Day Six of Creation - Part 3
GENESIS 1:28-31
MAN CREATED TO PROPAGATE LIFE AND RULE OVER CREATION 1:28
Then God blessed them, and God said to 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.
Having created man and woman, God pronounced a blessing on them and gave basic instructions and a commission for them to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it.
Here we see God’s perfect plan for marriage and procreation. From the beginning, God’s design was for a permanent monogamous relationship between a man and a woman.
The Hebrew word for “blessed” is barak and speaks of something more than a ceremonial consecration. What it suggests is that God conferred well-being on them. He caused them to prosper. He made them happy and fulfilled.
Man was literally instructed to subdue the earth, take dominion, and rule over everything God had placed on earth. This is part of what is meant to be created in the image of God who is the sovereign ruler over all things.
GOD’S GRACIOUS GIFT TO MAN 1:29-30
29 And God said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food; and it was so.
All enjoyment and blessing in the world were man’s in a paradise untainted by sin and evil.
Notice that Adam, as well as every other creature in the animal kingdom, was a vegetarian at this point. There was no sin, therefore there was no death. There could therefore be no carnivores.
It seems that it wasn’t until after the flood that animals and man became meat-eaters as we see in
Genesis 9:3-6 All the animals will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it. And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person's life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die.
If anyone takes a human life, that person's life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in His own image.
Earth was a perfect paradise in which there was no death until sin came. Thus, there was no evolution and no possibility that survival of the fittest could be any kind of driving force in the development of the species.
The Bible teaches in Isaiah 65:17 & 25 that the whole animal kingdom will return to a vegetarian state in the new heavens and new earth:
Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind… The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the snake’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, says the Lord.
Man did not evolve from a lower life form nor was he created as an embryo or fetus that developed over time into an adult man or woman. Man was created instantaneously by divine decree and power, fully developed functional on the sixth 24-hour-day of creation.
GOD SAW THAT IT WAS VERY GOOD! 1:31
Then God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
God surveyed all His work—that is, the totality of the physical creation. And He pronounced a verdict: Behold it was very good! “Behold” in the Hebrew (hinneh) often serves to call special attention to a declarative statement.
When the Hebrew word for “very” (mod) occurs after an adjective it is an absolute superlative (it was exceedingly good!).
So the evening and the morning were day (the) sixth is a literal translation of the Hebrew word order. It doesn’t describe a billion-year-long process; it describes a 24- hour-day—one cycle of light and dark—evening and morning.
The creation of the human race was the central object of God’s creative purpose from the beginning. In an important sense, everything else was created for humanity, and every step of creation up to this point had one main purpose: to prepare a perfect environment for Adam.
The human race is still at the center of God’s purpose for the entire material universe. We know this because Scripture says everything else will eventually be destroyed. It will all go out of existence.
According to Jesus, there is coming a time when even the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken (Mark 13:24-25).
In the end, even the heavens will roll up like a scroll (Revelation 6:13-14).
2 Peter 3:10 says: The heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with intense heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”
In effect, everything that was created will be uncreated. Everything in this universe will cease to exist, everything except humanity.
The unfolding of creation establishes a stage in which the great redemption story can be played out. At the climax of redemption’s story God Himself becomes a man in the person of His Son Jesus Christ and is sacrificed on a cross as a substitute for the elect out of Adam’s fallen race. This is the purpose for which the entire universe was created.
And after this purpose is fulfilled the old physical creation will pass away and a new physical creation will take its place.
God created man to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever. And when every other element of this universe is long gone, God’s redeemed elect from among Adam’s fallen race, along with the holy angels, will dwell in the presence of the Lord forever in a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells.
