Day 6 has finally dawned. This devotional reading looks at the creation of humankind.
Nuggets
- God created man in His own image.
- The Trinity had a divine consultation to determine how humankind would be created.
- There is no indication here of how the male was made.
- God patterned humankind after Himself.
- Yes, God created only male and female as genders.
Since we know the end of the story, we know this is the last day on which God will engage in creation. In the last devotion, we looked at how God created ground animals.
God saved humankind for His last creation.
This went long, so we are going to save the Connections and the application until the next devotion. Let’s jump in.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the Creating Everything theme, click the button below.
Devotions in the Celebrating Creation’s Story series
God Created Man
Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.’ So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1: 26-27 NLT)
God created man in His own image.
We cannot read this devotion without reading God told Job all about creation – and questioned him about man’s ability to add input.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements — surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38: 4-7 ESV).
It might be easy to read Genesis 1: 27 as another day at the office for God. It is only when we add “Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! …” (Gen. 1: 31 CSB) do we see His pride in His creation. (And no, it isn’t just His man creation of whom He is proud).
Let Us
Bible Verse
The Trinity had a divine consultation to determine how humankind would be created.
At the beginning of this chapter, we talked about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit were all present at creation.
- “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1: 1 NLT).
- “In the beginning the Word, already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him” (Jn. 1: 1-3 NLT).
- “… And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters” (Gen. 1: 2 NLT).
This is written to show that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit talked among themselves as to how to create humankind. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness …’” (Gen. 1: 26 ESV emphasis added).
All three were involved in this creation: God’s creation plan was accomplished through the Holy Spirit doing the work with Jesus’ overseeing all. We could also say that Jesus, as the Light in Day 1, was the foundation by which everything was made.
Why did They think that they had to have a corporate meeting before creating humankind when there wasn’t one on any of the other days?
Well, we aren’t totally sure that there wasn’t. Just because it wasn’t documented in the Book of Genesis doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
It also doesn’t mean this was the only sentence in the discussion. Did they talk about humankind’s disobedience and the need for the Plan of Salvation? Is this when the events of the Day of the Lord were hammered out?
Regardless of if it was or wasn’t, creation of humankind was different from the other creations. Humankind does have a mind and free will.
Something just popped into my head. We talked about how God follows patterns.
What did Jesus say? “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?” (Lk. 14: 28 NLT).
Counting the cost means evaluating what we have and putting the plan into place.
Exell put it this way. He wrote, “There must be a pause before such a being is made. The project must be considered. The probable issue must be calculated. His relation to heaven and earth must be contemplated.”
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Farther on down in Exell’s sermon, he talked about God hadn’t found the perfect recipient for his love and sympathy at that point. None of the animals, though He loved them greatly, weren’t enough.
We’ll find out in the next chapter that Adam was looking through the animals to find a help mate. When he didn’t, Eve was created because an appropriate helpmate wasn’t found for Adam (Gen. 2: 20).
Let Us Make
There is no indication here of how the male was made.
We’ll get more information on that in the next chapter. Right now, it sounds like God created a man the way He created everything else – He spoke him into existence.
Parker gave his opinion of how to interpret this. He wrote, “… ‘make,’ as if little by little, a long process, in the course of which man becomes a party to his own malting! Nor is this suggestion so wide of the mark as might at first appear. Is man not even now in process of being ‘made’?
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Parker isn’t wrong. Disciples are in the process of being remade. It is called sanctification.
That is the process by which we are regaining God’s nature and characteristics. It is how we work out our salvation. “… Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear” (Phil. 2: 12 NLT)
In our Image, to be Like Us
God patterned humankind after Himself.
On the sixth day, God created human beings in His image. But what does that mean?
We’ve talked about how God’s works follow patterns. He followed a pattern here — He made Adam and Eve like Him. He made us holy and righteous.
Even though we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps. 139: 14) in God’s image, that does not mean we are gods. There are two factors – at least what I’ve always thought – that clearly show we are different from God. Here are the two biggies.
We are told that God is a spirit. “For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4: 24 NLT).
Hmmmm. We definitely have physical bodies and are not spirit.
I believe we will be at some point. “Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is” (I Jn. 3: 2 NLT).
God formed us from dust the ground and breathed life into us to put spirit into us. That is the characteristic that separates us from other creations.
I don’t know if we fully realize how wonderfully made we are. Moore helped us get a glimpse at what that means. He wrote,
“Man has sometimes been called a microcosm, a little world, a sort of epitome of the universe. The expression is not without meaning; for in man unite and meet the two great elements of creation, mind and matter; the visible and the invisible; the body, which clothes the brute, and the spirit, which belongs to angels.
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Vaughan noted that spirituality must be accompanied by sympathy. Grace isn’t cold. It is full of warmth and love.
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The first thing that popped into my mind when I read that was it is the sympathy that cements relationships. This isn’t talking just of grief for the loss of a loved one or even sorrow for trying times.
One of God’s goals for all of us is to make relationships so that we can spread the word about His love for us. He wants us to be connected with others.
Our moral character is definitely not like God’s. We are not pure as He is. There is no way we can do all the do’s and not do all the don’ts — especially after sin was introduced.
