Man A Special Creation

You are a special creation

1. Have you noticed how special the way man was created?

2. How did man fall from grace?

3. What is the potential of the real man of God?

4. Will mankind return to that path?

Mankind's Special Creation

Have you considered how special we are?

Really? Can we find any proof of this? Yes, of course. Open the book of Genesis and let us re-read the account of the creation. I know, that account is so short compared to the actual span of time it is telling.

The shortness of Genesis' account lend more emphasis on how special is the man's creation from the point of view of God.

Here is Genesis Chapter 1

1In the beginning, when God created the universe, 2the earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the Spirit of God was moving over the water.

3 Then God commanded, “Let there be light”—and light appeared. 4God was pleased with what he saw. Then he separated the light from the darkness, 5and he named the light “Day” and the darkness “Night.” Evening passed and morning came—that was the first day.

6-7 Then God commanded, “Let there be a dome to divide the water and to keep it in two separate places”—and it was done. So God made a dome, and it separated the water under it from the water above it. 8He named the dome “Sky.” Evening passed and morning came—that was the second day.

9Then God commanded, “Let the water below the sky come together in one place, so that the land will appear”—and it was done. 10He named the land “Earth,” and the water which had come together he named “Sea.” And God was pleased with what he saw. 11Then he commanded, “Let the earth produce all kinds of plants, those that bear grain and those that bear fruit”—and it was done. 12So the earth produced all kinds of plants, and God was pleased with what he saw. 13Evening passed and morning came—that was the third day.

14Then God commanded, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate day from night and to show the time when days, years, and religious festivals begin; 15they will shine in the sky to give light to the earth”—and it was done. 16So God made the two larger lights, the sun to rule over the day and the moon to rule over the night; he also made the stars. 17He placed the lights in the sky to shine on the earth, 18to rule over the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God was pleased with what he saw. 19Evening passed and morning came—that was the fourth day.

20Then God commanded, “Let the water be filled with many kinds of living beings, and let the air be filled with birds.” 21So God created the great sea monsters, all kinds of creatures that live in the water, and all kinds of birds. And God was pleased with what he saw. 22He blessed them all and told the creatures that live in the water to reproduce and to fill the sea, and he told the birds to increase in number. 23Evening passed and morning came—that was the fifth day.

24Then God commanded, “Let the earth produce all kinds of animal life: domestic and wild, large and small”—and it was done. 25So God made them all, and he was pleased with what he saw.

Please notice that when the time comes for the creation of Man, here is what God does

26 Then God said, “And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us. They will have power over the fish, the birds, and all animals, domestic and wild, large and small.”

27 So God created human beings, making them to be like himself. He created them male and female, 28blessed them, and said, “Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds, and all the wild animals. 29I have provided all kinds of grain and all kinds of fruit for you to eat; 30but for all the wild animals and for all the birds I have provided grass and leafy plants for food”—and it was done. 31God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased. Evening passed and morning came—that was the sixth day. - Genesis Chapter 1

What is different? There are immense differences. On the creation of the first items, everything God created was brought to existence by Him merely pronouncing a command. God said the command and they were brought into existence. Did you notice that?

Then when God created man, He approached it in a different manner.

1. He first announced His intention to other beings that are with Him. (His only Son, His angels)

2. He announced that this creation will be similar to them. (with intellegence, morality, choice)

3. He announced that this creation will have power or dominance over all other physical living creations.

4. He created them male and female.

(All of the above as contrasted to merely commanding their existence)

Now let us look at a more detailed account of number 4.

This is from Genesis Chapter 2

7 Then the Lord God took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; he breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live.

8Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the East, and there he put the man he had formed. 9 He made all kinds of beautiful trees grow there and produce good fruit. - Genesis 2:7-9a

Can you appreciate that special effort that YHWH put in the creation of man? Instead of the usual and way more convenient method of issuing a command to make the man exist, God instead chose to form man from soil, and when He was contented with the way man looked, He breathed into it His own life giving breath.

Then He planted a garden with good fruit bearing trees, complete with 4 flowing rivers.

What can be more special than that treatment? God created us and provided for us, all the things we actually need and more.

