The Beginning - Part V
April 2018
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“And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” —Genesis 1:22-26
The Blessing Of God
“And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth” (Gen. 1:22).
This presents God doing something different. He blesses His creation of fish and fowls.
It may be asked why God did not bless the plant life. Of them, Moses simply says that God saw that it was good, but He did not bless them; however, here, God begins a new way of propagation, namely, that from living bodies come forth other similar living bodies, which is not true of trees and plants. The pear tree, for example, does not bring forth another pear tree, but only a pear, while a bird produces a bird and a fish a fish. Here, then, is a new creative work, for a living body propagates others out of itself. This indeed is a very marvelous propagation, and there is a marvelous fertility in both the fish and the fowl, especially in the creatures living in the sea.
As humans, when we bless, we can do little more than wish something or someone good, but the blessing of God means propagation. His blessing is just as powerful to propagate as His curse is to cut off.
The Fifth Day
“And the evening and the morning were the fifth day” (Gen. 1:23).
This proclaims the creation of sea life and bird life.
The Creation Of Animals
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so” (Gen. 1:24).
Verse 24 proclaims the fact that God leaves nothing empty that He has made but furnishes all with His store and riches.
Thus, when He had created the heavens, He furnished them with stars, the air with birds, the water with fish, and the earth with herbs, and plants, and now with beasts and men. So, the earth is full of His riches, and so is the wide sea.
Understanding that, we should realize that God, likewise, will not leave His children empty—the vessels that he has formed for Himself. He desires to fill us with Himself!
Inasmuch as God has created the animal world, we should regard it with appreciation. If we imagine that a tree has as much claim to our attention and regard as a horse, this should not be the case. The latter has a spirit; it possesses animate life. It is a nobler embodiment of divine power.
Even though it is biblically proper for certain animals to be used as food, and, as well, for the skin of certain animals to be used for clothing, etc., still, man must show kindness toward the animal kingdom. Men should never manifest an angry spirit toward them. The brute world was designed by God for the use of man, and it renders its high service in the gift of its life for the sustentation of the human family. The merciful man will be merciful to his beast.
It Is Good
“And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good” (Gen. 1:25).
This tells us unequivocally that God designed each species of the animal kingdom in such a way that it cannot be crossed.
The difference between the creation of beasts and man cannot be passed over without special observation. Man’s body was indeed taken out of the earth, as well as the bodies of the beast, but his soul was not from the earth but from heaven. However, in the creation of beasts, the body and soul, or life, is wholly out of the earth, for the earth is commanded to bring forth the living creatures, that is, the creature with the life thereof. So we find no origination of the soul, or life of the beast, but from the earth only.
As well, there is every evidence that before the fall, or at least as God originally created the animal kingdom, all were plant eaters, which means that none were carnivorous. The fall seemed to have drastically changed some of the animals and turned them into killing machines. More than likely, at the fall the entirety of the animal kingdom was changed some way, and all in a negative sense. Not knowing or seeing the animal kingdom before that time, we really have little knowledge of what they must have been like, except a hint here and there given us in the Word of God.
For instance, it is believed that before the fall, the serpent had the power of limited speech and could even reason somewhat.
We do know this: When the Bible gives the account of him speaking to Eve in the garden of Eden, which was actually at the time of the fall, with Satan using the body of the serpent, Eve didn’t seem surprised that the animal could speak (Gen. 3:1–2). If this reptile could speak, is it possible that other animals had such limited power as well?
Also, we find in the book of Isaiah, as the prophet records the coming kingdom age, that the animal kingdom will revert back to its spirit and form before the fall. We find they all once again become plant eaters and that all are now docile (Isa. 11:6–8).
When the latter part of verse 25 speaks of the creation of the animal kingdom, and that “God saw that it was good,” to be sure, the creation at that dawn of time was completely different than what we see presently. The fall affected the animal kingdom terribly so, even though they had no conscious part in this debacle, unless such blame is to be placed on the serpent.
Paul said: “For the creature was made subject to vanity (the fall), not willingly (it was not of their doing) … For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now” (Rom. 8:20, 22).
And the apostle said,“Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21).
The Creation Of Man
“And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth” (Gen. 1:26).
The creation of man was preceded by a divine consultation.
The pronouns us and our proclaim the consultation held by the three persons of the divine Trinity, who were one in the creative work.
Man is created in the image of God.
He is created in the likeness of God.
He was given dominion over all the earth and over all that was in the earth.
The phrase, “And God said,” presents the eighth of the 10 times this phrase is used in Chapters 1 and 2, nine times in Chapter 1 and one time in Chapter 2. These last three times have to do with man exclusively.
