Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter
1. A few weeks ago we introduced
the book of Genesis, then we looked at verses 1 and 2, and
then last week we looked at verses 3 to 25, the six days of creation. We're still on the sixth day
as we take up the creation of man tonight in verses 26 to 31. But I'll begin reading in verse
1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The
earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face
of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face
of the waters. Then God said, Let there be light,
and there was light. And God saw the light, that it
was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. God
called the light day, and the darkness He called night. So
the evening and the morning were the first day. Then God said,
Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let
it divide the waters from the waters. Thus God made the firmament,
and divided the waters which were under the firmament from
the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. And
God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning
were the second day. Then God said, Let the waters
under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and
let the dry land appear. And it was so. And God called
the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called
seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let the
earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the
fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose
seed is in itself on the earth. And it was so. And the earth
brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to
its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself
according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
So the evening and the morning were the third day. Then God
said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens
to divide the day from the night. And let them be for signs and
seasons and for days and years. And let them be for lights in
the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth. And
it was so. Then God made two great lights,
the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule
the night. He made the stars also. God set
them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the
earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide
the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Then God
said, let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures,
and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament
of the heavens. So God created great sea creatures
and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded,
according to their kind, and every winged bird according to
its kind. And God saw that it was good.
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and
fill the waters and the seas, and let birds multiply on the
earth. So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Then
God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature according
to its kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth,
each according to its kind. And it was so. And God made the
beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according
to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according
to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, let us make man in our image, according to our
likeness. Let them have dominion over the
fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle,
over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps
on the earth. So God created man in His own image. In the
image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them.
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and
multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over
the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every
living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, See, I have
given you every herb that yields seed, which is on the face of
all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed. To you
it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth,
to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on
the earth in which there is life, I have given every green herb
for food. And it was so. And God saw everything that he
had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the
morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth
and all the host of them were finished. And on the seventh
day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on
the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then
God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it
He rested from all His work which God had created and made. Well,
as I said, last week we took up the six days of creation in
verses 3 to 25, but certainly on day six, more occurs than
just the creation of the land creatures. We also see the creation
of man. And as I said last week, everything
in the narrative is leading up to this point. Man truly is the
pinnacle of God's creation. Man is truly the vice regent
of the created order operating or functioning under God, and
the narrative itself drives us to that conclusion. And tonight,
as we move through this particular section, we'll see that verses
26 to 31 repeatedly call attention to that fact that man is the
pinnacle of the creating work of God Most High. So I want to
look at four things tonight. First, the creation of man in
verses 26 and 27. Secondly, the vocation of man
in verse 28. Thirdly, the provision for man
in verses 29 to 30. And then the summation of the
creation account in verse 31. But as we move to the creation
of man, notice in the first place this deliberation that's involved. There's a change in the narrative. Throughout the days of creation,
we see this continual formula. God said, and then He says, let
there be whatever it is He's going to create. So, there's
this statement concerning God said, and then there's a statement
concerning the particular that he's going to create. Here we
see divine deliberation in verse 26. Then God said, let us make
man in our image. There's deliberation or consultation
going on. The change here does not reflect
any difficulty in creating man, but rather it highlights the
dignity of the creation of man. In other words, God consults
with who, we'll find out in just a moment, or deliberates in order
to show and stress and highlight the reality that what follows
is most glorious and is most wonderful. Again, the whole narrative
is driving us to this particular place where we see that God made
man specifically in his own image. Calvin said, hitherto God has
been introduced simply as commanding. Now when he approaches the most
excellent of all his works, he enters into consultation. God certainly might hear command
by his bare word what he wished to be done. but he chose to give
this tribute to the excellency of man, that he would, in a manner,
enter into consultation concerning his creation. This is the highest
honor with which he has dignified us." So this convention, let
us make man in our image, again underscores not the difficulty
of the creative aspect in terms of man, but the dignity of the
object that is under consideration in terms of creation. Now, when
it says, let us make man in our image, it's obviously a plural
form there. God is deliberating with someone. And there's three basic explanations
or interpretations of this sort of deliberation. The first refers
to a heavenly court, inclusive of angels. In other words, God
consulted with this sort of divine council, this heavenly court,
of which angels were a part. Now, this breaks down obviously
because when we move to verse 27, it says specifically God
created man in his own image, not in the image of angels. Angels
did not participate in creation. Angels do not have that prerogative. They are not the sort of beings
that can do such a thing. Calvin says, to ascribe the least
portion of a work so exquisite to angels is a sacrilege to be
held in abhorrence. So this divine counsel or heavenly
court view is simply untenable. The second position or the second
interpretation refers to a plural of majesty wherein kings use
that convention to elicit subjection or rather reverence out of their
subjects. Now, studies have shown that
this sort of convention wasn't utilized by monarchs until the
time of the Persians, which came much further along than when
the time or at the time that Moses wrote the book of Genesis.
