Believing and understanding the relationship between God the Creator, and man, the one created in God’s image, is essential to understanding biblical truth. Read: (Genesis 1:26-31; 2:7) (Job 12:10) (Psalm 95:6) (Psalm 100:1-3) (Psalm 139) (Isaiah 45:5-12) (Acts 17:24-28). We have seen that God spoke into being the heavens and the earth.
- He created light
- He created the waters above the earth – the expanse in between – the dry land and the oceans
- He created the plants – the trees – and the flowers
- He created the sun – the moon – and the stars
- He filled the sea with creatures – the sky with birds
- He created all animals
- God created everything for His final creation – man
- Read: (Isaiah 45:18)
- Everything was created – and waiting for man when God created him
Who was God speaking to in (Genesis 1:26)? It was God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit who were talking together. Discussing their plan to make man in their (God’s) image. God is Sovereign, He alone decided how all things would be made (Colossians 1:15-17).
God made man in His image so that man would be able to know God. So that others would see God’s likeness reflected in man, and glorify Him (Matthew 5:16). God communicates with man through his intellect (mind), but how? God wanted to talk with man and have man talk to Him so He communicates through prayer. He communicates not only by spoken word, but also by written word, the Scriptures (Bible) (Psalm 86:11) (Psalm 119:73) (Proverbs 2:1-6) (Jeremiah 33:3).
God gave man a mind so he could think and reason like God does, but that doesn’t mean that any man could think and reason exactly as God thinks and reasons (Isaiah 55:8) (Romans 11:33-34). God can also communicate with us through his feelings, since the bible shows us that God has emotions.
- Love – (Jeremiah 31:3) (John 3:16) (1 John 4:7-10)
- Hate – (Proverbs 6:16-19) (Malachi 2:16)
- Sadness – (Matthew 23:37) (Luke 19:41)
- Joy & Delight – (Jeremiah 9:24) (Zephaniah 3:17)
Because God has feelings – He created man with feelings also. That way we could experience His feelings towards us, and we could exercise feelings towards Him, preferably love.