Gen 7: Noah and his family in the ark as the flood covered the earth

The flood, resulting in the destruction of the old earth, is like a parallel to the original story of creation. Here, we have Noah, a man righteous before God, as the new Adam.

• v1: Noah painstakingly built the ark in obedience to God, and was saved in it. In the same way, whatever we do in obedience to God will not return void.
• Noah, his wife and children, and their families, was called with him into the ark regardless of their spiritual state: Ham, who proved afterwards to be wicked, was saved in the ark, which intimates, 1) That wicked children often fare the better due to their godly parents, 2) That there is a mixture of bad with good in the best societies on earth. In Noah's family there was a Ham, and in Christ's family there was a Judas. There is no perfect purity on this side of heaven. 3) This call to Noah was a type of the call which the gospel gives to poor sinners. Christ is an ark already prepared, in whom alone we can be safe when death and judgment come.
• v4: God made the world in six days, but he took forty days to destroy it; for he is slow to anger: but, though the destruction came slowly and gradually, it still came effectually
• The world was destroyed once with water, and will be destroyed again with fire (2 Pet 3:5-7)
• v16: God personally shut Noah in. As Noah continually obeyed God, God continually cared for him. The shutting of the door symbolizes a partition between Moses and the rest of the world. Even during the last seven days, the door of the ark was open, and it can perhaps be suggested that anyone who repented and believed might have been welcomed into the ark.
• For Noah to enter the ark, he had to leave his worldly possessions behind and submit to the confinements of being in the ark for a period of time. Hence, as Jesus reminds us in the New Testament, we must leave behind our own sense of righteousness and worldly possessions, whenever these come into conflict with God’s will. Noah submitted to the confinement and inconvenience of being stuck on the ark in order to keep himself alive. This is paralleled in the New Testament, where those who come into Christ to be saved by Him must first deny themselves, both in sufferings and services. Also note that those who by faith come into Christ, will, “by the power of God” (1 Peter 1:5) be shut in, and kept in a stronghold
• Luke 13:22-25: Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. ²³Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them, ²⁴"Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. ²⁵Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.'
  "But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.
• v19-20: Isa 28:17 - water will overflow your hiding place, so that none might escape God's judgement
• v21-23: "Every living thing perished", "everything...that had the breath of life in its nostrils died", "every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out", makes the emphasis of the destruction of all flesh.
• Isa 10:3 "What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar?" - those not found in Christ, the ark, will meet certain death when judgement comes.

Gen 6: The corruption of humankind and God's decision to destroy them except Noah, who walked with God

This tells of the increasing corruption and fall of humankind and God's grievance at sin, resulting in His resolution to punish it

