Lesson 2
IT WAS VERY GOOD
Genesis 1:26-2:3
Key Verse: 1:31a
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
On the sixth day, first, he created living creatures--the wild animals and livestock, all the animals that inhabit the ground. Then he created man, the crown and glory of his creation.
1. Read verses 26 and 27 again. What did God decide to do? What was God’s plan for mankind? (See Ps 139:13-16; Ps 8:1-9) What does it mean that God created mankind in his own image? What are some of the God-like attributes we can find in man?
Read verses 26 and 27 again.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
What did God decide to do? What was God’s plan for mankind? (See Ps 139:13-16; Ps 8:1-9)
God decided to make mankind in his image and likeness. Only man was created in God’s image. The way how to create man was very different from the way how to create other creature.
Let us : Trinity worked together to create man
Adam : earth, dust
Male and female – They are equal before God.
His purpose was to make man the steward and shepherd of his world.
God has a good purpose for creating every man. God still creates individual people with a plan for their lives in his mind.
Psalm 139:13-18 : "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made...When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be...
" Ephesians 2:10 : "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
What does it mean that God created mankind in his own image?
In His image: Image means resemblance. Man resembles God.
-Likeness: Similarity Man has similarity with God in terms of attribute.
-Only man can interact with God and have fellowship with God.
-It means man is like God and represents God.
- image and likeness : refer to something that is similar but not identical to the thing it represent “ Let us make man to be like us and represent us.
Man shares physical nature with animal.
On the sixth day, God created man and animals from the dust of the ground. So man is the same with the animals in the sense that both of them came from the dust of the ground.
So man shares the physical nature and the limits of the animals. He must eat and sleep; he gives birth to children like himself; he is confined to the limits of time and space.
Man has a spiritual nature; He was created to have fellowship with God.
But man cannot be satisfied with just physical food. Man needs spiritual food. Read Deut 8:3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
God did not want the animal nature to rule us; he wanted us to be spiritual men and women.
The hope of God's children is to become more and more like God, to grow more and more in his image (Ro 8:29; Lk 2:40,52)
Man is different from the angels.
The angels have the spirit, but they do not have the flesh.
God created spiritual beings like angels and cherubim. God also created physical things like animals and birds and fish. And God created a living being who has both spirit and body.
What are some of the God-like attributes we can find in man?
God is holy, righteous and perfect. 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Eph 4:24)
God is love; we also can love with spiritual love. God is almighty; man also has abilities. God rules over all things; man also has the ability to rule. We can make decisions based on values and principles.
Specific aspects of our likeness to God
Morality – wrong and right. Ethical decision, Morally countable before God.
Spiritual aspects –enable to relate to God.
Mental – ability to reason and think logically and learn things. Intellectual ability
Relational – relationship with God and others.
We human resemble God.
When a man talks, thinks, and acts, he is to recall others of God. God is Spirit, and He is invisible. But when other creatures saw human being, they were reminded of God.
We should respect ourselves and we should respect others as the one who have God’s image
Man's value or majesty: No matter what kind of person he may be, he is awesome and majestic. He has the image of God.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.(Psalm 139;1)
This is the reason why murdering is a terrible sin. Read Genesis 9:6."Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man."
Man's supreme duty to reveal God's image in and through his life.
We must struggle hard that people may see the image of God, his holiness, his sacrificial love, and his justice in and through us.
The image of God got damaged and distorted because of their sins. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.(Gen 3:7)
The image still remains.
The image is restored in Jesus. It was not lost. 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.(Col3:10)
A progressive recovering of more of God’s image. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.(2cor3:18)
Complete restoration of God’s image (1Cor 15:49)
2. How did God bless man and woman? (28) What was the work he had created them to do? What does it mean to subdue and rule over? How can you know your Creator and find the work he created you to do?
2-1. How did God bless man and woman? (28)
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
2-2. What was the work he had created them to do?
"let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
Be fruitful and increase in number
To be fruitful is a blessing. To be fruitful and increase in number meant to have children and populate the earth.
Mankind has indeed populated the earth.
But we can see that in a fallen world, man's greatest need is for spiritual rebirth. God's people must work to bring men back to God so that they can obey him and have spiritual life.
Jesus gave us the great commission and told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
Man was created to rule over God's creation. He needed someone who would take care of them. For this purpose, He created mankind. Man is God's steward.
God created man for mission. His mission was to rule over— to take care of— the world God had created.
-So God gave him the ability to think and reason, to make plans and decisions and to carry them out. He can operate a computer, build an airplane, explore outer space.
-Man created in God's image has the ability to do God's work.
- A man without a mission from God cannot be a complete human being. When God created man, God's work was waiting for him.
- Man's mission, however, did not come automatically or naturally; it came from God's word of blessing and command: "God blessed them and said to them, `Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'" (28)
2-3.What does it mean to subdue and rule over?
To rule over and subdue means to cultivate the earth and take care of it. It means to be a shepherd for all living things and a steward of the world.
Man must take care of the world as a mother takes care of her home and children. Man must take care of the world as a shepherd takes care of his flock.
This means that man has a mandate to explore and learn about and understand the world so that he can help all creation fulfill God's good purpose and glorify God.
The door is open for all of the academic disciplines; man must study and learn about himself and about God's world if he is to be good a steward. Man's academic pursuits must be for the glory of God--not for the glory of man.
* There was a clear, harmonious spiritual order built into the universe. God is first, mankind is just a little lower than God, but ruling over the created world.
- In the context of this spiritual order there is real freedom for man, for there is freedom to grow and freedom to love. There is no freedom in chaos.