And then, of course, the third interpretation, the correct interpretation,
is that this is a reference to the persons of the Trinity. Then God said, let us make man
in our image, according to our likeness. Now, one of the arguments
against this position is, well, would the original audience have
understood this? Paul tells us in the book of
Romans that Adam was a type of Christ. Would the original audience
have understood that in all of its details and particularities
when they simply had Genesis chapters 1 to 3? Probably not. The issue isn't what would the
original audience have thought. The issue is, what did God intend? Now, we don't have a fully developed
doctrinal treatment or treatise of the Trinity in Genesis chapter
1, but we certainly see it here. We see this reference that God
says, let us make man in our image. Now, when we reflect further
on Scripture, we note that the three persons are, in fact, involved
in the work of creation. We see a reference to Father
and Son in the book of Hebrews. We see a reference specifically
to Jesus and creation in John chapter 1, and then again in
Colossians chapter 1. We see a reference to the Holy
Spirit here in Genesis chapter 1 at verse 2, and then again
in the book of Job. So all three persons are indeed
active in the account of creation or in the act of creation. And
so when we see here that God says, let us make man in our
image according to our likeness, it is reflective of this trinity
of persons in the divine essence. Psalm 33, you can turn there. I know we've turned there. I
think each of the studies so far in the book of Genesis, but
I think this particular verse does shed light on this subject. Notice in Psalm 33 at verse 6,
Now we know from John 1 that Jesus is the Word of God. So when we read, by the word
of Yahweh the heavens were made, it's not a stretch to see father
and son referenced in Psalm 33, 6. As well, when it says, all
the host of them by the breath of his mouth. Breath translates
or is translated from the same Hebrew word where we get the
word spirit. So we see all three persons referenced
here in Psalm 33, verse 6. By the word of Yahweh the heavens
were made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth."
So again, when we go back to Genesis chapter 1, it's not a
fully developed Ephesians 1, 2 Corinthians 13, or Council
of Nicaea treatment on the doctrine of the Trinity, but it's certainly
the doctrine of the Trinity. Let us make man in our image
according to our likeness. John Calvin commenting on the
several options. opts for this Trinitarian position. He says, Christians, therefore,
properly contend from this testimony that there exists a plurality
of persons in the Godhead. John Gill concurs when he says,
but they, the words of deliberation, are spoken by God the Father
to the Son and Holy Ghost, who were each of them concerned in
the creation of all things and particularly of man. So Genesis
chapter 1 verse 26 is indeed a reference to the Trinity. Those
who do not agree, in fact, one of the commentators says that
in other places where we see this plurality or this plural
form used, it can't speak of the Trinity. I would argue just
the opposite. In each of those other instances,
it most certainly does speak of the Trinity. So this is a
great time for us to stand and wonder and in awe at the glory
of our great God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought
to praise God for what our confession says. Remember when I cited that
when we did a bit of the theology of creation. It pleased God,
and then it indicates the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
That's God. When we read Genesis 1-1, in
the beginning, God. That's the same God that we read
of in Revelation 22. It's not a different God. It's
not a new sort of conception of God. all of the stuff that
the Trinitarian sort of development in the New Testament, it reaches
back into the Old Testament. It's not that the doctrine wasn't
there, it maybe wasn't as brightly shone upon as it is in the New
Testament, that quote by Warfield, but nevertheless it is present.
And we have this divine deliberation in verse 26. It's not a heavenly
council. It's not a consultation with
the angels or with the earth. It's not a consultation among
those who are not fellows of God. It is not a divine or a
plural majesty. Rather, it is a reference to
our Trinitarian God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So that's
the deliberation in verse 26. The Trinity not only says, let
us make man in our image according to our likeness, but then specifies
the task that man will have. Let them have dominion over the
fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle,
over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps
on the earth. So you have that deliberation, then verse 27 indicates
the actual creation. So we move from that deliberation
to execution, or to the actual act of creation. And notice,
so God created man in his own image. That initially should
alert us that something is going on here. Not only the reference
to in his own image, which is absolutely huge, but also in
verses 21, 24, and 25, these creatures of the land are each
created according to their kind. Man is not created here according
to their kind, rather man is created according to, or in the
likeness of, or in the image of God. Now with reference to
the two words used, image and likeness, older commentators
saw a distinction way back into the church fathers. I think it's
best to understand these terms as used synonymously. They're
used interchangeably. Likeness and image don't mean
something, you know, absolutely different. But when we see that
we're made in the likeness of God or in the image of God, the
end result or the net result is the same. So know that older
interpreters did see a bit of a distinction between image and
likeness. I think it's safer to say the
terminology is used synonymously. But if we ask the question, what
does it mean to be created in the image of God? I'm sure that
we all have at least a basic understanding of what that means.
