Ultimate Creature


Genesis 1:26-31
26Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28And God blessed them. And God said to them, “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.”
29And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.
30And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

In His unquestionable wisdom, God saved the best for last. After placing the stars in the heavens, causing the earth to form and be covered in vegetation, lakes, and seas; after filling the air with birds and the waters with swimming creatures; after designing utterly fantastic animals to wander the land God forms His ultimate creation. He makes Adam and Eve. This final creation bears a unique marker. This creation is in God’s own image.

Being made in the image of God is a big concept; one that I’m not entirely sure we can completely grasp. Many illustrations have been passed around along the way, so I’ll share a couple of them so that we can at least get our arms around this idea, even if only to a small extent. Think of a radio. Somewhere, a person sits in a control room sharing the news or playing songs. Those words and music head out across the atmosphere and are picked up by your radio and you then hear what it being broadcast. That radio is merely reflecting what is happening somewhere else. It creates an image of the music for the listener. Another illustration is what happens with the sun and moon. As we know, the moon does not generate any light by itself, but to look at it, one might think that it is generating light. Instead it is merely reflecting the light of the sun onto the planet. It is sharing the image of the sun’s light with us.

To say that we are created in God’s image is to say that we reflect His light. We display His love, grace, mercy, and kindness. We are who we are because of Him. We are His children so we display His character and shine with His love – both to others and back to Him. In truth, this probably just scratches the surface of what it means to be made in God’s image. It’s one of those things that is I believe is going to expand exponentially when we finally get to see Him face to face.

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