Man as a Creation of God

Well, good evening, everyone. Tonight we're starting a new unit and we'll be looking at anthropology, what the Bible has to say about mankind. This will be different from what you learned in college when you study anthropology from a naturalistic or a secular type of a study. This will be looking at what Scripture says about mankind. Flip over on the back of your sheet. I want to kind of give you a quick preview here. Tonight we're looking at lesson one, man as a creation of God. Next week we're going to be looking at man as a child of God. Week three we'll be looking at the unity of the human race. That means that humans are not all that different from each other.

We all descended from one common pair and all humanity falls in one of two groups, either those who are in Adam or those who are in Christ. So we'll be talking about that. We'll be looking in lesson four on man's essential makeup. What constitutes man? Is he body, soul, is there more than that? We'll be discussing what the Bible says about man's makeup. Lesson five we'll be looking at man's conscience. What is man's conscience and how is it informed and what happens when we obey it? What happens when we go against conscience? So we'll be studying what Scripture has to say about that. Lesson six will be one of the greatest mysteries we'll look at in this whole theological studies and it's the mystery of man's will. How man can be free but yet so bound at the same time. So we'll be studying that. Week seven we'll be looking at man's original state. How God created man. He created man upright. Man often gets a bad rap but you have to realize God created man upright. He does not make mistakes. God does not make junk. He made man noble and He made man pure and holy. Then lastly we'll be looking at the law of God and he may consider, well what does that have to do with man? Every human being is born with God's law written on their hearts. That's why God created man. So we'll be studying that in week eight.

So let's flip over on the front. I'm going to start with Bible point number one. Man as a creation of God. Number one, man exists only because of the creative — that's the first blank — creative, creative act of God. The creation of man can't — that's the second blank — can't. Can't be explained apart from God. Man is an immediate — that's the third blank — immediate creation of God. Let me read that again. Man exists only because of the creative act of God. The creation of man can't be explained apart from God. Man is an immediate creation of God.

This world at large rejects God. They reject the creator and as a result they look for naturalistic explanations of man's origin, right? Just this past week I heard on the AM radio one of the Olympians who won a medal. He said something to the effect of, well, this was the universe's way of letting us know that we deserved this. It's like you go to all those extremes rather than just saying God, right? Because they don't want to talk about a personal God whom they are responsible to. It's easier to say the universe begat us and the universe provided and the universe recognized our achievements, right? But man only exists because of the creative act of God. Nature did not beget man. We talked, when we discussed the works of God, that God is creator, right? And without God nothing could be. Nothing could be, right? So in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The creation of man can't be explained apart from God. Some people like to talk about evolution as our origin, right? That man originated from the natural universe, from pond scum and evolved from maybe reptilians up to mammals, up to primates and eventually came in a form that was unique and that was a pinnacle of creation — because it's not really creation in their mind, it's evolution. And man basically begat himself is what evolution teaches. But that's not what the Bible says. The Bible teaches that man is an immediate creation of God. Now when we mean immediate we often think of something happening right now, right? Instantaneously. And that's true, but what we mean by immediate here is that God did not use any means to create man. In other words, He didn't have to take a lower life form and improve that lower life form over a course of many, many years. And then when it was worthy enough and complete enough to be considered the best, then He endowed manhood on that creation. It's not what the Bible says at all.

Let's read Genesis 2 verse 7. It says, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being." God breathed and the soul of man became, right? Became a living being. And it's not just the soul He created instantaneously and immediately, but also the body as well because in this very same breath He fashioned man out of the clay and He breathed into it and man became a living soul, a living being. That is not what this world teaches, but it's what God teaches and it is the truth. That man owes its origin only to God Almighty. He's an immediate creation of God.

The application is this. Origin — that's the first blank — and destiny — that's the second blank — gives meaning — meaning is the third blank — and purpose — purpose is the fourth blank. Origin and destiny gives meaning and purpose. If God created us, if we originated from God, then do we not have meaning? Because we came from God's lips. He breathed into us and made us a special creation. If we don't have that origin, if we are just evolved from pond scum, do we have any meaning?