Certainly, rationality is something that sticks out. Not that animals
are, you know, ignorant of all things, but they operate by instinct. They operate by, you know, a
certain amount of data given to them by God. But I've noticed
that my dog doesn't read her Bible in the morning. She doesn't
have that mental equipment or facility or competence or, dare
I say, image-bearing capability in order to do such a thing.
But when we look at this statement that God made man in his own
image, if we look at other passages that use that language, it really
doesn't shed any light. When we see, for instance, in
Genesis chapter 5, with reference to Adam, in verse 3, Adam lived
130 years and begot a son in his own likeness after his image
and named him Seth, we're still not a whole lot closer to what
does it mean to be created in the image of God. So, we look
at other portions of scripture to try and flesh out for us.
In other words, we look at later revelation to try and shine a
light upon this concept or doctrine of the Imago Dei. I don't want
to say Dei because that would be a James White-ism. Imago Dei
is the Latin phrase for image of God. Sorry, it's just a little
joke. Imago Dei, image of God. Ecclesiastes 7.29 tells us that
God made man upright. That doesn't mean he's not hunched
over like a gorilla. It probably means, in an ethical
sense, God made man morally upright. In other words, at the hand of
his creator, Adam was a morally upright man. The problem comes
in Genesis 3, when he sought after many devices. But image
of God, at least according to Ecclesiastes 7.29, tells us that
Adam was an upright man. Now, in the New Testament, we
get some light concerning this Imago Dei. If you turn to the
book of Ephesians, for instance, the book of Ephesians, where
the apostle is highlighting that we have been renewed. We have
been recreated, we have been regenerated, we have been born
again, and as new creatures in Christ Jesus, we see that there
are certain aspects or elements held out to us in these passages
that flesh out what is involved in being created in the image
of God. So notice in Ephesians chapter
4 at verse 23, "...and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and
that you put on the new man which was created according to God
in true righteousness and holiness." That's consistent with Ecclesiastes
7.29, God made man upright, again, not standing, not that he's not
a knuckle-dragger, but he's morally upright. And here we see that
same sort of thing, true righteousness and holiness. And then again
in Colossians 3, Colossians chapter 3 at verse 10, and have put on
the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image
of him who created him. So, this idea of knowledge and
righteousness and holiness, these sort of ideas that are associated
with the rebirth and our new creation in Christ Jesus and
our having been remade and conformed onto the image of Jesus, who
is ultimately the image of God, these are the sorts of elements
that are true of what it means to be created imago Dei. The confession of faith, our
confession of faith, when it highlights the creation of man
in chapter 4, it says, We need to understand that. Reasonable,
rational. and a mortal soul. So it's not
a mortal in an underrived sense. It is a derivative immortality. It is given us by God. God is
immortal, but that's not derived. He is in and of himself. There's
not this sort of thing added to God, but for man, he's equipped
us in this particular way. And then it goes on to say, rendering
them fit unto that life to God for which they were created.
being made after the image of God in knowledge, righteousness,
and true holiness. You see, those are the elements
there from Ephesians 4 and Colossians chapter 3. This whole idea of
knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. The Westminster
Shorter Catechism asks, how did God create man? God created man,
male and female, after his own image and knowledge, righteousness,
and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. We'll see that
whole vocation, rather, or that whole idea of dominion over the
creatures with reference to vocation in verse 28. But then notice
what it says in verse 27. He created them in His own image,
or He created man in His own image. In the image of God He
created him. Male and female He created them. So male and
female are highlighted in this particular section. Now, unbeknownst
to me, there was a particular Jewish view that man was a hermaphrodite
when he was originally created or a sort of back-to-back creature
that was rent asunder. John Gill obviously would have
known about this because he just knew about everything and of
course Jewish sort of interpretation on Bible. He says, not that man
was created as a hermaphrodite or with two bodies back to back
united together and afterwards cleaved asunder as the Jews fabulously
say. I just bring that out to say
there's a lot of different views on what's happening in Genesis
chapter one. In many respects, jumping into
this book, it's kind of like trying to, not that I've known
how to do this or would ever know how to do this, but to break
a wild horse. I'm not suggesting Genesis is
a wild horse, but you have to subdue in order to try to get
your arms wrapped around it. I haven't got to that point yet
with the book of Genesis. Each new Wednesday I'm struck
afresh at why in the world did I ever choose Genesis to go through. Now thus far it's been very encouraging
and quite a blessing, but there's just so much data, and there's
just so much to consider, and really there's so many other
things that we could go off on in terms of excurses and that
sort of thing. But I just want to bring out
a few of these along the way just so you kind of have an idea
that there's a whole lot of different things that people have seen
going on here. As I said last week, it's not
written like a science textbook. It's written for simple men and
women so that we can understand how God did what He did. And
in that, we can rejoice and we can worship Him and adore Him
as a result of that. But in terms of this reference
to male and female, the image refers to the plurality of male
and female within the unity of humanity. Now, in 1 Corinthians
11, the apostle says that man is the glory of God and woman
is the glory of man. And Paul there is not depreciating
or denigrating or suggesting that women are not created in
the image of God. He's not doing that. He's speaking
in 1 Corinthians 11 in terms of functia. in terms of relationship,
with reference to, in that context, relationship in the church, in
terms of male headship, in the context of local worship. In
fact, Calvin says, Paul there only refers to the domestic relation. But here the question is respecting
that glory of God, which peculiarly shines forth in human nature,
where the mind, the will, and all the senses represent the
divine order. Now, if you remember last week,
I drew out some of the polemical ramifications of Genesis chapter
1. In other words, Moses is writing
at the time that the children of Israel most likely are wandering
in the wilderness. Well, they're wandering about.
