God’s Good Creation (Part 1) || Deeper Creation || Week 7

Welcome back! This series is “Deeper Creation,” We’re taking a deeper look at Genesis 1 and 2 to see how the Creation story gets told throughout the Bible!

Last week, we looked deeper at the 5th day of creation. We discussed God’s promises to the animals and how these promises continue for the rest of humanity. We also discussed the diversity of God’s creation and recognized how unique each being is. We then discussed God’s blessing to the creatures, what it means to us, and the future of Adam’s lineage. 

This week, we’re tackling two parts of the 6th day of creation: land animals and humans. We have a lot to cover with the creation of humanity, but we’re doing it in this message today! We’re looking at the topics of: 

• What it means that God created humans in the image of the Trinity
• What traits are humans created to reflect
• Why the penalty for killing humans is severe
• What it means to be created male and female (please read this section before casting any judgment)
• What it means that God provides for us

We’re also looking at genealogies, authority, and blessings. Lots of stuff to cover! Let’s get into it by reading our focus scripture, Genesis 1:24-31:

24  Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same king – livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. 

25  God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. 

26  Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, and all the wild animals of the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” 

27  So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God them; male and female he created them. 

28  Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” 

29  Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food.”

30  And I have given every green plant as food for the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground – everything that has life.” 

31 God looked over all he made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

Land Animals Join the Battle

The last animals have joined the rest of the earth’s creation (the sky and water animals). I mentioned last week how God created these animals. In case you forgot or haven’t read that blog (which you should,) let me share with you Genesis 2:19:

19  So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 

God created the animals in almost the same way humans were, from the ground. Humans had the breath of God in them, which animals didn’t. A good image of this process is a potter molding a clay jar on a kiln. This analogy is the specific detail-oriented process God goes through when creating things. Through all of it, God reflected on how good his creation was. At the end of it all, as shown in Genesis 1:31, God said it was very good. 

This tidbit is a good reminder that we can be pleased with our work. We can celebrate the good things we’ve accomplished in our lives. We don’t have to feel like we shouldn’t be proud because we’re not honoring God that way. If your good work is something God would be pleased with, then celebrate it. Celebrate it with God and with others. If it’s not, then I encourage you to reflect on why the work wouldn’t please God and why you did that work. Learn from that experience and use that lesson to better yourself for the future. 

Who We Are

God created humans in “our” image. Who is “our” because God is only one person, right? Welcome in the Trinity; the hardest thing I’ve explained to new Christians and teenagers. God is one being that is shown in three persons: God the Father, Jesus the son, and the Holy Spirit. We find all three persons in the Creation story. Jesus isn’t even shown directly until the New Testament. We only get the full story of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 when we discuss Pentecost. Some theologians say the “us” is a descriptor for God’s majesty. Think of kings who refer to themselves as “we.” How am I supposed to understand this in Genesis 1?

Look at the main idea: God created us in his image and revealed himself through the Trinity. What does God’s image look like? Love, patience, forgiveness, kindness, and faithfulness. We see stories of all these characteristics shown throughout the Bible. If God created humans in his image, we must reflect these characteristics in our actions. When we criticize ourselves or use negative self-talk, we say these words about God’s creation. This realization is a tough pill to swallow and even more challenging to wrestle with in my notes, but it makes sense. 

I’ve been studying the psychology of the Apostle Paul because I’m THAT kind of Bible nerd. As I write this, one of the last sections I read was about Paul’s boasting. Paul condemns boasting while also boasting about certain things, making him a hypocrite to some people. Paul’s not boasting about himself, though, when he does. He boasts about God and what God has done through him. God encourages this boasting in the Psalms or Jeremiah. (I am trying to remember specifically, but I’ve either studied it or covered it in a previous message, so that’s your homework.) Boast yourself through the lens of what God has done. Paul also recognizes and celebrates his weakness because God’s strength overcomes it. He doesn’t put himself down because of his weaknesses. Instead, he lifts his weakness to God and allows God to turn his weakness into new strengths for his ministry. 

With all this, I wondered why the penalty for killing humans is so intense. Hear what he says to Noah in Genesis 9:6

6  If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken. 

God doesn’t want us to put ourselves down because God doesn’t create bad things. God created us as we are, and we should reflect on the good that God does and how we can align ourselves with him. God doesn’t want us to take another human’s life away. All of us, each uniquely created by God for our intended purpose and promise, have the qualities of God living inside of us. God didn’t create animals as humans were. We have the breath of God inside us, a possible early sign of the Holy Spirit, although I haven’t heard or read anything about this. Humans are unique because we have a sense of morality, reason, creativity, and self-worth. 

