God Created Mankind Series

Theme: God Created Humanity

Text: Genesis 1:26-31

Greetings: The Lord is good; and His love endures forever!!

Joke:

A Sunday school boy asked his Mom, “Mummy how humanity came into existence?” She told him that ‘we are created by God in His own image and Likeness’.

Suddenly the boy interrupted and told her, but mommy when I asked Daddy the same question, ‘He told me that we have come from Monkey’. Then her mummy replied, ‘Beloved, both are true. I am talking about my ancestry, your daddy is talking about his lineage.’

Introduction: 

From time immemorial men tried to find an answer to questions, which tormented their minds. Who am I? Where do have I come? Where do am I heading? Is there any power over me?  Mankind searched answers through gurus, philosophers, self-declared gods and goddesses. Only unbelievable myths have increased not the a satisfactory truth till God revealed himself through scriptures. The unsatisfactory answers made some become hermits, and atheists. Children growing up, raise many questions to their parents, grandparents, and teachers about the purpose of humanity. 

Let us Observe the Text:

God created mankind (Genesis 1:27). He blessed them (Genesis 1:28). He gave them food (Genesis 1:30). “Then the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the earth and he breathed his breath of life into his nostrils and man became a living creature.” (Genesis 2:7). “The Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden so that he might work it and care for it. The Lord God told the man, “You can eat of any of the trees in the garden, but you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you were to eat from it, you would surely die.” (Genesis 2:15-17). These all ascertain that God is the Creator.

Our annual theme: “…Is the Lord's hand waxed short?”(Numbers 11:23). This month theme is: ‘Creative Hands of God’.

God created the mankind so let us Acknowledge Him, Adore Him and be accountable to Him. Friends, let us take this three Points:

- Acknowledge the creator

- Adore the Creator, and be

- Accountable to the Creator

1. ACKNOWLEDGE THE CREATOR 

God is the Creator: The Holy Bible begins with God, with the existence of God. God was, and is, and will be. The Bible doesn’t make an attempt to prove the existence of God.  God existed even before anything came into being.  God is mentioned as Elohim in Genesis 1.

Elohim is used 66 times at the beginning of the Bible. Elohim is used in entire Old Testament 2,570 times. Elohim means ‘the strength, and the power’. In one Person all powers, wisdom and goodness, mightiness are accommodated, by whom the world was created, governed and maintained. Elohim, a noun of the plural number, so in every usage of this word is Plural -"Gods." The Spirit of God (Ruah Elohim) was hovering over the waters and the Word (Logos) joined to create the world as per the wish of the formless God.

Jehovah is the name given to the Creator in Genesis chapter two whereas the name Elohim is mentioned in Genesis Chapter one.  Now the Ruah Elohim, Jehovah and the Logos jointly created the World and brought perfection to the chaotic order. All other stories are myths and tales, No other god exists on the earth. 

The verbs “create” and “make” are used interchangeably in Genesis 1 & 2 to say that God Created & Made (Bara & ‘âsâh).

Bara emphasizes initiation of something new calling into existence from ex-nihilo - something out of nothing as an act of God by his sovereign power.  God created the sun, and moon, and stars, galaxies, milky ways, celestial beings, and terrestrial things out of nothing (Genesis 1:1, 16, 21, 25, 27). ‘âsâh indicates God used the existing raw materials (Genesis 1:7, 2:7-8, 19, and 22). God created some creatures out of nothing (Genesis 1:14-16).

Now when we talk about Man, who is a compound being, having a body and a soul distinctly separately created, the body out of the dust of the earth, and the soul from breath of God (Adam Clark). God formed the first human being (yi'ser) out of something like an artist, a sculptor, or a potter (ref: bibleref.com). 

The word used in Genesis 2:7  is ‘formed or made’ whereas the word used in Genesis 1:1, 1:27, 1:26 is “created”. Genesis 2:7 describes that ‘adam was from the ‘adamah. The Hebrew word adamah means “land,” “ground,” or “soil.” That Hebrew word is a'par, which refers to dirt, powder, debris, or ash. The dust is a figurative or symbolic sense, it means something of little worth, associated with lowliness and humility (Genesis 18:27; 1 Samuel 2:8; 1 Kings 16:2). Adam, is the common name of the human species. The proper names for human persons come from Genesis 4:25 onwards. The word Adam in Sumerian language is ada-mu, “my father.” His companion haua in Sumerian language is ama, “mother.” (Genesis 3:20).