Moses found a terebinth tree. sat down, and under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, he wrote out the Pentateuch, and he gave
us this particular account. But there's a polemical thrust.
Remember that the children of Israel, having left Egypt, going
into Canaan, are surrounded by these false deities. And there's
so much of this that continues in a polemical manner. And this
whole idea of women being inferior or subordinate or not real human
beings is absolutely positively not true. They're created in
the image of God, male and female. When we get to the whole idea
of being fruitful and multiplying, again, the narrative is going
to continue to show us what that looks like. That would function
for the children of Israel entering into a pagan arena that was surrounded
with these deities or false deities, many of which were fertility
cults. This was their marching orders
in terms of how they needed to conduct themselves under the
true and living God that created the heavens and the earth. Don't
go join yourselves to Asherah. Don't go join yourselves to Baal.
The end of life or the goal of life is in copulation. The goal
of life is the glory of God. Certainly the multiplication
of children and procreation is an aspect to arrive at the glory
of God, but there's a specific way that God calls His children
to function. Just about every step of the
way is polemical. It is an attack upon the gods
of Egypt and upon the gods of the Canaanite nations that had
all these different deities. This is the true and living God,
the creator of the heavens and the earth, the creator of man.
As well, in the ancient Near Eastern world, Assyria specifically,
it was only the king that bore the image of God. It was only
the king that bore the image of God. Not according to Genesis
chapter 1. Man, from the hand of God, bears
the image of God, whether he's a king in terms of his relationship
to a body politic or not. So you see, there's some fundamental
differences between the religion of Yahweh and the religion of
the heathens around Israel at that particular time. So God
created man in his own image, in the image of God he created
him, male and female he created them. Now, that brings us to
the vocation of man in verse 28. Note the blessing. Then God
blessed them and God said to them. Now, that's similar to
verse 22. If you go back to verse 22, God
blessed them saying, be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters
in the seas and let birds multiply on the earth. There's a bit of
a difference. It's a subtle difference, but
it's a difference nonetheless. God blessed them saying. But
verse 28, then God blessed them and God, notice, said to them. This is an absolute polemic against
evolution theory, evolutionary theory. What does evolution teach? Man is, initially, a knuckle-dragging
Neanderthal. He grunts, and then he makes
sounds, and then he possibly forms words, and then he builds
sentences and paragraphs. Adam, from the hand of God, was
able to hear God, was able to understand God, and was able
to respond to God. He was able to distinguish between
the tree he was supposed to eat from and the tree he wasn't supposed
to eat from. There wasn't this evolutionary
sort of a span wherein man began to furnish himself with the necessary
intellectual equipment. From the hand of God, God's creature,
man, is able to correspond with God. And that is precisely what
we find. He said to them, be fruitful
and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion
over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over
every living thing that moves on the earth. Now, the narrative
will continue to demonstrate that the first, male and female,
are joined in marriage and to multiply. Sexual relations are
sanctioned, but in their proper context. Again, remember, you're
a child of Israel, one of the children of Israel. Moses is
your leader. He's writing these things. They're
getting circulated. This is a powerful tonic for
you to not go to a bail service. This is a powerful tonic for
you not to bow to Asherah, or for you to copulate with a pagan
in order to get Baal to furnish the land with fertility. This
is what God says. Male and female are for this
reason, or one of the aspects of their creation, and they're
bringing one, having brought them one together, one another
together, is for procreation. Gordon Wenham says, here then
we have a clear statement of the divine purpose of marriage.
