II. Man
Made in God's Image
The first thing the Bible tells us about mankind is this:
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
(Genesis 1:26-28)
Man was made in the
image of God. This phrase confuses many people. What does it mean that man is made in the "image of God"? Well, one of the amazing features of the Bible is that the Bible always interprets itself. That means that the best understanding of the Bible always comes from studying the Bible itself. Everything in the Bible is God's word, and therefore it all fits together and explains itself.
To understand a passage in the Bible, the best place to start is by reading the
context around it. In this case, all we have to do is keep reading the rest of the sentence to get the answer. "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." Man is in the image of God because God created us to rule over the earth, just as God Himself is the ruler of the universe. We can also look at the verses before this one and we see that the focus there is on God as the Creator who rules over the world by the power of His Word. Therefore when God says, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness," it means (at least) that God made man to act like God by ruling over creation like He does.
Someone might think that to be made "in the image of God" means that we look like God, or that He has a human body like we do. But if we read further in the Bible we see that, "God is spirit," (John 4:24) and, "A spirit does not have flesh and bones" (Luke 24:39). Therefore we conclude that our earlier interpretation was correct. God did not make our bodies to look like Him, rather He made us to act like Him.
Since God made man in God's image, we need to know God in order to think rightly about man. Notice that the Bible begins by telling us about the Most Important One -- God, and then tells us about man. Only when we know God as the Creator of the universe can we properly understand man and his place in the world as bearers of God's image.
One of the glorious works of God, which we will not look at deeply in this book, is that God created everything in the universe with purpose and meaning. Rocks, trees, the sun and the moon all play a symbolic part in telling one massive story about God the Creator.
But in all of creation, the only thing that God made in His own image is man. This shows the incredible responsibility we have. All of creation is telling a story, and in this story man is supposed to represent the role of God. Yet mankind's behavior today does
not reflect the character of God, so we now we need to look at where we went wrong.
Treason in God's Kingdom: "Believe in Yourself"
God created the first man and woman, named Adam and Eve, and gave them a perfectly good world to live in and to rule over as His children. The next few paragraphs from the Bible tell the story of their descent into sin and evil:
Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
...
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
...
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, `You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
(Genesis 2:8-3:7)
The Bible later tells us the identity of the serpent, "That ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray." (Revelation 12:9) God is the Good King of the Universe, but the serpent taught the man and the woman that they didn't need God as their King, they didn't need God to separate right from wrong for them, they could be their own god and their own king. When a citizen of any kingdom says, "I don't need the king and I won't listen to his authority, I'll be my own king," he commits treason against the kingdom. Likewise, in God's eyes,
belief in yourself is rejection of God's kingdom.
Thus belief in yourself is its own evil because it is rebellion against God as King. Additionally, man's belief in himself is also the
source of all kinds of other evil because each man decides what is right and wrong according to his own selfish desires. After man started trusting in himself the conditions on earth only became worse and worse. As soon as the very next generation a man killed his brother out of jealousy. Before too long, all that God could see on earth was evil, "The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." (Genesis 6:5) God is the only source of good.
To reject God is to reject all that is good.
Though these events occurred thousands of years ago, it is amazing how little has changed since then. The devil is still leading people away from God's Kingdom and onto the path of evil by telling them to believe in themselves rather than believe in God.
Treason's Punishment: The Death Penalty
Governments implement systems of law and justice such that what they consider to be worse crimes receive more severe punishment. Someone in jail probably committed a more serious crime (in the eyes of the government) than someone who received a fine. If someone is being executed it means that they did something that the authorities view the most offensive type of crime possible.
God warned Adam in advance of the one fixed punishment for breaking His law, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17) Likewise, after Adam ate from the forbidden tree, God confirmed his punishment, "For dust you are and to dust you will return." (Genesis 3:19) God then removed Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden so that they could never eat from the Tree of Life. God's warnings were not empty threats; they both died because of their sin. Their rebellion against God introduced death upon the entire human race, "Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned." (Romans 5:12)
Death speaks a very loud and clear message,
God hates man's sin. No penalty apart from the death penalty is adequate to express God's anger at our rebellion against Him. In God's courtroom there are no fines and no jail terms. Everyone guilty of breaking God's law gets the same punishment:
The soul who sins is the one who will die.
(Ezekiel 18:20)
For the wages of sin is death.
(Romans 6:23)
Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
(James 1:14-15)
Some people ask, "If God is so powerful, why doesn't He save people from death?" The answer to that question has several parts, but one part of the answer is that
death was God's idea. God Himself
invented death to express how severely He hates our sin. God certainly has power over life and death, "See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life." (Deuteronomy 32:39) People die because God Himself has said it will be so. God's death penalty against sin hangs over us all.
"The LORD kills and makes alive." (1 Samuel 2:6, NAS) Therefore, everyone who asks, "Does it matter if I believe in God?", should listen to the answer that death declares. God wants us to know that He hates our rebellion against Him enough to
kill us for it.
Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17) Many people miss the wonderful cure that God has provided for their sin because they don't realize how deathly sick they are. That's why Bible is not only full of
answers, but it also teaches us to ask the right
questions. Most of us never thought to ask the really important questions, "Can my sins be forgiven? Can they be covered over? Can I be made right with God my Creator? And if so, how?" People generally think that their greatest problems are the suffering they endure in this life or all the possessions they don't have. However, God tells us that our greatest problem is that we are in sinful rebellion against Him, we have not glorified Him as He deserves, and thus we are facing His anger and judgment. The best thing you can do right now is acknowledge that your sins deserve God's anger and punishment for, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5)
Who Do You Work For?
Since man was made in God's image, man was made to work. God started by giving the first man an area to cultivate, "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." (Genesis 2:15) Therefore, someone who believes in God does not stop working and simply sit around waiting for God to send down needed things, like food and clothing, from heaven. God is powerful enough to easily do that, and in some special circumstances He has, but in general that is not His plan. On the contrary, the Bible clearly commands man, as he is able, to work:
We gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat." (2 Thessalonians 3:10)
If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Timothy 5:8)
However, mere work alone is not ultimately a good thing. Man was meant to
do his work under God as master. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." (Colossians 3:23-24) When man rebelled against God, we thought we would become our own masters and become "free" from God, but instead we were mastered by our own sin. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a
slave to sin." (John 8:34)
God is the Creator of the world. When we rejected His authority we also rejected his blessing over our labor. Once man chose a new master, God said that we must now work very hard to accomplish virtually nothing:
Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken.
(Genesis 3:17-19)
God calls to us, "Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." (Matthew 6:20) God promises great eternal rewards to those who serve Him. Yet when we only serve ourselves, with sin as our master, we end up like this man who observed that his whole life's work would all be taken away by death:
So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun?
(Ecclesiastes 2:17-22)
You Cannot Help Yourself
Before their rebellion, "The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame." (Genesis 2:25) After they sinned, they became ashamed of their nakedness. At that point they should have turned back to God to confess and repent of their sin. Instead they foolishly tried to help themselves. "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves." (Genesis 3:7) But their attempt to help themselves was entirely worthless, it could not hide them from God and it could not cover their shame:
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"
He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
(Genesis 3:8-10)
Once again this true story from the Bible has perfectly described what people still do today. Everyone tries, and fails, to help themselves overcome the consequences of their sin. But when we try to help ourselves, we are only covering our naked bodies with leaves. God sees straight through us to the sinful thoughts of our heart:
Woe to those who go to great depths
to hide their plans from the LORD,
who do their work in darkness and think,
"Who sees us? Who will know?"
You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,
"He did not make me"?
Can the pot say of the potter,
"He knows nothing."
(Isaiah 29:15-16)
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
(Hebrews 4:12-13)
When someone says they can "help themself", one thing we need to ask is, "Help yourself do
what?" People with an addiction know how to help themselves feed their desires with alcohol, drugs, crime, etc. But ultimately they are not really helping themselves, they are hurting themselves. Likewise, all of mankind is addicted to sin. Certainly
you can help yourself to feed your sin. But to overcome your addiction to sin, and all the harm it brings, you need outside help from someone who doesn't share your addiction.
Hints of Good News
The first three chapters of the Bible give us a foundational understanding of God, man, and the present situation of the world. To summarize: God is the good, powerful, and holy Creator of the world; God made man in His image but man chose to rebel against God's rule, therefore man is now a slave to sin and facing the judgment of God's anger.
So far the picture is sad and frightening. God made the world full of goodness and life, but man corrupted the world with evil and death because he trusted in himself. But God was not taken by surprise, and God is not powerless to restore the perfect world He made. Even before mankind rebelled,
God already had a plan to glorify Himself by defeating sin and death. God designed His plan to unfold over thousands of years of human history, but He placed several hints about His plan right here at the beginning of human history.
Recall the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life that were in the Garden. Adam, Eve, and all their descendants die because they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God said that if they ate from the Tree of Life they would live forever. But how can a tree bring death to a man, and how can a tree give us life? How can the knowledge of good and the knowledge of evil be the fruit of the same tree? Furthermore, when God removed man from the Garden of Eden, He did not destroy the Tree of Life. Will there ever be a way for man to return to that tree, eat of its fruit, and live forever?
The man and woman tried unsuccessfully to cover themselves with leaves, but God did something different to provide them with adequate clothing. It seems that God killed some animals and used their skins to make the clothes that man and woman needed to cover their shame, "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them." (Genesis 3:21) Why did they need clothing made from animal skins rather than clothing made from plants? The next chapter of the Bible adds to this mystery. One brother brought to God an offering of what he had grown out of the ground, another brother brought to God an animal offering from his flock. God looked with favor on the animal offering, but not the other.
Also recall the serpent who tempted the man and woman to distrust God's word. Since God is the Creator of everything, doesn't He have the power to destroy this evil one who leads the world in rebellion? God certainly does have the power to do so, and from the time that Adam and Eve listened to the serpent's lies, God foretold in a mysterious way His plans to destroy the serpent:
Cursed are you above all the livestock
and all the wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.
(Genesis 3:14-15)