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Chosen no: R-5140 a, from: 1912 Year. |
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"God Created Man In His Own Image"
--JANUARY
12.--GENESIS 1:26-2:25; PSALM 8.--
HOW DIFFERENT the statement respecting man's
creation from that describing the creation of plants and the lower animals
which the seas and the earth brought forth! Man's creation was premeditated. In
advance, God designed man to be the king over the Earth, having dominion over
fish and fowl and beasts, even as his Creator has the supreme dominion of the
Universe. He was to be his Creator's image, not in physical form, but in moral
and intellectual qualities. He was not to be of the Divine nature, but of human
nature-- a fleshly being resembling his Creator, a Spirit Being. This intention
of Deity was fully carried out in man's creation. As we read, "God created
man in His own image; in the image of God created He him; male and female
created he them." Not a word here can be construed as in any sense
implying the evolution of man from the lower creatures.
A FALL, NOT AN EVOLUTION
So far from teaching an evolution, the Bible
teaches the very reverse, both in the Old and in the New Testament. St. Paul declares, By one
man's disobedience sin entered into the world, and death as the result of sin. Thus
death passed upon all men, because all are sinners. (Romans
5:12.) The Prophet David refers to this fallen condition and queries
respecting God's mercy in providing for man a redemption and restoration to
Divine favor, saying, "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4.) He then proceeds briefly to picture
man's glorious condition before he fell, saying, "Thou madest him a little
lower than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory and honor and didst set him
over the works of Thy hands." Later he describes man's dominion as related
to beasts of the field, fowl of the air and fish of the sea.
In a word, the Bible represents man as the
crowning masterpiece of mundane creation. The seal of God's Word is set to this
in the statement that God pronounced him "very good." This is also
implied in the statement that God created him in His image, for the Scriptures
declare, "All His work is perfect." Nor could we for a moment esteem
it just or right that any but a perfect being should be placed on trial for
life or death everlasting.
NOT TWO CREATION ACCOUNTS
Higher Critics, anxious to discredit the Bible,
claim that the Second Chapter of Genesis is another account of the whole
creation written by a different person. They claim that it gives a different
order of creation, showing man created first, and then trees, beasts, etc. To
us this is all foolishness. Moses, having described creation in its logical
order, merely emphasizes and particularizes some of his previous statements.
He declares (Genesis
2:4) that he has already described the generation or developments of
things heavenly and earthly from the beginning, before there was any plant
life. Incidentally he mentions that at that time there was no rain--before the
flood. He again assures us that man was God's last creation, to be the king or
supervisor of earth. Then, much to our satisfaction, Moses proceeds to give an
account of the specialty of man's creation, so different from that of the lower
animals and vegetation. He was not evolved, but was God's handiwork. He
was not spirit, but flesh, formed of the dust of the ground. But still
he had the spirit of life common to all the lower creatures, of whom he was the
head or king. The Hebrew reads, literally, "In his nostrils the breath of
lives"--the breath or spirit of life common to all breathing creatures.
Then a description of Eden follows, how God particularly supervised
its preparation as the home of the king of earth, in which God placed him. Nothing
in this implies that Eden
was made after Adam's creation. On the contrary, we have already been informed
that God's creative work ceased with the production of Mother Eve, and that
since then He has rested or desisted from further mundane creation--leaving to
His glorious Son, Messiah, the work of human redemption and restitution.-- Acts 3:19-21. [R5141 :
page 373]
When we read (V. 19) that all
animals that God had previously created were named by Adam, it would be foolish
for us to suppose that the animals were a subsequent creation. This bringing of
all creatures to Adam's attention implies his mastery of them all and leads up
to the statement that in none of them was he able to find fellowship and
companionship. God wished him to realize the need of a companion and wife
before providing her.
MAN ORIGINALLY SEXLESS
The details of human creation imply that Adam
lived in Eden
some time alone and sexless. Some Bible students infer from the chronology that
it was about two years from the time of Adam's creation until the expulsion
from Eden under
the death sentence. The cause for the division of Adam into two persons is
stated; the earth was to be filled, populated with a race of his species, and
amongst all the creatures none was suitable as a companion for him or fit to be
his mate, and the mother of an offspring in his likeness.
Thus again is shown that Adam was distinctly
different from apes and monkeys, and all the other creatures placed under his
control. He was in the likeness of his Creator. Other Scriptures show us that
after the earth shall have been filled with a population, it is the Divine
purpose that the sex quality in humanity shall be dropped. Jesus' words are,
"They that shall attain unto that Age (of perfection--future) will neither
marry nor be given in marriage, but be like the angels of
Heaven"--sexless. See Luke 20:34-36.
The division of Adam into two parts, male and
female, left the headship with the male, but deprived him of some of his
sympathetic qualities. His wife, predominating in the sympathetic tendencies,
had in her perfection less of the masculine and aggressive traits; but the two
were perfectly adapted to each other's needs and fulfilled each other's ideals.
The fall from God's favor has affected [R5141 : page
374] both sexes and has disturbed the original balance and harmony,
producing extremes of coarseness and effeminacy, destroying perfection and
robbing the marriage relationship of much of its ideal happiness.
The Restitution or resurrection of the willing
and obedient, to be brought about by Messiah's Kingdom, will not mean the
restoration of sex perfections, but rather the gradual perfecting of each
individual in the image and likeness of God in personal completeness, such as
Adam possessed before his division.
The sex attractions having passed away, man will
not be alone, as Adam was originally; for the earth will be full of human
brethren, all in the image of God and in fullest fellowship of spirit, enjoying
the world-wide Eden.
Such a condition of things can be appreciated only as we take the Divine
standpoint and realize the superior perfection of God and the angels in their
sexless condition-- though always spoken of as masculine.
"BY ONE MAN'S
DISOBEDIENCE"
Note the consistency of the Bible theory which
necessitated the division of one man into male and female. God purposed that
the entire race must proceed from the one man. He foresaw sin and how He would permit
it to flourish, and how He would provide for man's recovery. If two or more
separate individuals had sinned and involved the race, it would have required
just as many redeemers, according to the Divine Law, "An eye for an eye, a
tooth for a tooth," a man's life for a man's life. (Deut.
19:21.) Because God from the beginning intended only one Lamb of God,
one glorious Redeemer, therefore the entire race sprang from the one man Adam,
that "as by a man came death, by a man" should come "the
resurrection of the dead."--I Cor. 15:21.
SECOND ADAM AND SECOND EVE
We should not forget that Adam and Eve in some
respects foreshadowed Christ and the Church. Jesus personally is the great
Savior of mankind, whose death constitutes the Ransom-price for the sins of
Adam and the entire race. He is to be the Great Life-Giver, or Father of
mankind. During His Millennial Reign He will give back earthly life to Adam and
as many of his race as will receive it--raising them gradually, more and more,
out of sin and death conditions, up to perfection during that thousand
years,--"the times of refreshing that shall come from the presence of the
Lord,... the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the
mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." (Acts
3:19 to 21.) This will be the glorious work of regenerating the
world,--"whosoever will" may then drink the water of life freely.
But before beginning His work of regenerating
the world, God has arranged that first from the wound in Christ's
side, figuratively, an Elect
Church shall be formed to
be His companion and joint-heir in His Kingdom-- the second Eve, on the spirit
plane, as He, the Heavenly One, is the Second Adam.
The Church will not be the Life-Giver or Father,
but she will be the mother, or care-taker of the regenerated hosts of humanity
during the Millennium. Under her care the willing and obedient will retain the
image of God in the flesh.
W.T. R-5140a : page 374 -1 912r