God created man in His own image. Now God is not a flesh and blood being. He is the only immortal and eternal being with no beginning of days or end of life. The image of God is not physical, but rather spiritual. Man is created to be like God in how God is and who He is. He is Creator, Savior and Sustainer. He is love. We as humans, desire to reproduce ourselves because God is reproducing Himself in us. We protect our children because God first protected us and instilled that as part of our image or profile. Parents will give their own lives to save their children because God made this a strong instinctive character trait as strong as His own desire. But we are ahead of ourselves. Why did God create man in the first place? Simply, God wanted someone to talk to!
Genesis 1:26 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.
NOTE: The word; ”us,” refers to angelic spirit beings that also possess the ability to reason; to think. As we will see later, that though these beings were created first, they never were to be given an inheritance, they were created to be ministering spirits to the children who would be heirs to the promises of God.
Every living thing needs attention and interaction. We have an instinctive, God given need; to live in community. It is part of the secret of life. We presume that this is only true for human beings. Yet neglect a pet dog, by leaving it at home while you work sixteen hours a day, and then party with friends, the rest of your non working hours; and your dog will soon get sick and possibly die from neglect of your attention. Most people who have the proverbial, “green thumb,” who love to garden; will tell you that one of the most beneficial things you can do for your plants is to talk to them! This is true. No they are not ready for the insane asylum. It’s been proven scientifically! But it goes even further. Psychologists did a study where they took three bowls of white cooked rice (now these must have been dead; right?) and they had 100 people pass by the three bowls every day for a week. To bowl one, they said, “I love you.” To bowl two, they said, “I hate you.” To bowl three, they said nothing. Two weeks later the final results were observed. The bowl that received love turned a golden brown, went to the next state of preservation and fermented. The bowl that received hate; turn black, rotted and stank. The bowl that received neglect rotted and stank twice as fast. The study was done using cooked rice because cooked rice is two thirds water. Another experiment was done freezing water with parallel results. Water that received love; froze forming beautiful crystals and wonderfully formed geometric shapes; the water that received hate; froze forming angry looking, jagged and irregular shapes. The water that received neglect looked angry and jagged to a greater intensity. Jesus Christ equated water to His Holy Spirit and Eternal Life.
John 7:37-38 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (38) He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Revelation 22:1-2 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. (2) In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
So why are we starting this discussion about, “The Beginning,” with this analogy of; love to life and water to life? Because we know from scripture, that all life comes from God. Science has proven that human beings contain between 55 and 78 percent water. Obviously, life is contained in water. Eternal life is contained in our spirit or soul; that lives on beyond the physical container, we call our body.
We must start at the beginning. Most people would think that the beginning of the story starts in Genesis; the first book and chapter of the Bible that states, “In the beginning.” However, the real beginning is found in the Gospel of John.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
There was a time when there was nothing and no one but God. He was a voice; who was ever present (omnipresent), all knowing (omniscient) and all powerful (omnipotent). Everything was created by God.
John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In God’s voice is the power to speak into existence.
Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Imagine a man who starts a business with his own labor (like God). As the business grows, he adds employees to the business to help him (like angels). Once he has employees or servants, he can speak his desires and his servants fulfill them (just like God and His angels). At some point, the man would like to take a bride and start a family with children. The bride needs to be his perfect complement. He needs to find someone at his level; for the marriage to be successful. He is looking for someone with whom to share life and to love. She needs to be someone like him whom he can trust, who has the same character as he; with a personality that would distinguish her. Every man, if he had enough resources; would search the world over to find that one perfect woman to be his wife. It would be his children who would become the heir of his life and of his wealth, not his servants (just like God makes his children heirs; not the servant angels).
The story of why God created man in the first place is the story of the Bible. The fundamental answer is that God is first looking for a bride and then together, they are going to populate the universe into eternity as they add children. Jesus has called many; but only the few will make up His bride.
Matthew 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
We know that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh from the Gospel of John that the WORD, God became flesh or in other words, became a man, a fleshly human being and lived among us.
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Furthermore, the Gospel of John records; that John the Baptist pointed out Jesus, and called Him the Lamb of God; who takes away the sin of the world.
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
The book of Revelation, written by the same writer as the Gospel of John shares the vision about the marriage of the Lamb (Jesus Christ).
Revelation 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb will take place at the return of Jesus Christ, an event that every Christian looks forward to with all hope and expectation. At Christ’s return, in the moment and the twinkling of an eye we will be changed from mortal to immortal. We shall rise to meet Jesus in the air as He returns to straighten out the entire earth and restore the Government of God on earth once and for all. But now we are way ahead of the story. Suffice it to say, that God wanted to share His eternal existence with individuals of Godly Character with whom He could live in community for all eternity.
Prayer: Father in Heaven, open my eyes to your wondrous plan for mankind. Open my heart to your love and let your love live in and through me; in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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