Genesis 1:27; 2:7
In Genesis 1:27 we read “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Going on to Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, & breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Man is a 3-letter word, a small word, which has a big meaning and covers a lot of territory. In these 2 passages of Scripture, we find that man was formed from the dust of the ground, in the image of our great Creator, God. God created us in His image. His creation, man, did not get to first base, one might say, before we failed ourselves and God. Adam and Eve, representing man, ate the forbidden fruit. Adam and Eve had only one, not many commandments to obey from God. They fell short of God’s expectations and the devil looked on very pleased. We would be in big trouble if in this situation God had said, “Well, man it is all over. You couldn’t obey one command. Just for that I condemn you to hell for all eternity.” That would have given us no way to be redeemed and saved from our sin. Instead God’s love overcame his anger at what He had experienced in the fall of man and He offers forgiveness.
I have a tendency to take words, like M-A-N, and use the letters of the word, to illustrate a Biblical truth. When we visit the word, man, the first letter ‘m’ reveals to me God’s mercy on man. Mercy, which is also a fairly small word, has a huge meaning for all Christians. In Matthew 5:7 we find, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” That small verse speaks volumes concerning God’s mercy on man and mankind. Our heavenly Father is rich in mercy. Though we do not deserve it and cannot earn it, God forgives our sin. Mercy comes to us purely out of His grace and love, and it is a wonderful gift from God Himself. We find that mercy is one of God’s greatest attributes. Over in I Peter 1:3 we read, “In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope.” Our living hope is Jesus Christ and we have access to Him through the mercy of God. Mercy is nothing more than love in action. Mercy is an action and the clearest definition of mercy is Jesus Christ. The action of Jesus being born as God in human form, dying on the cross, and resurrecting from the grave achieved God’s mercy for man. God being willing to send His Only Begotten Son to be the sacrificial Lamb for mankind demonstrates His divine mercy on all of us who believe. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, each one of us have the opportunity to make the decision of whether or not we have eternal life with God in heaven. The only other option is denying Jesus Christ, and spending eternity in hell with Satan and all his followers.
The only way to heaven is through the door, Jesus Christ. We find in the scriptures that Jesus is the only way. He is the way, He is the truth, and He is the life and no one can come unto the Father but through Him. God has demonstrated His mercy on mankind down through the ages from Adam and Eve, to present day lives, and future lives until Jesus returns in the clouds. It is truly a blessing for each person, who has experienced the mercy of Almighty God and the product of that mercy, His Son, Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, who covers our sin. The one thing God cannot do is see our sins when they have been covered by the blood of Jesus. What a tremendous gift that is sufficient and free.
The next letter in man is ‘A’. The ‘A’ could stand for God’s atonement. Atonement is the reconciliation, the process by which God and man can once again become ‘at-one.’ We receive this atonement by the life of Jesus Christ. Matthew 20:28 says, “Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” It states that Jesus gave His life a ransom for many including you and me, if we desire to accept His gift. Ephesians 2:16 reveals “And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross having slain the enmity thereby.” When we reconcile our bank statements, we are attempting to make our records match the bank. When we reconcile our lives we accept Jesus as Savior and He becomes our reconciliation to God. He makes all things right between us and God. When we have been reconciled through Jesus, then we become an heir to the throne and access to all that is in heaven.
