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In this message we will consider the creation of the human life, the higher life with the highest consciousness. Since the last message was a parenthesis, we now continue our study with the process of God's restoration and further creation.
Gen. 1:26 reveals that there was a conference held by the Godhead and among the Godhead. We say "among" because God is triune. Using human terms, we may say that there are three Persons in the Godhead, one God with three Persons. I can't explain this. I can only say that God is triune, that we have one God with three Persons. There was a conference held by these three Persons of the Godhead, and a decision was made. This conference with its decision initiated the maturity of life. After God had created the cattle, the beasts, and the creeping things on the first part of the sixth day, He did not proceed immediately to create man. Rather, He had a conference to discuss this matter. Genesis 1:26 says, "And God said, Let us make man..." If we read this verse carefully, we can see that there was something like a conference. God said, "Let us..." God is one: yet, the pronoun is "us." This proves that God is triune. It does not say, "Let me make..." If the Bible had said "me" and not "us," there would have been no need to say "let." The phrase "Let us make" means let us have some fellowship. Although you may think that I infer too much, we nevertheless have this word in the Bible: "Let us..."
After God created all the foregoing items of life, God still needed to create man as the highest created life to express Himself in His image and after His likeness. To accomplish this work, there is the need of the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit to work on man. This is fully proven by the following books of the whole Bible.
Up to this point, we have seen eight items of life. Don't forget this. God created the grass, the herbs, and the trees at the end of the third day, before the fourth-day lights. After the fourth-day lights, He created the fish and the birds on the fifth day. In the early part of the sixth day, God created the cattle, represented by the ox, the beasts, represented by the lion, and the creeping things. Thus, there were three items of the plant life and five items of the animal life. It may seem to us that the whole earth was filled with life. However, there was not the maturity of life.
The maturity of life on this earth is the human life. Even today, after six thousand years, no life on this earth can surpass the human life. Don't look down on yourself. You are very high, higher than the grass, higher than the herbs and the trees, higher than the cattle, the beasts, and the creeping things. You are the highest created life. Without man, there would have been no maturity of life. Thus, the Triune God held a conference and initiated the maturity of life. The Triune God decided to create the highest created life.
Man as the center was generated, the higher life with the highest consciousness. This is the maturity of life that has the image of God and is able to exercise dominion for God. On this earth, man is the center. As we have pointed out before, the heavens are for the earth and the earth is for man. Everything in the sky — the sunshine, the rain, and the air — are for the growth of life on earth. Without sunshine, rain, and air there is no possibility to have life on earth. So, the heavens are for this earth, and this earth, with all kinds of life, is for man. We all know that the minerals are for the plants, the plants are for the animals, both the plants and the animals are for man, and man is for God. So man is the center.
The heavens were fixed and the earth was prepared. Everything was ready for man to come into being. Praise the Lord! God didn't create man and then ask man to wait until He fixed the heavens and prepared the earth for him. On the contrary, after God fixed the heavens, prepared the earth, and made everything ready, man came into being. At the last, God created man. Man ranks as the last, but he was and still is the center.
This is exactly like a marriage according to oriental custom. In such a marriage, the husband prepares everything and, at the last, the bride comes in. The bride does not appear and then wait for everything to be prepared. After everything has been prepared, the bride appears. Likewise, the whole earth is a place for God's wedding. God has prepared all things for His wedding. Who is the bride? The bride is man.
Man is the maturity of all created life. Without man, there is no maturity. Look at the grass. It is green and tender, but it is lacking in form, in appearance. It has no face. The herbs, including corn and wheat, are more developed in form. However, they also have no face. The trees are larger, bearing fruit as well as seeds; yet, none of them has a face with which to express itself. After these three levels of plant life, we have the fish, the first level of animal life. The fish does have a face with two small eyes, but its head is not clearly distinguished. And a fish has no neck. The birds, however, have a distinct face and neck. They have eyes, ears, and a small mouth, somewhat closer to the face of man. The cattle, horses, and oxen have faces similar to a human face. Following the cattle, we have the beasts, especially the lion. The face of a lion closely resembles a human face. Although Darwin foolishly said that man is a descendent of the monkey, it is nevertheless true that the faces of some beasts resemble the face of man. However, regardless of how much the faces of birds, cattle, beasts, eagles, oxen, and lambs resemble the face of man, they are not man. They are short and they are inferior. They are not the maturity of the created life.