Positively, it is for the procreation of children. Negatively, it is
a rejection of the ancient oriental fertility cults. You are not
supposed to be sexually profligate if you are a child of Israel.
You are supposed to heed what God says in verse 28. Again,
sexual relations aren't bad, they're not icky, they're not
nasty, they're not terrible. They're good in the proper context. God's people have never been
anti-sex. God's people have always been
anti-sex, apart from the covenantal boundaries wherein God calls
us to operate. That's what this narrative is
doing. It's telling us how God made the earth. It's telling
Israel how God made the earth. But this indicative is also imperative
in nature. This is also how we are supposed
to function. when it comes to our conduct
here on earth. And then one of the purposes,
and I hope that we'll have time to deal with Genesis chapter
2 with reference to the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden,
as I think I mentioned last week, was a temple. First and foremost,
Adam's vocation was not one of farming. Certainly he farmed
and certainly cultivated and certainly knocked back brush
and did the sorts of things that farmers do, but his activity
was priestly in nature. Eden was a temple. God called
Adam to expand that garden temple to encompass the entirety of
the earth. If there was a Garden of Eden,
outside of it were those uncultivated regions, those unhaving-been
conquered dominions. And Adam's job was to fill the
earth with image bearers and to expand the garden temple to
increase the knowledge and the worship of God Almighty. That's
his primary vocation. Again, I hope that time will
allow that we can investigate that in more detail. But that's
precisely what's happening. the command to multiply the image
of God through procreation and expand the garden temple to fill
the earth, in this original setting. Obviously, verse 28 applies to
us, that when we get married, we have babies, we procreate.
But as we move through the Bible, we'll notice that procreation
is not the only reason for the marriage union. This is faulty. This is Roman Catholic. And unfortunately,
Protestants have gotten sucked into this. The only reason for
the sexual relations is to have children. That's one of the reasons,
but there's also the joy and the happiness reason that God
does not begrudge his creatures. As well, there's the prevention
of uncleanness. As well, there is the basic fundamental
reason why God brought Eve to Adam, and that was for companionship. It's a blessed thing when God
gives us a companion to walk arm-in-arm with over the face
of this globe. And we ought to praise God for
His goodness and for His kindness. Now, with reference to His dominion
over the creatures. Remember, again, I know this
is, if I wink at you, I'm not trying to be frisky. I got a
problem with my contact lens and it's just about making me
want to tear my eye out. So if I do that, it's just, that's
unfortunate as to what's happening here. But if you remember last
week, I mentioned that there's a particular order in the creation
account that drives us to the creation of man. The first three
days describe realms. The last three days describe
rulers over those particular realms. And on day one, we have
light. Day four, we have light bearers. In fact, the two great lights
are said to rule over the day, rule over the night. So you've
got the realm and then you've got the ruler. On day two, you
have sea and sky. On day five, you have fish and
birds. The fish rule the sea and the
birds rule the sky. And then on day three, you have
land. and then you have land creatures. Now it's noted that the land
creatures are not told to fill the earth and subdue it. That's
man's job. You know, man exercises rule
over all the realms. Now birds still fly and in a
special way have, you know, the sky. birds, fish swim, and they
have, in a special way, rule in the sea. But man is the ruler
over all. That is his dominion. That's
the particular mandate that God has given it. Subdue it, have
dominion over the fish, over the birds, and over every living
thing that moves on the earth. So that sort of realm ruler thing
brings us to this place of God's chief ruler, which is man. And
if we look at the two texts, verses 27 and 28, there is a
close relationship. The reason why man can and does
do verse 28 is because of verse 27. He is able to subdue and
He is able to rule because He is in the image of God. If He
is not in the image of God, He is not going to effectively carry
out His vocation or His calling or His mandate in verse 28. G.K. Beal says Genesis 127 provides
the means by which the commission and goal
of verse 28 was to be accomplished. Humanity will fulfill the commission
by means of being in God's image. The direct connection between
verses 27 and 28. God made man in his own image
Therefore, man is now to subdue the earth, and he is to exercise
dominion or rule over it. He's always subject or subordinate
to God. He's not God, but he's God's
vice regent. He is God's chief of staff. He
is God's earthly representative, and he functions in the way to
make God's will known to creation. To offer up creation unto God
and to be that one who does in fact rule over it for the glory
of God. He is to exercise responsible
dominion. Responsible dominion. Gordon
Wenham again says, because man is created in God's image, he
is king over nature. He rules the world on God's behalf. This is, of course, no license
for the unbridled exploitation and subjugation of nature. Again,
this doctrine shouldn't promote people that abuse the creation.
