“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen. 1:1) Then in six days He brought light from darkness, order from chaos, and life from lifelessness. When He was finished, He saw that it was “very good” (Gen. 1:31). But here’s the question we’re seeking to answer in this article: “Why?” Why did God create? What is creation’s purpose, and how is that purpose connected to our own?
Hypothetically Speaking
Before jumping into the Scriptures, let’s begin with a hypothetical question. I’m not really a fan of bringing hypotheticals into Bible study, but bear with me for a moment. What would creation be like if Adam and Eve had never eaten the forbidden fruit? If all of their descendants had followed in their footsteps, always choosing to obey God, what would be the state of creation today? Are there any reasonable assumptions we could make? I think so.
If Adam, Eve, and all their descendants had never disobeyed, we could only assume:
- There would be no human sin, wickedness, or evil.
- There would be no corruption, entropy, decay, or breaking down.
- There would be no death.
- Earth and all creation would still be curse-free.
- There would be no future judgment of the ungodly or destruction of the earth.
- Humanity would live forever in perfect harmony with one another and be in perfect fellowship with God in a creation He deemed “very good”.
Now, don’t misunderstand my intentions here. I don’t expect to win anyone over to renewed eschatology based upon a hypothetical question. But I do hope it causes you to pause, if even for a moment, and think about what God’s original intentions were for creation. Do the collective Scriptures really paint the picture of a God who desired from the beginning to judge humanity and annihilate His good creation? Or do they paint the picture of a God who created the earth, the plants, and the animals for humanity? Do they reveal a God who abandons what is cursed, destroys what is broken, and buries that which is dead. Or is God a God who breaks curses, fixes what is broken, and raises that which is dead and dying to new life?
Scripturally Speaking
Thankfully, we don’t have to rely on hypothetical argumentation to know that God’s desire and intention is to have eternal, perfect fellowship with humanity on a curse-free earth. To begin seeing that, we need to ask one more question; one in which the Scriptures answer plainly: What is humanity’s purpose?
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion 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.”
When God made humanity, He made us according to His “image”. There have been many speculations as to what that means, such as:
- “It means we have the ability to reason and use logic.”
- “It means we have free will.”
- “It means we have a sense of morality and justice.”
Instead of speculating an answer, why don’t we just allow the Scriptures to speak for themselves?
“Image of God”
The Hebrew word for “Image” refers to a statue, idol, or replica of something. In the Septuagint (the translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek), the word is transliterated eikōn (where we get the English word “icon” = a representation of something sacred). When God made humanity, He made statues, idols, or replicas of Himself. He made us for the purpose of bearing His image on earth and being His representatives within His creation.
Humanity was also made according to God’s “likeness”. We were made to be like Him and to resemble Him.
Practically Speaking
What does it mean for us to bear God’s image on the earth and be like Him? What is our purpose on a practical level? The text tells us, “so that they will have dominion 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.” (Gen. 1:26) Being made in the image and likeness of God means having dominion (or ruling) over the earth according to His will. Humanity’s original purpose was to rule over creation. Verse 28 gives more detail into what that was to look like:
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.”
First, God wanted humanity to reproduce and fill the earth. Second, He wanted humanity to “subdue” (subjugate, force into bondage) the earth and have dominion (rulership, authority) over the animals. In ruling over the creation, God intended for His image-bearers to use the earth’s resources in ways that are beneficial to humanity and creation as a whole. Just as God created all things good, humanity was to bear His image and use creation to do further good. To reproduce, expand, create, build, and cause all life and goodness to flourish.
The Perfect Image Bearer
As a whole, how good of a job has humanity done at fulfilling our purpose? We’ve failed pretty miserably. Our very first ancestors disobeyed God (and the rest of us followed suit) and sent all of creation into a downward spiral of sin, corruption, and death.
But hope isn’t lost. God had a plan before creation began to bring the perfect image-bearer into the world (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15). He would be “the exact representation of [God’s] nature” (Heb. 1:3); the only human to perfectly fulfill our purpose.
The first Adam brought sin, corruption, death, and the curse into creation. This second Adam rejected the ways of the first Adam by living a sinless life, dying a sacrificial death, rising out of death by a glorious resurrection, and ascending into Heaven to take His rule over heaven and earth (just as Daniel 7:13-14 prophesied). In so doing, Jesus defeated sin, corruption, death, and the curse.
Now all those who die to the ways of the first Adam (old humanity) and are reborn to the ways of the second Adam (new humanity) are “conformed to the image” of Jesus (Rom. 6, 8:29; Eph. 4:20-24), who is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15). When we bear the image and likeness of Jesus, we bear the image and likeness of God. In Jesus, humanity’s original purpose is being restored.
“The World to Come”
Before quoting Psalm 8, where David speaks of God giving humanity rulership over creation, the author of Hebrews says, “For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.” (Hebrews 2:5) Make no mistake about it, there is a “world (inhabited earth) to come (to take place at a future time)”. This harmonizes with passages like Romans 4:13 and Matthew 5:5 (both of which we will study deeper in a future article). And the rulers of this future world will not be angels but humanity. We will rule and reign with Jesus over this “world to come” forever (Romans 5:17, 2 Tim. 2:11-12, Revelation 22:5).
“But”, as the Hebrews author points out, “now we do not yet see all things subjected to [humanity].” (Heb. 2:8) Ever since the fall, humanity has failed at properly bearing God’s image, and the cursed creation has rebelled against our rule. According to Heb. 1:10-12, this present earth and heavens “will perish” and “be changed” (same Greek word used by Paul in 1 Cor. 15:51-52 to refer to the “change” that our present bodies will undergo at the resurrection).
Even though we don’t “yet” see creation subjected to humanity (Heb. 2:8), “we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels—Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor” (Heb. 2:9). Jesus was “crowned with glory and honor” and is now ruling over the present world. And upon His return, He will restore a resurrected and perfected humanity to our original, God-given purpose: to rule over God’s creation forever.
Conclusion
The question that began this discussion was, “Why did God create?” Was His original intention to create an environment where humanity would spend a temporary period of time until the day in which He would snatch them away to another place and utterly annihilate their former habitation? Or was God’s original intention for humanity to rule over His creation forever as His image-bearers and according to His likeness? I believe the Scriptures unanimously declare the latter.
What can thwart the purposes of God? Can heavenly or earthly rebellion thwart the purposes of God? Can sin or corruption or death or curse thwart the purposes of God? Can anything thwart the purposes of God?
“I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”
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