Sermon: Sunday 9^th November, Cole Abbey Presbyterian Church

Genesis #2

Genesis 1:26-31  

Kingdom Roots: “Like Father, Like Son”

Ever since my son was born, people have engaged in a game that I find rather intriguing.

They would look at him, and then at my wife, and then at me, and then back at him. They’d note his blond hair and our dark brown hair, they’d note his blue eyes and my green eyes. They’d compare noses. They’d look at his jowls and mine!

And then I await the verdict. I’m always fascinated by the fact that no two people see my son in the same way. One will saw, ‘Oh, he’s so like his dad.’ And another will flatly contradict them, “No, I see him more like his mother!”, “how can you say that he’s the image of his father’, look at his nose! Look at his mouth! And so it goes on…

Personally I find it hard to identify who gave him his nose and who gave him his mouth; although I rather suspect that I gave him his round little belly!

Nevertheless I have to agree, there is something about my son that identifies him as belonging to my family. There’s a certain something, a family likeness. He bears our image and likeness.

Last Lord’s Day we saw that God was the subject of Genesis One. He is the centre of the Bible’s focus. And the God revealed there is the Sovereign, Creative, and Almighty, Triune Lord who created all things to reflect His own glory, and to provide the theatre for the drama of redemption that would come in Jesus Christ.

This week our focus shifts, from the Almighty Creator, to the climax of His creation, human beings. And as we think together about what the scriptures say about the constitution and responsibility of human beings in Genesis 1:26 ff. we notice above all else that Adam and Eve were made with a family likeness. They are the image of their Father, Almighty God Himself.   God said, vs. 26, “let us make man in our image”

In fact the passage before us tells us about our relationship with the other creatures God has made, our role in the creation, and our character as distinct creatures.

God has been engaged in the six days of creation and has come to the climactic moment, the sixth day. He has made land animals of all kinds and seen that it was good, vs. 24-25.  Now, God turns to crown His creation by making human beings. And in the record of what follows we are told;

1st.  about our relation to the other creatures; God made us like the animals. 2nd. About our role in the world; God created us as prophets, priests, and kings.  3. We are told about our character as creatures; God created us in His image.

 So first let’s notice our relationship with the other creatures around us.

We are told first that we were made on the same day as the animals.

There is a very real sense in which we share the same category as the great land animals of God’s sixth creative day. We should not be upset by those scientists who point out to us the great similarities that there are between our human physiology and that of the great apes, for example.

That a chimpanzee can be taught sign language and communicate its desires and emotions, causes no difficulties for Christians who take God’s word seriously.

It does not show that we evolved from the apes; it shows that in God’s design we share many of the same animal characteristics.

We are made for this physical world, and there really is nothing remarkable in there being a basic similarity in the design of various animal forms to inhabit this same world. That mammals should have the same basic internal organs, some of which are compatible with each other, allowing incredible advances in medical science is not a cause for concern, but for rejoicing in God. Here, as in everything else He does, God’s wisdom is on display.

It was his wisdom that designed a world that could sustain life in all its variety, and that built into that varied life, a basic sameness. We are all made to inhabit the same planet, and share the same environments, and so humans and animals, quite naturally share the same basic composition.

We were made on the sixth day, with the animals, sharing the same basic physiological make up as many of the animals.

In fact when you look at the more detailed account of the formation of Adam in chapter 2:7 there are two things that support our argument so far.

1st. God formed Adam from “the dust of the ground”.  Adam was moulded from the mud of the earth. When God made human beings he did not create ‘ex nihilo’, he did not cause us to spring into existence with a mere word, as he did the creation of light, for example in 1:3. Instead God took some of the stuff of the earth and made us out of this basic component. Now, when God made the animals He clearly did something similar, “Let the land produce living creatures” 1:24.

2ndly. God breathed life into Adam, and we read, “The man became a living being”. Now these two Hebrew words, living being, are the same words used for the animals in 1:24, let the land produce ‘living creatures’. The Bible does not categorise human beings and animals differently, we are all ‘nephesh hayah’, living creatures.

And these facts really ought to give us a profound sense of humility. Throughout history, the wreckage of one society after another has been presaged by blinding arrogance. As each civilisation advanced in greatness, so grew a sense of the perfection and uniqueness of human beings as lords of the earth.

The ancient Greek and Roman societies thought this way, and were eaten up by corruptions and vices of every kind and overrun by enemies, and eventually fell. Renaissance Europe thought that way, until the corruption of society could sustain itself no longer and a much needed Reformation that shattered Europe and threw it into war began. Enlightenment Britain thought this way as the Victorian empire grew and grew only to come crashing down in the industrial revolution, and eventually in the so called sexual revolution.

