Human created by God

The power of words

“Creation of heaven and earth” was a popular theme in Western art, and many artists challenged it. Perhaps the most famous in the world is Michelangelo’s ceiling painting of the “Sistine Chapel” in the Vatican City. I saw it in person, I remember being overwhelmed and so impressed.

God created animals and humans on the land on the third day. This is what happened on the sixth day of Creation. Animals on earth were created in the first half of the sixth day, and humans were created in the second half of the sixth day. God created man as “the image of God,” as it was written “as our image” and “in imitation of us” (verse 26). The plural form with us indicates that this God is the God of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ, God the Holy Spirit.

This is what the Bible says.

24 God said. “The earth will give birth to creatures according to their species. Livestock, pigeons, and wild beasts according to their species.” 25 God made wild beasts according to their species, livestock according to their species, and all the worms of the earth according to their species. God was happy to see it. 26 God said. “Let’s make a man. In our image, imitate us. May they rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, everything on the earth.” 27 God created man as his own form. He was created in the image of God, and they were created by men and women. 28 God blessed them. God said to them. “Birth. Grow. Fill the earth. Rule the earth. Rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the creatures that fly on the earth.” 29 God said. “Behold, I will give you all the grass that bears the seeds and all the trees that bear the seeds on the whole earth. That will be your food. 30 And all the beasts of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the things that live on the earth, and for the breath of life, give all the green grass as food. “31 God saw all that he had made. Look. It was very good. There was evening and there was morning. Sixth day. (Bible Genesis 1: 24-31)

One of the purposes for which man was created was “to rule all living things” (verse 26). Even though the angels could know the will of God, they could not rule the creatures because they had no body. Also, some of the beasts were huge and strong, but they were not made to resemble the image of God, so they were not qualified to rule everything as a substitute for God. At the stage of Genesis 1:25, no one ruled the whole creature. That role was given to humans. But dominating did not mean that humans would defeat and eat animals. At this stage, the animals were not competing, and there was no weak meat and strong food. Their food was green grass, not the meat of other animals (verse 30). It was an incredibly peaceful world from what it looks like on earth today.

Michelangelo’s ceiling painting “Creation of Adam” is drawn on a magnificent scale, but the most famous of these is “The Creation of Adam”. Adam is the first human being in mankind. The men and women in verse 27 are Adam and Eve. In this painting, God reaches out and his fingertips are about to touch Adam’s finger and give his life. It is famous as the scene used in Spielberg’s “ET”.

What are “as your own image” and “as the image of God” (verse 27)? Humans were made of earth dust (material）, and their noses were breathed with the breath of life (God’s spirit, Genesis 2: 7). In the inner spirit, he was familiar with God. This is a decisive difference from other animals. In the outer body, he was given the role of God’s agent (as the image of God), who communicated with other creatures and acted as an intermediary between heaven and earth.

God blessed and said to humans. “Be born. Increase. Fill the earth. Rule the earth.” (Verse 28). Blessings here are divine breeding and growth. God created people into men and women. It is God’s will to marry and give birth. It is also God’s desire to give birth to spiritual offspring, that is, to believe in Jesus and become a child of God, and to be born again. Jesus said. ” Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all the creation.” (Mark 16:15) This is the command to breed spiritual offspring.

When God saw the world after creating humans, it was very good (verse 31). Until then, it was simply expressed as “good”, but here it is expressed as “very good”. The world of construction begins with the state of being “very good.” God created a perfect and very good world, but it is because of human sin that it has made it as bad as it is now (Genesis chapter3).

Humans have been and are still special to God. Fortunately, we were not born as microorganisms, insects, fish, birds, or beasts. We were born as a human being with the “image of God.” Let’s thank God from the bottom of our heart for being born as a human rather than an animal.

Human created by God

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