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 Sermon > Genesis Lectures |
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Title |
Lecture on Genesis Ver.2(42) - The Creation - The Sixth Day - Part II |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Genesis 1:26-27 |
Date |
2010-07-30 |
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Scripture
Genesis 1:26-27
[26] Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
[27] God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
This is the 42nd Lecture on Genesis.
I will tell you now about the creation of man, which is the highlight of the 6 Days of Creation.
The creation of man is mentioned again in Genesis Chapter 2.
So, I will tell you about it based on what the recorded scripture for today says.
God said in Genesis 1:26, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness."
And Genesis 1:27 says, "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."
Here, "Us" refer to God the Trinity; God the Father, God the Holy Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
The main agent of Creation is God the Father. However, the Bible here clearly indicates that God the Son and God the Holy Spirit also participated into the works of Creation.
Job 38:7 also says, "[when God laid the foundation of the earth] the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy."
"The morning stars" in this verse refer to the Archangels Lucia and Luciel, and "the sons of God" refer to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Also, John 1:10 says, "…the world was made through Him (God the Holy Son)."
Likewise, God the Trinity - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit - accomplished the all the works of Creation together.
Therefore, They surely worked together when man was created, which was the most important work in Creation.
When God the Trinity created man, They did it "in Their image and according to Their likeness."
I told you that God the Origin existed in the original space as in the form of light that contained the sound.
At a certain point of time, He cohered in the vertex of the spiritual realm.
From this one light, two more lights were separated, and They became 3 lights in total.
Each of 3 lights put on a form and They became God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
In the images and likenesses that God the Trinity put on at this moment, God the Trinity created man.
In other words, it was the image of man that God the Trinity put on when They put on a form.
It was the image of man - a head on the top, a torso underneath the head, two arms and two hand attached, and standing with two legs.
"Why didn't God put on a form which might seem more Godly?" Isn't there anyone among you who might think like this?
The reason God the Trinity put on the same image as a man is that this image is the most beautiful.
As you may see on screen now, you can notice the image of man is more beautiful than an image of any animals.
I told you that the reason God created man was to get true children.
Now, a father and his children should resemble each other.
That is why when God created man in His own image.
Another reason God created man is that God wants to receive His children's praise.
It is just as Isaiah 43:21 says, "The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise."
Man's body has the best structure to give praises to God.
It has a mouth that is best to open in giving praises, and it has hands that are best to lift in giving glory to God.
It also has 2 legs that are best suited to dancing in giving glory to God. This is why image of God and man have this same structure.
God knew that man is most beautiful when in this image, and He put on the image for Himself first.
If man had the image of an animal which moves about on 4 legs, it would not look beautiful when it sings praises dancing with such a body.
Only in the image of man, which has a body with 2 hands and ability to move about freely while standing on 2 feet, can he express the various movements beautifully.
And, no matter how beautiful the sound that a bird can make, the bird cannot sing praises to God just as man does with various words and melody.
In addition, thanks to his current image, man can easily look up at the sky.
God made the body structure so that man can always seek after God and think of God in Heaven.
God formed man's neck in such a way that he can easily look all round and both up and down
In this way man can gaze at the blue sky and look up at the sun and stars.
Man can see the coming and going of clouds, beautiful rainbows, and dragonflies that descend far from the sky.
Now, do any animals look up at the sky in the same way that man does?
They don't see that a rainbow is up there, and they don't see where the clouds go.
They don't need to know, and they don't care.
Since animals crawl about on 4 legs, it's easier form them to look down at the ground than up at the sky.
They always wander seeking something for food.
That's why God says in Colossians 3:2, "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth."
Man was created to look up at the sky, to set his mind on the things above, and to seek for the things above.
Therefore, man should not look at or seek for the things on earth.
Likewise, the structure of man was created differently from that of animals.
You can see that animals are in lower dimension than man even from the body structure.
It shows that all the animals are under the feet of man.
By the way, God did give the birds wings that men don't have.
But it doesn't mean a bird is in a higher dimension than man.
Even though birds have wings, man rules them.
Then, what is the reason God gave wings to birds and let them fly in the air?
When man sees a bird flying in the air, God the Father wanted man to overcome the limits of the fleshly space.
Even though God created man to set 2 feet on the ground, He wanted man to realize there is another world that is different from this fleshly world.
Why did God give wings to angels that already had hands and feet?
Through angels that can both walk ad fly, God shows that there is God who can do anything.
By creating man without the ability to fly, God made them realize they are the beings under God.
Angels appear better than man outwardly, but they are no better than man because they don't have humanity and free will.