We are not the pinnacle of all things; we are intelligent animals, ‘Nephesh hayah’, living creatures. And we have a duty of humility before God to recognise that we are mere creatures of the dust and the work of His hands.

But while Genesis classifies us along with animals, it also distinguishes us.

We are given a unique role that sets us apart from all other creatures in God’s universe.  We are to be prophets, priests and kings.

Here again the manner of our creation is instructive. We were not formed from the animals, in some kind of evolutionary process; we were the subject of a fresh and specific creative work. Having created the animals in Gen 1:24 & 25, God made us, in a new and distinct work from the dust of the earth, chapter 2:7.

We are the subjects of a discreet creative act of God. We are not only like the animals, we are also quite different, and one of the crucial ways in which we are different, is in the specific role we have been created to fulfil, and 1:26 explains that role for us.

 God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish…the birds…the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures”

Now, notice the purpose for which we were created “let them rule over all the earth”.

God’s intention was that human beings would exercise rule over all the earth, like kings.

That rule-function given to us is unpacked in Gen 1 and 2 in various ways.

First, in 1 vs. 28, God commands the newly made Adam and Eve to, “fill the earth and subdue it.” Their obeying that command was of course dependant on their, “going forth and multiplying”. They were commanded to, responsibly, lovingly, produce children who would fill the earth in time, and extend the rule of Human kind.

So one thing is clear, the rule of Adam and Eve was not universal immediately. Adam and Eve did not dominate the earth instantly upon being made. They were to fill the earth and subdue it over time.

They were placed, however, in a specially made environment within which they could begin to exercise that kingly “rule”.

 Look at Genesis 2:8, “Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; there he put the man he had formed.” 

And look at vs. 15, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”

The plan of God was for the earth to be ruled over by Adam, Eve, and their descendants. And He initiated that rule for them, by taking a special sample of the whole earth, a kind of deposit guarantee, a down payment, to the man and his wife of the promise of God, that they’d one day fill the whole earth, and placing them there to begin their ruling function.

The Garden of Eden was a kind of mini-kingdom, a miniature of the eventual possession of the whole earth that God had indicated would be theirs in his command to fill and rule the earth.

And to this microcosm of the earth God brought all the earth’s the animals for Adam to name, in 2:19-20. Now, naming a thing in ancient eastern cultures, was a sign of royal dignity and status. Adam was beginning to fulfil his rule-function in the earth.

 Adam and Eve and their descendants were created to be Kings over creation.

But, not only were they created to be kings, they were also to be priests. .

 In 2:15 we read that they were placed in Eden, this miniature of the world, in order to “work it and take care of it”, or “tend” and “guard” it.

 Now the only other time these two Hebrew words are ever used together again in the Old Testament is in connection with the Levitical priests ‘tending’ and ‘guarding’ the temple sanctuary of God.

Adam’s function and that of the priests in the Old Testament are described in the same language.

 And you’ll note that there is a sanctuary-like character to this garden. The Lord, we know, regularly walked in the garden in the cool of the day, 3:8.  Adam met God in the Garden and His response to those meetings was to tend and guard it.

And so it is quite natural that later in the Old Testament the word used here for the tending of the garden becomes used for the worship of God in the Temple, where Israel met God and responded to that meeting in patterns of service and obedience that God himself had decreed.

 When Israel received its instructions for building a temple many of the emblems of this perfect garden in Eden were to be recreated in the gold and embroidered furnishings with which it was equipped. When Ezekiel saw his vision of the final temple, it was replete with imagery from the Garden.  Israel’s temple was designed to commemorate the original sanctuary where God met with human beings face to face, the Garden of Eden.

So this garden was a kind of Temple and Adam not only has a kingly role, but also a priestly one.

Then thirdly, Adam also has a prophetic role.

He is given the command of God, and he is told which tree he is allowed to eat from, in 2:16. But after the formation of Eve from Adam’s side in 2:22, Satan comes to her and asks her about the precise phrases the Lord used in forbidding the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil. Eve knew in detail what God’s word had been. The Lord’s command had been conveyed to her by her husband. He received the word of God and spoke it to his wife.  Adam has a prophetic role, in receiving and communicating the voice of God.

Now let me simply point out that this is God’s original creative plan for human beings.  And that means that there is a three fold function for which you were created.

First, you were made to be  kings to rule in God’s creation.  And that implies stewardship and responsibility. You were made to tend the earth and guard it.

