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What is the story of humanity? What's our story? Is it the story of climbing out of the primaeval swamp? Is it a story of the survival of the fittest? Is it the pursuit of happiness or passing on our genes?

Is it, as David Attenborough suggests, miraculous without explanation? Is it, as Chris Packham says, just an accident? Is it, as Dawkins says, indifferent chance?

I wonder if today we're quite apathetic about these big questions of life, because actually most of the answers we hear deeply dissatisfying, and we don't like to think about it because, as Sarah said, we are amusing ourselves to death. We find all sorts of things to distract us so we don't have to think about these big questions. And we may come to a passage like Genesis chapter two, so familiar, so well known, say, part of our cultural history, that we think, oh, here we go again. The same old answers of religion trotted out. Can there be anything more to say?

Anything more to hear? Anything that would even make a difference to how I think of the world? Or can I encourage us to perhaps park some of those thoughts for now and take a fresh look? I hope at Genesis chapter two that we might see our story from God's perspective.

Now, the first thing we're going to see is that Genesis is not rambling ancient history. Genesis is an ordered account of the generations of God's people. You see at the start of our reading there, verse four, there's that little phrase, this is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. This little phrase, which is translated here, this is the account you might see in other translations as these are the generations. This is a repeated phrase that comes up in the book of Genesis.

If you're feeling. I was going to say if you're feeling bored. But if you're feeling inquisitive later, why not flick through Genesis and see if you can find probably 10 of these headings which divide up the book. This is an ordered account of God's people and it is also a theological account. Genesis chapter two is a theological account of the creation of the world of humanity.

It's not a scientific account. Or is it a geographical account? It's not a historical account or anthropological account. Now that's not to say it's not true. Just because you say something is theological primarily rather than historical primarily, that doesn't mean it's not true.

And this account certainly speaks into some of those areas. But primarily it's theological. It's about God. So we're not going to concern ourselves now with some intricate questions about whether Eden was a real place, whether Adam was a historical figure. But neither are we going to doubt that those things are true.

We are, however, going to see a bigger story, a bigger picture at play in Genesis chapter 2. Now, the setting of Genesis 2 is a place we're familiar with. It's Eden, a place word, a name which probably means something like abundance. Here's a couple of things to note about this place. First thing I think we see is this is a royal garden.

This is a royal garden. There is water flowing, there's all kinds of trees. It's bursting with life. Now, these kinds of gardens existed in the minds of an ancient audience. These gardens were attached to palaces and belonged to kings.

And so this garden, more abundant than any other as it were, is shown to us as the garden of the King of Kings. This is something special, more flowing and more abundant than anything they'd ever heard of. The second thing we see there is Eden is a place from which all other life flows. Put verse 10 there with me.

A river watering the garden, flowed from Eden, and from there it was separated into four headwaters. Here we find the source of four great rivers, the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. Now, the latter two are still known to us today. The first two, we're not sure whether they exist anymore or whether they're names for other rivers. Now, if I got out a map, I could show you that there are all sorts of water sources in the mountains of eastern Turkey which feed the Tigris and the Euphrates.

But I'm not sure these details are given here that we might try and pinpoint on a map exactly where either was. Rather, if we were to look at a map, we would see these water sources up in the mountains, creating what is called a fertile crescent, stretching from the Mediterranean coast up through Syria and Turkey and across and down through Iraq and Iran down to the Persian Gulf. We could see all life in the whole region coming from these sources. And that is what we're told here. All life comes from Eden.

All life comes from the garden of the King of Kings. All life is given from this one source. That is, if you like to set the scene, here we are in Eden. It doesn't matter if it's a real garden, doesn't matter where it is. The point is, it's the garden of the King of Kings.

And from here comes all life to all of the known worlds.

Now, before we look at some of the bigger pictures, Let us briefly just look at some of the key details, some building blocks, if you like, for creation. Now, some of what I'm about to say, you might think, well, that's obvious, why even bother saying that? But for some of you, these might be new things. And these building blocks that we're told about would have been revolutionary in the minds of some of the ancient heroes, and actually in some ways are no less radical in our culture today. Here's the first one.

We were made in God's image. Ben showed us this last week from Genesis, chapter 1, verse 27. So God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God. He created them.

Male and female. He created them. Ben gave us that picture of the coin with the king's head stamped on it, as it were. All human life bears the stamp of the king. So all human beings have innate value and worth, regardless of age, of mental capacity, of health, of wealth, of class, of culture or creed.

All human beings have God given value. And God looks at it and says, very good. Second thing, we're creatures. Look at verse seven there. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground.

Human beings are creatures with a creator. You were made. On the one hand, we're not animals. We're different. We're not high functioning apes, as some would tell you.

But neither are we gods. We're part of creation. We're finite. We have limitations placed on us. Our bodies will return to dust.

