Lesson 12

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Bible Study 1 - Genesis 1

 

SERIES:       A WORLD IN A WEEK

LESSON 12: GENESIS 1.26-31 DAY 6 – LET US MAKE MAN IN OUR IMAGE

 

Genesis 1.26-31 [KJV]

26. “And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, ‘be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.’ 29. And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.’ 31. And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

 

INTRODUCTION

 

We are still on the sixth day of creation. We are told in Genesis 1, verses 24 and 25 that God brought into existence the animals and the animal kingdom. Now, in verses 26 and following we are told also that on that sixth day that God created mankind, used generically. Man and woman. Human kind. Male and female.

 

There are three very important questions which you need answers for in your own personal life. Every person needs to have the answer to these three questions. Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Those are the three basic questions of human existence. Now there are two very opposing views which provide answers for these questions.

 

For instance, who am I? Creation says that you are a person created in the image of God. Evolution says that you are just a higher form of the animal.

 

Where did I come from? Creation says that you came from the creative hand of God. Evolution says that you came from a pool of slime.

 

Where am I going? Creation says that having been created by God, having the image and the likeness of God, that you are going toward eternity. Out there in eternity, you will be somewhere forever in a place called heaven or in a place called hell. Evolution says that when it is all over, you just die like a dog. That is the end of your existence. There is nothing more to it. There is no more consciousness beyond your death. When you die, you are dead like a dog and it is all over.

 

These are the two opposing views about who man is, where man came from, and where man is going. You cannot reconcile the two. There has been an attempt to reconcile them. There are some who seek to accommodate the theories of science and bring their theology into agreement with science. They say that evolution is the mechanism that God used to bring everything into existence. However, if you know anything about creation and if you know anything about evolution, you know that an attempt to bring these two opposite views together is an effort in futility. It is an attempt to ride two horses going in the opposite direction. It is impossible logically, scientifically, philosophically, and spiritually to reconcile the view which says you are a person in the image of God, created by the very hand of God, going to heaven or hell in eternity; and the view that just simply says you are a higher form of the animals. The view that says that you came from a green slime and that when you die, you die like a dog. It is all over. You cannot reconcile those two views.

 

I want us to study together about the creation of man. We have read the only authoritative statement we have in literature about who man is and where man came from. We have read the divinely inspired words of the Bible. Here we find a personal account of creation. Science cannot really deal with the subject of origins because it is outside the realm of scientific methodology. However, when you come to the Scriptures and when you come to divine revelation, you have a divinely inspired account given by God himself who was the only one who witnessed the creation of man. He is the only one who was there. The God who was there says, "In the beginning God created" and it says that “God created man in his own image.” That's the viewpoint of the Bible. I want us to see from the Bible why this is exactly consistent with the findings of true science.

 

INTERPRETATION

 

I.             When We Think About The Making Of A Man We Learn First What God Determines. In verse 26 it says, "And God said, Let us make man.” We notice the use of the plural. The question is raised, to whom is God speaking in this passage? Someone said it is the angels. However, we know it is not the angels because the angels do not have creative power. Yet, there is a plural here. "Let us make man, in our image, after our likeness."

 

This seems to be an early reference to divine trinity. God the father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches that there is one God, but the Bible teaches that God has revealed himself in three persons. Each one of these persons of the godhead was involved in the work of creation. Do I understand the trinity? No. I don't understand the trinity. Do I believe in the trinity? Yes, I believe in the trinity because the Bible teaches the trinity. Do I believe in something I don't understand? Of course, I believe in something I don't understand. I believe in electricity, but I don't understand it. They tell me that one molecule touches another molecule in the electric wire, but I don't know why the electricity goes that way instead of that way, but I believe in electricity so much so that I don't put my thumb in any electric sockets.

 

Here we have just a little fore gleam of the trinity. God determines and says in holy consultation, in divine Trinitarian consultation, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let him have dominion.

 

EXPLANATION

 

Notice that God determines two things as He gets ready to create man.