Ezekiel 1:5, 10 speaks of the four living creatures. These four living creatures look like man. Each has four faces: the face of a man at the front, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle at the rear. The eagle is at the rear because an eagle's face is not much like a man's. The faces of the lion and the ox are much closer to man's face. However, man's face is supreme. Thus, the human life is the maturity of all created life, having the ability to express God and to exercise God's dominion.
The most striking and wonderful thing about the human life is its consciousness. We do have the highest consciousness. This consciousness of ours is higher than the fish, the eagle, the ox, and the lion. As far as consciousness goes, the human life is the highest. We need to shout, "Hallelujah!" In this universe and on this earth man has been generated. Man has been created, possessing a life with the highest consciousness, a life that is able to express God and represent God. This is wonderful! The creation of man was so crucial and important that the Triune God held a conference before He did it. The sky had been restored. The heavens had been fixed for the purpose of serving the earth. The dry land appeared for the purpose of generating plant life, the animal life, and the human life. Look at the sky: we have the sun, the moon, the stars, the rain, and the air. Look at the earth: we have the grass, the herbs, and the trees. We have the birds in the air, the fish in the water, and the cattle, the beasts, and the creeping things on the earth. As the center of all this, we have man, expressing God and representing God. After God created man, He rested. He was satisfied.
We now come to the central points of God's restoration and further creation.
God needed to recover the earth for generating life and for dominion (Gen. 1:9, 26, 28). As long as the earth was under the death waters, there was no possibility to generate life or to have dominion. In order to have these two things, there was the need for the earth to be recovered.
The second central point was to have man as the expression of God Himself and to deal with God's enemy (Gen. 1:26-28). Later we will see more of this.
The third point was to generate life. This was necessary for the ability to express God and to have dominion for God. Remember these three central points: to recover the earth, to have man, and to generate life. Although the things created by God are numerous, in the record of Genesis 1 and 2 God only mentioned the matters of life and the items related to life, for His restoration and further creation were focused on life. All God's creation was focused on life. He recovered the earth, created man, and produced all kinds of life for the purpose of expressing Himself and dealing with His enemy.
Now we come to the purpose of God's restoration and further creation. This is extremely important.
The main purpose of God's restoration and further creation was to have man, a corporate man, to express God (Gen. 1:26-27). The man God created was a corporate man. God did not create many men. God created mankind collectively in one person, Adam. God created Adam and Adam was a corporate man, a collective man. When Adam was created, we were all created. If you are thirty years of age today, don't say that you were created thirty years ago. You were born thirty years ago, but you were created six thousand years ago. Although I might have been born forty years earlier than you, we were created at the same time. When Adam was created, we were all created because we were all created collectively in Adam. We were included in Adam. God did not create an individual man, but a corporate man to express Himself. In verse 26 God said, "Let them" — one man, but the pronoun is "them." This proves that this man is a corporate man. In this verse, as the pronoun "us" signifies that God is triune, so the pronoun "them" signifies that man is corporate. God created such a corporate man in His own image and after His likeness so that man might express God Himself.
Genesis 1:26 says, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." Here we find two things — the image and the likeness. All of the good Bible students agree that the image refers to something inward and the likeness refers to something outward. We all have something inward — the intellect, the will, and the emotion. Outwardly, we have the likeness, the body-form.
2 Cor. 4:4 and Col. 1:15 both say that the image of God is Christ. Christ is the image of the invisible God. God is invisible; yet He has an image. The invisible God has a visible image. No one has ever seen God, but Christ has declared Him (John 1:18). We all, more or less, have seen Christ. Peter saw Him. John saw Him. After His resurrection, five hundred brothers saw Him at the same time (1 Cor. 15:6). He is really the image of God. Hebrews 1:3 says that Christ is the express image of God's Person.
Since man was created in the image of God and the image of God is Christ, man was created in the image of Christ. In Genesis 1:26 God said, "Let us make man in our image..." But verse 27 says, "God created man in his image." Surely here "his image" means the image of Christ. So, man was made in the image of Christ.