Why would God take the time, the Almighty God Himself, to attend to man? It is an undeniable proof that we are special. Created specially and with special purpose too.

This is one of our purpose:

We are created to have powers and rule all physical living and non living beings.

The Fall of Man

The choice that made us fall.

Life was simple, so were the choices man should make. How in the world can man fail?

Left on our own, with God's provision and guidance, mankind may never fail or at least it may have taken longer to take place. But sadly, man became the center of attention of other creations that exists.

It appeared that having will of their own, many angels got jealous in the appearance of man in the scene. Something very unexpected for them.

They heard God said that this new creation will be the ruler of the physical creations of God. Maybe some of them thought; why not us? We seem more capable than those weak earthlings!

Heavenly war began.

Angels against angels. Spirit beings began what they thought best to prove that they are better than humans.

First, they would have to prove how weak humans are.

So the tempter approached Eve. He asked a wily question.

1 Now the snake was the most cunning animal that the Lord God had made. The snake asked the woman, “Did God really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?” - Genesis 3:1

Here is the actual commandment of God regarding that.

16He told him, “You may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, 17except the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad. You must not eat the fruit of that tree; if you do, you will die the same day.” - Genesis 2:16-17

The question posed was designed to engage and trick. It was successful. Eve was engaged and she tried to explain, trapping herself. She now took notice of the single item that was forbidden to them. From evasion of the forbidden, the tempter slowly pushed Eve into thinking about it, acceptance and craving, then finally doing what was forbidden.

What was actually the sin? The act that made us fell? That sin is disobedience. Making the choice of determining what is wrong and what is right for ourselves.

Sin is the transgression of the law. The simple law was to "DO NOT EAT THAT PARTICULAR FRUIT". When man did eat that and therefore disobeyed, having now sinned, man will suffer the punishment of death as proclaimed by God took effect. So from that point on, our connection to God was severed, our sustainer, our life giver got disconnected from us, because of the choice of disobedience.

The proclaimed effect of that particular sin is death on the same day.

"You must not eat the fruit of that tree; if you do, you will die the same day.” - Genesis 2:17

Did that happen? Or maybe our question; Is it happening?

We can understand this issue a little better if we consider that God is the one speaking, it follows that the "day" will be in God's standard. Let us see the "day" of God according to His Word.

"A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night." - Psalms 90:4

With the above information we can deduce that a "day" in God's point of view involves thousands of years. Did Adam and Eve reached the age over one thousand? No. So God's proclamation of punishment did happen. They died on the same day of God when they ate the fruit.

That, my friend, is how man fell from God's grace.

What Is Our Potential?

Just what is there for the perfect man?

We have to base our expectations on God's Word or at least from His representative, the Chist.

According to them what is the potential of Man?

As we have seen above, God wanted man to rule the physical creation, both living and non living. That may not sound much but in reality it is a tremendous privilege and duty if we have to effectively do our part.

This is not simply being able to make a pet out of animals, this is a responsibility to take care of ALL animals, in fact all physical creatures. Can you imagine the vastness of that responsibility? We were created to take care of nature.

Can we do that by simply being ourselves as in today? No, we are so limited today because of our being disconnected from God. Our capabilities are so much less than what it should really be. How can we say that?

We can confidently say that because Christ showed us what a perfect man can do.

He became one of us, He showed us what Adam and Eve lost. He clearly showed us what a perfect man should do and what a perfect man can do.

Christ is our example. We may think that He was able to do the powerful works that He had done because He was the "only begotten Son of God" but if we examine closer, the only reason He was able to do those things was because He is perfect.

What does perfection means?

Perfection means sinlessness. Total obedience to God.

When we reached that level of total obedience to God we will come back to our original status of being fully connected to our Creator, the source of all things we have.

Imagine the endless power that God possess and the state of being directly connected to that.

Christ has showed us how powerful it can be. He even said it a couple of times how powerful we can be when we reach a certain level of connection to God.

Christ is a real man. If he was greater than the real potential of man, He will not be a fair payment or ransom for humankind. So when he became a man, He totally reflected a perfect man. With all the choices and possibilities as a man.

