Creation of Humans

1. Paradigms…This is about perceptions. Seeing life from the divine-eye view.
2. Review of Days One to Five;
Form out of Formlessness Fullness out of Emptiness
FORM [versus tohu] FILL [versus bohu]
Day Day
1 Light (1:3-5) 4 Lights (1:14-19)
2 Firmament (1:6-8) 5 Inhabitants (1:20-34)
sky birds
seas fish
3 Dry land (1:9-10) 6 Land animals (1:24-25)
Vegetation (1:11-13) Human beings (1:26-31)


a. God declares his timelessness.
b. The God who implemented the creation can be trusted to sustain all it contains.
c. He invented time and is therefore master of it.

Day Six Central Idea: God created humans in his own image as the high point of creation, so that we could reveal his image and thus glorify him.


Gen. 1:24 ¶ God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” It was so.
Gen. 1:25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.
Gen. 1:26 ¶ Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.”
Gen. 1:27 God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.
Gen. 1:28 ¶ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”
Gen. 1:29 Then God said, “I now give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
Gen. 1:30 And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground–everything that has the breath of life in it–I give every green plant for food.” It was so.
Gen. 1:31 ¶ God saw all that he had made–and it was very good! There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.

Father, Son, and Spirit overflow with love and fellowship.
“Let us…”
1. They did this work of creation together (God created, Spirit hovered, by the Son all things were made).

2. They created out of delight, not necessity.

3. The love and community that existed before time could not be contained within the godhead.
Heb. 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.
Is. 42:1 Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;
My chosen one in whom My soul delights.
Matt. 3:17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

4. It was the divine intention to draw us into their passion for one another.
John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
John 17:25 “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;
John 17:26 and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”


Out of that overflow…
God created us in (their) own image.

Zeph. 3:17
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.”

We glorify God when we highlight our resemblance on earth.
We know that we reflect that image as we…
1. Express our creativity.

Cf. Robin Boughan’s sculpture in photographs.
Of course, not all of us are creative in that way!
a. Artists will commonly say that we bring our own interpretation to another’s artwork, that, too, is a form of creativity. When you view art, listen to music, you are a participant with the artist in celebrating that work.
b. Appreciating beauty is an aspect of creativity. The lower animals do not hang paintings in their den.
c. When we bring order out of chaos, we are creating order, just as God did when he gave form to the formless world and filled the emptiness of the void.

Application: we lose our fear of the world as we bring order out of the chaos around us.

2. Absorb godly character.
Phil. 2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
Phil. 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Application: we enjoy divine power as we experience his transforming strength within.

3. Experience community that overflows through relationships.
Phil. 2:1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
Phil. 2:2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
Phil. 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves…

Application: we lose our fear of others when we encounter true community.

4. Enthusiastically work as God works.

Application: we find an end to boredom and cynicism as we work as God works, with divine empowerment.

5. Express thoughts and ideas with words.

Application: we release the power of God as we speak, write, and listen to words.

6. Enjoy all things as God himself enjoys.
Greg Ogden: “Joy is living under the pleasure of the Father’s delight in you.”

Application: we experience the richness of life that God intends when we seek our pleasure in him.


CONCLUSION:

The Gospel for Communion…
Zeph. 3:17
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.”