The Book of Genesis, ‘Made in God’s Image’

There can be some confusion in God's first book of the Bible and we do not have to go too far along in our reading before questions may pop up; therefore, I believe it would be profitable for us to examine what God has said in this foremost book of the Bible. Genesis is at the top of my favorite books in the Bible and is one which I never tire of reading, mainly because God reveals the end from the beginning. I hope that if it is not already a favorite of yours, it will soon become one. From these pages we will lead up to our main focus in this study which will be who is made in God's image and how God goes about doing this work.

And as God himself created us, so He also knows how best to teach us; it is just as we teach our very children. He takes us by the hand and holds us up as we take our first steps, talking to us and teaching us things all the while He is walking with us. As parents to our own young children we see how quickly they learn by reading to them from picture books. This is also how our heavenly Father teaches us many spiritual things, using 'pictures'. Sometimes these 'pictures' in the Bible are called 'types or shadows' of things to come.

In this study from the book of Genesis, I have tried to write very carefully and simply. As we are God's children, we will proceed cautiously, as with children.

For those who do not have their Bibles close at hand, I will place below the verses we will focus on as we go along. Let us pay close attention as the Lord speaks to our hearts through his Spirit.

1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

We take note the first mentioned-heaven, the second-earth.

2 "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep."

God gives to us the description of the earth. His Word is true. It was "WITHOUT FORM"
(w/o an essential nature) and "VOID"
(vain and useless.) The first mention of 'darkness' is seen here. It was upon the "face of the deep". God does not add anything to this darkness "upon the face of the deep", but we take a cue here as it is mentioned right after God describes the earth.

"And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

Now we have something new! It is 'waters.' We have now so far been introduced to three things, heaven, earth and waters. Right now God does not mention just where the waters are. We note it is in the plural form. We are told, "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." So now, we associate God's Spirit with the 'waters'. His Spirit is "moving upon the face of the waters."God is active here.

3 "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light."

Now, what we already had was: God's Spirit moving upon the waters. God next says, "Let there be light." God's Spirit is now moving upon the waters, and we also have light.

4 "And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."

God saw the light was good. It has already been connected to God's Spirit moving upon the waters. We note that there was no work done with the 'darkness' at all, only that these two are divided.

5 "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."

Light-Day Darkness-Night Evening & Morning = Day One

We note that God first gave a name to the light (day) then a name to darkness (night), but that each day will begin the opposite way, first with the evening then morning.

6 "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."

Now we come back to something God talked about earlier, the 'waters'. They are to be divided. By what? Something called a 'firmament'!

7 "And 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."

Here God makes the firmament. Now He divides the 'waters'( under/above the firmament). It was so.

8 "And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."

It is now that God reveals to us what this firmament is . . . Heaven! So we now have an idea just where God's Spirit was as He moved upon the waters in the light. We also know where this separation of waters occurred; it was all done above, in heaven. Evening and Morning = Day 2.

9 "And God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so."

Now we begin to see a picture forming. The waters that were under the heaven were gathered together and the dry land appeared. (In our minds we will probably see a picture forming of the earth with the oceans/seas, all as one.) But wait. . . !!

10 "And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good." Please Note . . .

It was the DRY land only that God called EARTH! The gathering together of the WATERS, (those that were from the heaven) he called SEAS. These are separate.

"For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:" 2 Peter 3:5

Now that we have an idea what God has said in his Word from chapter One, verses 1-10 we can proceed cautiously:

"And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Gen. 1:2

We remember at that point, these waters were all yet above, with God's Spirit, in heaven. We saw:

God's Spirit, Moved upon the face of the Waters, & Light.

From these three, mentioned above, we should start to see a picture (or shadow) forming of the child of God. One who is born of God's Spirit from above, from water as we are in His light.

Let us turn to John 5:4 (For a thorough review, start at John 5: verses 1 through 9).

"For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had."

Does the above sound familiar? Yes, from these verses in John we see the same picture we saw from the very beginning in Genesis 1:1-10. God reveals to us the beautiful 'picture' of salvation.

For an angel (Spirit of Christ) went down (to world) at a certain season (in the day of salvation) into the pool (picture of the gathering together of the waters or "seas") and troubled the water (moved in our lives): whosoever then first (Christ is the firstfruits . . . we are found in him)after the troubling of the water stepped in (that work he continues to do in our lives) was made whole of whatsoever disease (set free from sin/bondage) he had.

That above pool of water is where all God's children are gathered, we live in it. We should realize that this pool of water is 'the washing of water' through God's Word:

"That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." We are sanctified (set apart, made Holy) through the washing by God's word.

Let us look at another picture of this same healing . John the Baptist was in prison when he heard the works of Christ,

See Matthew 11:4-6

"He sent two of his disciples to ask: Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" Jesus answered and said unto them:

" Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:"

"The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and poor have the gospel preached to them."

"And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me."

