God's Family Planning
THE BIG PICTURE
GOD’S FAMILY PLANNING
- God designed the universe for the earth. Genesis 1:14-17
- God gave man dominion over all the earth. Genesis 1:26-28, Psalms 8
- Man’s purpose is God. Psalms 67, Isaiah 43:7, 1 Timothy 2:3-6, Ephesians 1:3-6, etc.
In other words, the reason for the universe is the earth, the reason for the earth is man, and the reason for man is God.
Chapters 1-3 of Genesis reveal a multitude of foundational keys to unlock many, many truths throughout the Bible. The information in this hub is presented as a help. It is foundational that we understand that God designed man as a three component being: SPIRIT, SOUL, and BODY.
SPIRIT – SOUL – BODY
1 Thessalonians 5:23: “your whole spirit, and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Spirit, soul, and body are distinct components of the “whole” man!
Genesis 2:7: The “body” was “formed” from the dust of the ground. And, when God breathed into man the breath of life, man became a living soul.
The BODY: See Genesis 3:19. The body returns to the dust from which it was formed. It decays and becomes dust.
The SOUL: is the life of the body. It is that which makes you who you are. See Luke 12:16-19. Biblically speaking, when one has the “breath of life” he is a living soul. When one takes his last breath he is referred to as a dead soul, a soul without life. Death is always the absence of life, whether the subject is soul or spirit. (See Acts 2:25-32, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17) Your soul is who you are.
The SPIRIT* of God was provided to primarily guide us into truth (John 16:13), to lead us (Romans 8:14), to be our helper (John 14:16). God designed man to have holy spirit so that God could work in unison with His man.
Does everyone have the spirit of God? No! Some say that “Everyone has a spark of the Divine.” But the scriptures teach that a person receives the spirit of God when they believe on Jesus Christ. See Acts 2:38. Until that time a person is dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). If someone is dead, then they have no life; hence, there isn’t even a spark of the divine until they turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.
* “Spirit” is used regarding “life” in various ways in scripture such as “the spirit of the beast”, “the spirit of man”, “my spirit”, “the spirit of the king”, “the spirit of Jacob”, etc. These are figurative uses for the word life, so as to be referring to the whole life of the person or animal. The gift of holy spirit from God is not to be confused with the spirit of man.
CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD
MAN IS DESIGNED WITH SPIRIT
Genesis 1:26-28: The word “create” means to bring into being, to produce. It has special reference to God as “the Creator”. Only God can create as used here. The word “image” means likeness, or resemblance. In verses 26-27, each of these words “create” and “image” is used three times. By repetition this is emphasizing that man was brought into existence, produced in the very likeness or resemblance of God. This cannot be referring to physical appearance. God does not have a physical appearance. He is invisible. See Colossians 1:15. According to God’s Word, God is Spirit (John 4:24), He is Holy (Leviticus 11:44), He is love (1 John 4:16), He is Light (1 John 1:5), He is merciful and gracious (Psalms 103:8), etc. We can’t see spirit, or life, in and of itself. We can only see evidences of it.
In the context of man being “created in the image of God”, man was given dominion “over all the earth”. Man was designed, under God, to have dominion and authority over all the face of the earth. As we shall see, what Adam had with God was LIFE. He had SPIRIT. This gave Man dominion. Embodied in this spiritual life with God are qualities and characteristics of God. Man was created in the image of God, in His likeness, which gave him dominion over all the earth under God’s government. Man was designed with spirit to be led and guided by God, and to commune with God.
Isaiah. 43:7: “I have created him for my glory.”
God designed man to walk in union with Him. Man was God’s under-ruler. They functioned as one. They were harmonious. Man was coordinated with God. What God wanted done on earth Adam was enabled to carry out because he had God’s spirit. As long as Adam walked in submission to the Lord God, he enjoyed unhindered blessings and benefits by way of the spirit. This is the design of God; for God and His man to enjoy perfect union. But the moment Adam turned from God, by turning from the words to which God gave him to adhere, calamity resulted. Yet, this did not change the Lord God’s purpose for Man: to live in union, in harmony with God. This purpose of God would be restored and made available to all of mankind centuries later by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ!