• v1: the multiplying of humankind, as a result of God's blessing, has turned into a curse due to the fall, because with it came also the multiplying and increase of sin and transgression
• v2: "Sons of God" = sons of Seth (the supposedly godly) married the "daughters of men" (supposedly fallen race of Cain): but why the sudden change in the meaning of "men" from v1 to 2, when in v1 "man" referred to the human race as a whole? And why would a sin of being unequally yoked produce "Nephilim"? (commonly translated as giants).
• Hence probable interpretation is the sociology mixed view: "sons of God" = typical reference for aristocrats in OT times,"men of reknown" (Gen 6:4). The Aramaic text renders "sons of God" as "sons of nobles", and the Hebrew word for "God" is used in Scripture for men who served as judges (Ex 21:6 - Then his master must take him before the judges)
• The amiss in those marriages was that the men took and married whoever they chose, out of lust.
• v3: God's displeasure: note that it is the flesh and corruption that resists and opposes God's Spirit, and He may hence choose to withdraw His strivings. Even in this however, God still grants a reprieve, deferring judgement and giving time (120 years) for repentance and reformation
• v5: it was the mighty men and men of great renown who were wicked - these men were not only honoured notwithstanding their wickedness, but honoured for it. The transgressions were done intentionally (every inclination...was only evil all the time).
• v6: "The Lord was grieved", or "it repented the Lord" - God was injured and affronted. It is not as though God changed His mind or regretted His decision. Rather, God is after all, a living being, who responds to our actions. He however, does not change His character, person or ultimate plan. This "grieving" or "repenting" refers to His holy displeasure against sin.
• v7: God resolved to wipe off man from the earth, as dirt is wiped off from a place which should be clean. The creatures, originally made for man, hence had to be destroyed with man. Despite everything, God did not disown nor deny that He was their Creator and Maker.
• v8: Noah finding favour in God's eyes showed that God had examined the character of every person in it before He pronounced it universally corrupt
• v9: Noah found favour because he was "righteous", "blameless", and "walked with God". This in no way meant that Noah was perfect (he got drunk!!). The Hebrew word translated to "righteous" in the passage applied also to the use of honest scales and weights (Lev 19:36), judging your neighbour fairly (Lev 19:15), and in the righteous ways of the Lord (Ps 145:17). Hence Noah was righteous because he conformed to the standard set by God even when people around him were immersing themselves in evil. He was righteous because he accepted and used the righteous standard for his living and acting (hence in no way implying perfection). Noah was "blameless", just like Job (Job 1:1), as agreed by even God in heaven (Job 1:8), and yet Job knew he was a sinner (Job 10:6) Hence blameless "among the people of his time" indicates that Noah's righteousness and blamelessness stood out against his fellow peoples' sinfulness.
• v13: "The secret of the Lord is with those that fear Him" Ps 25:14. God communicated to him His purpose and plans, just like He told Abraham His resolution concerning Sodom. This was perhaps so that Noah could preach and warn His neighbours of God's wrath?
• v14-15: God directed Noah to make an ark. This ark was like the hulk of a ship, fitted not to sail upon the waters, but to float upon the waters, waiting for their fall (because there was no destination to sail to). God could have secured Noah by sending his angels, without putting him through any pains, or trouble himself; but he chose to employ him in making the means of his own preservation. This was both to test his faith and obedience and to teach us that none shall be saved by Christ but only those that work out their salvation. We cannot do it without God, and He will not without us. Both the providence of God, and the grace of God, own and crown the endeavours of the obedient and diligent. Hence, grace is God's responsibility and part, and faith is our responsibility and part.
  
• v18: God established His covenant of providence and grace with Noah, making him a great blessing to the world. Noah was a preacher to the men of his generation: he received word from God's mouth, and through his building of the ark (which would have probably taken many years), he built a visible monument and testimony to God's impending judgement.
• v22: Noah's diligence in building the ark can be considered the result of his immense faith in God's word. Building a huge ark on dry land would have seemed ludicrous to the human mind, who might not have believed that God, who made the world, would destroy it again. It was an act of obedience, which would have incurred much expense and sacrifice, all the while probably being ridiculed. It was supposed to be a warning to the world, calling them to repentance and for them to prepare arks, but since he could not convince the world, he condemned them by it: "By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith" (Heb 11:7)
  

Gen 5: Adam's line to Noah - Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah

The genealogy recorded is inserted briefly in the pedigree of Jesus (Luke 3:36-38), and serves to show that Christ was the "seed of the woman" that was promised.

• v1-2: God created man, made in His own likeness, male and female, blessed them, and named them.
• v3: Adam was created in the image of God, but when he was fallen and corrupt, he bore a son in his own image: sinful, defiled, mortal and corrupt.
• v3-32: The generations of the chosen were recorded expressly, in contrast to the recording of Cain's generation.
• Each one of them ended with "and then he died" with the exception of Enoch, to show that death is passed upon all men.
• v21-24: The accounts run on for several generations without anything remarkable, except for Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, who "walked with God". This must not be in the literal sense, as in Exodus God makes it clear that in Old Testament times no one could see His face and live. It had to hence refer to Enoch's godliness and his constant communion with God. Enoch persevered and fought the good fight until the end, and was taken up to heaven with God fifty-seven years after Adam died, and sixty-nine years before Noah was born. This event also provided the basis for the hope of redemption (Ps 49:15 - But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself), and implies that humans are capable of inhabiting immortal realms.
• v25-27: Methuselah signifies he dies, a warning that death will come to all (despite Methuselah living 969 years).
• v28-32: Noah signifies rest. Lamech complained about the calamitous state of human life and placed hope upon Noah.
  