He could choose to be disobedient. He could die.

But because he chose to be perfect and totally obedient, He showed us how powerful an obedient man can be.

Aside from all the miracles and powerful work he displayed, He mentioned this a couple of times:

Jesus replied, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. - Matthew 21:21

Can we do that now? No, not at our present status with God. But once we reach what Christ is said, there's no doubt that we can.

Here is another instance:

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." - Matthew 17:19-20

Christ is talking, listen to HIM! Nothing will be impossible for us, when we reach the point of perfection intended by God for us!

Here is another example about this line of thought.

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29“Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” - Matthe 14:28-31

Consider the scene, Peter who was not perfect yet, has been commanded to walk on water. Having faith at that point in time, Peter was able to walk on water! Until he doubted.

It means that we can even walk on water when the right time comes! And it will be considered a small feat.

All the miracles in God's word will be within the capacity of each and everyone that can reach that point of connection with God. It is worth our while to strive for that. It is promised, we only have to do our part.

Indeed, it is wonderful to be a part of God's covenant. Choose to be a part of it, if you have not done the decision yet.

Can We Return to God's Grace?

The way back.

YHWH is wise beyond our comprehension. He knew what really happened in Eden. He knew the results of the choices every creature made. After all he was the law giver of us all.

From that time on God provided a way back to those who will eventually exist. Each has just to make that concious choice of obeying Him. All the details are taken cared of.

He knows our weaknesses and our strenghts, our motives and misunderstandings, everything.

So, God put everything in an easy to get document. He made arrangements so that our shame as a man would be erased, we are redeemed by Christ. Christ redeemed mankind by showing to the evil ones that although man is capable of sinning and disobedience, man is equally able of perfection and obedience.

But like the Israelites in exodus time, we have to believe in the life saving Lamb of God. Then we have to act, showing that faith, by using the blood(symbolizing life) of the lamb of God in our own house. Yes, we have to exercise faith and act accordingly.

Christ is the way back to God.

Many people miss the point of Christ when He said this:

"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. "- John 14:6

I don't blame them, the evil one exists to confuse, just let me clarify the points this time. First, Christ clearly say that He is the way back to God. No one else and nothing else. But how?

How can we use Christ as our WAY?

By practicing faith in Him. By doing the acts of a believer in his teachings, in his words, in his truth.

That is the reason why He followed it with the phrase that he is the truth.

What Christ says is the truth! Anything in opposition to Christ's words are lies! What else can be simplier than that?

So if we are really considering ourselves to be "christians" the first question we should ask ourselves would be; Do I believe what Christ said and taught? Am I sure they are Christ's teachings and not from someone else?

We cannot simply claim anything here. Too much is at stake. Our lives, our future, the lives of our loved ones and their future. We have to make sure about these things.

So from now on, we have to have this conviction. Unless a doctrine is surely from God or his Christ we should not follow it. Or, when you are sure a doctrine is a teaching of Christ and His God you will make it a point to obey it.

Of course that is way easier said than done, believe me, I have seen many people that are so happy to realize Christ's truth when they first discover them only to fall back again to the usual ways of the world. Because the evil ones exist. They won't let go easily of their prisoners.

The truth of Christ is wonderful, we only have to make the concious effort to learn them daily, slowly at first until we develop the appetite for the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

It may even offend us at times, we may hold a very different point of view regarding things, but can our understanding of things be really above that of Christ? So when that happens we will do well to be humble and choose his teachings instead.

Here is what Christ said:

"Father... Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." John 17:17

" 13 Now all has been heard;

here is the conclusion of the matter:

Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the duty of all mankind."- Ecclesiastes 12.13

When we have that conviction of totally following Christ, we will then realize the 3rd, that Christ is the LIFE. With his guidance, we will attain life. The real life intended for the perfect man. We have to immitate Christ's life, how obedient He was to His Father's commandments. And make our life devoid of everything we have these days, things we have and crave for in the hope of filling what our present life is missing. Things that will never fill those needs because it is God that we need, our sustainer, It is YHWH that is missing in our lives.

Yes, there is a way back to God, we only have to decide with conviction to follow it perfectly, It is Christ.