I wonder if sometimes in life we fight against our creatureliness. We think we're gods. We think we know everything. We think we can do it all. No, we're finite.

We're creatures made by a creator. Thirdly, we are given life, end of verse seven. And God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And the man became a living being. What is the man?

He's dust, that's what he is. The man is dust until God steps in and breathes life. That's the point at which the man becomes a living being because God gives him breath.

Life is a miracle. Life is a gift. Life is not ours to take. Life comes from God. It's not something we earn, not something we work for.

It's given. We're given life. Here's the fourth thing. We are made male and female. We pick that up again in chapter two, but it's there first in Genesis 1:27, in the image of God.

He created them. Male and female. He created them. We're made differently. There are distinctive features that make us male and female.

God isn't male or female. But God's image is displayed in the complementarity of a man and a woman. There is something about our creative differences which reflect God's character and purposes.

I'm a creature, so I can't be God. Similarly, I'm a man, so I can't be a woman. These things are not interchangeable, not fluid, but wonderfully distinctive. There is purpose, order and design in our differences.

And fifthly, we're made for work and for rest. Then verse 15, the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work and care and take care of it. From the beginning, humanity is given a job to work and care for the garden. Work and rest go hand in hand. The fact that there's a desire to work is designed into us.

It gives us purpose and value for work. Today in our work, we get to reflect our Creator and lovingly serve our fellow creatures. We were made to work and to rest. That's why you all need to switch off as well. And this also means that there's not really such a thing as a sacred secular divide as sometimes we talk about.

I do my faith stuff at church, and then in the week, I do my work. No, work and rest are created by God. They're part of his plan for humanity. Now, in a post Genesis 3 world, in a post fall world that we're going to look at next week, these building blocks get mixed up. They get toppled down and muddled around.

God's image is disfigured as we go our own way. We want to be God, not creatures. Life is taken and abused. The male and female distinction is confused. Work becomes hard and rest is hard to find.

Nevertheless, these are some of God's good building blocks for humanity.

And if we have more time, we'd be able to look at some of these issues in more detail. Perhaps you'll have an opportunity in connect groups to discuss them further. But I want to just look at two bigger pictures, two pictures that we see in this chapter about what humanity is for. And here's the first one. Humanity was created for worship.

We're made to worship. Now, one of the striking things about this picture in Genesis chapter two is the focus really is on the garden, isn't it? The creation of humankind at the end is certainly a key part of that. But the focus, the scene is the garden, this place called Eden. And the thing you have to know about Eden is Eden is a temple.

Or if you like, when the temple is built, later on in the Bible, it's built to reflect and look like the garden. And you can see so many parallels between the two. They're both a place of God's presence. God dwelling with his people, God walking with his people. There's symbolism in the garden that we haven't even had time to touch on it.

But it talks about the trees, doesn't it? And two trees in particular. And what do you get in the temple? You get lampstands designed to look like trees. Adam here is told to work and care for the garden.

The same command which is given to the priests who would serve in the temple. There's pictures in the temple of the cherubim guarding images which we see at the end of chapter three. Well, one of my favourite pictures of the temple comes from Ezekiel, chapter 47. Ezekiel has a vision of the heavenly temple. And how is it pictured?

What's the overriding image of that temple? Rivers, water coming up and rivers flowing out to all the corners of the earth. That's the same picture from Eden. It's water, it's source. The rivers come up and flow to all the corners of the earth, giving life and breath to everything.

And if you look at how the temple is described when it's made, it's full of garden like carvings and decorated with some of the precious stones we see with gold and onyx even. Just take away that there's a little throwaway line in Genesis chapter 2, verse 12. Look at verse 12 there with me. It just bracketed in our Bibles, just a little afterthought. The gold of that land is good.

Aromatic resin and onyx are also there. I think what's the point in including this? It's a lovely picture. Gold and onyx and resin sounds lovely, but why put this in?

I looked up this word onyx, this precious stone. I thought there must be something about this, must be something symbolic. Onyx is the special stone which would go on the breastplate of the high priest. Do you remember the story of the high priest who would, as it were, take the people into the presence of God? He would wear this breastplate with 12 stones to represent God's people.

But there was one stone on which the names were carved. It was the. The onyx stone. On the onyx were carved the names of the tribes of Israel. And as it were, onyx was then representing the people.

They could come into God's presence again.

And then you read later on, there's another temple. It's pictured in Revelation chapter 21. It's all of God's people and this place, this Heavenly city is decorated with all gold and onyx and all precious stones. This little throwaway line, it's a picture, if you like, of God's people being able to dwell in God's presence. What a wonderful thought.

You see, where is humanity created to be? We're created to be in the temple garden, in God's presence, enjoying his rest. You know, sometimes in life people talked about, talk about having this God shaped hole about in different ways how life feels empty or unsatisfying somehow deficient or out of sync. It feels like things should work, but they don't work as they should.

