Firm Foundations God created mankind.
Scripture
Genesis 1: 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the [ai]sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 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 [aj]sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.”
2: 7 Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the man became a living [g]being.
Today we continue with our look at the book of Genesis and God’s creation. And, as I told you at the start, this study that we are doing takes us through the Bible, looking at the major themes of the Bible. We’ve already touched on one major theme of the Bible: God. God gave us the Scripture to reveal Himself to us. And even in the creation story was revealed to us a lot about God: He is eternal, He is all-powerful, He is love, He is Spirit, He is a trinity.
Well today, we will be introduced to a second major theme of Scripture: Man/mankind/humankind. When we learned about God, we were answering the question; Who is God? What is His nature? What are His basic qualities? And when we learn about humankind, we are answering similar questions; Who is man? What is his nature? What are his basic qualities?
“Two things are infinite: the universe
and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
―Albert Einstein
“It's really a wonder that I
haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to
carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe
that people are really good at heart.”
―Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
“I have no faith in human
perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect
upon humanity. Man is now only more active - not more happy - nor more wise,
than he was 6000 years ago.”
―Edgar Allan Poe
“Everyone is a moon, and has a
dark side which he never shows to anybody.”
―Mark Twain
“Never underestimate the power of
stupid people in large groups.”
―George Carlin
In other words, we are asking what human beings are like at their very basic qualities. People have come up with all kinds of answers to that question. Evolution preaches that humanity evolved upward from primates. We are simply evolved animals. So that means that our behavior can be explained by our instincts, and our upbringing. So, as a whole, they teach that human nature is upwardly mobile. Many eastern religions also teach that it is at least possible for the nature of humankind to be upwardly mobile. The teaching of reincarnation says that, based on our good or bad actions in this life, we can come back as a higher or lower life form.
So, suffice it to say that various philosophies describe human nature in various ways; some positive, some negative. But what does the Bible tell us about human nature? That’s what we begin to discover today in Genesis chapter 1.
Prayer
There are three major aspects of the nature of man that we will look at today, and one more that we will explore in the next chapters of Genesis. The four points are; 1. Humankind was created in God’s image. 2. Humankind was created for dominion. 3. Humankind was created male and female. And the last that we explore later is 4. Today, humankind is born with a sinful nature.
I. Humankind was created in God’s image.
Genesis 1: 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the [ai]sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
2: 7 Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the man became a living [g]being.
This is important for us to realize. The very first thing that God says about the nature of humankind is that they were created in His image. We will later explore man’s nature in regard to his sinfulness, his sinful nature, or his depravity. But that is not how the story begins. It begins by God creating mankind in His image. Now, what does that mean? It does not mean that our physical bodies look like some physical body that God might have. God has no physical body. The Bible is clear about that.
“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).
But there are some things that we have learn here, and have already learned that God and humankind have in common. First, since we know that God is Spirit, we ask, “What is humankind?” We are physical beings, but we to are spirit.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Acts 7:59 They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
We are born as a physical body that contains a spirit that will live on into eternity. We are not eternal in the same way that God is. He is eternal in both directions; He has always been and will always be. But once we are conceived, we have an spirit that will live on past our death, into eternity. In that way we are in the image of God. How else are we in God’s image. Let’s look at the verse we just read.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the [ai]sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
It says that God created man in His image, and let them or so that they will have dominion over animal life. Verse 26 directly connects our being in God’s image, and our having dominion over the animal kingdom. Now we are going to get into what dominion means in the next point. But here we need to note that we are in God’s image in a very significant way; we have dominion over all animal life. What does that mean? It means that we are at the top of the food chain. We are the alphas. We are superior to all animals. And God gave us authority, even as He has authority over all of creation. God is the alpha and omega. He made us the alpha. He is the head over all created things. We are the head over the creatures of the earth.
Well what else have we learned about God in this chapter that tells us what our being in God’s image means?
We are created male and female. Again, we will get to more detail regarding that in a moment. But the passage here connects the image of God to our being male and female.
27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
What does that mean? It means that God is not a man. And all the ladies said “Amen.” He never was a man. We know He’s not a man because we are told that in Scripture.
Numbers 23:19 King James Version (KJV)God is not a man, that he should lie; Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and shall he not do it?
Job 9:32ESV For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.
But, ladies, He’s not a woman either. To call Him a man or a woman is to limit our understanding of God to something that He created. That was the sin of the Israelites at Mount Horeb. They made an image of God who led them out of Egypt, and they made it into a golden calf. God is not a calf.
So, what does it mean that we are created male and female, and in God’s image? I believe it means that all of the best characteristics which are typical of males and females, come from God. We may think of males as strong, singularly driven in purpose, and heroic. That’s the way I like to think of males. God is all of that and more. We could think of females as nurturing, compassionate, and intuitive. God is all of that and more.
Now, let me qualify that a little further. Yes, God has qualities that are stereotypically attributed to females. He is nurturing.
Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you did not want it!
This is Jesus comparing His compassion for the city of Jerusalem to the compassion of a mother hen gathering her chicks. But we need to remember that God chose to reveal Himself to us as “Father.” Jesus came as the “Son.” And the Holy Spirit is called “He” in John 14.