Gen 4: Cain and Abel's offerings, and Cain's punishment for murdering Abel

This is about Adam's and Eve's lineage, and the consequences of Cain's hardened heart in murdering his brother Abel

• v1: Cain signifies possession, for Eve bore him with joy, thankfulness and great expectation. She probably assumed that this son was the promised seed, and thus triumphed in him.
• v2: Abel signifies vanity. Eve was so taken up with Cain that another son was as vanity to her. Note also that each of them had a calling upon their life.
• v3-5: God was not showing partiality when He looked with favour upon Abel's offering as compared to Cain. The problem with Cain's gift was Cain himself. Cain merely brought some of the fruits of the field. In contrast, Abel gave what cost him dearly - the "fat pieces" (choicest parts) of the firstborn of his flock. Abel could have waited until some of the firstborn animals had matured and produced lambs of their own. At that point he could have given an even larger gift to God. But instead, Abel chose to give what cost him the most. This is a contrast between formalistic and true worship. It was the men, and their hearts' condition that waas the determinative factor in God's deciding whose sacrifice was to be accepted. That Cain's heart was the real problem can also be seen in Cain's reaction - "So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast". Instead of rectifying his attitude, and being angry at himself for his own infidelity and hypocrisy, he hardened his unhumbled heart to be angry with God.
• v6-7: God showed great patience and goodness in reasoning gently with Cain. He made it evident to Cain that he had no reason to be angry at God, that a person with a heart that was right and pure before God would be accepted. The latter half of v7 is a warning to all of us - that sin is always just around the corner, and desires to have us, or overcome and overrun us, but we need to master it. The way of sin is always downhill, and one little wrong will lead to a chain reaction that escalates in intensity.
• v8: Cain invited Abel to go into the field together, not as a challenge, but as a brotherly invitation. "Cain...belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous." (1 John 3:12)
  
• v9: God asked Cain, not because He did not know, but so that He could draw from him a confession, for those who would be justified before God must accuse themselves. Cain pleads not guilty and endeavours to cover a deliberate murder with a deliberate lie, even charging God with injustice in putting forth his question: "Am I my brother's keeper?".
• v10: God speaks as though blood itself is both witness and prosecutor, because God's knowledge testifies against, and God's own justices demands satisfaction.
• v11-12: God curses Cain directly, and lays him under His wrath. Cain was cursed to be a fugitive and hance disgrace and reproach among men.
• v13-14: Cain complains in despair that his sentence is harder than he can bear. He seems to speak in indignation, and complains, not of the greatness of his sin, but on the extremity of his punishment. He sees himself shut out from God's face, love and grace, expelled from the comforts of life, exposed my the hatred and ill-will of all mankind.
• v15: Cain the condemned is still under the protection of God. God is saying in Cain's case, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay".
• v16: Cain left God's presence and dwelt on the east of Eden. Hell is destruction from God's presence (2 Th 1:9)
• v17: Cain, in direct rebellion to God, built his city
• v19-22: Lamech was the first who transgressed the original law of marriage by marrying two wives. Notice also, that Cain's descendants were prosperous and knowledgeable - common gifts and talents may be given to the ungodly, but God in His wisdom chose for Himself the foolish things of the world.
• v23-24: Lamech is even more arrogant and haughty than Cain. He proudly talks about him murdering a man, and compares himself with Cain. In effect, he glories in his shame (Phil 3:19), and even presumes God's protection in his wicked way, daring to infer that if anyone should kill him for the murders he had committed God would much more avenge his death.
• v25: In a single day, one single event, Adam and Eve were deprived of both their children. God however, showed mercy, and gave them another seed, Seth, which means settled or place (cf Cain, the wanderer). Seth was granted in place of Abel, and through him the bloodline to Jesus the Redeemer was restored. Hence we are baptised for the dead (1 Co 15:29), as by baptism, we are admitted into the church, in place of those who by death are removed from it.
• v26: ends in hope: people had started turning to God; the revival of religion

Gen3: The serpent deceiving the woman leading to the fall of Man

While the previous chapters told of the holiness and happiness of all creation, this is about the sin and misery of mankind, the wrath and curse of God against them, summarised in Romans 5:12: "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned".

• v1: This is one of the most common things the devil will whisper to us - "did God really say that?" - as he tries to discredit God's word, promises and commands. He might have chosen to tempt the woman rather than the man because notice that at the time God gave the command not to eat from the tree of knowledge, only Adam was present. Hence the woman probably received this command second hand from her husband, and therefore be more inclined to discredit it. The serpent's whisper was also subtle - he put forth an innocent sounding question, but intentionally quoted the command fallaciously - "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree...?'".
  
