Relationships

One of the single most influences of our lives, is relationships, regardless of who it is with, mother, father, son, daughter, husband, wife, in-laws, relatives, strangers, friends, races and even things. Relationships influence our lives in many ways. Our first relationship was with our parents. They influenced us with whatever values they had, the lifestyle they lived, and the environment they brought us up in. Some of us came from secure and stable homes, but some of us did not. Regardless, of the kind of home you come from, at adulthood, you make the choice of continuing that lifestyle or not continuing it. Our lives are influenced by the people we meet and marry, the people that we choose to associate with, our neighbors and sometimes total strangers, like celebrities. We don’t know them, but they influence our lives by the things we see them do and hear them say. Our lives are influenced by our economic status and our race.

God made us for relationships, but relationships can be fatal whenever we allow them to take us away from God‘s plan for them. We chart our own destiny by our conformity or non-conformity to God‘s plan. Today, we are going to take a look at the first relationships established by God in the book of Genesis. First let us take a look at man‘s relationship with the animals and the rest of the earth.

Man’s Relationship With Animals and the Rest of the Earth

Genesis 1:26 reads, “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 creeps upon the earth.” God gave man dominion over the fish, fowl, cattle and other creeping animal things and over all the earth. Dominion means to rule or to govern. So man’s relationship to these things was established -- to rule them.

Genesis 1:29 reads, “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing 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.” God gave man every green herb and trees with seed to reproduce, for food for himself and the animals. From day one, he gave man the job of being astronomers, conservationists, environmentalist, zoologist, botanist, farmers, gardeners, etc. When our scientist tell us we are polluting our environment or damaging the air we have to breathe, by the things that we are doing, we should listen. We chart our own destiny by how we treat our environment. That’s why you hear them talk about global warming, El Nino, La Nino, etc. Now that is man’s relationship to the plants, animals and his environment. Let’s take a look at man’s relationship with God.

Genesis 1:27 and 28 reads. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. ²⁸And 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.” Subdue means to bring under control by influence, training, persuasion, or force.

Man was the only creature God created in His image and likeness. Genesis 2:7 says, “And 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.” Relationship with God began when God breathed life into man. God’s superiority, His authority was already established by the fact that He was the Creator, not the created. God created man a being that would choose to worship Him; but everything that He created was good, so all of man’s choices were good, until God put him in the garden and said, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” Now choice was established. Man could now choose to obey God or to disobey Him. This was a probationary or testing period for man to further establish his relationship with God. Now, let’s take a look at man’s relationship with mankind.

Genesis 2:20-21 reads, 20-And adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. It is clear, I believe that God had created male and female of every animal, but when Adam finished naming the animals, it was obvious that they all had mates, but him, so in verse 21, it reads ^21”And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.” This was the beginning of man’s relationship with humankind. This was the first marriage.  Genesis 2:23, “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. This was the beginning of the man’s relationship with a woman. God established marriage between a man and a woman and accordingly. Genesis 2:24, reads, Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.  Even though there is no father or mother at this time, God established what a man’s relationship to his father and mother would be, whenever he chooses a wife. Cleave means to adhere or cling to; or to be faithful to. Genesis 1:28 says He created them male and female and commanded them to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth. This meant that eventually there would be children and thus another type of relationship, parents with their children. So here we have learned of the establishment of relationships between mankind: man and wife, to mother and father, and children. When do relationships become fatal?

Relationships can be fatal when man does not conform to God’s will and purpose for them. Let’s see what happens when there is a breach in the purpose of relationships.

Genesis 3:1 reads, “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” In the world before this one, Satan had been given dominion over all things on the earth, but God took it from him when he decided he wanted to rise above the heavens and overthrow Him. Satan tried to take it back by causing man to sin. He used the serpent as a tool to trick man, because he was more cunning than any other animal. Until the curse, the serpent was an animal that walked upright.

God had given man dominion over the fish, fowl, cattle and other animals, so why did mankind fail to exercise that authority with the serpent. The fall began with this breach in relationships. The serpent was cunning and smart enough to go to the weaker of the two vessels, the woman. Genesis 3:1-3 continues, “…And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: ³But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Here, Eve, for whatever reason adds something to God‘s command. If you re-read Genesis 2:16-17, as it was given to Adam, it does not say anything about touching the tree. I believe that this made Eve even more vulnerable, and Satan knew right away, with a little more effort, he could cast doubt in her mind of God’s command. Verse 4 reads, “And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” “And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” So Eve ate some of the fruit and handed it to Adam, which means he had to be near by. Neither one of them chose to exercise the authority God gave them, over the animal, the serpent. Adam had to have had a brilliant mind, because he named all of the animals on earth and the fowls of the air. God gave the commandment directly to him, so did he suddenly get amnesia. The serpent lied to them. They listened to him and ate from the forbidden tree. Man failed the test in the garden and was put out of it.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they immediately died spiritually. Conscience was born. Fear, guilt, nakedness, and shame was born. When God questioned Adam about what happened, Genesis 3:12 reads, “And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” As though he had no choice but to take it and eat it, Adam blames Eve. Genesis 3:13 reads, “And the Lord God said unto the woman, what is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” So Eve blames the serpent. This is the day that every negative was born, blame, deceit, dishonesty, lying, cheating, etc.

What Happens When There is a Breach in Relationships

Relationships are fatal any time they breach God’s intended purpose. When we misuse our relationships, we breach God’s plan for them. Animals were not created for man to have sex with. Plants and the trees were not created for us to get high on, because if you do, they rule you. God created mankind, male and female and said, “be fruitful and multiply.“ He didn’t create male for male and female for female. This is a breach in the intended purpose of relationships of mankind. It was not His plan for man to enslave man. His greatest commandment is that we, “Love the Lord thy God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. And the second is that, “We love our neighbor as ourselves. If we followed these two commandments, we would not have wars, crime in our communities, dysfunctional families, divorce, and out of control children. There is no magic button that we can push and make these things go away, just Jesus who is able to help us bare our trials and come in conformity to His will. He is the only one with the power to change the hearts of men.

God loved mankind and the fall in the Garden would not determine his destiny unless he so chose. God had a plan that would restore to man what Satan stole was to send His Son, Jesus, to take away the sins of the world. He become that sacrificial lamb that paid our sin debt.  All we have to do is believe it in our hearts and confess it with our mouth. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh to the Father, but by me."

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The Book of Romans gives us the most comprepehsive guide to the Christian doctrine.  One must study it carefully with divine revelation and guidance to digest it right.  Saul whose name was changed to Paul was God's chosen vessel to bring the written gospel to the world.  At the time of his ministry, the New Testament had not been written.  Paul, God's chosen vessel, was purposed to write half of it.  Studying the Holy Scriptures is not an option.  Jesus extends an invitation to discipleship in Matthew 11:28 and then follows it with this command to those that accept it in verses 29 and 30, "Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." A yoke is a harness that binds to oxen together and it is used here as a metaphor to explain how the Holy Scriptures bind us to Him.  Two oxen walking together must be taking the same path, likewise the Word of God will keep us walking with Him on the same path. 

If you want to understand better the Christian, purchase your copy of The Mystery Unveiled and learn what God revealed to His chosen vessel, Paul, to teach His people of his plan of salvation.

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Updated 09/1/2010