The never-ending experiment… (pt 3)
Updated in July
Many people aren’t ready to face the truth. But just because you’re not ready doesn’t make it disappear. Understand this: your life is far beyond what you can physically see. Though, your time on earth is temporary, it’s crucial that you recognize your purpose and live within that purpose. Once you fully accept who you are, then you can begin to live life for that purpose. Acceptance of who you are doesn’t come from the world, but it comes from the Source of Life. To do this, you must understand the divine order of creation and then the purpose for which you were created.
Let’s look at the order of creation as revealed in Genesis 1 and 2:1-3. In the beginning, God created and spoke things into existence, and with each act of creation, He declared it good. In six days, God created the heavens and earth out of nothing. He spoke light into existence that separated day and night; next, the expanse of Heaven, separating the waters; then the dry land called earth, the seas, then the vegetation; then He created the two great lights—the sun and the moon—to define the passing of time along with stars; then came the various creatures to occupy the sky, waters, and land; finally, humanity. On the seventh day, God rested —not out of weariness from labor, but we learn from Scripture that He finished the work He had done (Genesis 2:2). From this foundational account alone, I want to highlight two things:
1) Divine Order: God created everything in a precise order that involves structure and purpose, allowing humanity, His image bearers, to live in His blessing: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). It is in this divine order of creation that we learn of God’s sovereignty, meaning He has ultimate control over all creation.
2) Inherent Goodness and Image: God saw that everything He made was good. This means that His creation was without flaw and lacked nothing; it was perfect. In this aspect, we learn that humanity was set apart from the other creations. God declared, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26a), thus, creating male and female in His image. This signifies that God intended for humanity to mirror His nature. Not for humanity to think that we are God, but to be a representation of Him in intellect, morality, and in relationships. Humanity was designed to lack nothing, because of being made in the image of a perfect God.
Here, we learn that there is a Creator for the created. God is sovereign and perfect. He doesn’t make mistakes and He operates in a divine order in the way things shall be done. Indeed, everything that has been created points to the existence and unchanging character of God.
Once the divine order of creation was established, we go deeper into the specific creation of humanity. Before man’s creation, we learn that no bush or small plants had yet appeared because God had not sent any rain to water the ground, though mist came up from the land. In addition, there was no man to work the ground (Genesis 2:5). God, in recognizing this, used the dust from the ground and formed the man, then He breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, making him a living creature. He then placed the man in the garden of Eden, where he was soon surrounded by every tree that was pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the midst of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God put the man in the garden to work it and maintain it, giving him his first command, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). God then acknowledged that it wasn’t good for the man to be alone and that he needed a suitable helper. With this, He gave the man the responsibility of naming the other creations that were formed from the ground, but no living creature was found suitable to him. So God put the man to sleep, took one of his ribs, and using that rib, He formed the woman. The man and the woman became one flesh under the authority of God.
In these details, we discover the purpose for creation and the source of our true identity. We learn that humanity is fundamentally created to be in relationship with God. We understand this truth when God said, “Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness.” This indicates that the essence of our being comes from God, so the only way we can find true wholeness is through our connection with Him. When God created the world, it was so that it might be His dwelling place. A place where His presence is manifested among His creation, displaying His glory. We learn that man is to cultivate and steward all that God has provided. We learn of God’s direct communication with the man He had formed, giving him his first command to be obeyed. We learn of humanity’s dominion over the animals, and the forming of the woman as a helper to the man—all part of God’s divine order and the way in which things should be done.
This historical account is vital because it reveals the original and unchanging identity and purpose of humanity in the beginning that was established by God. This was to be the blueprint for our existence: belonging to God and bearing His image, inherently good, lacking nothing, and created for intimate relationship with Him and stewardship of His creation. But then, sin entered the world—and there was chaos.
Morgan