The phrase, “Let us make man,” proclaims, I think I can say without fear of contradiction, the greatest creative act of God. Actually, the very name Adam, at least from the Arabic root, signifies “the brilliant one.” Due to the fact that man was created in the image of God and in His likeness, it tells us that man was originally created greater than the angels.
David said:
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man, that You are mindful of him? and the son of man, that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet (Ps. 8:3–6).
Christ And Man
As the Holy Spirit asked the question through David concerning man, both the question and the answer concern Christ. In other words, it’s speaking of the incarnation of Christ. But yet, due to the fact that Christ is “the Man,” it answers for man in general also.
Verse 5 of Psalm 8 was translated, “For You have made him a little lower than the angels.” It should have been translated, “You have made him a little lower than the Godhead.” The Hebrew word translated angels is Elohim and means “God.”
As well, God gave man a form of creative powers. While he is not able to create out of nothing as God can do, still, he is able to take that which God has already made and fashion it into many and varied things. In this, he is given a sense of autonomy and independence, which angels do not seem to have. Therefore, being made or created a little lower than God (Elohim), he is greater than the angels, etc.
As well, the pronoun us proclaims the Trinity, even as the word God, i.e., “Elohim.”
Regarding the creation of man, a divine counsel was called, which consisted of the three persons of the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. When man was made, he was to be dedicated to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In fact, it is into that great name that we are baptized, for to that great name we owe our being.
Matthew Henry says, “The three persons of the sacred Trinity at first concurred in counsel and operation in forming man, as afterwards in his recovery from the fall.”
A Great Difference
All of this indicates that there is a great difference between man and all other creatures. Man has much in common with the animals that live with him, eat the same food, and sleep and rest as he does, but here Moses shows that man is a creature that excels all animals.
Then, going to the other end of the spectrum, the Scripture tells us that man will judge angels (I Cor. 6:3).
Of all the things that God has created, as far as we know, man is His last creation. This was done on the sixth day of the bringing of the earth back to a habitable state.
Let’s review:
- Day one: God dispelled the darkness with light.
- Day two: God brought about the firmament, which separated the water, by putting some on earth and some in the clouds and creating an expanse between the two.
- Day three: God made the seas and continents of dry land, and plant life was restored.
- Day four: God regulated the sun, moon, and stars.
- Day five: sea life and bird life were brought forth.
- Day six: animal life was created, and then man was created.
- Day seven: God rested on this day, signifying the rest that we have in Christ.
The Creation Of Man
It is true that man’s body was formed out of the dust, and thus, it is the same as the forms of the mineral, vegetable, and animal creations.
In fact, as Oken says, the whole animal world is repeated and represented in man. One might even say that the animal kingdom is man broken up into fragments.
However, human nature is not to be despised, for though the human body takes all nature into it, it does so to make it a temple for the worship and service of God. That God designed such a view of the human frame is evident from the fact of the incarnation. Jesus entered the human body and purified it for His indwelling, making it, in a sense, a palace for the divine glory and a shrine for the divine worship.
Concerning the human body, Paul said: “Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God (human body) is holy, which temple you are” (I Cor. 3:16–17).
In fact, Jesus was the first one to refer to the human body as a temple of God. He said, “Destroy this temple (speaking of Himself), and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn. 2:19–21).
While it is admitted that the human body is the weakest link in the makeup of man regarding spirit, soul, and body, still, the Holy Spirit through Paul told us to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1).
Paul also said that we are “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body,” which refers to the coming resurrection when the human body will then be glorified (Rom. 8:23).
The human body is the weakest link, at least at the present, simply because it has been greatly weakened by the fall. Where man, before the fall, was intended to be guided by his spirit, which was in constant communion with God, because of the fall, he is now guided by the senses (five senses). Due to human nature being corrupted through the fall, every bent of the senses is toward sin. In fact, the sin nature controls unredeemed man. (The sin nature is human nature corrupted.)
Upon coming to Christ, everything changes, with the person becoming a new creation (II Cor. 5:17). The spirit of man is once again in contact with the Spirit of God. In fact, the Holy Spirit literally comes into the human body and mind, making it His temple, as we’ve already stated (I Cor. 3:16).
But yet, the sin nature remains in the believer, even as Paul explains in Romans, Chapter 6. Due to being born again, we are dead to the sin nature, but it doesn’t say that the sin nature itself is dead. In fact, it is very much alive, and due to the fact that it is very much alive, this is where the problem commences.
This article is an excerpt from the book 'The Fall Of Man' by Jimmy Swaggart.
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