Why is God so mindful of man?
Why were we born? Is there meaning to our present existence?
The ancient king David himself wondered:
Psa 8:4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
The word “visitest” here means “care for”. Indeed, why in the vastness of the universe would God take special notice and care of the tiny, puny man?
There it is. God bestows man with special glory and honor. This may not mean much at this point, but we’ll elaborate on this as we go on. The rest of Psalms 8 is a paraphrase of man’s creation account in Genesis 1. Let’s read it from Genesis 1 itself:
Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
This passage clearly reveals the following things:
- God created us in His image and likeness.
- God gave man dominion over the rest of His creation.
IN GOD’S IMAGE AND LIKENESS
In Genesis 1:11-25 we read that grasses, herbs, marine life, birds, cattle, etc. – all plants and animal life were each created after “its kind” – herbs after the herb kind, fowls after the fowl kind and so on. When it comes to man, it says man was made in God’s image and likeness.
What does “in His image and likeness” mean?
In Genesis 5:1-2, the creation of Adam is retold. In verse 3 we read of Adam’s begettal of Seth:
Here the exact same words “image” and “likeness” are used. Needless to say, Seth being sired by Adam and Eve, inherited their own genes with all their traits and characteristics. In the same way my own children inherited my traits and characteristics.
The phrase “in God’s image and likeness” is no different, except that God is spirit. Whereas Adam [and we] had genes, through which physical traits and characteristics are passed on to his physical human offspring, God [who is spirit] passes His traits to His sons through His spirit! Here’s how it works:
Php 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Are you now beginning to see what being created in God’s “image and likeness” is like?
Now notice this:
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
So it is clear from these verses that we humans are to inherit or acquire God nature such as immortality and incorruptibleness – and more! – through a process [more on this as we go]. That is what is meant by “in God’s image and likeness” – no less!
CO-HEIRS WITH CHRIST!
Hebrews 2 gives exciting details about what God is preparing for us:
What is the “world to come”?
Of course, the coming kingdom of God, the “new heaven and new earth” (2 Pet.3:13).
Continuing:
Heb 2:7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
This is a quotation from Psalms 8. Now, notice the next verse:
Contrast that with Genesis 1:27, quoted at the beginning of this post, where it says God, after creating man, gave him dominion over all creatures and over all the earth. In Hebrews 2:8 it is talking of “all things” – nothing excluded. Other translations render “all things” as “the entire universe”. In other words, God intends to ultimately put the entire universe in subjection to man.
Virgo Super Cluster – This one small window in the sky alone shows over 100 groups of galaxies, containing an estimated 200 trillion stars!
Now that is awesome!
If you realized what this passage is talking about, your mind will be blown! It simply is beyond description!
OUR AWESOME UNIVERSE!
Scientists, equipped with powerful tools such as the Hubble telescope, estimate that there are hundreds of billions of galaxies out there, each containing hundreds of billions of stars. That estimate is based only on what can be observed within the range of the most powerful telescopes. You can just imagine how much more galaxies and stars lurk beyond! The Bible says, man is going to inherit all of that!
Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
But then the last part of Hebrews 2:8 added that “we see not yet all things put under him”. That is simply because of what man presently is – mortal. Christ Himself had been fully glorified (Rev.1:5-16) and “appointed heir of all things” (Heb.1:2) – becoming the forerunner of what God intends to do with us.
Heb 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain [predecessor, pioneer - Thayer] of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Did you get that? Jesus became human like us, died and was resurrected to become the pioneer of God’s plan to “bring many sons unto glory” – which is what salvation is all about. We too would be resurrected and made immortal just like Christ (1 Cor.15). We will become sons of God like Christ is son of God!
But that change is yet to happen in the future. Right now we only have about 75 to 80 years on the average to live (Psalms 90:10). The magnitude of the universe is so immense and mind-blowing to our limited grasp that scientist had to devise a measurement called light years to chart incomprehensible distances in the universe. One light year is equivalent to 9.5 trillion kilometers, the distance light travels in one year. The distance of earth to the next nearest major galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, for example, is 21 quintillion km. That’s 21,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilometers, which would take us around 2.3 million years of non-stop travel at the speed of light [which is a blinding 1 billion kph]!
That alone gives you an idea of how futile it is for man to even think of visiting the nearest galactical neighbor – let alone conquer the entire universe. So to most of us the universe remains a mere cosmic spectacle – awe-inspiring but with little relevance to our day to day concerns – which is not what God meant it to be.
That is why, as the apostle Paul said:
This means a change or transformation must happen to us in order for us to inherit all things. That change is necessary for us to become God’s true sons and daughters. That will be the subject of my next post.
To sum up what we have discussed so far: God’s purpose for creating man is for man to become His literal sons and daughters and for man to inherit all things – the entire universe – with Christ.
What a glorious future God has in store for us!
[Read also Part 2: You Must Be Born Again - John 3:7]