The cavalier attitude that we so often display to the resources of the world around us simply cannot reflect a Biblical perspective on the proper relationship of human beings to their environment.

We have been invested with a duty of care for the world around us. The way we expend electricity, plant and animal resources, is not a matter of indifference to God. It is rather a mark of our fallen-ness that we wilfully disregard the creation mandates for wise and responsible stewardship of God world.

Secondly, you were made as priests to worship in God’s sanctuary. A fixation with Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is what you are for.

Perhaps today you are visiting for the first time. You are not a committed Christian and it is an all pervading emptiness that has brought you to worship with us today.  There is an inner hollowness in your heart, that, no matter how much you try to drown it out, to exorcise it with hefty doses of self indulgence and pleasure seeking, it consistently calls you to seek something more.

You cannot silence its voice and it demands your attention. That voice is the voice of God in your soul. It is the voice that calls you to fulfil the purpose for which you were made. It calls you to bend the knee to Him, as He is uniquely revealed in Jesus Christ. It calls you to bow to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in surrender and worship. That is why you were made. You ache because you are using yourself for the wrong job!

An athlete trained for a specific track event will suffer real aches and pains if they attempt to compete in an event for which they have not prepared. A square peg will not easily fit in a round hole. You are not made to fit the hole you’re in! You are made to fit into the groove of the worship of God in Jesus Christ. You ache because you have been running in a race for which you are not built. You were made for worship, and you will always ache, and the voice of conscience will always sear your heart, until you take your place among rebel sons and daughters of Adam, now saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, in true worship.

Then thirdly, you were made to be prophets to speak God’s word.

 We all have this obligation as Christians to be prophets, and to speak God’s words after him to one another in the church. But here I want to speak especially to the heads of households, to you husbands and fathers, and as I do I speak to my own heart. Before God, like Adam, you have a peculiar responsibility to speak God’s word to your wives and children.

You are to communicate scripture truth and apply it in your homes. Eve knew the commands of God because Adam was fulfilling his prophetic obligations and is there  not a a real sense in which the ignorance and spiritual deficiencies of your household are down to your neglect of your duty to be a prophet to them?

If you are to fulfil your creation purpose, you must be much in God’s word. You must ensure that God is given his place in your home life. There must be daily family worship. There must be a simple and plain opening up of the teaching of scripture on all the issues of life when they arise. You must be able to take aside your children and speak to them about God’s word, and how it provides them with the wise counsel they need to face a particular crisis or challenge or temptation in their young lives.

You must be the voice of God in your home. He is not a tyrant, he is not a wimp. He is not limp wristed or unreliable. He is loving, tender, sympathetic, patient, wise, and utterly holy. Have you spoken in a manner reminiscent of Christ to your wife and children? Do your children love God’s word because you have lived it, and spoken of it, and shown how it is relevant to your life and theirs? Are you a prophet in your home?

 That is why you were made.

Then lastly notice what God’s word says here about our character as His creatures; we are made in His image.

Look at vs26 &27, “Then God Said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

The first thing for us here is to see that man and woman are created equally as God’s image. “In the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them.”

In God’s design there is no inferiority of woman to man. We both alike share His image. That means that in the church, while we are to obey the role distinctions scripture imposes upon us as men and women, we are to be, within these parameters, champions of the full dignity and rights of all people, men and women, black or white, rich or poor. In Christ there is neither male nor female, Jew nor gentile, slave nor free, we are all one in Christ Jesus. All are alike made to be the image of God.

But our question now must be, what is the image of God? What does it mean to be God’s image?

Well, the best way to answer that question is to try to think about what this language of Adam and Eve being the image of God might mean to its fist hearers, the ancient Hebrews.

In the ancient near east the king was seen as the son of the god of his nation, and he was invested with the image of his god to be the icon- likeness of the deity to all those over which he was to rule. These kings were qualified to exercise their rule, by being adopted by the gods, and invested with their image. This was especially true of Pharaoh, king of ancient Egypt, the land from which the Israelites had just been delivered by Moses who wrote the Book of Genesis. Pharaoh according to Egyptian myth was the son of the gods, and the image of the gods on earth. His rule was the rule of the gods mediated through their royal son.

So when Israel read that God, the one true and living Creator and Redeemer, made Adam and Eve as His image, and placed them in the garden of Eden to rule, they undoubtedly understood that as a reference to the royal dignity and sacred relationship they sustained to God, in much the same way as Pharaoh was regarded as the image of his false gods.