Romans 5:14 says that Adam, the first man, was a type, a figure of Christ. If we take a photograph of a person, that picture is the figure or type of the person. Adam was a photograph of Christ. Christ was the image of God and Adam was a picture of Christ. As a photograph is the expression of a certain image, so man was made to be the expression of the image of God which is Christ.
I may use the illustration of a glove. The glove was made in the image and according to the form of the hand. Both the hand and the glove have five fingers. The glove was made in the image of the hand that one day the hand might enter into the glove. The hand fills up the glove, and the glove expresses the hand. Why was man made in the image of Christ? Because God's intention was that someday Christ would enter into man and be expressed through man. Rom. 9:21, 23 tells us clearly that man was made as a vessel, that is as a container. Man is not a knife, a hammer, or any instrument. Man is a vessel, a container. Romans 9:21, 23 further says that man was made a vessel of honor to contain God, to contain God's glory. Second Corinthians 4:7 says that we have this treasure in earthen vessels. This vessel is like the glove: one day the hand gets into it; the contents get into the container. We are simply a vessel to contain Christ.
One day, Christ came to be made in the likeness of man (Phil. 2:6-8). Man was made according to Christ's image, and Christ was made in the likeness of man. Isn't this wonderful? Who is according to whom? It is mutual. Man was made according to Christ, and Christ was made in the likeness of man that through His death and resurrection man may obtain God's life. It is a mystery; yet, it is a fact. Hallelujah! We have all obtained this life.
Because we have this divine life, we can be transformed into and conformed unto the image of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29m). Here we have two things — transformation and conformation. Transformation is inward and conformation is outward.
We have an intellect, emotion, and will, which were made according to Christ. Christ, no doubt, has the best intellect, the best will, and the best emotion. Our intellect, will, and emotion are not very real. Consider again the illustration of the hand and the glove. The human hand has a thumb and four fingers, and the glove also has a thumb and four fingers. We cannot deny that the thumb of a glove is a thumb, but compared with the real thumb we find a great difference. Compare our intellect with the intellect of Christ. Our intellect resembles the empty thumb of a glove. Christ's intellect resembles the real thumb of a human hand. We have wisdom, but again our wisdom is like the empty thumb and Christ's wisdom is like the real thumb. One day, however, the real thumb will get into the thumb of the glove and the two thumbs will become one! One is the appearance, the expression; the other is the reality, the content. Our wisdom is simply the container of the wisdom of Christ, the expression of the wisdom of Christ. Do you have love? Yes, we all have love, but our love is like an empty glove. Wives, don't expect love from your husbands. Even if your husband loves you, that love is empty. Praise the Lord that it is empty! It is empty that the love of Christ may come in.
But it is not always easy. It may take some dealing for the love of Christ to get into us. The fingers of a glove may be twisted or bent, giving resistance to the hand that wants to get in. Likewise, we need some dealing in order that the love of Christ may get into us. One day, Christ's love enters into the empty love of the husband. At that time, you will enjoy the real love, the love of Christ, through your husband's empty love. Praise the Lord!
Whatever we have, whatever we are, and whatever we can do is just an empty form, best used as a container to hold all that Christ is, all that Christ has, and all that Christ can do.
Christ is in us. Constantly, the life of Christ is doing a transforming work within us. Our love, our emotion, and our thinking are inadequate. Nothing we have by nature is adequate because it is empty and limited. The essence, the element of Christ must enter into all that we are. The wisdom of Christ must enter our empty wisdom, giving us the mind of Christ (Phil. 2:5). Our mind must be a container for the mind of Christ; the mind of Christ must fill up our mind. Then, our mind will be transformed into the image of Christ. Second Corinthians 3:18 says that we all with unveiled face behold and reflect like a mirror the glory of the Lord and are transformed into His image. This is inward transformation. This inward transformation will also become the outward conformation. We will be conformed to the image of the Son of God (Rom. 8:29m).