Speaking of the uniqueness of humans, let’s spend some time discussing what it means that God created male and female. I’m nervous talking about this. We’re in a time where gender identity and sexual orientation are places of discourse, anger, confusion, and separation. I’m not too fond of those places, but something about how I read this showed me something unique. 

Our identity is given to us by God. Our identity shouldn’t come from culture, experiences with others, or our environment. God reminds us who we are throughout the Bible. People take what God says as a black-or-white statement, but what about everything in between? It’s easy to say that it’s only one thing because if it’s that, then it’s not the other. It’s a common reasoning tactic. I remember how Jesus is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega. Jesus is also in between all that. An argument can be then that if God created both male and female human beings, then all humans in the middle of that spectrum are also God’s creation. God created us with extreme detail, which would also include our gender identity and our sexual orientation. The Bible uses the sanctity of marriage to talk about the one-male and one-female dynamic, but I’m not talking about the creation of marriage in this context. For this, we’re focusing on who God created us to be. We’re human; that’s the first characteristic listed when God created us.

First and foremost, we’re humans, and then we see more explicit dynamics shown in being created male and female. Jesus reminds us of the marriage dynamic in the Gospel of Mark as a way to bring oneness. Marriage is a way to bring oneness to a couple. Jesus says that women shouldn’t be viewed as property but as a human. Marriage is a way for the two to become one. Again, a reminder to us that Jesus viewed us as humans first. Jesus didn’t give special treatment to men, women, or children. Jesus loved all of God’s creation and reflected God’s love, patience, forgiveness, kindness, and faithfulness. We, as humans, who God created in his image, are called to do the same thing. No matter how we look, what gender we are, what our sexual orientation is, or anything that appears on the outside to others. God looks at our hearts and wants his image shown there so that it would reflect in the world through our actions. 

PAUSE: I’m not here to change your views. I’m here to explain a different way of reading the story. I’m going off of my notes, knowledge, and past experiences, and that’s it. I don’t have a degree in anything Biblical. I’m not a licensed clergyperson. I’m a follower of Christ who enjoys studying the Bible and feels God has instilled a unique way of sharing his word with the world. If you believe something different, that is completely fine. My philosophy has always been that you can believe what you want as long as you’re not hurting yourself and others. I’m here to show you what I experienced with God’s word and to give you a new lens to hear it. UNPAUSE. 

God provides for all humans. Listen to what the psalmist says in Psalm 145:15:

15  The eyes of all look to you in hope; you give them their food as they need it.

God provided all the food needed for humanity to survive. God created green plants for all wild animals, birds, and creatures to eat and nourish. Humans will consume both the meats of the animals and the green plants. God told the vegetation to have seeds in them to reproduce for eternity. God gave all the animals the blessing to be fruitful and multiply, allowing a reproductive cycle to continue for eternity. The provision from God is set for a cycle to continue for all time. 

God provides and meets our needs daily. The problem is that we think our wants are our needs. I remember when I was on the hunt for a laptop for college. I was researching all the different brands, trying to figure out the key components I needed. If you’ve never shopped for a laptop, they’re not cheap. I found a perfect laptop, but it was outside my price range. I also found a similar laptop that would do the job I needed, but some of the specs are lower than I wanted, and it’s smaller. The question I wrestled with is: do I overspend on my wants, or do I settle with my need? 

It’s easy to succumb to our wants when viewed as a need, but that’s not always the case. If you’re wrestling with this, I encourage you to ask God for help. When you’re bending under this burden and know that your flesh will win this battle, give it to God. God will provide you a way out because you won’t feel tempted beyond what you can bear. The battles shape our identity; if our identity is that we’re a child and follower of God, our choices will reflect that no matter how difficult. 

Okay. Let’s take a breath. Breathe in for four seconds. Hold it for four seconds. Breathe out for four seconds. There was a lot of information to digest and many areas we covered here. I’m wrestling with whether or not to stop here and pick up the rest of Day 6 in the next blog. 

Let’s stop here. We’ll have a shorter blog next week, for sure. Discussing the concepts of genealogy, dominion, and blessings needs a new blog. We discussed the creation of the land animals and then focused on the good work God reflected on and how we can reflect on it. We also discussed how God created humans in his image and what the Trinity is about. We discussed why the penalty for killing humans feels so extreme. We discussed the importance of God creating both man and woman and how God created everything within the spectrum. We ended with discussing God’s provision he gave to all he created.

There’s a lot to soak in. I encourage you to pray that you can find God’s wisdom. That we don’t look at things at their face value and react, but soak in God’s word and allow it to settle with us to our core. I’ll be back next week for the follow-up of the Day 6 creation story. Until then, stay blessed.