Not that we worship the creation, we don't hug trees and just eat
berries and sing weird songs in the woods. That's not what
we're supposed to do, but on the other hand, we're not supposed
to abuse the created order either. It's a responsible exercise of
dominion under God, realizing the reality of Psalm 24. The earth is the Lord's and all
its fullness. In other words, we are stewards
of the earth that God has given us. We are not to exploit. Wenham goes on to say, mankind
is here commissioned to rule nature as a benevolent king,
acting as God's representative over them, and therefore treating
them in the same way as God who created them. Now turn to Psalm
8 for some doxological reflection on this particular vocation that
God has given to man. As a result of having been created
in the image of God, God has made man this ruler, this one
to subdue, and this one to exercise dominion over the earth. This
leads the psalmist in Psalm 8 to say, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent
is your name in all the earth, who have set your glory above
the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
you have ordained strength. Because of your enemies that
you may silence the enemy and the avenger. When I consider
your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars
which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of
him and the son of man that you visit him? For you have made
him a little lower than the angels and you have crowned him with
glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion
over the works of your hands. You have put all things under
his feet, all sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air and the fish of the sea that pass through
the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent
is your name in all the earth." It's good to praise God for the
vocation that was entrusted to man. It's a beautiful thing,
the way God has structured this created order. There is form,
there is function, and there is order. The earth truly is,
or the universe truly is a cosmos. It's not chaos. God has shaped
it in such a way as to provide maximum benefit for his creatures,
man being at the helm. It's not the case that any monkey
or any dog or any cow is going to read Genesis 1 and feel slighted. They're not going to feel that
we're species prejudice or bigoted or whatever. It is what it is. God made man in His image, and
we have the ability to rationally communicate with God, not to
denigrate the lower creatures. They all serve a purpose, they
all have their function, and they all ultimately bring glory
to God. But man is the apex, the pinnacle
of his creative activity. Now notice, thirdly, the provision
for man. Again, verses 29 and 30 reflect
the wisdom and the goodness of God. Remember, God's already
prepared the land. He doesn't plant Adam and Eve
in the land and then say, well, I don't know what you're going
to eat. I hope it all works out for you. I don't know what your
sort of gastrointestinal system can handle. No, it's all been
taken care of. God's already got that under control. Day three,
as God prepares the land, in verse 11, it says, let the earth
bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree
that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself
on the earth. And it was so. And the earth
brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to
its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself
according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
So the evening and the morning were the third day." Now, back
to verse 29, God said, "'See, I have given you every herb that
yields seed, which is on the face of all the earth, and every
tree whose fruit yields seed. To you it shall be for food.'"
Again, this is not evolutionary. This isn't Neanderthal man biting
a rock to see if that's going to provide sustenance and nourishment.
He understands what God means. He knows what God is saying.
He's able to identify herbs, and he's able to identify fruits,
and he's able to identify vegetables. God made man. in His own image. That means we're hardwired. We're
already ready for action. There's already a sense of deity.
There's already that knowledge of God according to Romans chapter
1. Not only of His eternal power and Godhead, but according to
Romans 1.32, We know that it's righteous with God to punish
evildoers. There's a lot that people that
don't have Bibles actually know about God. So don't get into
some debate whether or not there is a God. They know there's a
God. The problem is they're suppressing
the truth and unrighteousness, and our task is to show them
that. Our task is not to try to reason
them into the kingdom, but to preach the gospel to them and
tell them their problem isn't a lack of evidence, but it's
a hardened, sinful, rebellious heart that suppresses truth.
