Can you imagine waking up for the first time as an adult man? The first thing you are aware of is an unseen Presence, the infinite Being we call God?
Let's look at the creation of mankind in more detail . First day by day we will unfold how creation came into being .
Here are some questions after you read about day 6
1. What is the difference in the way the beasts are made and mankind?
2. What do we learn about God ? What did God say and do ?
3. What does it mean to be made in the image of God ?
4. What instructions did God give the man?
5. Was the woman present at the time God explained the ways of the kingdom to the man ?
6. What can we learn about authority in the kingdom ?
Now let's turn to the word of God regarding The Beginning
Genesis 1:1-5 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. "
What do we notice here ?
1. There is no explanation of where God came from!
2. God is the creator . God is Not a created being, God is "other", self existent . Everything was created by God and for God's pleasure . By virtue of being the creator , God "owns " everything .
3. God , the Spirit was present and involved in creation
4. God , the Word , spoke something called "light" into existence .
5. God separated the light from the darkness .
6. God saw the light was good.
7. God gives names to both light and darkness . The one who names has authority or rule over what is named.
8. Man was not present on day one.
Day 2
Genesis 1:6-8 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. "
The Voice or Word of God continues to speak into existence that which did not exist .
Day 3-5
Genesis 1:12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Day 3
Genesis 1:14-18 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. Day 4
Did you notice that light was created on day 1; but not until day 4 do the stars and sun ( a star) (the greater light) and moon (the lesser light)!appear. The moon of course can only reflect light; later we will draw some spiritual analogies and learn more about "light" and "darkness".
Genesis 1:21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Day 5
Day 6
Genesis 1:24-31 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image,in the image of God he created him;male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. "
Let's look at a more detailed description of the creation of humans then identify what we can learn about God.
Genesis 2:4-9, 15-25 These are the generationsof the heavens and the earth when they were created,in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;she shall be called Woman,because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. "
So our questions at the beginning
1. God formed the land animals and the birds from the ground. God formed the man from dust of the ground . Both animal and human formed from common dirt. Both had the breath of life.
But there significant differences . God breathed directly into the nostrils ( nose ) of the man He had shaped from dust; and man - but not animals - was created in the image of God.
That shows intimacy and relationship !
We learn God is a relational God with man in a special way that is different from all of creation - living things on the earth ; angelic beings , or non living creation .
But what can it mean that man is made in the image of God? God is a spirit being so it can't mean physical likeness.
God could communicate in language with the man ( God gave the man two commands and gave the man authority to take care of the garden , to guard and tend the garden , to name the animals , and to name his wife) .
A side note about the word translated as "God" or the words translated as "LORD God".
We will talk about this more later as we think about how God can be relational in His nature, independent of His creation . God IS relational ; God did not BECOME relational when He created all things . Remember , God is self existent , not created , so all of His attributes are present. However, the demonstration of His nature, God for His own purposes , is seen in how God interacts with His creation .
So from a commentary :
b. God: This is the ancient Hebrew wordElohim. Grammatically it is a plural word used as if it were singular. The verbs and pronouns used with Elohim should be in the plural, but when Elohim refers to the LORD God the verbs and pronouns are in the singular.
i. Rabbi Simeon ben Joachi, commenting on the word Elohim: "Come and see the mystery of the word Elohim; there are three degrees, and each degree by itself alone, and yet notwithstanding they are all one, and joined together in one, and are not divided from each other." Clarke adds: "He must be strangely prejudiced indeed who cannot see that the doctrine of a Trinity, and of a Trinity in unity, is expressed in the above words."
More commentary from David Guzik
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
a. Let Us make man in Our image: The use of the plural (Let Us … in Our image, according to Ourlikeness) is consistent with the idea that there is One God in three Persons, what we know as the Trinity.
i. Leupold does a good job showing that the plurality of let Us make cannot be merely the plurality of royalty, nor can it be God speaking with and to the angels. It is an indicator of the Trinity, though not clearly spelled out.
b. In Our image: An understanding of who man is begins with knowing we are made in the image of God. Man is different from every other order of created being because He has a created consistency with God.
i. This means there is an unbridgeable gap between human life and animal life. Though we are biologically similar to certain animals, we are distinct in our moral, intellectual, and spiritual capabilities.
ii. This means there is also an unbridgeable gap between human life and angelic life. Nowhere are we told the angels are made in the image of God. Angels cannot have the same kind of relationship of love and fellowship with God we can have.
iii. This means the incarnation was truly possible. God (in the Second Person of the Trinity) could really become man, because although deity and humanity are not the same, they are compatible.
iv. This means human life has intrinsic value, quite apart from the "quality of life" experienced by any individual, because human life is made in the image of God.
c. In Our image: There are several specific things in man that show him to be made in the image of God.
- - Man alone has a natural countenance looking upward
- - Man alone has such a variety of facial expressions
- - Man alone has a sense of shame expressing itself in a blush
- - Man alone speaks
- - Man alone possesses personality, morality,and spirituality
d. In Our image: There are at least three aspects to the idea that we are made in the image of God.
- - It means humans possess personality: knowledge, feelings, and a will. This sets man apart from all animals and plants
- - It means humans possess morality: we are able to make moral judgments and have a conscience
- - It means humans possess spirituality: man is made for communion with God. It is on the level of spirit we communicate with God
e. In Our image: This does not mean that God has a physical or human body. God is a Spirit (John 4:24). Though God does not have a physical body, He designed man so man's physical body could do many of the things God does: see, hear, smell, touch, speak, think, plan, and so forth.
i. "It will hardly be safe to say that the body of man is patterned after God, because God, being an incorporeal spirit, cannot have what we term a material body. Yet the body of man must at least be regarded as the fittest receptacle for the man's spirit and so must bear at least an analogy that is so close that God and His angels choose to appear in human form when they appear to men." (Leupold)
f. In Our image, according to Our likeness: The terms for image and likeness are slightly different.Image has more to do with appearance, and likeness has more to do with an abstract similarity, but they both essentially mean the same thing here in this context.
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