Does man have any dignity? Why should I treat someone as special if they're pond scum? I treat them like scum because that's where they originated from, right? Likewise, destiny. If God has created you with an end in mind, if He's designed you, then you have a purpose, right? Because you've been created by God to worship Him, to serve Him, and you have a destiny that you're going toward, and that's to fellowship with God Almighty, right? But if you're just an accident, if you're just the result of survival of the fittest, do you have any destiny? No. So you have no purpose, right? You're just an accident, a cosmic accident, apart from God being the creator of man.

Psalm 103 says this, "Know the Lord — He — know that the Lord, He is God. It is He who has made us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture." You see that? We are His people. We have meaning, right? We have destiny. We're the sheep of His pasture. He created us to know Him, to relate to Him, to be His very own, right? And that's the hope of Christians. Apart from that, what meaning would you have in this world? What purpose would you have in this world? That's what Scripture teaches us.

Bible point number two, man is brought into being by God and is thus a creature. That's the first point. He's a creature. Creature comes from the Latin word "creatura," and it means one who owes its existence to God, one who has been created, who has come into being by God. So everything that God created — every animal, every being, every person, every angel — is considered a creature because we owe our existence, our being to God. Man is brought into being by God and is thus a creature. All creatures are finite — it's the second blank — meaning limited. We have, unlike God who's infinite, we are limited in every respect. We are finite beings, wholly dependent — that's the third blank — on God for life, breath, and all things. The fourth blank is life. The fifth blank is things.

Let me reread that. Man is brought into being by God and is thus a creature. All creatures are finite beings, wholly dependent on God for life, breath, and all things. It's critical that we understand this aspect of being created by God, that we are creatures. We are not God. We're wholly dependent on Him. Do we make our own hearts beat? No. Could we have existence apart from God? No. We're totally dependent as a creature is on the Creator.

Acts 17:24 through 25, this is Paul, of course, in Athens on Mars Hill. He says, "God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He worshiped with men's hands as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things." When we discussed the attributes of God, we talked about God being infinite, right? Having no bounds, no limits, a boundless supply of everything from within. But we do not have that supply, right? We are limited. We can only go so far in space, right? We are bound by time. We're limited in our strength. We're limited in our endurance. We're limited in our understanding. We're limited in our capacity to relate to others. Everything about our existence is limited, and it's God who gives us breath, life, and what? All things. Everything that we have has been given to us. Maybe you're really strong. Guess where your strength came from? From the Lord. Maybe you're really wise. Where did that wisdom come from? From the God who created you. Everything we have as a creature is dependent on God.

The application is this. We can't — that's the first blank — can't. We can't lift a finger — that's the second blank — apart from God's will — that's the third blank. We can't lift a finger apart from God's will. In unit three, we discussed the decrees and works of God. And remember, we said that God decrees all things whatsoever that come to pass. We can't do anything apart from God's will. God has numbered our hairs on our head, the days of our life. Every step we take, He has ordered. The Bible even tells us as Christians, God has created good works for us to walk in, right? He knows those things ahead of time. We can't lift a finger apart from God's will. Acts 17:28 says, "For in Him we live and move and have our being." All creatures are totally dependent on God for our lives, for our movement, for our very existence, for our very being.

Flip over on the back. A perfect example of this — we've touched on it before — is from Daniel chapter four, when King Nebuchadnezzar was filled with pride at his kingdom. And he says, "You look at what I have done." And God humbles him, and He makes him as a beast of the field, where he loses his mind, loses his personhood, and becomes as a carnal beast eating grass for seven years, being a madman, basically. The dew and the grass wetted him every day. He lived as an animal. Then God restored his personhood to him, his mind to him. And look what he says: "And at that time, at the end of the time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me. And I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him who lives forever, for His dominion is an everlasting dominion. And His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing." It's because they're creatures. "He does according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, no one can restrain His hand or say to Him, 'What have You done?'"

Let's flip back over on the front. Now, with point number two, one thing I want you to keep in mind is if you forget that man is created as a creature, it's going to have profound implications for your theology. Because why would you depend on God? Why would you need God? Why would you need to yield to His will? Right? Why would you need to address Him as sovereign? If you don't draw your very breath, your being, and your life from God, right? We cannot forget, no matter how gifted we are or how blessed we are by God, that we are creatures wholly dependent on Him. Okay?