• v2-3: The woman's response - she gives a full account of the law to him. Her first mistake was to continue the conversation - she could've perceived by his question that the serpent had no good intentions.
• v4: Here Satan insists that although it might be an act of disobedience, it will not lead to any dire consequences, in direct contradiction to what God had said. One of Satan's tricks is to teach us to doubt, that there may be fallacy in God's word.
• v5: Satan's next attack was to promise advantage to those who sin - that they could eat of the forbidden fruit and gain. He claimed that God was withholding a blessing, and suited the temptation to the state they were in - as they were in a pure state, he proposed to them intellectual delights and satisfactions, rather than earthly pleasures and gratification. The last point of attack is to insinuate that God had no good intentions towards them in forbidding the fruit - he insinuated that God did not want them to eat of the tree because he did not want them to reach their full potential and no longer be in an inferior state below God. Thus the devil still draws people by suggesting to them hard thoughts of God, false hopes of benefit and advantage by sin, and sows doubt into people's minds about God's goodness and purpose.
• v6: Eve stayed, toyed with temptation, eyed and coveted the fruit. She should have turned away her eyes, but instead lingered and gazed upon the fruit rather than distancing herself. She started to desire what was prohibited (part of our human nature), and probably with trembling hands, reached out and took it on her own accord. Note that Satan may tempt and persuade us to cast ourselves down, but he himself cannot force us and cast us down. And the root of sin always starts with temptation and a failure to flee from it.
• Eve gave her husband the fruit, causing him to fall too. Likewise, when we fall ourselves, we tend to draw others down with us. Your actions have consequences for the others around you. John Eldredge also points out that this fall from grace was also due to Adam's failure to speak out against the devil and his failure to protect Eve. What was Adam doing while Eve was being tempted? He stayed silent. What was Adam doing when Eve reached out to take the fruit? He stayed passive.
• v7: The ultimate consequences of transgression - fear and shame - swept over Adam and Eve as their eyes of consciences were opened. All too late, they saw the folly of what they had done: the happiness they had fallen from, a loving God provoked, His grace and favour forfeited, His likeness and image lost to sin. Thus stripped, they saw their nakedness, degraded from their dignity.
• v8: The source of their fear was the sound of God as He walked in the garden. God however, came walking, as one who was still familiar with them. The consequence of their sin was to hide themselves from the presence of God as their consciences began to accuse them.
• v9: God pursued Adam by asking "Where art thou?" It was not as though God did not know where Adam was, but God chose to enquire, to call, to reclaim, in order to bring him back and redeem him. It was a reminder to Adam that where he was was a place he should not be.
• v10: Adam replied in trembling, yet did not confess until God asked him directly. He was afraid because he was naked: unarmed and afraid to contend with God; unclothed and afraid to appear before Him. We too have reason to be afraid of approaching God if we are not clothed with the righteousness of Christ.
• v11: God had to extract the confession from Adam. Although God knows all our sins, He will require from us a confession, not to inform Him, but so that we may be humbled.
• v12-13: Adam's and Eve's responses were to try to excuse their sin and lay the shame and blame on ohers. Adam attempted to lay all the blame upon his wife, forgetting that as the man, he ought to have taught her and led her, rather than allow himself to be led by her. He allowed himself to be ruled by his wife, rather than by God. Adam even insinuates that God was accessory to his sin - "The woman you put here".
• The serpent "deceived": all of Satan's temptations are fallacies, lies and deception. It is by the deceitfulness of sin that the heart is hardened. Rom 7:11: For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
  
• v14-15: God did not examine nor ask the serpent what he had done or why, but imediately cursed him directly because (1) he was already convicted of rebellion against God, and (2) he was to be forever excluded from all hope of pardon. This was to testify God's displeasure against sin. God had blessed all creeping things, but sin turned the blessing into a curse. In these verses we have the first prophecy and perpetual reproach upon Satan: He is degraded and accursed of God, detested and abhorred of all mankind, and destroyed and ruined by the Great Redeemer. Satan will only strike the heel of Jesus, Son of Man, while in return, Jesus will crush his head, totally and completely crushing his power. It is the start of the perpetual war between the kingdoms of light and dark, between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, the war in heaven between Michael and the dragon (Rev 12:7). This prophecy, made in the hearing of Adam and Eve, shows three things concerning Christ: (1) His incarnation, that he is the seed of the woman, through which God magnifies his grace: though the woman was first in the transgression, she shall be saved by child-bearing (1 Tim 2:15), that is, by the Messiah who would descend from her. (2) His sufferings and death in Satan's striking his heel. Satan tempted Christ in the wilderness, terrified Christ in his agony, put it into the heart of Judas to betray Christ, Peter to deny him, false witnesses to accuse him, Pilate to sentence him, all in an attempt to destroy the salvation. (3) His victory over Satan. "by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil" Heb 2:14.
  
