God and Man
According to Genesis chapter one man was created to fulfill the purpose of GOD. But before the creation of man, God decided to form the earth, and the earth was formed with a purpose, Isaiah 45:18: “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens. GOD himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else”. God made the earth to be inhabited; so who were those to inhabit it? The answer is found in Gen.1:26, “And GOD said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth”. God formed the earth that it should be inhabited and we are told that before man was created God created everything and after that he decided to create man to live on the earth. So man was to have dominion over God›s creatures. The cattle, the fowl, and the fish were made to inhabit the earth and sea, and man was to have dominion over them. So God created man in his own, image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And GOD blessed them, and GOD said unto them Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. Having created them God decided to tell them their responsibility, he first blessed them to multiply and be fruitful (vs27-28), and again to have dominion over His creation, and this was the purpose of God in creating the earth and creating man on it. God created man to live on earth and he blessed him. Man was given everything that he needed to sustain him, food for himself and food for the other living creatures. the animals, the fowl of the air and the fish in the sea.
However, man sinned and was sent out from the garden of Eden, for he believed a lie and ate that which was forbidden by God (Read Gen.3). Man was punished because of disobedience. Being out of Eden did not change the original purpose of God, that is why God decided that man should be saved, for God loved the earth though man had sinned and He provided us His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but be saved.
God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to make reconciliation between God and men, on the condition that whosoever believes in Him might be saved, (John 3:16). God wants the earth to be inhabited; we do not need to escape from the earth and live in heaven for it is said that: “The heaven. even the heavens, are the LORD’s; BUT THE EARTH hath HE given to the children of men”(Ps115:16). That is why we are here on earth, it was created for us to live on and live here for eternity, if we believe in God and obey Him (Read Ps 37). The Bible tells us that the purpose of God is that the earth will be given to the righteous, but the wicked will be “cut off”. To be cut off is not to live for ever in punishment. To be cut off is to die for ever.
God is concerned with the righteous because they are the ones who will fulfill His purpose as He intended from the beginning. The earth is very important to the Creator, otherwise Jesus would not have been born, he appeared to fulfill all righteousness and that the Kingdom of God should be fully established on earth: Rev.5:10: “And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on earth”.
Men and women can live for eternity if they believe God’s Word, the Bible, and learn the true Gospel message and obey it.
Bro. A.D.Liwawa, (Neno, Malawi)
