#7 On the Nature of God: the ULTIMATE CREATION

In the first twenty-three verses of the first chapter of Genesis, a remarkable series of acts of creation are recorded. God made the universe and chose the planet Earth for further development. On Earth, He created plant life, fish in the seas, and birds in the atmosphere. The Earth was shaped to have seasons, signs, days, and years. One might have imagined that this was enough to give God proper glory. Not so. Even more spectacular creative miracles were destined for day six, Genesis 1:24:

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds— livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.

The creation of living creatures was remarkable because like the birds and the fish, they could move about on the land, but not in the air or the water. Like the plants, the birds, and the fish, these creatures could propagate only after their kind. For example, bears do not produce wolves or elephants. Tigers do not produce lions. Cows produce baby calves; all creatures produce according to their own kind. Propagation to a new specie could never occur.

Then a very different thing happened. For this to happen, God used a new phrase that He had not used before for His creations, Genesis 1:26:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

Note that man was created in God’s image, after His likeness. This must mean that man was given an eternal soul like that of God. [God is often depicted as exhibiting a particular attribute of a human body as in making the sound of walking in the Garden, Genesis 3:8. Instead, Genesis 1:2 says God is a Spirit.]

God then gave a special blessing to mankind, Genesis 1:26-27:

“And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” … male and female he created them.”

Both male and female were created in the image of God and given dominion over all the animals. Although this also means that, like God, man was created able to speak, to plan, and then execute the plan, it does not mean that man became Deity. He was just created after the likeness of God. As pointed out above, man was given an eternal soul.

Although the creation of woman is described in Genesis 2, it must have occurred on day six because Genesis 2:2 says that God finished His creative work and rested from creation on the seventh day.

God also included a charge to mankind, Genesis 1:28:

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it,”

This means that mankind can move anywhere on the globe and subdue it.

Finally, the reasons for the earlier acts of creation are made apparent, because they were to provide a suitable abode and to provide food for mankind, Genesis 1:29:

And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

God’s great ability to judge is made plain, Genesis 1:31:

“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.”

It is important to note that man was created last. Therefore, it would have been impossible for man to have helped God on previous days with any of the creative processes of the universe. Only God can create.

In summary, the nature of God is to devise a plan, execute it, and then pronounce it good. This plan was to create man and a wonderful abode for this ultimate creation.

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