They need to flee to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Adam trapped. Adam followed. Adam went and
ate. When God said, I have given you
all of this, he probably munched a big piece of fruit at that
particular time. If he wasn't hungry then, he
would have been in a few hours. Isn't that how we function? We
get hungry, right? This is good for God to do this. Order, functionality, preparation,
everything's in place so that when God places man in this context,
man doesn't have to shake the trees and eat rocks and, you
know, look at dirt. He has the apparatus to be able
to interpret properly and he has the revelatory Word of God
instructing him on how to function as God's creator in this new
place. It's a beautiful and a wonderful
thing. God's also going to take care
of the animals according to verse 30. Also to every beast of the
earth, to every bird of the air, to everything that creeps on
the earth in which there is life. I have given every green herb
for food and it was so. And then that brings us finally
to the summation of the creation account. Verse 31. Notice then
God saw everything that he had made. Now, brethren, God sees
all things. We need to remember that the
Bible accommodates itself for us. As Calvin said, it's like
a nurse who lisps to the baby. In other words, you don't speak
to a baby in full sentences with subjects and predicates. You
typically say, goo-goo, ga-ga, and things of that nature. You
can't read Shakespeare to a baby and have them say, yeah, that's
awesome. I mean, if you get hop on pop
with them or green eggs and ham, you're doing great. You accommodate
yourself to the two-year-old. You accommodate yourself to the
five-year-old. All of the Bible is accommodation. Remember the statement, probably
every time we've met concerning Genesis. There's a difference,
a fundamental distinction between creator and creature. It's not
that it's God, man, angel, God. God's not a super man. God isn't
man writ large. God isn't a better version of
man. God is in a different class of
being. God is God, creator. We are creature. And so the Bible, God accommodates
himself to us. So when it says, then God saw
everything that He had made, it's not the way that you and
I see everything that we have made, but rather it's speaking
to us in the manner of men. This is the way the old boys
spoke of this accommodation. It's spoken to us in the manner
of men to cause us to reflect upon God's reflection upon His
created order. Again, even saying his reflection
upon is not fully the same or is not exactly the same as our
reflection upon. You ever complete a chore and
then you look at it and you go, wow, I can't believe I did that.
That's not how God reflects. He always can believe he does
that. He has absolute actuality. He is pure. pure actuality. There's no potency. There's no
possibility. There's no becoming with God. He doesn't reflect. He doesn't
think through a particular, you know, proposition. He doesn't
learn the way that you and I learn. He always knows everything there
is to know all the time. And so when the text says God
saw everything that he had made, that's for our benefit. It's
to help us. Gil says, such a survey is attributed
to him after the manner of men to show the completeness of his
works and the excellency of them. And then notice, verse 31, there's
a bit of a difference in terms of the report versus what we
see on the other days. Notice, and indeed it was very
good. Everything up to this point has
been good. Now it's very good. Now I think the reason for that
is because of the state of completeness, because of the state that it's
been brought together, because of the state that we are presently
in. Wenham, I think, describes this
beautifully. He says, the harmony and perfection
of the completed heavens and earth express more adequately
the character of their Creator than any of the separate components
can. So when he sees this all completed,
it's very good. Again, it's all very good always
to God, but it's instructive for us to see that progression
in the narrative and to see God's reflection on that and to realize
that what we've come from in terms of the earth was without
form and void, the various stages on the various days have now
been brought to that state of very goodness. And then verse,
or rather, day six and day seven also show a little bit of a difference
from days two to five. And that's with the little word,
the. Look at the end of verse 31.
So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Now, in every
other one of the days, in the English translation, we have
the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day,
the fifth day. Those aren't present, the thus
aren't present in the Hebrew text. That's called a definite
article. A definite article is the folder. An indefinite article is a folder. It's not a particular folder,
but the definite means the folder. So when we use the word the,
we are underscoring something specifically about a noun. And
so the text does that with only days 6 and 7. It doesn't do that
with days 2 to 5. Again, not saying 2 to 5 aren't
important, but what the author is saying is that day 6 and day
7 are extra important as the creatures of God who are studying
this for yourself. Again, the special character,
this is Wenham, of the sixth day, the day on which creation
was complete, is perhaps hinted at by the grammar of the concluding
formula, the sixth day. For days two to five always use
the same formula, day, and then whatever the number. But here
the definite article is added to the ordinal, day, the sixth. Phraseology also used in connection
with the Sabbath. For example, in two, three, day,
the seventh. So by that simple technique,
Moses is highlighting, or showing, or setting apart something significant
about days and six. Now, not the whole thing's significant.
I mean, that God says, let there be light, and there's light.
That God, you know, is able to separate the waters below and
above the firmament is amazing. That God creates the land and
separates land from sea. That God, you know, makes fish,
and He makes birds, and He makes these sea creatures, and He makes
land creatures. That's all amazing. But again,
in terms of narrative, what the author is trying to highlight
for us is the special creation of man and the Sabbath rest of
God. And he does that by using that
little article, the, on days six and seven. Well, real quickly,
let's just conclude with a few thoughts. First, we ought to
appreciate the glory of our triune God. The fact that in the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth. I've not listened to Sam
Renahan's lectures on the book of Genesis. Josh has listened
to them and he said in the first one, Sam Renahan says that Genesis
1, I can relate to this, it's kind of like this big ornate
sort of gazebo or hallway that leads you into a room. And that
room, obviously, is the book of Genesis that deals with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob and, you know, somewhat sort of mundane things
like finding a wife and all that stuff. But before you get to
that room, you're walking through this bedazzled, you know, bejeweled,
glorious sort of hallway. That's how Genesis 1 is. It is
sublime. It is incredible. The fact that,
you know, we can just read, God created man. I mean, come on,
that right there is huge. Brethren, we are not random atoms
just floating in space. We are, according to the purpose
and the plan, and according for the goal of the glory of our
triune God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
who are from everlasting to everlasting, it was pleasing to Him to create
this world and all things in it by the word of His power in
the space of six days, and all very good. We ought to stand
amazed at our great triune God. Secondly, the dignity of man
is showcased in a whole host of ways. First, the structure
of the passage. The whole realms ruler motif
with man being the ruler of all the realms under God. The creation
of man in the image of God. You know, I think Genesis 1,
26 and 27 ought to really cause us to reflect on our place in
Christ. We are image-bearers of God.