Bible point number three. Man is brought into being by God in His likeness — that's the first blank. We're made uniquely in His image. And we're going to talk about that in later weeks when we discuss man's original state, that we're created in the image of God. We're not really going to go in depth there because it's a very lengthy discussion, but we're created in His likeness, and is thus a person — that's the second blank. Remember, we discussed in the nature and attributes of God that God is a person. We talked about the personality of God. We have a personal nature like God. Okay? God has created us in some way similar to Him, in a finite way to image or to mirror His personality. Okay? His personhood. As a person, man possesses freedom — that's the third blank — and a relative independence.

As a person, man is a rational being — that's the fourth blank. Man is self-conscious — that's the fifth blank. Self-conscious. Man thinks and reflects about God, himself, and others. Let me reread that. Man is brought into being by God in His likeness and is thus a person. As a person, man possesses freedom and a relative independence. As a person, man is a rational being. Man is self-conscious. Man thinks and reflects about God, himself, and others.

First of all, as a person, man possesses freedom and a relative independence. Man is not just a creature. We have to have the corresponding truth that man is a person. Yes, as a creature, we're wholly dependent on God for life, breath, and all things. But we can't forget the truth also. We're created as persons, uniquely patterned after Him to have freedom. And that's what separates us from the mere animals of the field, right? They're not created with a personhood as we are. We have been endowed with a free will by God, a relative independence. We'll be talking more about this when we talk about the will of man in a few weeks. But man is a person. What makes him a person is his freedom that God has given him.

As a person, man is a rational being. We discussed this when we discussed being a person. Man is also a person. By rational, we mean that man is able to think and to contemplate his own existence and his existence in relation to God, and his existence in relation to nature, his existence in relation to the world that he was created to live in. Okay? So we're a rational being. We are self-conscious. Are animals self-conscious? No, they're conscious, but they're not self-conscious. Think about your dog, right? Your dog is conscious. Your dog is aware that there's a mailman at the door, right?

Your dog is aware when he sees a squirrel. He starts darting, right? Your dog's aware when he's hungry. He'll let you know. Your dog's aware when he's got to go outside. He'll hopefully let you know, right? Dogs are conscious of life, but they're not self-conscious. Dogs don't know that they are dogs. They don't understand the abstract thought of what is a dog, right? Here in America, we say a dog is man's what? Best friend, right? In other parts of the world, he's man's best snack, right? Depends on the culture that you live in. It's true. When you look in biblical times, first century Judaism, where Christ ministered — of course, during that culture — they thought dogs were scavengers, unclean, and detestable. That's why they declared Gentiles to be dogs, right? Don't make me like a Gentile dog. They had a very low view of dogs, right? Man is able to conceptualize, right, and think of himself in the abstract. A dog isn't. A dog just is, but he's not self-conscious of his existence. Men — I'm talking men and women, mankind — because we're rational creatures, we're capable of abstract thinking, right?

Going back to dogs, dogs have limited vision. They don't see the same color spectrum as we do. Sarah? Yeah. Because animals are created with instinct, and they have to do only what their instinct has put into them — bees, dogs. Exactly.

Amen. You hit the nail right on the head. It's the choice that separates us from the animals. We're able to conceptualize abstract things. For example, a dog may, if they can perceive white — some people say it's gray — may know that their bone is white, right? But they don't understand what whiteness is in the abstract, right? If we read to them, say, Isaiah chapter one verse eighteen, "Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white as snow" — though they're red like crimson, they shall be white as wool — we understand the significance and multiple imagery that colors can speak to us as humans, because we understand that. But dogs and lower animals are ignorant of those things. Man is uniquely created as a rational being, and that's one of the things that sets him apart from creation.

Look at Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 4:39 says, "Therefore, know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath, and there is no other." Man is to take into account God's redemptive acts. That's what he's speaking of here. He's delivered them out of Egypt, out of bondage, out of slavery, and God is the one who's the reigning Lord in heaven and reigning on earth below, and we only live and move and have our being in Him, right? We're cognizant of that as creatures and as persons, because we have a rational mind.

