Sermon Central
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Boy Are We Different ... The Creation Of Mankind
Contributed by Stephen Belokur on Oct 2, 2021 (message contributor)
Summary: Are we the product of 13.6 billion years (give or take a few billion) or are we the direct creation of a Creator who made us in His own image? What makes us different from all of the other animals on earth? God knows. And He told us.
Boy Are We Different … The Creation of Mankind
Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
“Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets who were before you in the same way.”
And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse(s) is(are):
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others.”
Today we will be reading from Genesis 1:6-31
I remember back in my elementary education being taught about the basic kingdoms of life on earth; the plant kingdom and the animal kingdom and the teacher said that humans were part of the animal kingdom. (I realize that there are more kingdom classifications of life but the teacher was keeping it simple for us. In researching this I found that even the scientists disagree on the number of kingdoms; is it five or six or seven?)
In my less than full understanding of what she was saying I said that I was not an animal and so the other kids would call me “pine tree” which I even thought was humorous.
What I meant was that I knew from Sunday School that there was a difference between mankind and the rest of the animal kingdom; that God had made us special, in His own image. And, so, we were and are different from any other animals.
What makes us different and what difference does it make???
For the answers please join me in your Bibles as we read:
(Prayer for help)
What do we see in the Bible that informs us about the difference between humanity and the rest of the animal kingdom?
We see in the creation account we just read that God said:
- “Let there be …” 3x (no discussion)
- “Let the …” 4x (no discussion)
- “Let Us …” 1x (Let’s talk about this …)
Who is the “Us” in the “Let Us …”?
Some say that God was consulting with the angelic host regarding the decision but this is both illogical and it has no Biblical foundation. If it WERE God and the angels it would mean that God and the angels are of the same image. They are not. And, there is no evidence that angels had any part of the creation event at all.
How DO we see angels in the Bible?
- As messengers
- As servants
- As worshipers
- NOT as advisers or consultants
Others say that God was using a first-person-plural-pronoun us to refer to God the Father in a fuller, more majestic sense - i.e., a plural of majesty. For instance, you can imagine the Queen of England asking the question, “And, how are we today?” or saying, “We are well” when asked about her health.
Such an idea also has no Biblical foundation.
Finally, we see here and in other instances in the Bible that it is a foreshadowing of the fuller understanding of the Holy Trinity which would be revealed when Jesus the Messiah would come to earth.
This is immense! We have been created in the image and likeness of God! While all of the plant life and animal life of this creation have only the essence of this world, we humans, have not only the essence of this world but we also have the essence of God’s image as well.
How do we know that? Let’s compare these two verses …
In Genesis 2:19 we see, “Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky.”
And in Genesis 2:7 we see, “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
When we compare these two verses we can see that both the animals and the man, Adam, were formed from the dust of the ground.
In that sense we are indeed animals, we are of the animal kingdom!
So, what IS the difference? The Bible says that, “… the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
Did the LORD God breathe into the nostrils of the animals?
The Bible does not say that He did.
Do the animals breathe?
Yes. Of course they do in one way or another.
