Genesis - 4
The Beginning of Mankind
In these programmes we have been discovering the beginning of everything as it is recorded in the Bible book of Genesis. This time we come to the beginning of man on the earth that God created.
When asked about this you will hear many people say, “Oh, that’s easy. I know the answer to that. Simple life-forms from primitive cells starting off in slime gradually became more developed in water. They later became fish, then amphibians, then reptiles, then monkeys, then apes and finally men.”
People do not seem to consider just how an early spark of life could begin. Nor do they stumble over the infinitely complex structure of even the simplest cell, and yet they persist in holding and promoting this view of how all life began. Incidentally, this is quite an ancient belief, going way back in time. It was not just Charles Darwin’s book “The Origin of Species” in 1859 that started it all off. In spite of the lack of scientific evidence, this philosophy is still taught in places of learning around the world. It is found in text books, colourful charts, television programmes and museums. In every case evolution is boldly asserted as if it were an indisputable scientific fact.
But what does Genesis, the book of beginnings, say about all this? In this first book of the Bible we have God’s account of how everything began. It is recorded quite simply in Genesis chapters one and two that God created man’s body out of the dust of the earth and breathed into that body the breath of life.
From man He made woman and then looking on this crowning work of his creation pronounced it all very good. It was perfect in every way.
Did you know that there are sixteen elements that make up our bodies? These elements include potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, and sulphur. You may be surprised to learn that we are about two thirds water in these bodies of ours. So how do you put all these substances together and get a human being? Genesis speaks of man being specially created, not evolved from lower life forms. As scientists delve into the wonders of DNA, and as they publish the unique and complex codes that are the blueprint for every living thing, so they discover that each species is utterly unique and of its kind. It is not possible for one species to become another. This is one of the most basic teachings of the Bible that is overlooked, dismissed or despised by many today.
So let us look more closely at what Genesis chapters one and two teach us about the creation of man. First, I want to make it clear that these two chapters are not contradictory accounts of the same event as some scholars have said. Genesis is called the first book of Moses. I believe that Moses composed this book under the guidance and inspiration of God. In doing this he compiled the various ancient accounts that had been carefully passed down by God’s people from the beginning. Similar accounts of beginnings are found in various parts of the world, but none compares with Genesis for its nobility, simplicity, dignity and reverence. In those other accounts of creation we find strange and grotesque details which are entirely absent from Genesis.
These two opening chapters of the book are looking at the same event, but with a different emphasis. Chapter one is a panoramic view covering the six days of God’s creating work, step by step. Chapter two focuses on just one aspect of the creation, the pinnacle and purpose of all that God made - mankind. Chapter two is not written in the same day-by-day style as chapter one and it is serving quite a different purpose.
In Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 we read: “Then God Said, ‘ Let us make man in our image, in our likeness’.” This is God in three persons who speaks, the trinity in unity who decided to make man. It tells us that God, who has perfect fellowship within his eternal being, created us for fellowship and interaction also. That is when we function best. In isolation we do not function so well. We can become self-centred or start to behave strangely. God created us to be in contact with others.
Verse 26 also tells us that we are made in the image of God, after his likeness. There are some who think that this means we exactly resemble God in a scaled down way. The ancient Greeks thought like that, imagining their gods and goddesses to be super humans, a scaled-up version of themselves. The Bible, however, teaches us that God is spirit, not flesh and blood. Being made in his image and likeness, therefore, cannot refer to our physical appearance.
How then are we made in God’s image and likeness? It means that we are a reflection of Him in our nature or personality. He is a person, not a thing, and so are we. That gives us worth and significance. But what is it exactly that makes you a person? It is those characteristics of mind, emotions and will, the possession of a spiritual nature that can worship and reflect on spiritual things. It is your conscience or moral sense when you instinctively know whether or not something is right or wrong, fair or unfair. All these features mark you out as a person, not a machine or merely an animal.
But there is something more mysterious and glorious, for we read in Genesis chapter 2 verse 7: “The Lord God… breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” This is more than God just making him live. That had happened with all the living creatures God had made. Something extra is being said at this point. God here has made man alive in a way that never happened with any other creature.
The significant expression in this verse is, “Man became a living being”, or “living soul.” Unlike the other creatures, man was made alive to his Maker, aware of the God who made him and able to relate to Him. Now it is true we often say that man possesses a soul, but we need to remember the Biblical way of thinking. Man is a living soul, possessing both spirit and body.
We also learn in Genesis chapter 2 that the Lord God made the woman, Eve, to help the man and to be his companion. There are differences of gender, but both are made in the image of God, and both are of equal worth in his sight.
Here, then, is the crowning wonder of God’s creation - man, created male and female. Made to have a living relationship with the Creator of the universe. You may think that you are very ordinary, counting for nothing among the billions on earth today. The message of the Bible is that you are of infinite worth because you are a living being made in the image of God, and you are precious to Him.
So, in these various ways I have mentioned we were made in God’s image and likeness, made to reflect his nature as a person, capable of reasoning and able to have fellowship with Him and with one another. But it is clear that we are not now as God intended us to be when Adam was created. Sin has damaged and spoilt the image of God in every one of us. The Bible teaches us that through the sin, the disobedience, of one man, Adam, death has come upon all mankind for all have sinned. Sin has brought upon us both physical and spiritual death. Spiritual death means that we are cut off from our Maker, no longer able to have fellowship with Him as He intended. But the good news is this: “God sent his only begotten Son - the Lord Jesus Christ - into the world, so that we might live through Him.” By his death on the cross for the sins of the world, Jesus has made it possible for the image of God to be restored in all who will turn from sin and trust Him as Saviour.