Image Is Everything!

by | Nov 18, 2018 | Study | 0 comments

Foreword to: Image Is Everything

The teaching and equipping work we do is a huge blessing in many ways. One of those is all the study necessary to put teaching materials together. Those thoughts and ideas are developed and shared with many people, in many places, and in various ways. But the labor and study continues to give. How? The Spirit calls those principles and ideas to mind over and over again in speaking opportunities and sermons.

Currently, the project is the Sermon on the Mount. But just last week, as I was speaking to a church group, several items in Genesis rose to the fore. As I was driving away from that church I thought back to the time spent putting two study guides together for pastor training. They cover the entire book of Genesis. So I counted my blessings all the way to our house. So for all who support this ministry with resources and prayers, Thank You! Here’s a few of those Genesis thoughts I put in a piece entitled:

Image Is Everything

Do you know how many things God didn’t say when He created Man in His image? When God made the plants, Moses recorded it with words that note plant structure. He mentioned grasses. Grass seed is often not readily perceptible to our eyes. He then mentioned herbs. One can’t help but notice the seed. Moses mentions fruits with their seed ‘within.’ It’s all about form. Or, in the words of politicians and modern culture, Image is everything!

The animals are given a similar description. The words used to catalog them indicate four-legged domesticated animals, four-legged beasts (wild animals), and things that swarm (insects). They are described according to bodily form or structure.

The ‘fish of the sea’ and the ‘winged birds of the air’ are described according to body structure and environment. And how does God describe the creation of Man?

In God’s Image: It Is Everything!

Image is everythingNothing in the creation of Man notes his physical structure. The Scripture does not mention Man walking upright on two legs, or Man’s lack of fur, feathers, or fins. Man’s opposable thumb is omitted. Man has the ability to communicate abstract concepts with language. And that is a God quality. Animals ‘communicate’ danger to herds or young, but none can communicate like Man. A variety of facial expressions are potent communication tools for Man. And only Man has a sense of shame or embarrassment. We call it blushing.

Personality is also unspecified, but Man has knowledge of himself, his feelings, and his will. Man alone naturally walks upright, facing upward. This isn’t mentioned. All this tells us the words in Genesis, in Our image, do not primarily refer to physical form. God is a spirit (John 4:24) and does not have a material body. But, He designed Man’s physical body so he could do many things God does:

  • See and speak
  • Hear and smell
  • Touch and think
  • Plan and so on

This is all learned by reading the conversations between God and Adam and observing what Adam did.

Image: Perspective & Purpose

Finally, Man has dominion over creation. God holds His creation together. He has ultimate dominion and sovereignty over it. In His image (likeness), God gave dominion to Man. Man’s pre-eminent place in the created order and his ability to affect his environment is no accident; it is part of God’s plan for Man and the earth.

You were made with a design in mind. So you have a purpose. The evolutionist sees it as ‘a little higher than the animals.’ In Psalm 8:5 David said of Man:

You have made him a little lower than the angels.

Which is it for you? What’s the difference between a little higher than the animals and a little lower than the angels? It’s image; HIS image!.You see, it’s true. Image is everything!

 

Soli Deo Gloria!

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