Man - Part One

MAN - Part One

 

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We Cannot imagine a time when there was nothing, nothing, nothing anywhere—no sun, no stars, no world. But there was such a time, and then, suddenly, God spoke, and all things were created (Genesis 1:1). The sun flashed forth, the stars and moon shone out at night, and the world turned steadily on its axis. Man was not created at that moment, but later, perhaps thousands or even millions of years later. The Bible does not say how long it was before the very first creation of Genesis 1:1 and the creation of animals, fishes, plants, and finally man.

Man was different from anything else that God had created, for man had understanding. God the Father, Son, and Spirit spoke together about the creation of man, saying, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.” It is wonderful to think that man was made something like God (Genesis 1:26-27). The way in which God made man is described in Genesis 2:7. God formed the body of man from the dust of the earth. Some what as you use modeling clay, perhaps, only so much more wonderfully, God formed each part of man. Then He breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life, His own breath, and man became alive, a living soul. We cannot understand all this, but God tells us this is how it was done, and so we believe it. When we get to Heaven, perhaps God will explain it to us.

 

Many people today do not believe this account of creation from the Bible. Instead they have a theory which they call evolution. They teach that on the earth (and who knows how the earth got here) there was a little tiny cell of life. This kept growing and developing, century after century, until it became a fish, a bird, an animal, and finally man. Many wise men have spent their lives trying to prove that this was the way man came to be on the earth. But you know the Bible says the wisdom of men is foolishness with God (1 Corinthians 1:20) and so these wise sounding theories are foolish if they contradict God’s Word. Many things make it seem as though evolution were true, and these are the things that those who believe it will teach you. They do not tell you about the many things that make it seem impossible, though there are such. Anyway, God cannot be mistaken, and He tells us in Genesis just how it was done. If man had been made first as some kind of animal, he would not be in the image of God, would he? No, the first man was perfect, with a wonderful mind, and a pure heart. God made him so when He created him. It is interesting to know that no man in the world who is truly born again, in the sense that he believes himself to be a lost sinner, saved only by the death of Jesus Christ, eternal Son of God, believes that man came up from the animals. A very great scientist, who is a fine Christian, when asked by another scientist why he did not believe in evolution, answered that when the problem of the new birth was answered, then men could begin to study these other questions without making mistakes.

 

God created man for His own glory, and also so that He might have him for a friend. He made him perfectly good and wise so that He could enjoy being with him. Genesis 3:8 tells how God came to speak to man at evening time when it was cool and beautiful in the Garden of Eden. If man had only remained good instead of sinning, he would have been a glory to God, for good things always please and glorify Him. But next week we are to see the terrible thing that happened in that Garden home that had been so happy, both for the man and woman and for God.

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