The application is this. Considering God — that's the first blank — leads us to self-reflection, the second blank. If you don't know God, you can never really know yourself, right? Because we're created in His image, and we're created by God and are therefore His and have a purpose for which we are created to fulfill, right? So when we consider God, it leads us to self-reflection. But the lower animals don't have that self-consciousness, that self-reflection that human beings are created for. We're created uniquely to be able to relate to God.

Flip over on the back. Number three on the back. Psalm 8:3 through 4 says, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have set in place, what is man that You think of him and a son of man that You are concerned about him?"

When we look at creation, we're filled with wonder about God, and we're filled with wonder at what He thinks about us, right? When the wolf barks at the moon, he just barks at the moon, right? When they hear thunder, they shudder, but they don't understand and conceptualize the God of all creation the way humans do, okay? Haggai chapter 1 verse 7 says, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways." Because you are self-conscious, because you are a rational being, use your mind — consider how God has made you, consider your purpose, consider your walk, consider your relation with God, use your rational mind, right? A lot of times we get home from work, we're tired, and so we go into what we call vegetative mode, right? I'm going to eat and get a sugar coma and watch some reruns all night long so I don't have to think, right? That can be fun, but we are not to turn off our rational minds, right? Because we're created by God and gifted with a rational mind.

Bible point number four. As a person, man is resolute — that's the first blank. Man freely wills — that's the second blank — and acts with purpose from within. Acts is the third blank. Man is therefore self — that's the fourth blank — self-determining, and the fifth blank, responsible for all those actions. As a person, man is resolute. Man freely wills and acts with purpose from within. Man is therefore self-determining and responsible for all those actions.

As Sarah was getting at, the creatures of this world — the pure animals who aren't persons — they act on instincts or native intelligence that God has given them. They don't have this freedom that we have. They can't freely will and act from within. They don't have motives to choose from. They just go with, "I'm hungry. I'm fearful." That's the way that they are designed. Man is designed with a higher conscience than that. Man is therefore self-determining and responsible for all those actions.

A dog can be very intelligent. I have a customer who has a German shepherd that was retired from — I think it was the Marines or somewhere. He's an older dog, but supposedly knows 300 commands. You can teach animals many things. How do you teach them? Not by reasoning with them. Usually you give them some food or some punishment, whatever it is with that. They obey commands. They obey precepts. For men, for mankind, we act on concepts. We can think about higher things and act accordingly.

For example, if you go camping, say, with your dog and you're by the fire and it's cold, a dog's smart. He's going to get by the fire too. He'll probably cuddle up next to you and get some warmth. As you sleep, though, and the fire wanes, the dog doesn't have the conceptual knowledge to say, "You know what? I need to go get a log and put it on that fire. I need to kindle that fire and make it bigger and warmer so we'll stay warm." No, he just keeps nuzzling up to his owner the whole time. They're a different order of intelligence. We can conceptualize things. Therefore, we have freedom and we act freely from within, and therefore we're responsible for our actions.

We have a moral compass. Have you ever seen a dog — perhaps in your family — take some food from the table? Everybody has, right? Maybe a dog steals a chicken wing or a piece of pizza. But have you ever seen a dog return it back remorsefully because he has a guilt-stricken sense that he has done wrong and he has wronged you and sinned against God? No, they're not built that way. They don't have remorse. They don't have a sense of morality because they're not responsible in the way that man is responsible. And that only comes from free moral beings. That's the way that God has made us.

Look at Joshua 24:15. Many of you may have this somewhere in your house on a plaque. "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." Right? "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Exactly right. We are imbued with choice and that's an awful responsibility, right? We must keep that in mind that we are persons and not just creatures, right? Because if we think ourselves just creatures — just wholly dependent but without being persons — then where is our choice? Where is our responsibility? Where is our accountability, right? We're different from the mere brute beast of the field. We've been given freedom and that freedom sets us up to know God but also sets us up to be accountable and responsible for our actions. We can't say I didn't know any better. I can't say the lightning made me do it. We are responsible for what we do.

Revelation 20:13 talks about death and Hades giving up all the dead from the grave, the great throne of judgment. And it says, "They were judged, each one according to his" — what? — "his works." What you do matters.