We’ll get into this in depth in a couple of chapters. For right now, we will say that sin is disobedience to God.
Adam and Eve were disobedient to God’s command. Wesley gave us a good summary of the doctrine.
- We were originally made holy and perfect as God is — thus, we were made in His image.
- Wesley wrote, “To man, thus upright, God gave a perfect law, to which He required a perfect obedience, which man was capable of rendering.”
- This included the don’t-eat-the-fruit commandment he gave to Adam and Eve.
- Unfortunately, Adam and Eve did bite.
- That brought on consequences: we were spiritually and physically separated from God and were now subject to spiritual and physical death.
- While we were still in our sinful condition, God sent His Son to be the sacrifice we needed to restore us to our previous relationship with God.
- We have to accept God’s Plan of Salvation to gain spiritual restoration now and for eternity.
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We have all have been made in God’s image, but only disciples are children of God. Worldview people — those who have chosen sin over God — aren’t children of God.
“But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn — not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
We’ve talked before about how disciples are different than worldview people.
- All mankind have a spirit that we get when we are given breath. Disciples also have the Holy Spirit that lives within us.
- We all have intelligence – we are curious and have abilities to reason. Our godliness accelerates those abilities, especially in our desire to know more about God. “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him” (Col. 3: 10 NLT).
- We all have the free will to make choices for ourselves. Satan does not make us do anything. We choose to follow his temptations or to remain faithful to God.
- We all have moral character, but disciples’ character is becoming more like God’s in knowledge, holiness, righteousness, and happiness and will one day be perfected, making it totally like God’s. “Put on your new nature, created to be like God — truly righteous and holy” (Eph. 4: 24 NLT).
- We all have consciences, but disciples have the Holy Spirit to guide and remind us of what is holy and righteous.
- God has given us authority over animals but not over the earth.
- All of humankind is going to live for eternity. However, worldview people who are spiritually dead will live in hell; disciples who are spiritually alive will live in Heaven.
- Humankind is creative, even though some may discount or diminish their talent.
- Humankind are creatures who feel, especially love. However, the worldview definition of love is not as pure as God’s definition of love as it is based many times on tolerance.
Being made in God’s image, then, is about our moral and spiritual nature being, what Herbert said, in a kinship with God. He cautioned us that we have not reached the greatness and goodness that we will upon the Day of the Lord.
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Think about it. We’ve talked before that people can’t decide if I look like Mom or Dad. I think it shakes out that I look like Dad and act like Mom.
Being their daughter — their kin — I share in their nature.
It is the same way with God. I am a child of the King, so I must look and act like Him.
The problem is that our character changed after the original sin, not our nature. While we still have a soul, it was tarnished by sin.
One thing that did not change was the immortality of our souls. Like God, we will live eternally — not our physical bodies, but our souls.
So, the choice is our as to where we will be. Will we be in Heaven or hell?
All we have to do is grab onto God’s promise. “And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires” (II Pet. 2: 4 NLT).
Male and Female
Yes, God created only male and female as genders.
All the rest are manmade through the influence of Satan. Yes, that makes them a sin.
Are they the unpardonable sin? No. When we ask God for forgiveness, He will forgive us.
Yes, we have to repent and turn from our sin. We shouldn’t think it is acceptable to go on sinning.
This is the first opportunity for relationships. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1: 26-27 ESV).
I love what Exell said about why women were created. He wrote,
- “To develop his intellectual thinkings.
- “To culture his moral sympathies.
- “To aid him in the daily needs of life.
- “To join him in his worship of God.”
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More importantly to our current discussion, Eve was created so Adam would have someone to love and protect. God knew Adam would do better if he wasn’t alone.
Loneliness is not good for us. Marriage is, in part, for companionship. It provides us a support and intellectual stimulation.
So, what was their relationship supposed to be like?
- God made women to be an equal partner who will go along side and work with men to do what He has called them to do.
- Both men and women were created in God’s image and charged to be stewards of the earth and populate it.
- As part of Eve’s punishment for committing the original sin, she was to submit to her husband, not all men.
- If this is the consequences of the sin, it wasn’t this way prior to the sin.
- Jesus said that anyone who does the will of His Father is his brother, sister, and mother.
- Jesus taught women and extended the offer of salvation to them.
Tada. The family unit was born. It is through this marriage that children were to be conceived.
The family must be built on love. First, we have to love God. Then, we have to love each other — exclusively at the marriage level.
But it was more than that. Think of all the different relationships this started.
- Man with God.
- Man and woman — interacting with someone of the opposite sex from friendship to marriage.
- Family — being a cohesive unit of parent, siblings, and parent with children.
- Neighbors — living around others.
- Coworkers — dealing with someone else while you do the job assigned to you.
It goes beyond this. Every person who has been born, is alive now, and will be born is a descendant of Adam and Eve.
Race and ethnicity does not matter. That separation came, I think, after the Tower of Babel, which we will talk about eventually.
Father God. We are humbled that You created us in Your image – even though You knew that we would disobey You. But You designed a Plan of Salvation so that our relationships with You could be restored. Lord, we choose to follow You. Amen.
What do you think?
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