On the sixth day God does something very special – He makes man in His image. That obviously doesn’t mean God is physical, limited, white, black or approximately 6 feet tall. When we look for a difference in man compared to animals we find man has a unique ability to think, and for that reason has the ability to be over all the other creatures. It is not our might, size or biological defences that put us over all the other creatures. It is our ability to think, adapt and create that is radically different. However, was the first Adam the end of creating man to be like God? (Note: This is not the same as being God)

And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. 1Corinthians 15:45-49

Yes we are to be like God, Jesus in particular in this passage, and that was God’s intent for man from the beginning.

It does say let "Us" make man in "Our" image. Some say this is an expression of royalty where plurality is used when talking about a singular leader. That has occurred in more recent history but there is no reason to state that as backward applicable. There is nothing in the history of the writing to agree with that theory. Others say it represents a triune nature of God and because of His multiple personalities He uses the plural term. We use John 1:1 where it states, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." This passage then refers to the Word becoming the man and yet son of God named Jesus. The way God is described here is as two separate beings with Jesus the one doing the creating. Jesus often using the reference to His Father in heaven and in the Revelation we have the description of Jesus and the Father being the temple of the New Jerusalem. It is this picture of God we envision when we see the terms "Us" and "Our" because that is what He has told us to see.

Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,' Isaiah 46:9-10

The end of things is that man is to be changed and be made in the image of God. We shall be like the risen Christ – Jesus. That is the destiny that God declared to man, should we choose to seek it. We can ignore Him and perish.

In Chapter 2 we get a little more detail with respect to the creation of man, woman, and what God intends for mankind.

Since there was no rainbow previous to the flood it makes you wonder if this is the way things were watered previously, with a heavy daily dew type of action. We know the climate had to be considerably different not to have rainbows and also to have a map of antiquity that demonstrates the land shore of Antarctica, something we could not ascertain until recent satellite imagery.

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.

Here we learn that unlike the other animals, where he just says they were created male and female, more information is provided as to how man and woman were created. The man was created first before the woman. This is important in that Jesus is the firstborn from the dead. The first to put on immortality and that He is the Head of the Woman. 1 Corinthians 11 is stating that while we know the physical man came first it is really about the church recognizing that Jesus is the Head. Often times Christians don’t understand this and the churches decide to tell God what is acceptable and make Jesus the tail instead of the head. One retired United Church of Canada minister put it this way, "after 2000 years of evolution, we now can be more loving than Christ". This is complete and utter nonsense. As Adam came first, so does Jesus in everything, especially so in teaching if we are to be His disciples.

And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads.

This describes the Garden and is like the picture of a river once again flowing at the end of Revelation. These rivers, and the garden itself, were changed during the flood.

It was Adam’s responsibility to tend the field that God gave Him. Likewise the Church is Jesus’ responsibility.

Then God gives Him some rules and makes Him accountable to keep them.

And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him."

Now some take a few of these passages and say they are in conflict with Genesis 1 but here He describes man as alone and then states that He formed all the beasts out of the ground (not after man) which sets up a difference to when God talks about creating Eve.

This is also problematic for people who don’t believe this is the Word of God. They scoff at this being done in a short time period. Remember Adam is only naming the kinds, those who create the various groupings of animals and birds later. For instance, all the animals that come from the same pair are wolves, coyotes, and the many varieties of dogs. This could easily be done in a day. At the end of the day, at evening, He does something different.

And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

Eve means the mother of all living.   This is appropriate in stating there was no mankind born prior to Eve and that the Church, Israel, is also the Mother of all living in the spiritual sense.

The woman is made not from the ground like Adam and the animals but from Adam. Scientifically it is fascinating that the writer of this passage, 1000s of years ago, knew that the only bone to regrow in a man is the lower rib. Some say it was a rib, not the head, so woman wouldn’t feel she was above man. Nor was it a foot bone so that man would feel he could walk all over her but from close to his heart so that she would always be dear to him. While that is appropriate, what is important is that she comes from man, hence the term mankind.

Why is this important? As we resemble the first Adam, we (God’s elect) shall resemble the second Adam, Jesus the Christ. This woman is the church, the bride of Christ and God’s elect. Some of the passages that demonstrate we have to come from Christ are:

John 6:53-56 describes those who have "life". We must eat His flesh and drink His blood (symbolism).

John 15:1-8 describes the disciples’ of Christ as only being alive if they abide in Him

Acts 4: 12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

God’s elect are those who have the Spirit of God in them but that is only given through Christ and they recognize this as a memorial through the partaking of the bread and the wine.

Obviously Adam should have loved his wife and she should have loved him but this act and the way it was done was also to portray what God intended to do through Jesus.

Here is a reference to this passage in Ephesians.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:22-32

Not so incredibly God created - knowing the end from the beginning - and demonstrated what He did with Adam to represent what He was going to do in Christ. There is incredible accuracy in this position throughout the Bible considering the number of different writers over thousands of years.

The point of this passage in Genesis is not just to say how man and woman came to be but how God intends to make us in His image by portraying what He planned to do in Jesus. He predestined that mankind should inherit all things. This is far greater then what was promised to even the Angels. It is man’s awesome destiny.

For more information on this please get one of my favourite books entitled, "Man’s Awesome Destiny".