You're accountable as a person for everything you do, for every word you say, for everything you don't do, whether you are positively disobeying God or disobeying God by not doing what He has told you to do, right? We'll be rewarded on the flip side for the things we do, right? And then the things we don't do. We're accountable for our works.

Flip over on the back. Look at Isaiah 55:1 through 3. God is addressing mankind as persons here. He says, "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters." That's a command. It's an invitation but a command. "You who have no money, come, buy, and eat." He's asking you to use your will, to use every bit of your being to turn to God. "Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good. Let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me. Hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David." Continues, verse 6 and 7: "Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."

That same sentiment is rehearsed at the very last chapter of the book of Revelation. It says, "And the Spirit and the bride say, 'Come,' and let him who hears say, 'Come,' and let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take of the water of life freely."

When we understand that we're not just creatures but that we are persons responsible for our actions, it helps us to understand all of theology, right? We're often confounded about how can God be sovereign and man can be free. Well, man is a creature, but man is also a person, right? We're often confounded about our personal responsibility in salvation because we are called to repent and we're called to exercise faith, but yet we know that we must be regenerated by God. Well, again, we are a creature, but we're also persons endowed with responsibility. We can't reconcile those two necessarily together — how we're wholly dependent on God for everything and we can't move a finger apart from the will of God — but we also have to believe that we are not just solely creatures but persons who are endowed with freedom and with the ability to make choices and we're culpable for our actions, right? And we have responsibility.

John says, quoting Jesus, that from the time of John until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. No one has ever entered into the kingdom of heaven without expressing faith in God, without repenting and turning from their sins, right? And the Old Testament says that God will create in you a clean heart. It says in Ezekiel, but it also says in Ezekiel that you create in yourself a clean heart. It's a mystery to us, right? But that is the distinction that Scripture makes. We must uphold both that we are persons endowed with freedom and therefore responsible for our actions, but also that we are creatures wholly dependent on God for every part of our life.

Flip over on the front. Bible point number five. As a person, man is relational — that's the first blank. Man was created for a unique relationship to God — God is the second blank. Man has the capacity to relate to God as he was created to be a finite — that's the third blank — a finite or limited reflection of God's nature and attributes. Man also relates — that's the fourth blank — to himself, others, and creation. As a person, we're relational. We are designed to be first and foremost related to God, right? He's made us in His image. We're supposed to be finite reflections of His nature and His attributes. He created us to be holy, to have communion with Him. We see that in the garden, do we not? In the coolness of the evening, what happened? God would go walking with His creation, with Adam and Eve. We were created for that special relationship with God. So we have the capacity to relate to Him because we were created holy, and we'll talk about that later when we talk about man's original state. But because of that, we're responsible to God and we must relate to Him, right?

Can you live your life without thinking about God? I say you really can't. We talked about in the nature and attributes of God that God is the true and living God. And we talked about how man is created to be desperately religious. He's created by God to worship Him. As one of the famous theologians said — Augustine said — that man is created with a God-shaped void within him, right? And he'll fill that with anything, right? That's why Calvin says that the human heart is an idol factory because we're going to serve something, right? We're either going to serve an idol that we carve for our own likeness, or God. Even the Bible tells us in Romans chapter one that those who reject God know Him, but they reject Him. And so they choose not to keep Him in their remembrance. And so what they do is they subject the knowledge of God to futility and they worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, right?

We're desperately religious because we're made to worship God. We're made to be in a relationship with Him, but we're not just made to relate to God. We're also made to relate to others. Are we not? Aren't we made in God's image? Heidi, I know you're leading the kids in the book of James, and what does it tell us there? How can we say that we love God and hate our brother, right? Our brother who's made in the very image of God, right? We're made to be related to one another, to have fellowship. If you take a person and you isolate them, they'll wither and die, right?

Talk about prison ministry, right? The men who go there and are away from their families and end up going into solitary confinement — that can drive you mad, right? Because we're made to be in relation to one another. That's why it's so important that we have our church family. We may not have much of an earthly family. Maybe we're the only ones left. The older we get, the more of our friends and family pass away, right? But we have brothers and sisters here, right? And we can relate to one another and be blessed by that. Yes, from different countries God has brought people into our fellowship. What a blessing that is.

