Man in His image.
Gen. 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.
Gen. 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Gen. 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Man in His image. What a concept! Can you even begin to imagine what it means? Do we really understand the power that this declaration carries? When God created the heavens and the earth He created it to carry the seed of perpetuation. God would create the heavens first. This would be a manifestation of His being. The heavens would carry his glory and reflect his power and ability. The heavens would declare his purpose for all of creation. After He created the heavens, the most possible response to what He did was worship. Day and night they would sing and worship him for what they possessed and carried. His glory filled everything and reflected perfection. Then He decided to create again. This time it would be a visible world reflecting what the heavens carried.
“Light be” He declared and spoke words that would create a visible world. This creation should have the same potential as the heavens He created. He created it with purpose and placed in it the seeds of perpetuation. In the earth was the seed of the trees and the grass that it would bring forth. Earth was the origin and source of every tree that would exist. Out of earth he would call forth the trees and the grass and the creeping animals. God looked at the earth and commanded it to bring forth the trees and the grass with their fruit in them. Each tree carried the seed of the next generation. Each generation would look like the tree and the fruit of it. Each created tree and grass will carry his glory in its own unique and complete identity of what it was and what it looked like. Then He looked at the sea and called forth the sea creatures with their seed in them. They would come forth with the same purpose.
Reproduce what you are and bring forth a generation that would carry his glory in the unique identity of who and what you are. The same happened when God looked at the sky and commanded it to bring forth birds and animals. They would have their seed in them to perpetuate themselves in the earth. They would uniquely carry his glory in the realm that brought them forth. This time the response of creation would be a worship of life and discovering who and what it was by living according to their creative purpose. Earth would bring forth after its kind. The sea would bring forth after its kind and the air would bring forth after its kind. What brought it forth would be what would sustain it. The earth would sustain the trees and animals. The sea would sustain the fish and sea creatures and the air would sustain the birds and the flying insects. Then God created again.
This time a cry came from the creator heart of God. Not a desire but passion to be a source of something so unique and living. A reflection of an undiscovered part of the Godhead not yet seen or discovered in creation. Everything created so far has an origin and a source that can sustain it and make it bring forth according to its kind.
And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” What would this look like? God reflected and manifested in creation. Not just unique in its purpose but purposed in its uniqueness. Men looking like God. God’s exact reflection and shadow. You see man and you will see God. God will be the source and what man will bring forth will look like the seed it came from. Man would perpetuate God in the earth. Man would carry the glory of God from the realm that brought him forth. So God made Adam from the dust of the earth and breathed into him His own life. Adam in earth, made of earth would carry the glory from the heavenly realm and fill the earth with the glory of God. What a wonderful and glorious plan. Heaven would sustain man and be his source of life and inspiration. The only logical response of man to God would be “Abba.” He would be a father and man would be a son of the greater realm that has the greater realities. Man would be a representative on earth of the glory of God.
Adam sinned and disqualified himself from the purpose of God. Sin would not alter the purpose that God had in mind from the beginning of creation. Before the foundation of the world the lamb was slain. God’s provision and foresight manifested when He created the last Adam in Jesus. Jesus would be the very image of God. HE would be the exact representation of the father. In Adam all was lost but in Christ all would be restored. The authority that Adam carried as representative would fall on Jesus, as he would confront the enemy and his works. He came to destroy the work of the enemy and to restore man back to God’s purpose. Satan would be defeated and Jesus would restore man to his origin, to the very source that would sustain and nourish him. Redemption so great that man would be called a new creation. God created again in Christ and this time He guarantees the outcome. They will be called more than conquerors and a people that will crush the enemy’s head. A people that was dead but now was made alive by the resurrection of Christ. The first man a living soul, the new man a life giving spirit. Death is defeated and the curse is reversed. A generation of kings and priests, created to serve in love that qualifies them to carry His glory again.
You were created to live from God. You were created to carry His glory. You are a created being with the sole purpose of bringing forth a generation that will look like the origin it came from.