We were made according to Christ. One day, Christ came in the likeness of this form of ours. We received Him and He came into us. This Christ is now within us doing the work of transformation, not only transforming us into His image, but also conforming us unto His very form. Eventually, He will come to transfigure our outward body into the likeness of His glorious body (Phil. 3:21). Then we will be fully, completely, and ultimately the same as He is (1 John 3:2b). When He looks at Himself, He will say, "All you people are like Me." When we look at ourselves, we will say to the Lord Jesus, "We are all like You, and You are like us." There will be no difference. We will all be like Christ, and Christ will be fully like us. Christ and we, we and Christ — we all will be in the same image and in the same likeness. This was God's purpose in creating man to express God Himself. In a sense, the creation of man has been completed, but the process of transformation continues. We are now under the process of transformation, waiting for His coming back.
Man was created not only in the image of God inwardly, but also after the likeness of God outwardly. All the other items in creation are after "their kind." Man, however, is not after man's kind, but after God's likeness. As image indicates the inward being of God, so likeness must indicate the outward form of God.
The relationship between God and man is a mystery. On the one hand, the Bible says that God is invisible. On the other hand, it says that even before the Lord Jesus was incarnated to be a man, He appeared to people several times in the Old Testament as a man. Several times Christ appeared in the form of a man's body. While Abraham was sitting at the door of his tent, he saw three men coming (Gen. 18:2a). The Lord and two angels appeared to him. Abraham invited the three men into his tent and served them a good meal. They all ate with him. God ate with Abraham and they had a thorough talk. That was why Abraham was called the friend of God (James 2:23). If we read Genesis 18, we will find that it is a record of a friend-fellowship. God was a friend to Abraham. After awhile, the two angels were sent away by the Lord, and the Lord remained with Abraham. Abraham stood before the Lord, just like a friend (Gen. 18:16, 22). That was Christ before His incarnation.
The second time Christ appeared in the form of man was in the case of Jacob at Peniel. A man came to subdue this strong Jacob (Gen. 32:24). Yet, Jacob was wrestling with God! God in the form of man was wrestling with Jacob. Jacob was really strong and God could not subdue him until He touched his thigh and Jacob became lame. Jacob asked, "Please tell me — what is Your name?" God said, "Don't ask My name. Just let Me give you My blessing." Eventually, Jacob realized that he had met God face to face (Gen. 32:28-30). Peniel means the face of God. God appeared there as a man, a real man. If He had not been a real man, how could He have wrestled with Jacob?
Another occasion when God appeared in the form of a human body was in Joshua 5. At that time, Joshua bore the great burden of defeating Jericho. Perhaps it was the next day that the army of God was going out to fight against Jericho, and Joshua, as their leader, bore the burden for that battle. I believe that he was considering the situation in the evening time when suddenly he saw a man. Joshua asked him, "Art thou for us or for our adversaries?" That man said, "Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come" (Josh. 5:13-14). The man also told Joshua, "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy" (Josh. 5:15). That was the place where God was.
By all of these instances, we can see that the Lord Jesus, before His incarnation, appeared several times in the bodyform of a man. This is really mysterious.
The grass has no face, neither do the herbs nor the trees. Starting from the animal life, we have seen that the fish has a face, but not very close to man's face. Next came the birds, the cattle, and the beasts. Then came man whose face is very much like God. This is a mystery. At any rate, we have been told clearly that we were made in God's image. This is why we have wisdom, will, and emotion, just as God does, but without the reality. What we have are simply the expressions. We need the content.
We also have a form, a form of the image, just like a photograph. However, the photograph doesn't have the reality. When man was created in the form, in the image of God, he didn't have the reality of God. After he was created, man still needed to take God in. Regardless of how much man had the form and the image of God, he did not have the reality of God or the life of God. Man failed. Then the Lord came in the form of man. He died in this form and was resurrected to uplift this form. By His death and resurrection, it is now so easy for us to take Him in. We have received and obtained this divine life, and by this divine life we all can have the reality of God. This divine life is now working in us to transform our empty life into the divine form in reality. This is transformation. Eventually, we will be conformed unto His image. The Bible is a revelation of such a mystery. It is so important, so central and crucial that we all see the image of God and the form of God in which and after which we were created. We must all see how Christ was this image and how Christ was made in the form of man that we may take Him in as our life and reality. Eventually, He and we will be mingled together and made as one. We will be His appearance and expression; He will be our reality and content. He and we will be one. He will be like us and we will be like Him. Then, we will express God to the whole universe.