We're also made to relate not just to others, but to ourselves. We may not think about it that way, but aren't we given responsibilities to ourselves? Did not Jesus say that we're to love God with all our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind and might and strength? Aren't we responsible for the bodies God has given to us? That's just a very basic example. Not saying that we can ever achieve human perfection, but we should try to take care of ourselves, right? Let's try to rest, try to eat right, try to move at least, right? So we can, as long as we can, use our bodies that God has given us to serve the Lord, right? How about our minds? Aren't we to feed our minds? Aren't we to renew our minds, right? Aren't we to read God's word? There's nothing wrong with reading fiction for entertainment. Some great books have been written. My mother was a classical literature professor for years at college and she loved literature and she could talk all day and night about Shakespeare and Tennyson and these different poets. And that's all well and fine, but there's nothing like God's word to feed our minds, right? We need that. We need His truth. That's how we know Him. That's how He's revealed Himself to us.

We're also created to know and relate to creation. Aren't we responsible for the world that we live in? Now, I'm not saying that we should be one of these guys who goes and hugs a tree, you know, and goes vegan and joins PETA or something like that, but when you study the criminal mind — like I know Ken has dealt with being a marshal — there's a big correlation between violent people and people who've harmed animals, right? Maliciously. There's nothing wrong with hunting. We were made to have dominion over this world, but we're not to be unnecessarily cruel and we're supposed to be good stewards of the environment that God has given us, right? And animals don't have this sense of relation to the world that they live in, you know? Have you ever seen a dog that said, "Hmm, you know what? I want to be a good steward and so let's get all the other dogs and line up at the local veterinarian and let's all get spayed and neutered." Never will happen. Not in a million years. You'll never see a dog say, "You know what? I'm going to take my pen. I'm going to take some chickens and put them in the pen and start breeding chickens and have a good wholesome food source." No, they don't think that way, right? Because they are not made to relate to the world in the way that we are made to relate to the world.

2 Corinthians 5:20 says, "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God." We see a couple of different areas of relation here. Paul is saying that as an apostle, as a minister of God, he's an ambassador for Christ, and aren't we all ambassadors for Christ as Christians, right? Don't we have the duty to tell others, right? "Be reconciled to God." Our purpose is to see other people reconciled to God, right? That's what we do by making disciples of all nations, right? So that should be in the forefront of our mind as relational creatures — are we right with God, and how can we help others become right with God, right?

Application is this. We are created — the first blank — for God and redeemed for Him. God created us for fellowship with Him and He sent His Son Jesus Christ into this world to seek and save that which was lost, right? Man quickly fell from his estate, which we'll be studying after anthropology. We'll be talking about hamartiology, the effects of sin on humanity, and therefore we needed a Savior, right? And Christ came in to seek and save the lost. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Christ came into this world and He took on flesh. He suffered, faced human sufferings, human experiences, humbled Himself to save us, right? He created us for Him and He redeemed us for Him because you are precious in His sight. You are made in His image. You have an inherent dignity about you that's above and beyond all of creation because of the way that you're created — breathed by God from His lips into yours.

The application for four is this. We are held accountable for all of our actions. Sorry, I skipped that. We are held accountable for all of our actions.

Bible point number six. Man was created as the pinnacle — that's the first blank — the pinnacle. What does pinnacle mean? Top. Exactly right. As the top of the heap, the top of creation. He is distinct in likeness and position — that's the second blank — from all creation. Man was made to rule — that's the third blank — over all of creation. Man was created as the pinnacle of creation. He is distinct in likeness and position from all creation. Man was made to rule over all creation. We are not subservient to creation. Creation is subservient to mankind, right?

But what the Bible tells us in the very first chapter of the book of Genesis, chapter 1:26 through 28: "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.'" We'll return to this verse in a few weeks when we discuss man's original state. This is talking about the image of God. It says, "Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea." What does dominion mean? Rule. Yeah, authority. "Over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." That's pretty much a summary of all creation, right? Everything that flies, everything that swims, everything that creeps. Verse 27: "So God created man in His own image, the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. Then God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.'" What does subdue mean?