• v16: The woman is placed in a state of sorrow and pain, of guilt leading to grief. The female, which by creation was equal with man, is for sin, will "desire" and be made subject to her husband and he will "rule over" her. Many have argued that due to the Fall, women naturally exhibit overpowering sexual desires for their husbands, and God simultaneously ordered husbands to exercise authority over their wives. This however, is due to a gross mistranslation of the Hebrew word, now almost universally translated as "desire". The vast majority of the twelve known ancient versions of the Bible translated the Hebrew word to mean "turning", not "desire". The early church fathers too, did not see any other sense for this word other than to mean "turning". The idea of "desire" started with an Italian Dominican monk named Pagnino who translated the Hebrew Bible. Pagnino, according to biblical critic Richard Simon, "too much neglected the ancient versions of Scripture ot attach himself to the teachings of the rabbis". Pagnino's version was published in 1528. Now except for Wycliffe's 1380 English version and the Douay Bible of 1609, both translated from the Latin Vulgate, every English version up to present has adopted Pagnino's rendering for Gen 3:16. Hence 3:16 is more accurately translated as this: "You are turning away from God to your husband, and he will rule over you i.e. take advantage of you". However, in these sentences, mercy is mixed with wrath. The woman shall have sorrow and pain, but "when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world" (John 16:21). The woman shall be subject, but it shall be to her own husband that loves her. Notice also, that while God passed sentence and cursed the serpent, He never cursed mankind directly to bring him to ruin, but rather to bring him to repentance.
• v17-19: Through sin, man no longer dwelled in a distinguished, blessed paradise, but moved to a cursed ground or earth
  pains of childbearing: guilty conscience awakened to sense of sin
  state of subjection: loss of spiritual liberty and freedom of will
  curse of barrenness: barrenness of corrupt and sinful soul
  toil and sweat: difficulty of labouring in the service of God and work of religion
  embittering of food: te soul'd want of the comfort of God's favour
• Jesus, by his death and sufferings answered the sentence passed here
  Christ's painful death is called the pains of a woman in travail (Acts 2:24)
  Christ was made under the law (Gal 4:4)
  Christ was made a curse for us and died a cursed death (Gal 3:13)
  Christ was crowned with thorns for us
  Christ sweat great drops of blood for us
  Christ's soul was in agony and torment
  Christ became obedient unto death
• v20: the naming of the woman as Eve, i.e. life
• v21: Despite sin, God did not disinherit Adam and Eve, but clothed them. Observe that this was the first instance of bloodshed - Adam and Eve were clothed with the sacrifice of an animal. These sacrifices were divided between God and man: the flesh was offered to God as a burnt offering, the skins were given to man for clothing. Likewise, Jesus sacrificed Himself to God, and we are to clothe ourselves with His righteousness.
• v22-24: God shut man out of paradise, to prevent them from having any hopes of self redemption by eating the fruit of life. The first covenant was irreparably broken, and hence the need for a new convenant was put into place.
  

Gen 2: Creation of man and woman as his partner, and the provision of Eden

• God has created the heavens and the earth, and everything is still in a state of absolute purity and holiness. The chapter explains in greater detail the creation of man, a description of the garden of Eden, the placing of man under the first obligation and law, and the institution of the ordinance of marriage.
• v4: In Gen 1, God was referred to as Elohim - a God of power, but He is now referred to as Jehovah Elohim - a God of power and perfection.
• v7: Man, the masterpiece of God's creation, was formed of the dust of the earth, but breathed life into by the spirit of God (1 Co 15:47 - The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven).
• v8-16: The place appointed for Adam's residence was a garden, not a house or a magnificient palace. As clothes came with sin, so did houses. Solomon's clothes, in all their splendour, were not arrayed like the lilies of the field. God specially provided and planted a garden for Adam, distinguishing him as chosen and set apart with favour.
  