Now we can see why God created the heavens and the earth and why God created the human life. This is the meaning and center of the universe. If we don't see this, we don't know what is the meaning of the universe and we don't know where we are going. Today, we do know the meaning of the universe and we know where we are and where we are going. We are here to express Him and we are going to meet Him, to be one with Him.
When we were saved, the divine life within us was like the grass. It grew into the herb and into the trees. Then, it grew into a higher plane of life — the fish, the bird, the cattle, and the beast. Not until we reach the top of the created life can we ever express God. We need the human life. According to Ezek. 1:5, 10 and Rev. 4:6-7, of the nine items of life recorded in Genesis 1, only four are represented in the presence of God — the eagle, the ox, the lion, and the man. These four are in the presence of God, representing all the creatures before God. In Ezekiel and Revelation, there is no mention of the grass, the herb, the trees, the fish, or the creeping things. For eternity and in eternity there will be no sea. Therefore, there will be no fish. Certainly, there will be no creeping things. What will be represented in the presence of God will be the man with the cattle, the lion, and the eagle. We all must grow until we reach the higher plane of life, that is the plane of the cattle, the lion, and the eagle. We must go on until we reach the maturity of life signified by the human life. Only this life can express God. Only this life can have dominion for God. This is our goal. We must grow and grow and grow from the plant life to the animal life and from the animal life to the human life.
You have heard that all the truths in the Bible were sown in Genesis, especially in chapter 1. As we have seen, Genesis 1 says something about the light and this light has been developed through the whole Bible. We have seen the light on the first day, the lights on the fourth day, and the development of these lights to the end of the Bible where, in the last two chapters, it says, "night shall be no more." Eventually, God Himself is the light to His redeemed ones. As the redeemed ones in the New Jerusalem, we will not need the sun, the moon, or any other light. The light will be God Himself. So, the seed of light sown in Genesis 1 has been fully developed in Revelation 22.
In the same principle, we have the word image. "God made man in His own image." The image of God is for the expression of God. To express God is just to manifest God's glory. This little word image has been developed and developed until, at the end of the Bible, it has grown into the New Jerusalem. The whole city has the appearance of jasper (Rev. 21:11). If you read Rev. 4:3, you can see that the One sitting on the throne looks like jasper. God's appearance is like jasper. Eventually, the whole city of New Jerusalem is built with jasper. The wall of the city is also built with jasper (Rev. 21:18a). From every angle, from every direction, and from every side the New Jerusalem has the appearance of God. This is the expression of the image of God.
This morning, while we were pray-reading, Brother Al asked me about the four living creatures in Ezekiel 1:5, 10 and Revelation 4:6-7. In Ezekiel, each living creature has four faces: the front face is a man; the rear face is an eagle; the right face is a lion; and the left face is an ox. However, if you go on from Ezekiel to Revelation chapter 4, you see a little difference. There, each of the four living creatures has only one face. The first is not a man, but a lion. The second is not an ox, but a calf. You know the difference between an ox and a calf. An ox is older. This is strange. In my opinion, the ox in Ezekiel should be a calf, and the calf in Revelation should be an ox — first the younger, then the older. But the Bible first mentions the older and then the younger — first the ox, then the calf. I tell you, we Christians are not going to be older, but younger. The more we grow, the younger we are.
In Revelation, the lion is first, the calf second, the man third, and the eagle fourth. Brother Al asked me why there is this difference between Ezekiel and Revelation. The reason is that the order of the living creatures in Revelation is according to the order of the four Gospels. In Matthew we have the lion, the king. In Mark we have the servant, the slave, the calf. In Luke we have the man. In John we have God, the soaring eagle. What does this mean? The four living creatures in Ezekiel, strictly speaking, were the manifestation of God's glory. In the conference we had on Ezekiel, we covered Ezekiel 1 and saw how the four living creatures were the manifestation of God's glory. What is God's glory? That is Christ. When God's glory is expressed, that is Christ. But notice the difference. The four living creatures in Ezekiel were the manifestation of God's glory. The four living creatures in Revelation are the expression of Christ Himself. There has been an improvement from God's glory to Christ Himself. Thus, in Revelation, the appearance of the four living creatures is just like the four Gospels. This means that the four living creatures in Revelation are just the expression of Christ. I do not say they are Christ. They are not Christ, but they express Christ. They express what Christ is. Christ is in four aspects: the king, the slave, the man, and the very God. Christ bears these four aspects and this Christ needs an expression in His creation. So, in this universe there are four living creatures, representing all kinds of life on every plane, to express Christ.