Bring under control. We are to make the world the garden, right? "Subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over every living thing that moves on the earth." God created man, not as an afterthought, not as His last creative act of no significance. Instead, He created His last significant act as the act of utmost significance. We see in the creation story God creating the world in Genesis, and then He creates the animals. And lastly, He creates mankind. He saved the best for last, is what He did. He created man distinct from all of creation. The mountains are majestic and His righteousness is compared to the mountains, right? His glory is compared to the stars, but are the stars or the mountains created in the very image and the likeness of God? No. The animals — we can see the splendor and creative majesty of God in the animals, the way that they're designed. And we see the glory of their Creator, how the bees go forth and work together as a unit. And we see that beautiful intelligence on display there, but we do not see God's image or likeness in them. It's only in mankind.

The application is this. How can you fill — that's the first blank — the earth and subdue it — the second blank? I mean that seriously. How can you fill the earth and subdue it? How do we apply that in our lives? That was the original command to Adam and Eve in the garden, that they should fill the earth and subdue it, meaning they should have dominion over it, that they should fill the earth. How do we do that as Christians?

Make sure we're married to a woman.

Yeah, exactly right. If you honor God's design of marriage, things can happen called kids, right? That's part of the way that we fill the earth, right? What if God doesn't bless you with children? How can you still fill the earth and subdue it?

Exactly right. We have a cultural mandate, do we not, to spread the love of God. Didn't Christ say that you are like a city on a hill? You can't be hid. He says if you have a light, you don't put it under a bushel, but you put it for all to see.

You know, we have an election coming up and we often talk about, oh, we hope we get the right guy with the right policies and things go right. All the politics in the world isn't going to change a thing. What changes the world is the gospel, right? One by one, reconciling people to God. It starts in our families, right? It starts with our children that God has blessed us with. It starts with the family that God has given us, whether it's a second cousin or whether it's your brother or whoever it is, whoever God has planted you nearby — you are to be a light, right? How about your neighbors? God has given you neighbors and most of us can see our neighbors on both sides of us, right? That's a witness for us to be. That's an area that we can go out into the world and be a light. Our jobs, wherever God has placed us to be, wherever we go, if you go to grab coffee each week at a McDonald's or something, can't you be a witness?

I think I may have shared before. A pastor's wife that I know from years ago — she's a godly lady. She's in her 80s and she used to go to the — I don't know if they still have 99 cent stores anymore — but she used to go to the 99 cent stores where things were really only 99 cents and she'd buy the NIV paperback Bibles. She would have a stack of them always in her car. If she went through the drive-through at McDonald's and she ordered a Coke and fries, she gave them the money for the Coke and fries, and she also gave them a Bible, right? Because she wanted to do whatever she could to spread God's word, right? And so we can fulfill this commission, this creation mandate, by sharing the gospel. It's something each and every one of us can do no matter what stage of life we are in.

Psalm 8:5 through 8 talks about us being the pinnacle of God's creation. It says, "Yet you made him a little lower than God." Now this is in the NASB. Some of your translations, such as the New King James Version, may say a little lower than the angels. Well, what is it? Is it lower than God or is it lower than the angels? And is there a difference? Well, the word is Elohim, and Elohim can be used of God. It can also be used of angels. It can also be used of rulers, even human rulers like princes and kings. I think it's referring to God here in the Old Testament, but however, when you read Hebrews, which quotes this, it actually quotes from the Septuagint, which translates it as angels. Basically what we're getting at, whether it's God or angels, it's saying that we think of God and angels as being in heaven, right? But when we think of the earthly order of things, there's none higher than man. God has created man to be the pinnacle of His creation.

He says, "You crown him with glory and majesty." We're crowned with glory and majesty because we are made in God's image. So we are made to reflect His glory and we're made to be majestic, to be dignified, right? That's the way that God created us. Now man fell and we're not what God made us to be originally, but that is the way that man was created. We are created and crowned with glory and majesty. "You have them rule over the works of Your hands." God created us to rule over the works of His hands and expects us to continue to do that even in our fallen state. "You've put everything under his feet, all sheep and oxen, all the animals of the field, the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the sea." It's because man was created different. He was created to image God, to mirror God's dominion over the world. That is who we are set up to be as created persons.