• v15: Man was made in the wilderness, and was placed in the garden. He lived out of Eden before he lived in it, that he might see the comforts of paradise and acknowledge God's provision. As such, a male was born to be wild, have a longing for adventure and danger =p (John Eldredge). God also put the man there for a purpose - to work and take care of the land. Likewise, none of us are here on earth to be idle. God gave us this earth to work, but while He gives us dominion over the earth, He reminds us that we are still under the government of our Creator (v16-17).
• v16-17: The tree of life in the garden of Eden is a foreshadowing of the tree of life in paradise (Rev 2:7), assuring Adam the continuance of life and happiness through God's grace and favour, on condition of his innocence and obedience. The tree of knowledge of good and evil probably did not provide any knowledge; rather it was used to reveal the will of God and provided the first test of obedience from Adam. 'Good' was not to eat of the tree; 'evil' was to eat of the tree. In these two trees, God set before Adam good and evil, the blessing and the curse, life and death. Notice that God's original plan was to allow Man to eat of the tree of life, which placed in the centre of the garden, was the only tree prohibited to Man once he had fallen short of God's glory.
• Disobedience (i.e. sin) = death (i.e. judgement)
• v18: Despite all of God's wonderful and perfect creation, God pitied Adam's solitude. Created in the image of God, a perfect Trinity bound by love and equal relationship, Man was created a social being, to connect with others on the same level in love and fellowship.
• v19-20: reaffirms Man's dominion over all creatures, as they are all brought before him.
• v21-22: Adam was first formed, then Eve was made of him, for him. (1 Co 11:8-9). Adam is not the crowning glory of God's creation; Eve is. Hence if man is the head, woman is the crown of the visible creation, as the glory of man. "That the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be loved" (Matthew henry). Adam lost a rib, but in place he had a helper for him. God may take away, but He will provide us with blessings that are new and fresh each day. Out of the side of Christ, His spouse the church was formed; blood to purchase His church, and water to purify it to himself.
• This was a marriage in which God Himself had an immediate hand in. God, as her Father, brought the woman to the man. God did not leave the two alone in the garden and say to man, "She's out there somewhere, now go chase and find her". =p
• v24-25: The bonds of marriage are stronger than our ties to our parents, because in the institution of marriage, God will make the two become one in Him.
  

Gen 1: A good creation, and the creation of mankind

• v1-2: Describes the work of creation, and describes God as Spirit. We can assume that the heavens were created before the earth, but God decides to only tell us about how the earth, in its literal and material form was created. Through creation, we see great variety, great beauty, great exactness and accuracy, great power, great order, and great mysteries, which all reflect back on God's nature and character.
  
• v3-5: God said...and there was. The power of His Word is such that it can call things into being, and can bring life into a world devoid of one. Into darkness He speaks light; into chaos He speaks order. The division of light and darkness on earth reminds us that this is a world of opposing forces - peace and trouble, joy and sorrow. In heaven there is perfect and perpetual light and no darkness; in hell, utter darkness.
• v6-25: God provided all good things before creating Man, so that Man lacked nothing from the beginning
• v26: "Let us make man in our image" - The plurality of God and the Trinity is already evident from the beginning. Man was made last: God's order in creation was methodical. The 'separations' on the first three days creates 'spaces' which God then fills, with organisms of increasing complexity. Man, as soon as he was made, had the whole visible creation before him.
  
• v26-7: of all creation, only man and woman are described as bein made in God's likeness. It sets us apart from the animals and establishes us in a special relationship with God. The likeness is so part of human nature that humanity's subsequent downfall did not destroy it. While it has been tarnished, people are still able to reason, be moral, can dream, imagine and take responsibility. Our likeness in God is our soul and spirit, our place and dominion on this earth, and before the Fall, purity.
• God made Man male and female, and
  
• Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it (Gen 1:28)
• v29-30: notice that before the fall, God gave man and every animal every green plant for food. While there was still perfection, there was to be no bloodshed.
• v31: God's six 'days' of work, followed by a 'day' of rest, sets the pattern for us now. Before He rested, however, He reviewed all that He had made, and only then declared creation 'very good'.