A.            FIRST, GOD DETERMINES TO CREATE A MAN SO HE CAN RELATE TO THE CREATOR. "Let us make man in our image." (We will look into that in more detail in the next study about what that really means.) Here is a statement that man is to have a godlikeness about him. This is never said of the animals. There are similarities between animals and man when it comes to matters of chemistry and skeleton construction. However, when you come to matters of theology and man, made in the image of God, there is a definite distinction drawn between man and the animals. It is never said of an animal that he is made in the image of God or that he is in the likeness of God. There is something about you which has the capacity to worship. There is something about you which makes it possible for you to have a relationship with God. That is an astonishing thought. Yet, the Bible teaches that the God of this universe, the great God who created everything our eyes can see and telescopes can discover, is the same God who says, "I would like to have a personal relationship with you. I would like to get to know you and I want you to get to know me.” God says, "I'm going to create man to be able to relate to the creator."  

 

B.            SECOND, GOD DETERMINES TO CREATE A MAN SO HE CAN RULE OVER THE CREATION. Verse 26 says this. "Let him have dominion over the fish, the fowl, the cattle, and every creeping thing.” Man and animals are not placed on an equal level. Rather the Bible teaches that God is going to create man in order to rule over, in order to have dominion over them. We are told in verse 28, in order to “subdue the creation.” God intended that Adam be the vice-regent with himself on the earth.

 

The Bible says that God has given the earth to man. That gives us the capacity to explore and the capacity to understand. It is this statement which gives impotence to modern science in the first place. If you will study the history of modern science you will discover that many of the first scientists, the pioneers in the main scientific fields of learning, were devout, godly, Bible believing people. Here is a command that we are to strive to understand our universe. We are to seek to subdue and harness it and take advantages of the processes of nature. Every modern invention is an out flowing of obedience to this command. "Let man have dominion."

 

When we think about the making of a man we learn first what God determines.

God determines to create a man so he can relate to the Creator and God determines to create a man so he can rule over the creation.

INTERPRETATION AND EXPLANTATION

 

II.            WHEN WE THINK ABOUT THE MAKING OF A MAN WE LEARN SECOND WHAT GOD DOES. It says in verse 27 that “God created man in our image and in the image of God created he them, male and female. Created he them.” Three times in one verse he uses the verb created.

 

We know that the word, “created,” is the Hebrew word, “Bara.” That means to bring something out of nothing. It means to bring into existence that which did not previously exist. It is in direct distinction of what we are told specifically about the animals. In verse 24, five times in that one verse, it uses that little phrase, “after its kind.” It's as if God has drawn a line of distinction between the animal world and the human world. It's as if God is saying there is no transformation from animals to man. God created! God created! God created!

 

When we study what the Bible says about the creation of mankind, human beings, and when we study what the real facts of what science has to say, we discover that there is no contradiction.

INTERPRETATION

 

III.          WHEN WE THINK ABOUT THE MAKING OF A MAN WE LEARN THIRD WHAT GOD DECREES. We see that in verse 28. "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” God decrees that man, now having been created, is to energize the earth. "Be fruitful and multiply.” Did you notice that it says in verse 27 that “God created them male and female?” Did you notice He mentions male first. When you get to Genesis 2 you will discover specifically that God created male first, then He created the female.

 

Why do you think God did this?

EXPLANTATION

 

Based on my research it's an astonishing, scientifically correct statement. They have proven that the female has 2 X chromosomes. The male has an X and a Y chromosome. If the female had been created first, there could have been no male. Therefore, the male was created first so that there could be an X and a Y chromosome, therefore making it possible for there to be a female.

 

Genesis 3, verse 20 is interesting scientifically also. "And Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living." Again in my research for this study I found that they have discovered that there are less genes in the body than they imagined and they have come to some amazing and astonishing conclusions. They have discovered that the whole human race came from one female, Eve, the mother of all living. They first of all said that it came from Africa. Now they have expanded their view of the matter to say that this first female either came from Africa or from the Middle East. When you study Genesis 2, you will discover that the cradle of civilization is in the Middle East.

 

They also discovered that a catastrophe occurred along the way in the genetic distribution and passing on. Now, they say the whole human race has come from three major divisions. When you study Genesis you will find that there was a flood. Then you will find that the whole human race comes from Ham, Shem, and Japheth.

 

God decrees that man is to energize the earth and that man is to engineer the earth. Before the fall, evidently, Adam had control over the animal kingdom and the world of nature. Then sin came and man lost dominion. When the Lord Jesus came He was the last Adam. Everything that the first Adam lost, the Lord Jesus Christ restored. You will discover that Jesus Christ exercised dominion over nature.

 

One time Jesus was in a ship and the Bible says that a storm came upon the sea. The wind and the waves began to blow. They said to Him, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?” Jesus went up to the deck of the ship and said, "Peace, be still." In addition, the winds and the waves laid at the feet of Jesus like obedient puppies.

