YBible Thoughts Y October 25, 1998
After God created the heavens and the earth, the physical elements, the plants, and the animals, the Lord created the human race. Not from a test tube nor from an evolutionary process, but from the Lord shaping and speaking mankind into existence. Man is the product of a divine act; not the result of an accident. When God shaped the physical body from the elements, Jehovah breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
Mankind is the supreme being of the creation. All plants and all animals are beneath him and serve him. They are the food he eats, the pets he keeps, and the beasts of the field that wander in his pastures and woods. They are subject to him since man is the crowning creation of the physical realm.
The one factor that distinguishes man from the rest of creation is that he became a "living soul"(Genesis 2:7) with powers of reasoning and an immortal spirit. The history of the world from the beginning until now demonstrates the difference between men and animals. It does not take a genius nor a scientist to observe such. The gap that exists between mankind and the rest of creation is ample evidence of this truth if nothing else could be observed.
The animals of the field are not responsible to God for their conduct. They possess no eternal spirit. No sacrifice had to be made for their sins. No heaven is prepared to receive them. All of them were created for man to have dominion over and for them to meet the physical needs of mankind(Genesis 1:28-30). When the animals die, their existence ends. When man dies, his spirit continues to exist and answers to the God who made him for his conduct while upon earth.
The God that created the universe is infinite in power, infinite in mercy, infinite in judgment, and infinite in love. He rewards the good; he punishes the evil. He accepts the meek; he rejects the haughty. He loves all men, but decrees that men serve him. He offers reward to those who walk after his statutes; he meets out punishment to those who walk in their own ways. In every instance, his decisions are always just and cannot be changed or altered by mankind.
There lives among men, whom God created, those who would create God in the image of man. Their creation comes in the form of idols they worship, beliefs they hold, actions they perform, and decisions they make. Their religion is build upon the human frailties of emotions, fear, and ignorance. When they look to God, they look at him as some human, someone they can manipulate and fool, while claiming to serve the creator of all things. Such humans will take the word of God and interpret it in the light of what they want God to say, not what is actually revealed from heaven. Their writings reflect their humanity, not the divine will of the creator. Their teachings contradict the revelation of the New Testament. Their actions are pleasing in their own eyes because they have made God in their own likeness!
All who would change the divine Creator and his word, need to heed that "the God that made the world and all things therein...giveth to all life, and breath and all things" (Acts 17:24-25). This God "hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness"(Acts 17:31). Let us not mold God in our own image!