Man and woman were made in the image of God with individuality, the power and the freedom to think and to do. Though created free beings, each is an indivisible unity of body, mind, and spirit, dependent upon God for life and breath and all else. When our first parents disobeyed God, they denied their dependence upon Him and fell from their high position under God. The image of God in them was marred, and they became subject to death. Their descendants share this fallen nature and its consequences.
They are born with weaknesses and tendencies to evil. But God in Christ reconciled the world to himself and by His Spirit restores in penitent mortals the image of their Maker. Created for the glory of God, they are called to love Him and one another, and to care for their environment (Fundamental Beliefs 7).
26Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27So God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Gen. 2: 26-27, ESV
7Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Genesis 1:7, ESV
The Bible says that Man is the only creation that God did not speak into existence. Instead, He gathered dust, looked at Himself, molded and formed an image of Himself, all the internal organs,brain, heart, blood, hair, etc. then breathed into the inanimate form, who opened his eyes, looked around, sees God and asks, “Who are you?” No, this description is not in the Bible, but that is only my mortal visualization of how God made man. The creation of man is God’s crowning event.
Man, on the other hand, said that “human beings originated from the lower forms of animal life and are the result of natural processes that took billions of years”. If that’s the case, how come we don’t see a half–man and a half-monkey making gibberish sounds, scampering around?
However, we believe in the Biblical way why God created man. He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. The plural, “Us” refers to the trinitarian Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit which we had discussed before. God did not say, “I will make man in my image”. So man was created for an exalted position. God said, “And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”. From his race came every human being on earth because he was blessed by God to multiply.
When God formed man from the dust, he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the old KJV said, man became “a living soul.” Some versions of the Bible say, a living being or a living creature. Man is a soul. The Bible did not say that God put a soul in him, but rather breathed into his nostrils and voila! A living soul! So every man, woman and child walking around at Surrey Place or Guildford Mall today are souls. When God created man, He gave him not only a thinking mind but also the freedom of choice. God did not create a Robot that could only respond to commands: “Yes, Sir!”, “No, Sir!”.
God gave him specific instruction in Genesis 2: 16-17 which said, The LORD God commanded the man, saying:
“From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”. When God told Adam and Eve His command, they didn’t know what death was.
They hadn’t seen any creature die, but the command was an order which could not be ignored. Our statement declares, “Since man was created in the moral image of God, he was given the opportunity to demonstrate his love and loyalty to his Creator. Like God, he had the power of choice—the freedom to think and act according to moral imperatives.
Thus, he was free to love and obey or to distrust and disobey. God risked man’s making the wrong choice, because only with the freedom to choose could man develop a character that would fully display the principle of love that is the essence of God Himself (1 John 4: 8). His destiny was to reach the highest expression of the image of God: “to love God with all his heart, soul, and mind and to love others as himself.” (Matthew 22: 36-40).
The intent of God for man was that he would live eternally. But why did man sin in spite of all the warnings of God. Is God the author of sin? No! The Bible says that God is holy and there is no unrighteousness in Him( Isaiah 6:3). Deuteronomy 32: 4 says further, “His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice; a god of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He.”. Who, then is the author of Sin? It’s not God, we know that.
Look at Ezekiel 28: 18, and Isaiah 14: 12-14. Lucifer, who became Satan, is fingered as the author and that was why he and the angels who rebelled with were expelled from heaven (Rev. 12: 4, 7-9). Satan determined to ruin God’s creation, so he tempted Eve and Adam. and he was successful. From them issued the sinful race of man. But God was not finished with man when he sinned; God had a plan to redeem him. In Genesis 3: 15, God told them and Satan that someday a Redeemer will come, Satan will bite his heel, but the Redeemer will crush his head. At Calvary, Satan bit Jesus’ heel by causing His crucifixion, but that was his defeat, because of this man was given again the hope of eternal life. John 3: 16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Here is hope, friends. ”Through the power Christ’s saving grace, we may walk as Jesus walked, daily enjoying the things that please God (John 8: 29). Fallen humanity’s only hope is to accept God’s invitation to enter into His covenant of grace. Through faith in Jesus Christ can experience this relationship that assures our adoption as children of God and heirs with Christ to His kingdom.”
To contact us: Our website is www.abundantlifeadventist.ca. Worship with us every Saturday Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. Genesis 2: 2, 3, Exodus 20: 8-10, Isaiah 58: 13, 14; Isaiah 66: 22, 23; Matthew 5: 17-19; Revelation 22: 14, John 14: 1-3, Rev. 6:6-12
By Ben Berto
