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Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:1, 26-27, 31; 2:7-9, 16-17; Psa. 90:2; Eccl. 7:29; Rev. 4:11
In the previous chapter we said that in eternity past God had a plan. In that plan He purposed to gain many brothers for His Son. These many brothers have the life of the Son and the image of the Son and will eventually enter into glory.
In this chapter we will see how God carries out His plan. In order to carry out His plan, God created all things. This was the first step in carrying out His plan. However, in order to understand creation, we must first see God’s characteristics.
Psalm 90:2 says that God is “from eternity to eternity.” The word eternity is used two times in this verse. The first use of eternity is a reference to eternity past, and the second use of eternity is a reference to eternity future. From man’s perspective, there is the past and there is the future, but from God’s perspective, there is only eternity. Therefore, He is God in eternity, He is God from eternity to eternity, and He is God from eternity past without beginning to eternity future without ending. Hence, God is eternal; He is without beginning or ending. God can be compared to a circle that does not have a starting point or an ending point.
One of God’s names is Jehovah. Jehovah means “I am who I am” (Exo. 3:14). This indicates that God is self-existing and ever-existing. He is without beginning and without ending, and He exists from eternity to eternity.
Since God is without beginning and without ending, existing from eternity to eternity, His life must also be without beginning and without ending. A life that is without beginning and without ending must be an uncreated life. Any life that has a beginning and an ending is a created life. The life of God is uncreated because His life is without beginning and without ending. Therefore, the Bible refers to the life of God as eternal life. God is eternal, so His life is also eternal. Since His life is eternal, it is also uncreated.
God is eternal, and He is also triune. Genesis 1:26 says, “God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” In Hebrew the word God in this verse is plural. Furthermore, in this verse God refers to Himself as “Us.” This shows that God is triune. There are many other places in the Bible where God refers to Himself as “We” or “Us” (3:22; 11:7; Isa. 6:8; John 17:21-22). This proves that God is triune. This does not mean that there are three Gods. There is only one God (Isa. 45:5; 1 Cor. 8:4). From eternity past to eternity future there is only one God. Although God is one, He is also the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19). Hence, He is triune. He is one yet three, and He is three yet one. He is the Triune God.
This is not easy for us to grasp. Let us use water as an illustration. Water vapor is in the air. When water vapor cools down, it condenses into water. If water is cooled down further, it turns into ice. Vapor, water, and ice are actually one thing. Water vapor is abstract, not visible. When vapor turns into water, it is visible but not very concrete. When water turns into ice, it can be touched and held because it is solid and concrete. This illustration is inadequate, but it can help us a little more in our understanding of the Triune God.
The Triune God is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father is God Himself, the Son is the Lord Jesus, and the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. The Father, Son, and Spirit are not three separate persons. In terms of the aforementioned illustration, the Father can be likened to vapor, the Son can be likened to water, and the Holy Spirit can be likened to ice. God the Father is hidden; He cannot be seen or touched by man (1 Tim. 1:17). Hence, He is abstract, just like vapor in the air. One day God became a man (John 1:14). God the Son is the expression of the Father (v. 18; 14:9). The Father is in the Son (v. 10). Just as a son comes out of his father, the Son came out of the Father (8:42). Just as a son has the life of his father, the Son has the life of God the Father (5:26). Hence, when we see the Son, we know the Father. Without the Son there is no way for the Father to be manifested. Hence, the Bible says, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (1:18). He who has seen the Son has seen the Father (14:9). The Son is the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of His substance; hence, the Son is God manifested (Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:15). God hidden is the Father; God manifested is the Son. The Father is the source of the Son, and the Son is the manifestation of the Father. Just as the Son is the declaration of the Father, the Spirit is the declaration of the Son (John 15:26; 16:14-15). Just as God the Father is manifested in the Son, so the Son is realized and contacted as the Spirit. The Father came to dwell among men as the Son, and the Son enters into man as the Spirit. Without the Spirit, God can only dwell among men and be seen by men as the Son, but He cannot enter into man in order to be contacted or experienced by man. God is not only the Son; He is also the Spirit. Hence, He can enter into man to be contacted by man. The Father is God hidden, the Son is God manifested, and the Spirit is God entering into man. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are the Triune God from eternity to eternity. As the Father, God is hidden; as the Son, God is manifested; and as the Spirit, God can dwell in man. The Father is embodied in the Son, and the Son is transfigured to be the Spirit. God is uniquely one, but He is also triune.
In order to fulfill His plan, the Triune God created all things. His creation of all things was according to His plan. Concerning creation, Revelation 4:11 says, “Because of Your will they were, and were created.” In Greek the phrase because of also means “through.” All things were not created by chance, accidentally, or haphazardly. Rather, they were created through God’s will, according to His plan. God in His plan determined that He would fulfill His purpose through all things; therefore, He created all things.