This is Paul's point in Ephesians 4, certainly Paul's point in
Colossians chapter 3. Why in the world, as image-bearers
of God, as those who have been renewed, as those who have been
redeemed by Christ, why in the world can't you get along together
in the context of the local church? Why in the world would you present
your members as instruments of unrighteousness in sexual sin? Why, as image bearers of the
true and living God, having been renewed, remade, why would you
conduct yourself as if you were just some lost wretch? You see,
this idea of image of God ought to exert its pressure upon us
and cause us to function as the image of God. You see, it's not
only an indicative, it's not only a true statement, but it's
also imperatival. That means there's a command
sort of embedded. I think Meredith Klein explains
this well. He says, man's likeness to God
is a demand to be like God. The indicative here has the force
of an imperative. Formed in the image of God, man
is informed by a sense of deity by which he knows what God is
like. Not merely that God is. In other words, we know what
God is, but bearing the image of God, having the law of God
written on our hearts, we also know what He's like, and we certainly
ought to function in a manner that is consistent with that.
as well, the emphasis on male slash female in the creation
of man. That's another detail that again
highlights the special character of the creation of man. Presumably
when God made fish and birds, he made them male and female
too. But he doesn't tell us that. He tells us that with reference
to man. Why? Because it's like Moses is saying,
okay, I really want you to pay attention. If this hall is bedecked
and bejeweled, this is the shiniest portion of it all. When we walk
through this understanding of how God made man. And then the
specific task of dominion. The monkeys weren't given this,
the cats weren't given this, the dogs weren't given this.
Man was given this task. That reflects the special character
of God's creation of man. As well, we ought to appreciate
the rationality of man. Never let it be thought that
man went through these various stages of learning. He came from
the hand of God, ready to learn. ready to understand, at the apex
of his learning. He didn't have all the sin to
deal with it. You and I do. He didn't have the darkness of
mind. When God said, that's an avocado, or that's a cantaloupe,
or that's a whatever, it was just rich enjoyment to the man. There was no temptation to ruin
them or throw them at Eve or anything like that. It was just
appreciation. This was the highest point for
man, not the lowest. Evolution teaches we went from
the very lowest of the low to this highest of the high. Well,
the biblical narration seems to go just the opposite. We've
gone from the highest to arguably the lowest. in terms of our ability
to rationally conduct ourselves in a world of ideas. I mean,
we just can't function without crying or hiding or running if
somebody ever disagrees. No! Be able to rationalize and
think. Calvin says, thus the chief seat
of the divine image was in his mind where it was eminent. And then, finally, the ethical
implications for man. Man belongs to God. We're always
God. He always owns us. He's always
the creator. We're always the creature. There is no change
in status with reference to that reality. We should embrace it,
and we should be very happy about it. Secondly, man owes obedience
to God. Not only are we his, but we are
his to do as he commands. We don't have the right to run
off the reservation. We don't have the right to say
no to God. And as well, man must show regard
for other men. Genesis 9, 6. Another place where
this image of God is invoked. It's in an ethical context. Whoever
sheds man's blood, by man his blood will be shed. Why? For
in the image of God he made man. If we understand Genesis 1, if
we understand the special creation of God in terms of man the image
bearer, we ought never, ever to say that abortion or euthanasia
or any form of murder is somehow okay. It is the fact that man
bears God's image that validates that principle of execution for
those who would slay that image. Brethren, we need to treat man
with respect, and we need to treat man as having come from
the hand of God. Well, let us close in a word
of prayer. Father, thank you for your word,
and thank you for this wonderful and rich passage of Holy Scripture. I feel like we only very much
touched the surface of it. It's certainly glorious. It certainly
does ascribe glory and power and majesty to our great God. We thank you that you spoke these
things into being. We thank you for the demonstration
of your power and of your order and of the fact that you put
together a cosmos, that you made man in your image, that you gave
man a specific calling and vocation. And I pray that as we continue
in this great book, it would encourage our hearts and that
as we learn more about you, we would worship you in spirit and
truth. Go with us now, we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
