Genesis 1:26-28; 2:7-9, 15-25
The Genesis record makes it clear that the creation of man was God’s crowning work. No other part of the created world had the distinction of being created “in the image of God.” At the conclusion of Genesis chapter one, we’re told; “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was VERY good.”
In our study of the human family, we must ask ourselves a very basic question. Why did God create man? We have no resources of our own to answer this question so we must rely on divine revelation. Even in asking the question we exercise caution because Romans 9:20 says, “Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?” Because of whom God is, what He does must be both right and rational.
There are several things we can learn from the Scriptures about this question of purpose. The first is, God is love. First John 4:16-19 informs us, “God is love; and he who dwells in love dwells in God and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear has torment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.” John 3:16, the Golden Text of the Bible, reaffirms God’s overflowing love toward all men.
We note also the heavenly proclamation recorded by John in Revelation 4:11. “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” John records the elders and the four living creatures ascribing praise to God for creating all things, including man, for His pleasure. We generally think of pleasure as enjoyment, good feelings, or something like that. But here the word means “according to what He has willed.” God is worthy to be worshiped simply because what He willed has been carried out.
As a final point of introduction, we also acknowledge that God intends to use “…the ages to come [to] show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” That’s Ephesians 2:7. Really, there can be no doubt that God’s nature of love was central to His purpose in creating man.
In our study of “Man in God’s Image” we return to the opening chapters of Genesis to explore the reasons for our creation. I will read Genesis 1:26-28, and Genesis 2:15-25. If you’ve been tuning in for the past few weeks, you know we’ve already spent considerable time in these texts. But there is so much here that relates to different facets of our personal existence and our family relationships that we have, by no means, exhausted its riches!
Read Genesis 1:26-28 and 2:7-9, 15-25
In these verses, we discover several LIKENESSES that reflect man in God’s image.
The First is,
The Eternal Likeness
As you read through the opening verses of Genesis chapter one a pattern becomes established. “And God said, let there be…” and “it was so.” But notice, there’s a change in the opening of verse 26. Instead of simply saying, “…let there be..,” God says, “…let us make man in our image and after our likeness.” We know, according to Hebrews chapter 2 that God wasn’t talking to the angels here. Instead, He was addressing one or more other members of the Godhead.
This type of interchange within the Godhead appears at other places in the Scripture. Psalm 110:1 and John 17:24 are just two examples. The divine councils regarding the creation of man took place before the beginning of time as recorded in our text. According to passages like First Peter 1:18-21, Christ’s sacrifice, and our salvation, were “foreordained before the foundation of the world…” Now, on this sixth day of creation, we are given a glimpse into those eternal councils...
