The creation narrative.
“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. The heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.” Genesis 1:31; 2:1. God made everything very good because he created a place where humankind, whom he determined to create, could enjoy a long and happy life with Him. God even planted a garden and filled it with all kinds of fruit trees so that humankind could enjoy. “The Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Genesis 2:7, 15. The ‘breath of life’ is the human spirit that God put into the first man, Adam.
The statement “and it was very good” above included humankind, as created in the image of God in Adam. However, the first man, Adam, the representative of all humankind, did not remain good. The first man, Adam, disobeyed God’s command not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food, and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” Genesis 3:6. As a representative of humankind, Adam made a deliberate choice to disobey God. Accordingly, humankind joined God’s enemy, the adversary—Satan—in rebellion against God. Thus, all of humankind, the biological descendants of Adam, became natural sinners and slaves in the kingdom of sin and darkness. Therefore, the “Let there be light” was plunged into darkness. Thus, the biblical creation account introduces readers to the tension between light and darkness and between good and evil.
God, out of love for His creation, decided that His good creation should not remain in darkness. Therefore, God brought light into the world through the promised Son, “the woman’s seed,” as foretold in the Garden of Eden. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15. The Messiah, Jesus Christ, is called “the woman’s seed” because He received a human body through a woman. The promised Son, the woman’s seed, defeated Satan, the darkness, and made sure that humankind, who was helpless, would also have victory in Jesus Christ. Throughout the Old Testament, God reminded His enemies—the helpless humankind—of what He would do to crush the kingdom of sin and darkness and replace it with the kingdom of light and righteousness.
The consequence of Adam’s decision. Read the next blog.