The purpose of God’s plan is to gain some people to be the brothers of Christ. Hence, man was the goal of creation. God created all things in order to gain man. Before creating man, God created the heavens, the earth, and all things in them. He prepared the heavens, the earth, and all things for man. The things on the earth are for man to enjoy, and even the angels, as ministering spirits, are sent forth for service for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation (Heb. 1:14).
Many people envy angels, but they do not know that man is higher than the angels. God did not determine to fulfill His purpose with angels. God did not determine that angels would receive the sonship to be brothers of Christ. Rather, He determined that angels would be messengers, not sons with His life. God determined to give the sonship to man. God wants to fulfill His purpose through man. He wants man to have His life and become the many brothers of Christ.
Man is the goal of creation because God’s purpose is with man. Everything that God created is for man. Although the angels dwell in the heavens, they exist for man. Some of the things in the heavens and on earth are for man to enjoy, some things are for man to appreciate, and other things are for man to have dominion over. All things were created and prepared for man’s existence so that man could be gained by God to accomplish God’s plan and fulfill His purpose.
God created all things in the order of life. He created nonliving things before He created the living things. When He created living things, He created lower forms of life before creating higher forms of life. He first created life without consciousness, that is, the plant life, such as grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees (Gen. 1:11). Unlike soil and rocks, which are lifeless, plants have life, but the plant life does not have consciousness. Hence, the plant life is the lowest form of life. After the plant life God created the animal life, and He again started with the lower forms of animal life. He first created fish and birds (vv. 20-21). These animals have consciousness, but this consciousness is not very subjective. Then God created animals with a higher level of life, such as cattle (vv. 24-25). These life forms are higher than plants, fish, and birds because they have more of a subjective consciousness, but they are not the highest form of created life.
After creating the animal life, God created man (vv. 26-27). God created man last. Man is the highest form of created life. Not only does the human life have consciousness, but this consciousness is very subjective. The consciousness of the human life surpasses that of the animal life. In relation to emotions, intelligence, and skill, the human life surpasses every other form of life. Therefore, man can have dominion over every creature (v. 26).
God did not only create man with the highest form of created life; He also created man in His image and according to His likeness (v. 26). Man is the only creature that looks like God, because only man was created in God’s image and according to His likeness. Hence, man is the highest creature created by God. God prepared man as a vessel for His plan (Rom. 9:23). In His plan God determined that we would have His life to be the many brothers of Christ; hence, God made man in His image and likeness.
Image refers to our mind, emotion, and will. Our mind, emotion, and will, our so-called metaphysical person, are created in God’s image. Hence, our thoughts, feelings, intentions, and preferences are similar to God’s. Man is higher than every other creature because he was made in God’s image.
Likeness refers to outward form. Our body, our outward form, was created according to God’s likeness. We are God’s likeness. In the Old Testament God appeared to people in man’s likeness before He became flesh (Gen. 18:1-8; Judg. 13:3-21). Man was created according to God’s likeness; therefore, man has God’s likeness.
Man’s bodily form is more beautiful than the form of other creatures. Flowers, trees, beasts, and cattle are beautiful, but they are inferior to man. Man is beautiful because he resembles God and thus surpasses all other creatures. Man was created in God’s image and according to God’s likeness; therefore, he can represent God with His dominion over all creation.
God created man with three parts—a spirit, a soul, and a body. God formed man’s body from the dust of the ground, and then He breathed into man’s body the breath of life, and man became a living soul. The breath of life became the human spirit. When the human spirit was combined with the human body, the soul was produced (Gen. 2:7). Man has a visible body, and within man there is an invisible spirit. Between the visible body and the invisible spirit is the soul. Man is composed of three parts—a spirit, a soul, and a body.
With our body we contact things in the physical realm, and with our spirit we contact things in the spiritual realm. With our soul, which is between our body and our spirit, we contact things in the psychological realm. Our body uses various senses and faculties to contact physical things. Our spirit uses the functions of the conscience, intuition, and fellowship to contact divine and spiritual things. Our soul uses our mind, emotion, and will to contact things in the psychological realm. Our mind is our thinking organ with which we think and consider. Our will is our decision-making organ with which we plan, judge, decide, and choose. With our emotions we feel delight, anger, sorrow, joy, love, hate, excitement, or depression. Our soul is composed of these three parts: mind, emotion, and will.