This is a spiritual picture of the healing that God does in the life of each of his children. For we were all blind, lame, as lepers, deaf, dead! The blindness he heals are the scales from our eyes; he opens them anew whereby we can see those things spiritual. The lame now walk in his light. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalms 119:105) Sin is pictured as disease (leprosy). It is for this reason Christ came into the world. He came to save us from sin and its bondage. This is the healing he came to do described throughout the Bible in many different pictures. We are no longer servants to sin, but servants unto God. The deaf can now hear and fully understand. The "dead are raised up' and become new creatures (creations) in Christ, whereas we were once considered dead to God when we followed after our own lusts and desires. We are raised up in newness of life and have Christ's promise of eternal life. God's children are those 'blessed' who will not be offended at the Gospel of salvation through Christ. It is to those 'poor' that the gospel message reaches. This 'poor' God equates with the spirit. The poor in spirit are humble before God. They repent of their wicked ways and follow after him. (Repent means to 'turn from', it is a turning away from sin and a turning to God). The opposite of those 'poor' are the 'rich' in spirit who believe they have no need of a Savior and will think they are doing just fine in themselves. In the Bible they are likened to the Pharisees.

We need not look any further than our own baptisms to see a picture of this new life, as we follow the example that Christ set before us in Matt. 3:13-17.

"And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him." Matthew 3:14-17

We read in Exodus 2:10 She (Pharaoh's Daughter) called his name Moses, "because I drew him out of the water."

Two more:

"He sent from above; he took me; He drew me out of many waters." 2 Samuel 22:17

David repeated the same prayer in Psalms 18:16, "He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.

We were told by Christ himself, we would be 'fishers' of men (Matt. 4:19). Here again Christ is talking of water ('seas'). The fish Christ is talking about are the poor, the humble to whom the gospel message is preached and will reach. There are numerous pictures in the Bible where water is used in connection to washing and to make someone (or something), such as clothing or vessels clean (holy). We are washed by water through the reading of his Word.

"Jesus answered verily, verily, I say unto thee: Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3:5

God's children are born from the Spirit. The 'woman' who was taken from man's side (rib) was then reborn (or born again) from Christ's pierced side, of water and blood. In her is pictured the elect or chosen of God. Once again, the water is the washing through his word and the blood, that which Christ shed for his children.

"But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water." John 19:34

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto thee, you must be born again." John 3:6-7

"Ye are all the children of the light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness." 1 Thessalonians 5:5

God's spiritual food (his Word, his truth) is often times seen as rain. 'Manna' was also a picture of this bread of life which was rained down from Heaven to Israel.

The opposite is seen of the earth. A lack of God's word in the earth is seen as drought or famine, or darkness and 'no sun'.

After sin, God said that the serpent (Satan) would be upon his belly and eat dust. Man is formed from the dust of the ground.

"Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life." Gen. 3:14

From all of the above we should be able to see the distinction that God makes in those who are born of the Spirit and those who are of the earth. It is the spirit which lives on, the physical body will disintegrate.

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen. 3:19

Christ's promise to his own:

"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." John 10:28

"And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." Acts 13:48

"In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. Titus 1:2

We see from the start of Genesis, that when God's Word is spoken, it is as good as done!

read the rest here.

‘Made in God’s Image Pt II’

It is disturbing to see that both students of the Bible and theologians as well, will repeat the same idea that all men were created in God's image. For I do not see it nor read this term in the Bible applied to all men. Let us spend some time studying the next verses found in:

Genesis Chapter One

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Genesis 1:26-28

Let us now skip ahead to Genesis, Chapter 2

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life: and man became a living soul." Genesis 2:7

Now you may say . . .already, we have a problem! For the above verses certainly do not appear to be describing the same man! Who did God give dominion to? To the man 'formed out of the dust of the ground', or the man 'created in His image'? Sadly, more often, most will say that they are one and the same. But look again, God himself tells us he gave dominion to those He did make/create in His own image, male and female. (See Genesis 1:26-27)

From our review earlier describing the spiritual man (from water) vs. the physical man(from dust) we should realize who God gave this dominion to. It was to his spiritual children, made in his image and likeness. The term 'formed man' from the dust of the ground should show us that this is the physical man only. Taken from the dust of the ground! How much more earthly can you get? This cannot possibly be the same man that was created in God's image!

We know that regenerated man is the one born from above, who has God's living Spirit in him. He is spiritual and is led by God and walks in His Light.

Genesis 2:16

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:"

"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen. 2:17

"And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." Gen. 2:18

We should take note here in Chapter 2 that there is a lapse in time before God goes on to make him a help meet. God reveals all in His Truth and He does not sway. This is the order it was written in and we know God is a God of order. From Gen. 2:18 we go directly on to read:

"And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof." Gen. 2:19

"And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there there was not found an help meet for him." Gen. 2:20

It is in Genesis 2 verses 21-22 where we read:

"And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof:"

"And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man."

