God's truth comes by revelation from Him, not from human wisdom. Jesus said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes" (Matthew 11:25). In a sense it's a mystery, yet the key mysteries and secrets of the Bible may be unlocked for those whom God calls, for He reveals to them His truth. The Bible does not define the meaning of "the image of God" in so many words. Then we learn to cooperate with others and properly manage whatever our present circumstances have provided us. First we learn to rule and discipline ourselves. God rules what He creates, and the ultimate purpose of human life involves corulership in the one divine family.īut we start small. Mankind's initially revealed purpose was to rule the physical creation-and, in the long run, far more than just this good green earth. God created the human family to grow and expand to the point that it would eventually populate the entire earth. Then, after creating two human beings (male and female) in His own image, He restated His purpose and made it plain that their progeny are an integral part of this great project: "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'" (Genesis 1:28). Created to ruleĪfter initially declaring His grand design of making mankind in His own image, the Creator said, "Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth" (Genesis 1:26). These two beginning chapters complement each other. Genesis 1 focuses on the fundamental purpose of human life, while chapter 2 lays out important details. Our Creator first declared His great purpose, then brought it to fruition: "So God created man in His own image in the image of God He created him male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:27). This is what renders men, women and children truly human. God created each species of the plant and animal kingdoms "according to its kind" (Genesis 1:11-12, Genesis 1:21, Genesis 1:24-25), but human beings, Genesis 1:26 essentially tells us, were patterned after the "God kind." The image of God is what makes man unique among all His physical creation. The purpose of human life is indelibly etched into the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, where man is first mentioned: "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness'" (Genesis 1:26). "So God created man in His own image in the image of God He created him male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:27).
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