This week as we continue our study of Genesis 1 and 2, we pause to consider what it means to be created in the image of God. In our culture, image really can be everything to many people. A family name, the brands they buy, or the places they go are just some of the things that people use to project the image they desire. As we turn to Genesis 1:26-28, the light of God’s word dispels the shadowy images that we give ourselves and it reveals our true image. We are created in God’s image; we are created for the purpose of ruling over creation.

We see that we are created for the purpose of ruling in several ways. First, a correct understanding of what it means to be created in God’s image requires an understanding of who God is revealed to be in Genesis 1:1-2:3. God brings creation out of nothing and sustains it by the power of His word. He separates and wisely orders the elements of his creation exercising dominion over what He has made. When God makes man in His image, He sets him over creation to exercise dominion. Second, Genesis 1:26-28 says that God creates man for the purpose of ruling and subduing creation. God creates mankind as male and female, and through their union they are to fill the earth and subdue it. Third, in Genesis 2, God places man in the Garden. Man is to work in the garden and expand its borders. Also, he exercises dominion over creation by naming the creatures that God brings to him.

Though Adam was created in God’s image, we soon learn that this does not mean that he could not fall from the place God had given him. In Genesis 3, Adam fails to exercise dominion over creation, and the serpent, one of the creeping things that Adam should rule over, tempts Eve. When Adam and Eve sin against God, man’s true image is marred. The tragedy of the fall and the curse that it brings permeates everything from this point in scripture, but that is not all. There is also a blessing and a promise in the midst of the tragedy. There will be one who will restore order to creation, one who will be the true image of God.

As the genealogies of the Old Testament unfold, a hopeful thought remains in the background, “Is this the one who will crush the serpents head, and restore order to creation.” Thankfully, we live in a time when mankind’s hopes have been met, because in Matthew 1 the genealogy closes with these words, “of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” Jesus is the last Adam and the one who was promised. He came to restore order, setting man free from the bondage of sin in order to restore man to his place as the true image of God. In short, He makes us human again. Because humans were created to be God’s vice-regents on earth, they are to be enslaved by nothing. Yet apart from Christ, man is in bondage to sin. Jesus makes us truly human again in that he frees us from our bondage to sin and enables us to obey.

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, let us consider that he perfectly imaged God and set us free from sin and the shifting images that we desire to project for ourselves so that we can be who we really are meant to be. We are sons and daughters of God, created in His image to rule over creation for the glory of God.

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” ~ 1 John 3:2 ESV

Audio from this week’s lesson: Genesis - Created in the Image of God

- TWM