Bible point number seven. The exalted — that's the first blank — position of man existed at creation, but it is only restored — that's the second blank — elevated, the third blank, and fully realized, the fourth blank, in union — that's the fifth blank — with the resurrected and exalted Christ. Let me read that. It's a lot. The exalted position of man existed at creation, but it is only restored, elevated, and fully realized in union with the resurrected and exalted Christ.

We were created to be the pinnacle of creation. That's the way that we were made. God made us good. However, as we will discuss when we get to unit five, man fell from that exalted position. Man sinned. He used his personality that God had given him, his freedom, to sin against God and to put himself on the throne rather than God on the throne, and he fell from that. However, that exalted position that man was originally created to be in is restored in Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus Christ, are we not considered holy before God our Father if we are in Christ? Our fellowship that was broken at the fall — is that not fully restored in the person of Jesus Christ? Is it not elevated in Jesus Christ? We are not just restored, but we're elevated even higher than we were at the pinnacle of creation.

When man was first created, he walked with God in the garden. But now we are said to be united with Christ. We have the Holy Spirit who lives within us, who mediates the presence of God the Father and God the Son within us. So we have communion with God, right? When we pray, when we read His word — that's a higher state than Adam and Eve could have ever even conceptualized, right? They had to live with the thought that they could fall, and they did fall. But can we ever fall from grace once we're in Jesus Christ? Never can we be separated from Him. So we're restored, we're elevated, and it's fully realized in Jesus Christ, in union with the resurrected and exalted Christ.

Before the fall, man was created to be the pinnacle of creation, right? But look at Christ who came to earth as the God-man. He took on humanity, right? He defeated death, was raised from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of God Almighty in heaven. Humanity is now not just the pinnacle of creation, but is actually allowed to share in the rule and reign with God in heaven. And we get to participate in that in Jesus Christ.

Look at Ephesians 1:22 through 23. "And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." We are considered His body. And Christ is our living head. And the Bible earlier in Ephesians says that we sit with Him in the heavenly places. It's hard for us to imagine that, but it's a true spiritual reality because we are so closely united to Christ that just as Christ is in heaven, we are with Him, right? And not only that, He is with us because He is living within us through His Holy Spirit. When He was sent into heaven, exalted to the right hand of God, He sent the Holy Spirit into this world to gift and empower and create the church, right? And to give us the gift of the Holy Spirit — the full measure of all God's attributes is available to us through the Holy Spirit, right? All the blessings and the empowerment to serve Him. So the Bible even says that in this life, we reign with Jesus Christ.

Flip over to the back. Look at Romans chapter 5:17. "For by one man's offense, death reigned through the one. Much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ." You have the very resurrection power, the exalted Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, at work in you, reigning and living through you right now as a Christian. That is higher than what Adam and Eve could have ever conceived of, right? Knowing that we have the power of God at work in and through us. How amazing is that?

Flip over to the front. The application is this. Purpose and fulfillment are found only in Christ. Purpose and fulfillment are found in Christ. I'll never forget years ago when I was in college, I wanted to go to seminary and so I was at a secular college and I had to have letters of recommendation from some of my professors and these weren't religious professors. I had a marketing professor — marketing was my minor — who was just a neat lady and I liked her a lot. I always enjoyed her class so I asked her and she said she'd be glad to write me a letter of recommendation. And when I talked to her in her office to go pick that up, she said, "I'm glad you're going to seminary." She said, "I just feel so unfulfilled." She said, "For years, I was an executive, a pioneer, a trailblazer in an S&P 500 company as a woman. There weren't many of us around at that time." And she said, "But it just didn't satisfy me. So I went and I got my doctorate after I got my MBA and I thought that would help and I just didn't find the fulfillment. So I started teaching as a college professor thinking that would be my fulfillment and I still have a nagging sense of unfulfillment."

And I told her, "You're only going to find that in Christ. Christ is the only fulfillment because Christ is the one who created us, right? All things are created by Him and for Him, and in Him all things exist. You can look all the world over and all the glories that this world has to offer and everything that the world whispers in your ear that you need — none of it will satisfy. Only the resurrected, exalted Savior living in you will you find completeness and fulfillment." Colossians 2:10 says, "And you are complete in Christ, who is the head of all principality and power." We'll only find our realization. We'll only find fulfillment in our Creator.