MONDAY, June 8, 2009                                                       READ: Genesis 1: 26 – 31; 2: 18 - 25                                                                                                        

GOD CREATED THE HUMAN FAMILY

MEMORIZE: ‘And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And He blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over everything that moves on the earth.”’         Genesis 1: 27, 28

The Bible tells us that, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” For the most part, our education systems, without any real or actual evidence, teach that life on the earth came about through evolution. Based upon what the Bible teaches, in our text, Genesis 1: 26 – 31 and 2: 15 - 25, we are able to understand that God created the man in His own image and likeness. He created the man with the divine design for him to propagate and protect life. He was made with a clearly stated life-mission. In 1: 27a, we are told that God created the man in His image and likeness. Most of us are not sure exactly what is meant by “in His image and likeness.” In 1: 27b, 28, we have a summary statement indicating that God created the man and woman, as male and female. They did not become male and female. In 2: 15 -17, the man is given work to do as propagator and caretaker of God’s creation. In 2: 18, we see how God helps us to understand that the woman was created with a clear purpose in mind. God had already indicated His mission for the man. He was not able to accomplish it by himself. The man was alone. In 2: 19, 20a, we see how God formed the beasts and birds “out of the ground….” We are also able to see how Adam was able assign the appropriate name to each beast of the field and fowl of the air. He was evidently in harmony, in communion and in sync with God, thinking His thoughts after Him. In 2: 20b, we read, “But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.” How important and significant, is that? In 2: 21, 22, we are told that God took a rib from Adam’s body and with it He built the woman. God never intended that the man should experience any animal as his companion. He used one of the man’s bone and built a woman for the man. God took from the man what was needed to build a suitable helper for him, so he could fulfill his life-mission. What was Adam’s life-mission? He we can see how 1: 27b, 28 is a summary statement of what actually took place in 2: 21 – 23. Are you in touch with that? Look at how the man, responded when God presented the woman to him! God met the man’s need with a woman. Here we can see how God created the first human family. God made us male and female with the fulfillment of the divine mission in mind. When He is allowed to meet the need, there will be delight and satisfaction. They were to meet each other’s need for intimacy, and to fulfill the mission of being fruitful, multiplying and replenishing the earth’s population. In 2: 24, we are helped to see that, if we know that God is the Designer of human life, we should not to equivocate about what He had, and, has in mind for supplying or meeting the need for intimate human companionship. He intends for intimate companionship to be between a man and a woman, committed to each other in marriage (cf. Matthew 19: 5; Mark 10: 6-8; Ephesians 5: 31). The ultimate goal for each marriage was for the man and woman to blend with each other so as to become one flesh, even as the members of the Godhead are three distinct persons, yet they are unified as one. It is God who made us and He wants us to fulfill the mission for which He made us. In 2: 25, we are given a hint at the kind of harmony which existed between the man and his wife. There was harmony in this first family. They were naked and they were not ashamed of each other. What is shame? What is the source or cause of disharmony

PRAY: LORD, God Almighty, thank You for creating us and for designing our life-mission for us. Teach me Your ways, O LORD. Please help me to understand what You had in mind when You created us. Amidst the confusion and perversions, help me to desire to please You in all that I do. Help me to be what You want to be to me. I bless You, LORD, in Jesus’ strong name. Amen.