Made In The Image Of God

Musing over thoughts about why God decided to create human beings, one begins to realize that it is a subject that deserves extensive pondering along with a considerable amount of prayerful investigation into the scriptures to try and discern what may have been the mindset of the Almighty. After all He had created everything else in the universe and was most likely not at a loss for entertainment. On the other hand, as we delve deeper into it we are confronted with several aspects concerning the Creator and His relationship to that which He created. First of all the scriptures indicate that God is eternal, He always existed before anything else, and will continue to exist long after everything ceases to exist. Moses understood this when he said, “Lord, thou have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or you had ever formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You turn man back to the dust, and say, “Turn back, O children of men!” For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. 

(Psalm 90: 1 - 4)

So we know that the Almighty is eternal and exists in a realm unaffected by what we call time, so therefore He is timeless and His domain is omnipresent. There is no past or future, there is only the continual ongoing present, something difficult to grasp as humans who have a beginning, birth and end in death. When we couple this understanding with the two arguments about creationism as opposed to evolution, then it becomes clear that rather than flounder around and wallow in either argument, we begin to realize that creation is an ongoing process. Astrophysicists and astronomers have observed that the universe is continually expanding and developing as they visually explore the universe from their observatories. So with this knowledge in mind then one might wonder if perhaps the Creator Himself was bored with all of the created beings before the advent of man, including even the angels because none of them had been given free will as we understand it other than Lucifer His greatest angelic being who He created with a specific purpose in mind. Perhaps God Himself had decided to create mankind and planned that they would become endowed with free will and the capacity to reason and make choices like He himself. For that to happen, they would have to be given an opportunity to choose either good or evil out of which would come conscience and self awareness. The scriptures indicate that God wanted to have a great company with whose presence He could delight in and enjoy and who He would imbue with eternal life. 

So here we have the testimony in scripture that gives us an even clearer picture of the nature of God. 

Then 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 birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (Genesis 1: 26 - 28)

Notice that it says “Let us make man in our image.” Who is He talking to? Here is where we are faced with the concept of the triune persons of God. We can examine this by backtracking from our own human perspective which will help clarify this often misunderstood concept. Man is a tripartite being, in other words man is made up of a physical body and a soul, which is the individual’s personality, mind and will, and a spirit which is the life force, the breath of life which emanates from God. So there it is from a human perspective, God the Father is the personality, mind and will, God the Son is the physical embodiment of God on earth, and God the Holy Spirit is His life force pervading eternity. We are in essence made in His image, this is not to mean how He appears, but how we are made in three distinct parts uniquely different from all other beings throughout creation.

The apostle John is speaking here about the second person of the trinity, the one who the Creator spoke to when He said; “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” this is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and physical embodiment of God on earth. 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. 

(John 1: 1-3, 9-15)