16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another [a]Advocate, that He may be with you forever; 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him. You know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
I am very uncomfortable with the movement to say things like, “Our Mother in heaven,” or to say that the Holy Spirit is a “She.” It’s not that I’m a misogynist or think God is a man, I am just very careful not to say things about God, that the Bible doesn’t say.
How else are we created in God’s image? We have learned a lot about God in just a few verses. God is creative. God is relational; He is Father, Son, and Spirit. God is intelligent. He reasons. God has freedom of choice. God is purpose driven. God has standards of right and wrong. God has emotions. God loves.
All of these characteristics of God are also present in humankind. We are creative, relational, intelligent, reasoning, free to choose, purpose-driven, have standards of right and wrong, emotional, and we love.
And these things distinguish us from the animal kingdom. That’s not to say that animals can’t reason. But our reasoning, compared to theirs is far more advanced. Chimps can be taught basic math, but none of them are solving differential equations. Animals act primarily on instinct. Humans love. You might say, “My dog loves me.” I would argue that your dog loves Alpo. I know your cat doesn’t love you.
But what a marvelous thing that God made us in His image. It is a fact that justifies elevating humankind to a position of great importance. We are not to be used and abused by anyone; we are created in God’s image. This fact is later used to explain God’s law of capital punishment for murder.
Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.
You see, when you murder someone, it’s not just cruelty, or passion gone wild, you have destroyed one of God’s images in the world.
II. Humankind was created for dominion.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the [ai]sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Of all God’s creation, mankind would have a unique position: He was to be God’s representative on earth. He was to be the caretaker of the earth, even with authority over the animals. He has the capability to do this job because he has a mind, emotions, and a will.
Now, what does it mean to have dominion? First, it means that we are under God’s authority. If God can give us authority, then He is greater than we are. Job 42:2
“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”Romans 13:1ESV Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
It means that all created life is under humankind’s authority. It means that we are meant to rule. The same Hebrew word is used for people who have authority as deputies, or even kings. It is used of the authority given to Jesus Christ by God.
Psalm 110:1 Yahweh says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I put Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.” 2 Yahweh will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Have dominion in the midst of Your enemies.”
This Genesis passage lays out a pecking order from lower to higher creation.
Barnes notes on the Bible
“The order here is from the lowest to the highest. The fish, the fowl, are beneath the domestic cattle. These again are of less importance than the land, which man tills and renders fruitful in all that can gratify his appetite or his taste. The last and greatest victory of all is over the wild animals, which are included under the class of creepers that are prone in their posture, and move in a creeping attitude over the land. The primeval and prominent objects of human sway are here brought forward after the manner of Scripture. But there is not an object within the ken of man which he does not aim at making subservient to his purposes. He has made the sea his highway to the ends of the earth, the stars his pilots on the pathless ocean, the sun his bleacher and painter, the bowels of the earth the treasury from which he draws his precious and useful metals and much of his fuel, the steam his motive power, and the lightning his messenger. These are proofs of the evergrowing sway of man.”
And note, as I did before, that the reason he is given this authority is because he is made in God’s image. He doesn’t have authority over the animals and the earth because of his strength, his ability to master creation, but because he is made in God’s image and has the moral and intellectual capacity to manage creation without destroying it.
It is authority over animal and earth. We have the authority to use the earth for our good. To mine its treasures, and move it for our purposes.
This is not a license to molest the land, and slaughter all its creatures. It is the authority to manage creation. To use it, but also sustain it for future generations. Now, keep in mind that at this time, mankind was not given the authority to eat the animals.
28 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 [aj]sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.” 29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given to you every plant yielding seed that is on the [ak]surface of all the earth, and every tree [al]which has the fruit of the tree yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the [am]sky and to everything that creeps on the earth [an]which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
The implication here is that humanity and animals did not eat each other until after Adam and Eve sinned and were cast out of the garden. That idea is supported by the prophecies that after Jesus returns and sets up the millennial kingdom, we will all return to that meatless state.
Isaiah 11: And the wolf will [a]dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion [b]and the fatling together; And a young boy will lead them. 7 Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 And the nursing baby will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 9 They will do no evil nor act corruptly in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea.
God did give permission later, after the flood, for humankind to eat meat.
Genesis 9: And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the [a]sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. 3 Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; as with the green plant, I give all to you.
So, God made humankind to have authority over the earth and animal life. That is our purpose. Now, that idea does not sit well with some groups today. Some insist that we are not separate from the animal kingdom. Some even go so far as to say that killing an animal for food is equivalent to killing a person. Some suggest that if we cut down a tree, or dig up the earth, that we are committing a sin against nature. But that’s not what the Bible says.
Let me say again, that I am not suggesting that we callously mow down nature for our short-term enrichment. I am not suggesting that we have the right to abuse or torture animals for our amusement. The authority we were given is given to us under God. We are to care for, and use nature according to God’s standards.
Leviticus 25: Yahweh then spoke to Moses [a]at Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I am giving to you, then the land shall have a sabbath to Yahweh. 3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its produce, 4 but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to Yahweh; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 5 [b]What grows of its own accord from your harvest you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year. 6 And the sabbath produce of the land shall be for food; for you and your male and female slaves and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who sojourn with you.
Psalm 104:14-21 You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth, and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart. The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. In them the birds build their nests; the stork has its home in the fir trees. The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the coneys. You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting. You make darkness, and it is night, when all the animals of the forest come creeping out. The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.