God created all things like this in justice according to an order
Dear brothers and sisters.
When God created man, He didn't make man to resemble only the outward image of God.
God not only formed the outer-shell of man, but He blew into this shell the substance of God which is God's spirit.
Genesis 2:7 says, "Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."
In this verse, 'the breath of life' means 'the original power of God.'
As God breathed this breath of life into the nostrils of man that God created of dust from the ground, man became 'a living being.'
The first man, Adam, was not a fleshly being, but a living being, 'a living spirit.'
I explained before that the children Adam gave birth to in the Garden of Eden automatically inherited this breath of life.
As Adam was driven out to the earth, however, most of his breath-of-life was withdrawn from him, and only its trace was left in the form of a small seed.
Therefore, unlike his descendants in the Garden of Eden, Adam's descendants on earth cannot inherit the breath of life.
For this reason, in the 6th month of their conception God plants the spirit into Adam's children and descendants who have been born on earth.
To be exact, God plants the spirit which contains the seed of life into a cell in the heart of the fetus.
Therefore, the spirit which has been given not only to Adam but also all his descendants is actually given by God.
I'll get back to this with greater details in Genesis Chapter 2.
What you should remember is that man's outer appearance resembles the image of God, and his spirit, (the eternal part) at his very core, also comes from God.
Therefore, you should understand how precious you are.
Psalm 82:6 says, "I said, "You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High.""
However, many people have lost this image of the Holy God.
It is because they are born with the original sin, and it is also because they have self committed sin.
1 John 3:8 says, "The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning."
The enemy devil and Satan incites people to commit sin by any means possible so that they might lose the image of God.
And they lead people to resemble them instead; they lead them to resemble the spirits of the darkness.
Now, 1 John 3:8 continues to say, "The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil."
The reason Jesus, the Son of God, came to this earth is to prevent people who were created after the image of God from resembling the devil.
The reason is also to allow for them to be forgiven of their sins and to let them become the children of God.
By becoming an atoning sacrifice Himself, Jesus redeemed all sinners from their sin.
And then the Holy Spirit is able to enter into the heart of people who accept Jesus Christ so that they can recover the (lost) image of God.
For this, Galatians 4:6-7 says, "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God."
God the Father wants to give His inheritance to all the people.
That's why He sacrificed His only begotten Son, Jesus, and He also sent the Holy Spirit.
God Himself gave His great love to sinners so that they could receive an eternal life and enter into Heaven.
In Galatians 4:19, Apostle Paul said, "My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you."
As a shepherd, I myself do my very best to help you resemble God the Father and the Lord.
One of the reasons I have been through the spiritual trainings to manifest the greater level of God's power is that I want you to possess perfect faith by witnessing through such power of God.
Therefore, I urge you recover the image of God completely to accomplish the whole spirit.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:8, ""For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."
I hope that you will regain the lost image of God and completely recover it.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you may inherit New Jerusalem in the heavenly kingdom from God the Father.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
So far, I explained the fact that God the Trinity created man from their own image of God.
Genesis 1:27 says, "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."
You may be confused from this verse that God created male and female at the same time.
But as you read Genesis Chapter 2, you can clearly understand God didn't create male and female at the same time.
God made the male, Adam, first, and He formed Eve from the rib that He took from Adam.
What Genesis 1:27 means is this; both male and female were created in the image of God.
Of course, a male and female have physical differences from each other, but they share the same basic frame- the image of man.
This basic image was taken from the image of God.
I will explain in great detail how God formed Eve from Adam's rib as we get to Genesis Chapter 2.
Dear brothers and sisters.
Today's scripture, which describes the creation of man on the 6th Day, contains many implications.
All they are all explained in Genesis Chapter 2.
Contents of Genesis Chapter 2 cover not only the creation works on the 6th Day, but also the creation of the Garden of Eden.
Let me put the things about the Garden of Eden aside for now, but I will briefly illustrate what the Bible says based on today's scripture.
On the 6th Day, God created Adam on earth, but He didn't let Adam live on this earth.
He took Adam and put him into the Garden of Eden which is located in the second heaven.
Do you remember on which day of Creation God created the Garden of Eden in the second heaven?
On the 2nd Day of Creation when an expanse was created in the midst of the waters, the Garden of Eden was created in the space of the second heaven.
And God made the waters above the expanse become the source of the river in the Garden of Eden.
Adam was 'a living being,' - a living spirit who was full of God's breath of life.
The suitable space for such Adam was preferably the spiritual space in the second heaven over this physical fleshly space.
Though the living environment in the Garden of Eden is similar to that on earth, no animals or plants in the Garden of Eden die because it is a spiritual world.