Adam and Eve were qualified for rule over this world because God made them as His image. They were to represent and image forth the rule of God himself to all creation. In the stewardship of human beings was to be seen a reflection of the commitment of the creator God Himself to the world He had made.

 It was also the case that in the ancient eastern world, powerful earthly kings would erect an image of themselves in the provinces of their empires where they did not personally appear. The image reminded the populace that the king still reigned there. So here in Eden, God the great King, has erected His image, in the living breathing form of Adam and Eve, to remind all creation that He alone reigns here.

The world was to look at Adam and Eve and see in them the likeness of Deity. Were you to ask, ‘what is God like, where can I see something of the ways of God with his world?’, it was intended that you could have been told to go and look at Adam. ‘See this man? He is the Image, the Icon, of God. He is the Royal Son of the Sovereign God, and in him you can see a reflection of the compassionate and loving care of the Creator for His creatures’

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Next week God willing we will look a little more closely at the nature of the relationship between Adam as the image of God, and God Himself. We will consider the responsibilities that Adam had to fulfil, the promises that he had been given, and the consequences of his disobedience.

For now it is important for us simply to register our awareness of the profound dignity invested in human beings by God.

We know that sin has not totally destroyed God’s image in us. Genesis 9:6, for example prohibits murder because man is still the image of God.

At the entrance of the allied troops into Baghdad we saw pictures of the jubilant destruction of a vast bronze image of Sadam Hussein in a public square. The rejection of Sadam was demonstrated by the destruction of his image.

In much the same way as defacing the statue of a ruler demonstrates a profound rejection of that ruler themselves, so, even after the entrance of sin into the world, to kill a person, made as the image of God, was a way of demonstrating your rejection of the creator Himself.

James 3:9 tells us the same thing. It is incongruous to bless God and curse men, because men have been made in the image of God.

Sin not withstanding, we retain the image of God. We still reflect the rule and possession of the Lord over all creation. Wherever a human being draws breath God is declaring His royal prerogatives over all things.

The lowest, filthiest soul you could meet is not to be despised by us. They are God’s image! The drunk and the addict, the criminal and the wealthy play boy, all are the image of God.

The unborn baby and the aged bed ridden soul at deaths door are the image of God.

They all are invested with an innate dignity and worth that ought to make us prize them.

And when we see the degradation and filth sin and its side effects have caused the image bearers of the Triune God, we are to be moved with a holy desire to see them won from sins dominion.

When you look at the scarred features of one who has lived for years in self abuse, or the hopelessness in the eyes of some of the pleasure seekers that fill London every weekend, remember they are God’s image. It is sin that has left them so unaware of their great dignity as representatives to creation of the Lord of glory.

They have hidden his glory in the grime of their rebellion, and are you not moved, Christian brothers and sisters, to see that grime washed away? Do you not long for these poor, lost, image bearers of the most high, to be reclaimed for the king, to stand clean and holy once more, reflecting their Maker to all the world as they ought?

Praise the Lord, that through the Lord Jesus Christ, even the most hopeless of cases can be rescued, and the most marred image can be resorted.

I have been fascinated by the skill of those whose job it is to restore ancient works of art to their original beauty.  Sometimes they are brought works that are in such a poor state of repair. Yet because of the immense value of the work they must do all they can to bring it back to its original glory.

The gospel is the great restorer of the broken down image of God in the souls of all people. Look at the sin and ignorance of those around you, and remember their original dignity as the images of God.

Here is all the motive you should need to go and make disciples of all nations: The images of God in the world need restoring.

 The Lord Jesus Christ can take the tattered remains of the once magnificent handiwork of God in the souls of men and women, and return it to its pristine glory. His blood shed on the cross for sinners can cleanse away every stain. His wounds can mend every tear. The radiance of His righteousness can cover our filthy remnants of goodness, until by his free grace alone, He has restored his image in us.

That’s Paul’s point in Colossians 3:10. In Christ we put on the new man which is being renewed in the image of its creator.

In fact 2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us that the gospel that saves sinners is “the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God”.  Jesus is the perfect image of God. In Him the royal son, the prophet, priest and king, we can see God’s perfect and unfallen image still shining, with all its original brightness. It’s when we come to him and hide ourselves in Him by simple faith alone that He takes us in our brokenness and sin as God’s image and restores us, covering us with His own righteousness and renovating us till we shine with a glory that reflects fully the majesty of the Almighty Creator God.

May the lord give to us all grace to take hold of Jesus, the Image of the Invisible God, and receiving the forgiveness of our sins, come to know the restoration of the image of God in us.

Amen.