March 3, 2022 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Ted N.C. Wilson, President, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Greetings, friends. In Psalm 8, we encounter a beautiful song glorifying the Creator, and in the middle of that Psalm, we read these fascinating verses, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:3-5).
In this beautiful passage of praise, we see the value that God has placed on human beings: that God is mindful, He remembers us. He wants to connect and have fellowship with us. He has made us just “a little lower than the angels,” and has crowned us with glory and honor. Truly we belong to Him.
As we know, when God created human beings, they were perfect. The Bible lets us listen in to the conversation of the Godhead, when, as recorded in Genesis 1:26, they proclaim, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.”
Then, as the sacred record tells us, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27).
Unlike the rest of creation, which He spoke into existence, human beings were so special, so dear to God, that He stooped down and formed them with His own hands–the same hands that would one day be nailed to a cruel cross in order to save the ones He created.
Kneeling on the ground, the Creator lovingly shaped the first man from the dust of the earth. At last, the sculpture was perfect, inside and out. Then, stooping over this magnificent form, the Creator “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7).
Let us pause and notice something for a moment. When God formed the elements of earth into a body, He “breathed” the breath of life” into the nostrils of Adam’s lifeless body, and only then did man become a “living being.” This “breath of life is “the breath of the Almighty” according to Job 33:4, where we read: “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” This shows us that a human being is made up of a body and the breath of life from God. When the two are together, there is life. When separated, there is no life.
Realizing man’s need for companionship, God stated, as we read in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
The Bible tells us that God caused “a deep sleep” to come over Adam, and as Adam slept, God extracted one of Adam’s ribs and made it into a woman. He then woke Adam up and introduced him to Eve. Imagine what a meeting that must have been!
Then God blessed them and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen. 1:28).
He placed them in their beautiful home, the Garden of Eden, where they were to live forever in supreme happiness. Sadly, however, although they were created perfect and in God’s image, and placed in a perfect environment, Adam and Eve became transgressors and fell into sin–and all of the pain, misery, and death that it brings.
Nevertheless, God in His infinite wisdom, had a plan to save the human race from eternal ruin, and He shared that hope with Adam and Eve after the fall. Speaking to Satan, God said, “I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Gen. 3:15).
God’s message brought encouragement because it announced that although Satan had brought humanity under his evil spell, ultimately, he would be defeated and a way of escape would be made for all people who would choose that way through our Savior, Jesus Christ.
This covenant of grace was developed even before the Fall. The Scriptures point out that before Creation, the members of the Godhead had covenanted among Themselves to rescue the race if it should fall into sin. We read in Ephesians 1:4-7—”having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
And speaking of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, the apostle Peter wrote, “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20).
Yes, my friends, we are precious in God’s sight. We are the work of His creation–and of His re-creation by way of His salvation.
As our Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Belief #7 states:
“Man and woman were made in the image of God with individuality, the power and freedom to think and to do. Though created free beings, each is an indivisible unity of body, mind, and spirit, dependent upon God for life and breath and all else. When our first parents disobeyed God, they denied their dependence upon Him and fell from their high position. The image of God in them was marred and they became subject to death. Their descendants share this fallen nature and its consequences. They are born with weaknesses and tendencies to evil. But God in Christ reconciled the world to Himself and by His Spirit restores in penitent mortals the image of their Maker. Created for the glory of God, they are called to love Him and one another, and to care for their environment.”
You can read more about this beautiful biblical belief by visiting the url at the bottom of the screen. [https://www.adventist.org/nature-of-humanity/]
Friends, God’s love for us is real. He created us, He redeemed us, and He promises to one day fully restore us. In that wonderful book, Steps to Christ, we read this amazing thought:
“Through transgression the sons of man become subjects of Satan. Through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ the sons of Adam may become the sons of God. By assuming human nature, Christ elevates humanity. Fallen men are placed where, through connection with Christ, they may indeed become worthy of the name ‘sons of God.'” (Steps to Christ, p. 15).
What a wonderful Creator, Savior, Redeemer and Friend! Let’s pray to Him just now. Father in heaven, thank you for the plan of salvation, what an amazing and loving way in which to make provision for people whom you knew would fall from a perfect state, thank you for sending Jesus, thank you for allowing us to participate and be beneficiaries of this amazing grace and love on the part of our Savior Jesus Christ, so we place ourselves now, in your hands and asked that you will continue to remake us into the image of God, in Jesus name we ask, amen.