On the other hand, the plants and animals which are created on earth die at the end of their life span according to the order of the flesh.
While Adam lived in the Garden of Eden, the living things on earth, which is a fleshly space, lived according to the order of the flesh (physical Law).
Of course, the animals in those days ate of the grass and drank the water, but they didn't eat other animals.
Since they were not evil, they didn't kill other animals, either.
However, according to the order and principle of the flesh, they died at the end of their lifespan, and their dead body decayed through the works of microorganisms, and the returned to the ground.
Such death of both animals and plants has nothing to do with the law of the spiritual realm, which dictates, "the wage of sin is death."
There's no point in discussing the sin of animals or plants, but it was before the earth was cursed.
Therefore, no animals or plants had evil attributes.
Since the earth was ruled by the law of the flesh, animals and plants died at the end of their lifespan.
On the other hand, Adam was created of dust from the ground, but he had no sin and he was a living being, and thus he had nothing to do with the law of the flesh.
This was the reason God didn't leave Adam to live along with other living things on earth which was dictated by the law of the flesh.
God led Adam into the Garden of Eden, which is a spiritual space in the second heaven.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
Why did God create Adam as a living being and lead him into the Garden of Eden?
In order to get true children through Adam, God had to have Adam go through the process of human cultivation.
God had to allow Adam to experience suffering, pain and sorrow while living on earth, the fleshly space.
Only then could he become a being who could appreciate true happiness.
For example, those who suffered from diseases can earnestly realize the importance of health.
For Adam to become a true child of God, while he lived in the fleshly space he had to experience a sense of relativity.
Only then, could he understand the heart of God, give thanks to God for what God had given him and truly love God.
This fact is best understood by God the Father.
God's desire to get true children was very great.
Then, why didn't God cause Adam to be cultivated on earth right after He created him, but lead him into the
Garden of Eden first?
It was all because of the love of God the Father.
What was it that God felt when He looked at the first man, Adam?
It was Adam who was created in the image of God to exactly resemble God.
Just as people say, "My son is the apple of my eye," Adam was such a lovely being to God.
Moreover, God the Father suffered greatly in His heart because He was betrayed by Lucifer to whom He gave great love.
To such God the Father, Adam, who was created delicately in the image of God Himself, was so beautiful and lovely.
God wanted to give Adam His love, and He wanted to be loved by Adam in return as well.
He wanted to be consoled by Adam, and He wanted to receive peace and rest while watching him.
Near God the Father were countless angels and cherubim that knew nothing but obedience.
What God truly wanted, however, was the love and comfort from Adam whom God created in His own image.
He wanted to receive praises from Adam, and He wanted to heal the wound of His heart which was resulted from Lucifer's betrayal and to fill the emptiness of His heart by freely communicating with Adam.
Since God the Father created Adam in such expectation and love, how could He let him live on earth right after He created him?
Even the fleshly parents don't let go of their children to go out into the world right away.
They let them go after they raise them with love and teach them in earnest.
God knew so well about the human cultivation which Adam would soon go through on earth.
Adam would experience such tough and hard times as sorrow, pain, suffering, diseases, separation, and death during the period of human cultivation.
When Adam was created, he didn't know anything about the fleshly world where he would be cultivated.
Even though he already had a look of a grown-up, he was like a child without any knowledge.
How could God the Father let Adam live in the fleshly space right away?
To get true children, Adam would have to be driven out of Eden and down to the earth where he would undergo human cultivation in the future. But, God didn't cause it to happen by force.
God first led Adam into the Garden of Eden, taught him many things, and gave him such great authority and power.
God allowed Adam to enjoy many things as he was worthy of man who was created in the image of God.
Now, what authority and power did God give to Adam? I will explain it in the next lecture.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
I explained today how God created man in His own image.
Man received from God not only the outward image, but also the spirit, which is the eternal part at his very core.
This 'spirit' that God gives never becomes extinct.
Even if the body of man perishes, the spirit that is given to each man never disappears.
That's why those who are not saved are thrown into the unquenchable fire of Hell.
On the other hand, those who are forgiven of sins to be united with the Holy Spirit by believing in Jesus Christ; they are to be saved and to go to Heaven to live an eternal life.
Moreover, the eternal dwelling place in heaven is decided by how much a man recovers the lost image of God, and how much man resembles the heart of God.
Through this Genesis Lecture, you've heard how earnestly God prepared for the human cultivation.
May you accomplish the heart of the whole spirit and perfectly resemble the Father to become His true child, and also come out as a precious fruit of the human cultivation, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray!
[Amen!] |
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