over this has much more at stake then simply the question of what's going to be taught in a child's a science class you know science has just encroached on this doctrine of creation in a horrific way it is I think the part of Scripture that evangelical Christians are willing to give up before they would give up any others they don't want to give up John 316 they don't want to give up the the account of the resurrection and that they may not even want to give up the story of Moses and Elijah analyzed but there they seem to be in a big hurry to give up creation to give up Genesis one and 2 under the intimidating heat of science falsely so-called And I've been saying this all along you can't explain creation by any scientific process. Science is simply the observation of what is reality you look at reality and you conclude that this is what is going on there is nothing to observe about creation except that it's here how it got to where it is was not observable no one was there it's not repeatable it is not repeatable and by the way we know that because nothing new is created right since the original creation so the only way we can know what happened is to find out if the Creator gave us an eyewitness account which he did in Genesis one and 2 and what we've been trying to say is. Science has never said anything or discovered anything that in any way at all alters the Genesis account it can't alter the Genesis account because it can't intrude into the miraculous science only explains what is natural not what is supernatural creation is supernatural Now look I want to remind you that in the series on the battle for the beginning and it is a battle we have been tackling a subject that has confused literally hundreds of thousands of professing Christians it should not be because it steals God's glory and it denies the clear account of scripture if you have any remaining questions about this or if you have some folks you want to share this with you can get this entire series The battle for the beginning in a 12 cd album and it's a full series 12 C.D.'s and you can order that from graced you at a very minimal price or you can do 12 m p 3 downloads from g t y dot org You can download these messages in the series the battle for the beginning and use them to share with others and use them with your kids they may be going through tax on creation in their school experience or wherever get this series and make it part of your library so that you can use it to teach others as well we also have a book by the same title The battle for the beginning which is available as well that's right friend Be sure you know what Scripture says about origins and you need to know how to defend it so get John's audio study or get the book titled The battle for the beginning when you contact us today but the book and the cd album are reasonably priced and shipping is free to order call 805547223 that number of course is easy to remember as the. $855.00 brace you can also shop online at g t y dot org Or you can download all 12 messages fr