It is not difficult to know our body or our soul, but it is difficult for us to understand our human spirit. Our spirit is the innermost part of our being, and it is the organ with which we contact God, know Him, and fellowship with Him. Only our spirit is able to know God and fellowship with Him. Neither our body nor our soul can contact God. Only our spirit can contact and know God. The inward feeling of needing God, the sense and realization of God in the depth of our being, and the condemnation and approval of our conscience are functions of our spirit.
Man is the highest creature, not only because the human life is the highest created life or because man was created in God’s image and according to God’s likeness but also because man has a spirit in addition to a soul and a body. Other creatures have only a soul; they do not have a spirit, so they cannot understand or fellowship with God. Among all the creatures on earth, only man was created with a spirit, because God in His plan determined that only man would have His life. Hence, we can become the many brothers of Christ. God created us with a spirit so that we can contact Him and receive His life.
Ecclesiastes 7:29 says that God made man upright. When man was formed by God, man was upright, good, and clean, not crooked, evil, or filthy. Man did not have sin, corruption, or defects. Thus, after creating man, God referred to the creation of man as being very good (Gen. 1:31). Because God is good and upright, He prepared a good and upright vessel to contain His holy life; He did not prepare an evil or crooked vessel.
Although man was created in God’s image and according to God’s likeness and was created good and upright, the human life is only a created life; it is not like the uncreated life of God. The human life was created and has a beginning and an ending, but God’s life is uncreated and does not have a beginning or an ending. God’s life is from eternity to eternity. No matter how high the human life may be, it is still inferior to God’s life. God’s life is eternal, but man’s life is finite. God’s life is divine and glorious, but man’s life at its best can only be clean and sinless, not divine or glorious. Man was not created with God’s divine, glorious nature. The human life is outside of God and has nothing to do with God. Although man has God’s image and His likeness, unregenerated man does not have God’s life in his deepest part. Although man has a spirit, the created human spirit does not have God’s life in it. This spirit enables man to know God and to fellowship with God, but it does not have God’s life or God’s nature. Man is merely a creature created by God; the created man does not possess the uncreated life of God.
In the universe God’s attention is focused on the earth, and the center of the earth was the garden of Eden. After God created man, He put man in the garden of Eden (2:8). This shows that God’s attention is focused on man. Man is the center of the universe. Man is God’s treasure. The earth is important to God because man is on the earth. God wants man, God loves man, and man is the desire of God’s heart, because God has determined to gain man so that He can carry out His heart’s desire and fulfill His purpose through man. God wants man to have His life and nature and thus be like Him. Man does not have God’s life and nature, but he has God’s image and likeness. Man is a creature, but he has a spirit with which he can know God and fellowship with God. Man does not have God’s life, but with his spirit he can receive God’s life. Man is a vessel to contain God’s life. Of all the creatures on earth, only man has the image and likeness of God, and only man has a spirit to receive God’s life. Therefore, God’s attention is focused on man.
God created us so that we would have His life and become the many brothers of Christ. God wants man to choose this purpose. God created man in His image and according to His likeness, and He created man with a spirit, but He did not put His life into man. Rather, He made man with a will so that man might choose to receive God’s life. God wants man to exercise his will to cooperate with Him.
Therefore, after creating man, God put man in front of the tree of life in the garden of Eden (vv. 8-9). God’s intention was for man to choose the tree of life in order to receive life. The tree of life signifies God’s eternal life (3:22). God put man in front of the tree of life so that man might choose to receive the life of the tree of life, that is, to receive the life of God.
God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil next to the tree of life. Many people think that if the tree of the knowledge of good and evil had not been next to the tree of life, there would not have been a problem. However, because God is so great, He gave man a will to choose between the two trees. If God had to force man to take of the tree of life, He would not be great. But because He is so great, He gave man the ability to choose. God honors man by giving man this capacity.
Some people think that if God had put His life into man when he was created, there would not have been any problems. But this is not what God did. God would rather give man the ability to choose. If God had done everything to accomplish His will, His wisdom would not have been manifested. God is not afraid of obstacles or troubles. In order to manifest His wisdom, He gave man the ability to choose to receive His life.
God created all things so that man could receive His life. But man still did not have God’s life after the heavens, the earth, and all things were created. Although man had God’s image and likeness, had a human spirit, and was good and upright, he did not have God’s life. The man whom God created was humanly complete, but he lacked the life of God; he was devoid of God’s purpose. God did everything for man, but He did not put His life into man. How then did the life of God enter into man? The Bible reveals that God lets man choose to receive His life.
Hence, the highest point of creation was merely the culmination of God’s preparation of the material needed for His purpose. The purpose of God’s plan was for man to receive His life. Creation only prepared man as a vessel to receive God’s life, but God will not put His life into man without man’s consent. Creation merely prepared man to receive God’s life; it did not give God’s life to man. After man was created, he had to exercise his will to receive the life of God.