I believe God when he says he shows us all things from the beginning and so believe that these above verses are ALSO a spiritual picture of the man of the world. He is asleep to those spiritual things of God which are going on about him. Meanwhile God has started to build his church, stone by stone, as each one is brought to Christ, who is the Son of Man, the 'second Adam'. This is the reason for the break in the above scriptures. God shows us that this is the time when those in Christ are purified until she (the 'woman') is presented to Christ as 'the bride of the Lamb!

Genesis : Chapter 3

As we read on we see that doubt entered the woman after the serpent asked "Hath God said"? The serpent then told her:

"Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Gen. 3:4-5

"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Gen. 3:6

Does this sound to you like they were created in God's image and likeness? I think not! We do know this one thing, that God knew they would eat from that tree, as nothing is hid from him.

Next we will review some verses many may quickly overlook because they do not understand them:

"And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil:"

"And now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever:"

"Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken." Genesis 3:22-23

How interesting are these above verses! We may think, but is this not what God wanted for us? To be as He is. After all, some may think, did He not say, "Let us make man in our image?" On the one hand, we are forbidden to take from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil yet God says: "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil." But, he is then sent forth from the garden!! Does it not make you wonder why God seems to be talking in riddles? We will get back to these very important verses a little later but let us first focus on the last verse where "The Lord God sent 'him' forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence 'he' was taken." Here we must focus on the physical man, it is where God is directing us through his word. Adam is a picture of the man of the earth, not the spiritual man. It is he who is sent from the garden, while the woman will be nurtured. Adam was not deceived (we remember how easily Esau also gave up his birthright!), but the woman was. They both ate from the forbidden fruit, but it is the 'woman' (the help meet') who will be redeemed and purified to become the bride of the Lamb! She is representative of all God's elect!

"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel." Gen. 3:15

"And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand, two hundred and threescore days." Rev 12:6

"And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression." 1 Tim.2:14

We are not saved by anything we have or have not done:

"But we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness are as filthy rags." Isaiah 64:6

And are chosen of God before the foundations of the world:

"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be Holy and without blame before him in love." Ephesians 1:4

"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Jeremiah 1:5

All God's children are prophets. A prophet is simply one who preaches God's truth as found in his Word, the Bible. (Today, many will mistakenly associate it with those who foretell the future, outside of God's Word, these are called false prophets!)

God will draw his elect to himself:

"No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:44

"For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth." Rom. 9:11

Let us jump ahead now and turn to the book of Ezekiel, Chapter 28. It is important to read all the verses pertaining to this immediate study. They extend from verses 11 to 19, but we will focus on the next three verses for now, starting at Ezekiel 28: 14-15

Let us proceed very carefully as we read:

"Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created."

"Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire."

"Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee." Ezekiel 28:

Whoa! Was this a description of Satan? The cherub that was described in Genesis as a serpent! Indeed it was! He must have been quite beautiful then as we see from the above description. And yes, he was clothed in all his beauty of precious stones there in that garden, set on deceiving the woman. He was the anointed cherub who walked upon the holy mountain of God, and up and down in the midst of the stones of fire! We are also told that he was perfect in all his ways from the day he was created. . .till sin was found in him! We can now understand why it was not impossible for man to sin. Man's eyes never took him to the places that an anointed cherub had seen! After all, was man not formed from the dust of the ground! We could hardly compare man to the magnificence of that cherub Lucifer, and how he must have been before sin! He was anointed and created by God himself, but even so. . .he fell!

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!" Isaiah 14:12

Hebrews 4:13

"Nothing in all creation, is hidden from God's eyes. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

Surely, God could not have been surprised when fragile man sinned in the garden. Could this be why each one is taught by God now, how to listen and obey Him!! With the Lord's leading and his Holy Spirit we are kept in Christ. Yes, man was formed from the dust of the ground, but the woman. . . She was born again from Christ's pierced side (both male and female).

Lucifer was created and fell. But . . . "Christ in you, the hope of Glory!" Col. 1:27

Now we can better understand, why God did things the way he did.

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, saith the Lord."

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

Though Lucifer was created perfect by God, he was not made in God's image. God created his children in his own 'image and likeness'. Christ shed his blood for us and our sins were washed away; we are continually cleansed through the washing of water of his Word.

Paul said in Romans 8:

"For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

Let us now go back to Genesis 3:22

"And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil":

"And now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever":

Now we can ALSO see . . . why God commanded us NOT
to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Just as we would not allow our very young children to cross a busy highway by themselves, God also knew that we were not properly equipped to handle more. But now, strengthened with Christ in us we know good and evil. (Yes, just as God!) We have been weaned from the milk and taught by God himself how to Listen and Obey! Through Christ and his (S)Word we are now prepared to handle ALL.

"I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths." Psalms 4:11

Surely, we know it was when God looked through time (Day 6) that He saw us and said:

"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:" Genesis 1:26"

It was as good as done.

"Thus the Heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." Gen. 2:1

"And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reineth."

Rev. 19:6