The last letter of man is the letter ‘n.’ The letter ‘n’ could stand for the New Jerusalem, also known as heaven. I pray all of us that are listening today have the desire and the resolve to do what is needed to obtain a place in the New Jerusalem, where Jesus is now preparing a place for us who believe. We will enjoy the completed new heaven and new earth after all sin has been abolished. Jesus came the first time as a baby, meek and humble. The next time He will come as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords in wrath preparing to do battle with Satan and his followers. The New Jerusalem is revealed to us in Revelation 21:10 “And He carried me away in the Spirit to a great & high mountain and shewed me that great city, the Holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.” It will be such a great city for we are told in the scriptures that the city will have no need for sun, neither the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. It will be so great and I am prepared to go when the death angel comes knocking---but are you? It is so wonderful to have a place like heaven to look forward to beyond this life. When we lose a loved one, we can hold on to the thought and it gives us comfort in knowing that person has left this life by pulling back the curtain of life and stepping into glory. If they know Jesus Christ as their Savior, then they have the assurance that their family member or friend is in heaven right now. The scriptures tell us that when we die and we know Jesus as our personal Savior that to be absent from the body is to be in the presence of the Lord. When my Dad passed away, I remember at the celebration of his life, the minister gave our family so much comfort when he said that my Dad hadn’t really died, but he had just made the transition from this life to the new one through the valley of the shadow of death. The new life is something to look forward to and know all Christians will be a part of. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
In essence, what I have been saying is through God’s mercy, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die on Calvary’s cross in atonement for our sins that we will have the opportunity to experience the New Jerusalem. The important part of this whole scenario is that the decision is yours. No one can make the decision for you. You must make it yourself. If you make the decision to tap into the mercy of God to achieve atonement for your sins qualifying you for the New Jerusalem then you must follow God’s plan of salvation. God’s plan of salvation involves realizing that you are a sinner, trusting and believing that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God, asking God to forgive you of all sin in your life, from that point on, work and obey God’s laws and teachings as best as you can, and be determined to work hard for the kingdom of God by using your talents and abilities to serve Him completely. After you have made the commitment to ask Jesus into your heart and soul, then you need to be baptized by the water as an outward sign that you have been changed inside. If you do not confess before man that you have Jesus in your life, then Jesus will not confess you before His Father God in heaven.
As a man or a woman, we need some godly attributes that make us worthy in God’s eyes to be called a Christian. Those godly attributes are integrity, possessing a forgiving spirit, total trust in God and be faithful to God’s promise. It involves the old man in us to be buried in the waters of baptism and taking on the new man, changed for the better in order to serve the Son of the Living God. When we truly make that commitment, then we are promised by God Himself to spend eternity with Him, with Jesus Christ, and with all the saints of God that chose to accept and follow God. What a tremendous covenant from God to be fulfilled in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. The only stipulation is that each person has to make their own decision. We will not be allowed to blame our spouse, or parent, or friend, who convinced us to go away from God. There are no excuses in heaven like we use here on earth. Therefore, it is so important to get right with God now, without excuse or putting it off till later. Some people say they will come to the Lord after they clean up some bad things they have in their lives. My argument to that is that when you are sick, you do not wait until you are well to go see the doctor. You go when you are sick, so you can experience the process of getting well. The same holds true with the plan of salvation, come while you have the sinful acts pressing upon your life so the Lord can forgive you and help you overcome the temptations that sin and Satan holds on humans. After accepting Jesus as Savior, it does not exempt you from the trials and tribulations of life. God will allow
those things to happen to each of us in order to strengthen us, to build our faith and to increase our reliance on Him.
The whole human race was tremendously blessed when God came to earth in the form of a Man, and His name is Jesus. Jesus showed everyone the way that man should go, how they should act, and who they should rely upon, that being God His Father. The fulfillment of His life set the example by being perfect in every way, touching the lives of those who listen to His teachings, and to us today for the sacrifice He made on our behalf to have the opportunity to include eternal life with Him in the New Jerusalem. Enormous crowds followed Jesus and everyone wanted to see Him. So, Jesus was the perfect man and God allowed Him to put His life on the line to achieve the once and for all perfect sacrifice that man needed to fulfill God’s plan and God’s mandate to have our sins covered and reconciled. I pray everyone within the sound of my voice realizes the blessing and the far reaching extent that God loves man. God did not have to create the heavens and the earth, the moon, sun, and stars, He did not have to create the mountains, oceans, and everything in creation. But He did out of His love for man. He wanted man to enjoy His creation. He put man in charge of naming the animals and being stewards of His creation.
God created people in His own image, which is the blessed Trinity. The Trinity is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We each have wisdom, unlike the animals, which makes us like God, we have a physical body just like Christ had, when He walked upon this earth, and we each have a spirit that is the very essence of our being, just like the Holy Spirit, who is here on earth right now putting the conviction on men and women’s hearts to bring them into a relationship with the Heavenly Father, God. Man, that small 3-letter word, is so very blessed by God. My prayer is that this wicked country in which we live will open their eyes and see the need to get back to God before it is too late. I truly believe that God is slowly pulling back His hand of protection over man and this United States of America, as we continually, as a nation, pull away and reject God’s love and all He stands for. Now is the appointed time for man to wake up before it is too late, accept God’s gift because of His mercy on man, that gift being His Son, Jesus Christ, who is the atonement for our sins, and look forward to the day we enter into the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem will be our home forever and ever, where we will see the true meaning of a blessed man. Praise the Lord!
