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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Trinity's intentions in creating human beings

Genesis 1:26 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.

        By the time we reach this portion of the creation account in Genesis 1, God has already spoken 11 different times, creating everything from stars to moons to plants to animals.  It is on this twelfth occasion that God addresses Himself and says the words: "Let us".  Why the plural "us"?  From what we have studied in previous blogs concerning the nature and character of God, we can say at least this early in the Bible that God is communicating within Himself, undoubtedly foreshadowing what would be the later revelation of God's Triune nature.                  


The significance of man being made in "God's image"
        The fact God is wanting to create a creature unique from all other animate or inanimate created things means God is doing something on a grand scale.  Genesis 1:26-30 and Genesis 2 gives us the account of God's creation of the man and woman, Adam and Eve.  Today we want to unfold the significance of the phrase "image of God" to understand how it gives us insight into God's purposes and character as it relates to relationship with human beings.
1.God alone can define man                  Mankind was to have "dominion" over three realms in the earth - "the sky, the land and the sea".  Like God, man, (in a delegated sense) had the capacity to have authority, excercise rulership and manage the affairs of the domain under his supervision.  Man alone was given the capacity to have a one on one relationship with God.
2. God desired to become man                  When God made man he gave him the name "Adam", which is the literal Hebrew word for "man".  Whenever you take the name "Adam", you discover it is made up of two words.  The first part "a" is an abbreviated form of the name of God "Adonai".  The second part of "Adam" - "dam", comes from a Heebrew word meanin "blood".  Whenever we consider these two words together, "Adam" literally means "Lord of the blood".  Within the very name of "Adam" is spelled out the intent and plan of God that was agreed upon before man came on the seen.  In fact, Genesis 5:2 tells us that God called the name of the man and woman together by the term "Adam", indicating that His plan of entering into the human bloodline was going to involve them both.

Tomorrow we will explore further the significant intentions God had in making human beings.