Lesson 1
LET’S STUDY
Genesis 1:1-19, 26-31, and as you read the biblical narrative, highlight words or phrases that catch your attention.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). These seven Hebrew words that make up the first sentence in the Scriptures foreshadow the seven days of the creation process. God was preparing a perfect place for His children; they were the crown of His creation. As God was speaking their home into existence, He was also making qualitative statements about how well things were going. After the second day, “It was good,” is found at the completion of every day, signifying that God was pleased with how earth was becoming the ideal home for His babies. Each day starts with “then God said,” and it ends with “there was evening and there was morning.” Every day God gave a command, and the narrative highlights the accomplishment of each command as we get closer and closer to the day when His children would arrive …
And then …
It was time! God was about to create His children—His babies. From this moment on, everything would be different. His universe would change forever. Their home was ready, the day had arrived. And God paused. A divine counsel took place exclusively before creating humankind in the Creation narrative. As God is dialoguing in community, we get a glimpse of the uniqueness and climactic significance of this moment: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man’ “ (Gen. 1:26). “Man” (‘adam) is a collective name for humankind, as will be further explained in Genesis 1:27. God has reflected and decided to have children. You can almost picture in your mind a husband and wife in intimate conversation at the kitchen table, planning the most important decision of their lives: “Let’s have children.”
God’s children would be in His image: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness …” (Gen. 1:26). Humankind would bear God’s image and likeness; humans would be like God, but not identical to God; in His image and likeness, but not gods. In Genesis 1:26, we hear God’s voice in the first person. Then the narrator poetically reports the creation of God’s children in the third person, emphasizing that we were created in His image: “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen.1:27).
Humankind is created in the image of the Sovereign Creator. As such, God delegates His sovereignty and now His children are to rule the earth. They hold the highest place in the created order. Are you feeling pretty special by now?
Well, God thinks that His children are more than special. When He evaluates His creative work of the sixth day, He can’t just call it “good” as in all the other days. No! The plants and the animals are good, the children are VERY GOOD! “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” (Gen. 1:31, emphasis added). Yes, having a garden is good, having a pet is good. But having children is very good! This was the day humanity came to life, and God would always remember it, the way you remember the day your children were born. That was the most important day in your life! It was very good!
Fill in the blanks with your own name
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make in Our image, accor-ding to Our likeness; and let rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ God created in His own image, in the image of God He created ...”(Gen. 1:26, 27).
LET’S UNDERSTAND
THE IMAGE OF GOD: In the ancient cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the designation of being “in the image of God” was reserved exclusively for prominent people: kings, important officers, and royal rulers. The Genesis narrative emphasizes that God did not make such distinctions. When God decided to create humankind in His own image, He did not make some people more special than the others—He did not separate them by hierarchy and power. Every human being bears the image of God. The royal language is used for every child of God, regardless of status, caste, gender, or position in society. YOU are a child of God! We are His royal children!
The concept of the image of God is so special that it appears only four times in Jewish Scripture, and always in relation to the creation of humankind (see Gen. 1:26, 27 [twice]; 9:6). The Hebrew verb ‘bara (create) is used only with God as the subject. He creates children, male and female (‘adam), in His image, according to His likeness. Each gender is given unique characteristics that together make a complete, comprehensive, and complementary view of God. We are all created in the image of God! Only the biblical creation speaks of a God who serenely makes humankind in His own image to be part of His divine family. Only the biblical creation rehearses the story of a supreme Godhead who deliberately creates humans for the purpose of fellowship. Only biblical creation recalls that humans are given rulership of the earth as God’s representatives.
Later Seth is described as being “in his [Adam’s] own likeness, according to his image” (Gen. 5:3). God had children in His image; Adam had children in his image; and you have children in YOUR image! Perhaps you are already beginning to understand the plan of redemption … and we haven’t even started yet.
THE DIALOGUE: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make …’“ (Gen. 1:26). This is the only “divine dialogue” in the creation account: The Godhead planning to create the human race, “Before undertaking the next act of creation God took counsel. This unique reference to God’s reflecting in community before making something underscores both the importance and the uniqueness of What God was about to create” (Hartley, Genesis [NIBC], p. 47).
SELFLESS COMMUNITY: God, who is love and exists in the selfless intimate community of three persons in one, was about to create a race to love and cherish: humankind. God wanted to give humans the capacity to love selflessly too, so that they might understand his love better. And because God exists in the intimate community that we call the Trinity, he intended that a woman and a man also would exist in an intimate community we call marriage: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24, emphasis added). It is extremely important and revealing that the Hebrew word used for “one” in this verse, is the same word used in the Shema when describing the “oneness” of God: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!” (Deut. 6:4; emphasis added). The Shema (Hebrew for “hear”) found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is the Jewish confession of faith, recited daily. God is one God, existing in community, as a man and a woman are one flesh. Perhaps now humankind would understand God’s selfless love for them a little better.
LET’S REFLECT
What would you do for your child? Let me tell you what my parents did for me.
Suffering is hard enough. But when in addition to suffering you also feel alone, it is easy to fall into hopelessness. I remember a particular Christmas, many years ago. It was a difficult and lonely season in my life. It was a time of dark, cold loneliness; a time of helplessness and unspeakable pain. It was a time of mourning, the type that takes a long time to process, because dreams die slowly and painfully. It wasn’t helping that this was the holiday season, a time of family togetherness and celebration. Deep, in my soul, in that sacred place where no one else is allowed to enter, I was feeling ALONE, terribly ALONE! My parents, who had always been supporting and loving, lived on the East coast of the US, while I lived on the other coast, in California. Neither my parents nor I had enough money to visit the other for Christmas that year. So they had planned to spend it in Maryland, and I would be alone, with only my thoughts and questions.
But then something incredible happened! I received good news, something I couldn’t have possibly imagined! An airline decided to advertise an inexpensive special fare just for Christmas. However, the promotion came with specific restrictions: The trip both ways had to be completed within a window of 48 hours, on December 24 and 25. I understand that a one day visit like this would make sense for anyone who lived within an hour or two of their loved ones. But who would cross the whole country, flying six hours each way in less than 48 hours? Well, MY PARENTS did! They called to announce excitedly that both of them were coming to spend Christmas with me! They would arrive on December 24 and leave the following evening. I can’t even describe how I felt! How could anyone love me that much, and come all this distance just to let me know that I was NOT alone? I will never forget that Christmas. I remember every detail about it. I was not alone after all. Someone loved me and cared for me deeply. Sometimes love and suffering require extraordinary and unexpected measures. God would demonstrate His love for us in a most surprising manner.
Write a story from your own daily life that comes to your mind in this session:
How does it make you feel that the whole earth was created for you?
How do the gifts of beauty and love from the Master Designer affect you?
What does it mean to you when Jesus calls you “DAUGHTER” (1 John 3:1)?
Repeat these words of Scripture aloud:
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, That we would be called children of God; And such we are.” (1 John 3:1).
LET’S COMPREHEND JESUS IN SCRIPTURE
| Genesis 1:1-5 | John 1:1-5 |
| 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. | 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. |
| 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. | 2 He was in the beginning with God. |
| 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. | 3 All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. |
| 4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. | 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. |
| 5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. | 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. |
How many things do you find in common between the two texts? Why do you think John chose the Genesis background to introduce Jesus to his readers?
LET’S RESPOND TO GOD’S AMAZING PLAN
Write a Thanksgiving psalm or a prayer of gratitude to God for creating you in His image, for lovingly forming a beautiful world for your home. Thank Him for loving you with an everlasting love and promising that He will NEVER FORGET YOU! “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands” (Is. 49:15, 16).
