Intermediate Bible Study
With these words the Bible begins and gives answer to one of life's most important questions. This question is, "Where did man come from?" The Bible answers, "From God."
God took only six days to make all that is in the world. These days were 24 hour days each made up of "an evening and a morning." The chart below shows what God made on each day.
| FIRST DAY | Light |
|---|---|
| SECOND DAY | Firmament |
| THIRD DAY | Dry land and vegetation |
| FOURTH DAY | Sun, moon and stars |
| FIFTH DAY | Fish and fowls |
| SIXTH DAY | Beasts, man and woman |
Having finished His creation in six days, the Bible says that on the seventh day God rested.
The Bible gives the details concerning the creation of man and woman. "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,' and man became a living soul." He took this man, Adam, and put him into a beautiful garden, called the Garden of Eden. He brought to Adam all the animals and Adam named every one of them. The Bible then says that God caused Adam to sleep, and taking a rib from his side He made a woman from it. Adam called her Eve, for she "was the mother of all the living."
When God placed man in the Garden of Eden, he told him that he could eat of every tree in the garden, except one called the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil." If he did, God said, "You will die the very day you eat of it. "The Bible tells of the coming of the Devil in the form of a serpent and persuading Eve to eat of that tree. She then persuaded Adam to eat of it.
Because of their sin (disobeying God) they were driven Out of the garden. Because of this, they were separated from God and became dead spiritually. Today when we disobey God we are separated from Him and die spiritually. As further punishment, God told Eve she would have pain in bearing children, man would have to work hard to get food, the serpent would have to crawl upon his belly and the Devil was told that someday he would be crushed. (See Genesis 3:14-19; Romans 16:20).
Adam and Eve had two boys, Cain and Abel. When God told these boys to offer sacrifices, Abel did just what God said, but Cain offered something other than what God had said. (Note: This is sin, whenever one disobeys God, it is wrong). When God accepted Abel's sacrifice, Cain became angry and killed his brother. Later Adam and Eve had other children. One of these, named Seth. is the one through whom Jesus was to come later on.
This lesson is taken from the first four chapters of the Bible. You will enjoy reading these chapters to learn even more.