- Only when man keeps his position as servant of God and steward of creation can he be a true man. When he allows himself to be controlled by material things or by his animal nature, then he slips down to the level of animals. He becomes flesh (Ge 6:3). When man fails to keep his position and falls to the animal level, God is very sorry. (6:5-8) It is man's sacred duty to keep his position as a human being.
2-4. How can you know your Creator and find the work he created you to do?
He restored mankind's mission.
God created each person for mission. If a man does not have any mission from God, then his life is miserable and without meaning.
He only lives for himself. No one is more miserable than a person who can find no meaning in his life.
And until a person knows God and receives his mission from God, he can do nothing that is good in God's eyes.
Each of us must study God's word and pray until we know God personally and receive the mission he has for each of us.
Paradise was not a place for lazy people to loll around. It was a place of hard work. If man would fulfill his mission, he must work.
A person who doesn't like to work is giving up his blessing as a human being. The 4th commandment says "Six days shall you labor and do all your work..." It is a great thing for a man to fulfill the mission that God has given him. Mission makes a man great.
People look at a man who has a mission from God and is committed to serve him, as though he were strange. But God makes men great by giving them his work to do. No matter what we are called to do, we must not let what other people think of us influence us too much. We must seek to accomplish the mission that has been given us by God.
3. Read verses 29-30. How did God provide for the physical needs of mankind doing God's work? How should man respond to God's gracious gift? (Ps 104:14,27, 31,33)
3-1. Read verses 29-30.
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
3-2.How did God provide for the physical needs of mankind doing God's work?
God provides food for man. Here, "food" has the meaning of everything we need to maintain our life like security.
When man was working hard, doing God's work, then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food." God provided vegetables and fruit as food for man and animals.
There was no need to struggle for survival. Animals did not need to prey on each other. The lion and the lamb could lie down together.
When man works hard to fulfill God's mission instead of working for himself, he is happy, and God provides what he needs for his physical life.
Even in a fallen world, Jesus promised to provide what we need to eat and drink and wear. (Mt 6:33) When man ignores his mission and only struggles to survive, he becomes full of fear and his life becomes meaningless.
3-3. How should man respond to God's gracious gift? (Ps 104:14,27, 31,33)
These verses also teach us that God is the giver of abundant material things, and he wants mankind to be thankful. When we are thankful for God's gifts, there is no room for complaints.
4. Read verse 31. What does verse 31 teach us about God and the world he created? About myself? What difference does it make for me to know that God created me for a good purpose? (Eph 2:10)
4-1. Read verse 31.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
4-2.What does verse 31 teach us about God and the world he created? About myself?
When he finished creating man, God saw all that he had made, and it was very good." The adverb "very" is added.
This verse tells us that God was pleased, not only with each individual part of his creation, but also with the harmony and beauty of the whole.
Then he created man, the crown and glory of his creation.
When I discover myself in God's sight, his will and providence, I can know who I am. Each of us has his own unique individuality in God
Each of us must accept himself as God's good creation. We must not hate ourselves or despise the way we look or the talents and abilities God has given us. And we must deeply respect other people.
When we deeply accept God's sovereignty and seek to glorify God, we can live joyful and meaningful lives. God has created each of us for a good purpose. When we accept ourselves as God accepts us, and see others as God sees them, we can begin to grow and to discover the good purpose God has for each of us.
What is "good"? God is the one who sets the standards. He is the Creator, and he knows how his creation must function. The Bible is the "Owner's Manual." We study it to find out who God is and what duty he expects of us. We must accept his moral standards and his value system in order to live according to truth, and in order to be truly happy in his world.
4-3.What difference does it make for me to know that God created me for a good purpose? (Eph 2:10)
God created us for his own glory, and our lives have purpose and meaning when we come to know God and glorify him. God made us to be happy. But apart from him, we cannot be really satisfied.
How can we be the objects of very great pleasure to God? When we reveal the image of God and serve God's mission wholeheartedly.
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2:10)
5. Read 2:1-3. What did God do on the seventh day? Why did he bless the seventh day and make it holy? (See Mk 2:27) How can we find real rest? (Mt 11:28-29)
5-1. Read 2:1-3.
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
5-2. What did God do on the seventh day?
He rested from all his work.
God worked hard for six days. We human beings must also work hard. But God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on that day God rested.
5-3. Why did he bless the seventh day and make it holy? (See Mk 2:27)
27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”(Mk 2:27)
The seventh day is a memorial to God.
So He proclaimed the seventh day as a universal holiday and made it holy. We must obey God and celebrate His creation work with Him on this day as well. We must participate in His joy of completing His creation work.
It is holy because the seventh day belongs to God. It is not ours. So we call this day "the Lord's day." We must keep this day holy. We must spend this day according to God's purpose. Read Exod 20:8-10.
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.
We have to remember what Jesus had done for us on the Sabbath day.
He gave the Sabbath to man as a day of rest. The special characteristic of our times is tiredness. So Christians must keep the Sabbath holy and on that day have deep fellowship with God. This is the only real rest.
5-4. How can we find real rest? (Mt 11:28-29)
The Sabbath is a day especially blessed by God. It is a holy day. "Holy" means "set apart" or "different."
God set the Sabbath day apart from all the rest of his creation and gave it to man as a day of fellowship with God.
If there are no rests in music, the music cannot be beautiful. In the same way, the day of rest is necessary to man.
The only real rest that a person can have is rest in Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
We must prepare for and someday enter the eternal Sabbath rest that God has prepared for us.
The Sabbath is the shadow of our eternal rest in the kingdom of heaven.
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