Re: Things To Know
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The Image And Likeness Of God
● Gen 1:26a . . And God said: Let us make Man in our image, after our likeness.
Because of the terms "image and likeness" there are some who believe that man's creator is a human being; or at least resembles one. But according to Christ, creation's master mind is non physical.
"God is spirit" (John 4:24)
According to Luke 24:36-39, spirit isn't solid.
Moses warned Yhvh's people to avoid making any kind of mannequin, figurine, totem pole, or statue representing God since no one has any true concept of what creation's God actually looks like in person. (Ex 4:10-19)
There exists absolutely nothing in nature physically resembling its creator; except maybe the air in front of your face-- neither Man, nor beast, nor plant, nor bird, nor bug, nor reptile nor anything out in the void (Rom 1:21-23). Concepts that portray the supreme being in human form are purely fantasy. (Rom 1:25)
● Gen 1:26b . . let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.
Humanity's right to dominate the earth is where we find at least a portion of its image and likeness of God. In other words: Man's image and likeness of God takes into consideration sovereignty, power, control, and authority. (cf. Gen 44:18)
The word for "rule" is from radah (raw-daw') and means: to tread down, i.e. subjugate; specifically: to crumble off.
I saw a pretty interesting bumper sticker some time ago that went like this:
We are not above the Earth;
We are of the Earth.
Well . . I respect the Native American cultural feelings behind that statement; but the cosmos' designer and builder decreed that though Man is of the earth; he is very definitely above it too, and has the God-given right to subjugate every living thing on the planet including its forests, its grasses, its rivers, its seas, its soil, its rocks, its air, its minerals, its mountains, its valleys, and even its tectonic plates and the earth's very atmosphere itself. And that's not the end of it. According to Heb 2:8, humanity is on track to take control of even more.
Another aspect of humanity's image and likeness of God is immortality.
● Ex 3:13-14 . . Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am that I am: and He said; thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, "I AM" hath sent me unto you.
In other words: God always was, He always is, and He always shall be.
Although it could never be said of humanity that it always was, in the beginning it could at least be said that humanity always is and always shall be; because according to Gen 3:22, the human body was meant to continue indefinitely.
God created all manner of living things in swarms and herds and flocks; no doubt to keep their numbers up because they weren't apportioned the tree of life for nourishment. It was located in the garden of Eden; to my knowledge, the tree was located nowhere else on Earth. In addition; the Hebrew word for "garden" indicates it was walled; probably to keep out foraging animals. In point of fact, I seriously doubt that the tree of life would've helped extend the life span of non human creatures even had they eaten from it; viz: the tree of life was strictly human food: a sort of ambrosia, so to speak.
● Ps 82:6 . . I said: You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.
Humanity is as close to divine as a creature can possibly get.
● Ps 8:4-8 . .What is man, that thou dost take thought of him? And the son of man, that thou dost care for him? Yet thou hast made him a little lower than God, and dost crown him with glory and majesty! Thou dost make him to rule over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
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