What if that's because we're not really living in the place that we were made for?

What if we were made to live in this place, this temple garden, this place where God is there, he's present, he's dwelling perfectly with his people. What if that's the main reason that life feels hard? Because we're not actually in the place we were made to be? And that's often one of the testimonies we hear when people become Christians. They say something was missing and Jesus just made sense of life.

Jesus made sense of the world. That they came to church and they found in church a place of peace and sanctuary somewhere different. That among God's people they found a place that felt like home. Maybe you're here today because deep down you feel that sense that something is missing. That actually you're seeking the thing for which you were made to live.

With God and his people. Humanity was made for worship, to be in God's presence. Here's the second thing and the final thing. Humanity was made for relationships. Bear with me.

At verse 18, the Lord God said, it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. Just on to verse 20, end of verse 20. But for Adam, no suitable helper was found. Here again we see the account of the creation of humanity.

We've already heard one view of it in chapter one. Here we have another take on it. Matthew Henry famously summarised this little section by saying this. The woman was made out of a rib of the side of Adam. Not out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected and near his heart to be beloved.

Quite quaint, isn't it? Quite nice. But I think it does capture something of what's going on here. There is order and distinction in the creation, there is difference. But the Woman isn't lesser.

We've already seen in chapter one. She's created as a co. Image bearer and created here, we're told, as a helper. Now, this helper word isn't a weak word. If I say to one of my children, please can you come and help me with the dinner?

What I really mean is, stop punching your brother and come over here and stand here. I'm not really looking for their help. There might be something they can do, but it's a little bit patronising in a way. Oh, come here and help. But that's not the word here.

Help could be a weak word, but here it's a strong word and it's a word used of God again and again in the Old Testament. I just picked one example of the way the word is used again. It's in the Psalm 121. The Psalmist says, my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. Wow, that's strong help, isn't it?

Help from the maker of heaven and earth.

The woman was made to be his helper. Wow, that is a strong word, an important word.

We're told it's not good for the man to be alone, it's good for the woman to be with him. They're saying, we're not islands, we're not made to be independent. Now, this doesn't mean. This isn't saying that marriage is essential. Jesus never married, but relationships are essential.

Community is essential for humanity to flourish. We can't do life, we can't do our faith by ourselves. God's called us to be together, he's brought us into relationships, he's called us to be a family. You know, there is a big problem in our society, and perhaps even in our church, with loneliness. Increasingly, I think we're starting to talk about it and we recognise, and perhaps particularly for older generations, we talk about loneliness.

Living on our own, that can be really hard, friends. I don't think it's a problem unique to older generations. I think actually young men especially have real problems with loneliness, of finding deep and meaningful friendships, you know, the kind of friends that you can really depend on and rely on. And I wonder, I don't have any answers here this morning. Sorry.

But I think it is an issue that we need to give time as a church to think about. If at the heart of creation, God is saying, it's not good to be alone, it's good to be in community, it's good to have strong helping relationship, if that's good, if that's a Building block at the heart of God's purposes for humanity. What can we do to combat loneliness? What can we do to offer an alternative? And that might feed into all sorts of things about how we do hospitality, how we do welcome, how we set up life as a church.

I wonder today how we might combat loneliness and we might be a helper to someone. But there's something even bigger pictured here in this garden scene. God presents the woman to the man and he sings. He sings over her. He rejoices that they're one.

They're completely exposed. And yet verse 25, there's not even a hint of shame. It's perfect. It's beautiful. It's glorious.

What's being pictured here? It's a wedding. It's a marriage service.

The bride is brought to her husband. Where else do we see a picture like this in the Bible? Well, I've already told you, we've already been there. Revelation 21, the second and the second last chapter of the Bibles. The same picture is there in Revelation 21.

We see that holy city that looks just like a temple, that looks just like Eden, prepared like a bride. It's all of God's people waiting to be joined to the groom, the Lamb, the Lord Jesus, what does he do? He rejoices. All of heaven sings. There's no shame anymore.

All the failures of the past, all the sin of God's people, that's been dealt with as Jesus has died for them. So there's no shame. The bride comes dressed in white, perfect to meet her green. You see, from the very beginning, God's plan for humanity has been clear. He wants us to be in his presence, to enjoy his rest, to receive the life that he gives and by his spirit, the new life that he will give again.

He wants us to be his people, joined to each other in community and bound united to Him.

That, I think, is the invitation of Genesis 2. The invitation of Genesis 2 is. Is not to get out the history books, not to get out the maps and, and try. And where's Eden? Where does Adam fit?

The invitation of Genesis 2 is to be bound to God forever. To enjoy the life he gives, to be one with your Creator. So, friends, come now or come again to Jesus the second Adam, the bridegroom who gives you his life now and forever. Amen.