 

Jesus Christ had dominion over the fish of the sea. One time when Jesus was in a ship, He said to Simon Peter, "Cast your nets over to the right side and get a catch of fish.” Simon said, "Lord, you're a shepherd, I'm a fisherman. I know what I'm doing. We've been fishing all night. Ain't no fish out here." However, what He didn't know is that Jesus Christ had dominion over the fish of the sea.

 

The word got out in Galilee that Jesus Christ needed some fish and they came from all over Galilee. They came from the slippery slopes. They came from the fishy four lanes. The fish had a traffic jam in the Sea of Galilee in obedience to the command of our Lord. He had dominion over the fish.

 

One time it was time to pay taxes. The Lord said, "You go down there and catch a fish and in that fish there will be a coin to pay your taxes." He controlled the fish of the sea.

 

Jesus controlled the fowl of the air. God said to Adam, "Have dominion over the fowl of the air.” The night our Lord was tried, Simon Peter said, "Lord, everybody else may deny you, but I won't. You can count on me." Jesus said, "Why Simon, before the rooster crows two times you will deny me three times."

 

Have you ever tried to make a rooster crow? Have you conquered the rooster? You can tell the rooster when to crow and when not to crow. Yet, that night, when Simon Peter gathered by the fire and that little maiden, just like one of the devil's mosquitoes began to bite at Simon Peter. Simon Peter began to deny that he knew the Lord. The Lord said to the rooster, "Crow, rooster.” The rooster said, "I'm tired, Lord, I don't want to crow." "I said crow." In addition, the rooster crowed!

 

The Bible says that Adam was to have dominion over every living thing on the earth. When Jesus came He had dominion over the creatures of the earth. When He was tempted in the wilderness temptation, the Bible says He was with the wild beasts. When the Lord was getting ready to make that triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem, the Bible said they brought a donkey to Jesus that had never been ridden. Have you ever tried to ride a donkey that has never been ridden? Yet the day came when they brought that donkey to Jesus. They sat Jesus Christ upon that donkey and that donkey that had never been ridden didn't pull a blunder, didn't lift a finger. He just walked steady, tamed by the master of the wind and the sea and the birds and the fowl and the fish and the animals. That's what God says. To energize the earth.

 

God says to enjoy the earth. In verses 29 and 30 he said “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.” Man has a lot of work to do and it's going to take energy so God just scattered food all over the earth. All different kinds of food so that man could eat and enjoy it. The Bible says that He fills your mouth with good things.

 

APPLICATION

 

Isn't it wonderful the good things God has given to us! God has given us food to enjoy. God put Adam and Eve in a beautiful paradise with a perfect living environment. God created man in His own image by His own creative effort.

 

Who are you? You are a person created in the image of God. Where did you come from? You didn't come from a pool of green slime. You came from the creative hands of a loving Heavenly Father.

 

Here's the big question. Where are you going? Do you know where you are going? A hundred years from now you will be somewhere. A thousand years from now you will be somewhere. These old bodies of ours may live 50 years. They may live 70 years. They may live 100 years. These old bodies will go back to the dirt awaiting the resurrection. You are more than just a chemical combination of substances. You are a soul. Jesus said, "What will it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” Are you ready for eternity?

 

NOTE:

 

[THERE IS MUCH MORE TO THE CREATION STORY IN GENESIS 1 THAN MOST PEOPLE EVER IMAGINED. DO YOU AGREE?  WHEN YOU REALY TAKE A PANARAMIC VIEW OF IT ALL IT IS IMPORTANT TO GET A CLEAR UNDRSTANDING OF IT ALL SO THAT YOUR FAITH AND BELIEF WILL BE BASED ON WHAT YOU KNOW RATHER THAN WHAT SOMEONE TOLD YOU. WE ONLY HAVE A LITTLE MORE TO GO AND WE WILL BE FINISHED WITH “A WORLD IN A WEEK!] 

 

I encourage you to research on your own and see if what I am showing you from the Bible and outside sources are accurate. I welcome any feed-back that can be backed up Biblically or scientifically. We all have our opinions – isn’t that wonderful? We are just getting started in the study of Genesis and as we go along much of the studies will be more historical. Let me know what you think about the studies so far. What can I do to make them more informative and meaningful to you and your understanding? May God bless you! Pastor Frank Denning < @ rfdenning1951gail.com>