MAN RELINQUISHES SPIRIT, LIFE WITH GOD
God gave man free will. Man could choose to obey, or to disobey God. To have the choice to obey God requires a choice to disobey. This is axiomatic.
Genesis 2:15-17: The close of verse 17 literally reads: “dying thou shalt die!”
DEATH: The absence of life.
Adam was privileged with two kinds of life:
SOUL LIFE (Genesis 2:7, 5:3-5) & SPIRIT LIFE (Romans 8:2, 10, 2Corinthians 3:6).
To obey God is to humbly submit to the words that God has given to be believed. God desires that people would obey/love Him of their own accord. Hence, He gave Man freewill; the right to choose. Adam could eat freely of any tree of the garden. Adam’s only God-forbidden act was eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The day he would eat, he would surely die!
Adam’s choice – 1. Disobey or 2. Obey God:
1. He could choose to follow the information received by his five senses, being flesh-ruled. In this category we have emotions, feelings, personal desires, lusts of the flesh, pride, logic, reasoning, etc. – summarized as MY WAY! Isaiah 53:6, Jeremiah 2:13.
2. He could choose to follow the information received by the spirit, being God-ruled. In this category what we feel, desire, tend towards, have pleasure in, fear, etc. all are brought into submission to what God says. – GOD’S WAY! Romans 8:14, 6:13.
As long as Adam walked by the spirit, submitting to what God said to him, he enjoyed the blessings and benefits of being in union with God. He had spiritual life, and dominion over all the earth. But the moment he chose to walk contrary to what God said, then disaster/spiritual death was the result.
THE ROAD TO DISASTER
Genesis 3:1-6: They ate; they died! Adam lost spiritual life. This spiritual death was passed to all of mankind: See Romans 5:12, Ephesians 2:1 & 5.
Genesis 3:7-13: This shows us a drastic change in the relationship between Adam and the Lord God. Adam is now hiding from the Lord God. The Lord God is looking for Adam, saying, “Where art thou?” Adam is now afraid. He is conscious of his sin, and so tries to get out from under the pressure of sin by blaming another. All of this is drastically changed behavior because Adam lost the spirit of God.
Remember that in Genesis 1:26-28 “God created man in His image”. In this context Man is given dominion over all the face of the earth. As we saw previously, man was designed with the spirit of God as a complete being. Man was created for the glory of God (Isaiah 43:7.) It is by following the spirit that Man is a glory to God. Man relinquished God’s spirit by disobeying God. Man was then left being just body and soul, spiritually dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1), and producing fruit contrary to God. This cataclysmic act of disobedience left Man separated from God and without a means by which to restore this relationship. Man was powerless to reconcile himself back to God, (Psalms 49:6-9, Romans 5:6-8.) Hence, man and creation are left in a corrupting state headed for destruction because of sin (see Romans 8:18-23.) But wait! Our delivering God promised the restoration of all things through Jesus Christ (Acts 3:20-21).
ROAD TO VICTORY
Genesis 3:14-15: The promised seed is THE PROMISED REDEEMER!!! Galatians 3:16 this seed is CHRIST!! The Christ is the means by which God would solve this devastating problem of sin and all its consequences (see the hub article "The Promised Redeemer"). The Christ would reconcile us back to God, and the Adversary would be destroyed.
Throughout history God has been bringing this promise to pass. The redemption of mankind from sin and all of its consequences is “His-story.” God planned and purposed that the redeemer (the Christ, the seed of the woman) would deliver us “from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” (Acts 26:18). This is the gospel message, or good news of God. It is a message of grace, the grace that is toward us because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The purpose of the coming of Jesus Christ according to John 10:10b is, “that they might have life…” What kind of life did Jesus Christ bring us? Spiritual life; Life with God. A life replenished with God’s blessings and benefits. Jesus Christ came to replenish the spirit of God for mankind, restoring all that Adam lost and more!
Romans 10:9:"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