Everything in Genesis 1, except the darkness, the death waters, and the creeping things, is Christ. The Spirit came to brood. That is Christ. Christ is the Spirit. Christ is also the Word. The light came in. The light is Christ. The air, no doubt, is Christ. The Spirit is Christ, and the Word is Christ; the light is Christ, and the air is Christ. The dry land is Christ. The grass is Christ because Christ is our green pasture. The herbs are Christ. Christ is the corn, the wheat, the henna flower, and all kinds of beautiful herbs. All the trees are Christ. Christ is the olive tree, the fig tree, the vine tree, the life tree. And the fish are Christ. Christ fed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fishes. Most Christians only pay attention to the five loaves, forgetting the two fishes. However, Christ is not only the five loaves; He is also the two fishes, something from the death waters to nourish us. Christ is also the birds. He is the eagle. Exodus 19:4 says that Christ was the big eagle which bore the Israelites upon His two shoulders. As a great eagle, He delivered His people out of Egypt. One day Christ said that He was a big hen. At the end of Matthew 23 (v. 37), Christ said, "I am a hen. I want to gather you all under My wings, but you would not come to Me." Christ is the cattle, the ox, the calf, the cow, the sheep, and the lamb. Christ is also a lion (Rev. 5:5). Finally, Christ is the man, the real Adam. Christ is also the sun, the morning star, and the real source of the moon's light. In chapter 1 of Genesis, everything is Christ and Christ is everything.
If you only enjoy Christ as the grass, you are not qualified to express Him. If you enjoy Him as the herbs and as all the trees, you are still not qualified. Even if you enjoy Him as the fish, you are not qualified. Although you may enjoy Christ so much, you are not yet qualified to express Him. You must progress from all these levels of life to the level of the bird life. Then you begin to be qualified to express Christ.
The bird life is one of the four categories of life represented before the throne of God. As I mentioned last night, of the nine categories of life in Genesis 1, only four are represented before the throne of God. Let me give you the nine categories again: the grass, the herbs, the trees, the fish, the birds, the cattle, the beasts, the creeping things, and the man.
Out of nine categories, only four — the bird, the cattle, the beast, and the man — are qualified to express Christ. The grass is not qualified. It is good, but it is a kind of life on the lowest level. Neither the herbs, the trees, nor the fish are qualified. Of course, all the creeping things are forsaken for eternity. They go to the lake of fire.
Only the birds, the cattle, the beasts, and the man have a distinguished face. Your face is the outward appearance of your inward being. What you are inwardly is expressed outwardly by your face. As I have mentioned already, the grass, the herbs, and the trees have no face. The fish have a face, but their face is not distinguished. And the fish have no neck. We need a longer neck to make our face more distinct. Among all the nine categories, only four have a distinguished face, and among these four, the human face is the best, the highest, and the most distinct. Compare your face with the face of an eagle, calf, or lion. You will see that your face is much more distinguished. Why? Because, the human life within you is much more distinctive than the bird life, the cattle life, and the beast life.
According to God's economy, Christ has four aspects. He is a man, but He serves people like a calf. He is a man, but He fights the battle, exercises control, and has dominion like a lion. He is a man, but He can fly far away, soaring like an eagle. Although we need the human life to express Christ, we still need the calf life, the lion life, and the eagle life. When we have all four we can express Christ in full.
Now we can see that the little word image in Genesis 1 has undergone a great development. We not only have the four living creatures expressing Christ in four aspects. Eventually we have the New Jerusalem, a high city with the image of God expressing Christ. God looks like jasper, and the appearance of the New Jerusalem is also jasper, the same as God's appearance. This is the fulfillment of Gen. 1:26. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
