Genesis: Day 6
Genesis 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Genesis 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
God said it, and it was so. All land animals and all creeping organisms were brought forth. When God says something it happens. Not once does the Bible record that God said something that failed to come to pass.
The Bible teaches that God has no beginning and He has no end. He is “from everlasting to everlasting.” He has existed eternally before the earth and heaven were created, and He will exist eternally after they are gone. The time span of earth and heaven are but a brief moment in eternity. The eternal realm that God resides in has existed forever and is far greater than the finite universe we live in, and infinitely more real. This world and universe is only a dim reflection of the eternal universe of God. This place is temporary. That place is eternal.
As believers, as sons and daughters of God, we are blessed with the ability to look into those things that are eternal, such as the truth of the eternal word of God. It’s a different world than the earth realm, or the natural realm, or, that is, the realm the Bible refers to as “the things which are seen.”
2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
The Bible says for us to set our mind and attention on eternal things.
Colossians 3:3 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Colossians 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Colossians 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
As believers our focus is on heavenly or eternal things.
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.
Man was made in the image of God, and he was given dominion over all of the creation, over fish, birds, cattle, animals, and creeping things. In some way man is made like God, and most likely looks like Him. Man was set in this world to have dominion, the way that God has dominion.
But there are many men and women in the world. How can all have dominion? The answer is simple; every man has dominion over his own world, his own space. Men were not made to dominate each other, but to have dominion over their individual lives. Men were to have dominion over the creation, not over other men, for they too are made in the image and likeness of God. He said, “let them have dominion”, and that speaks of dominion over the natural world.
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
It says He created them male and female. A man was created, and God took a part of the man out of the man’s body, and from that part he made a woman. But He created them male and female. Another place says He called their name Adam, not his name, but theirs. Adam later called his wife’s name Eve, so Adam gave her the name “Eve”, but God called them Adam.
How is man made in the image of God? Jesus said, “”God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. If, according to Jesus, God is a Spirit, then man who is made in the image of God is also a spirit, and the Bible bears that out to be true in several places. It says the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. So man is a spirit. The Bible says that God opens His hands and meets the need of every creature. It says to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. So then God has hands. The Bible says His eyes run to and fro in the earth, so He has eyes. He has emotions, he has a mind, and He can speak. Men carry similarities to God, because man is made in His likeness, but, on the other hand, the Bible says that God is not a man, that He should lie.
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
God pronounced a blessing over man, and that blessing is still in the earth. Adam separated himself from the blessing of God by sinning. But the blessing is still available to those who have been redeemed, to those who will draw near to God through worship and meditation in His word.
Why was man to have dominion over all other living creatures? He was to have dominion because he was made in the image and likeness of God. Man was to set things in order. Each man was to rule over his own world as God rules over His.
Genesis 1:29 And God said , Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Genesis 1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.