Delighting In Mankind

Proverbs 8:27-31 – I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.

Revelation 3:14 – “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.

Job 38:6-7 – On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

John 1:1,4 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

Colossians 1:15,18-20 – The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation…And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Genesis 1:26,28 – Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”… God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Application:

• ·         The Greek word for “ruler” can mean first in point of time or first in rank.
• ·         When the earth was created, the angels were there to sing the praises of the Creator, but Job was not. He should therefore not expect to be able to understand even lesser aspects of God’s plans for the world and for humankind.
• ·         Humans, made in the image of God, represented the climax of creation.
• ·         “In the beginning” was a deliberate echo to link God’s action in behalf of the world through Jesus Christ with His first work, the creation of the world.
• ·         Life is Christ’s gift, and He, in fact, is “the life”.
• ·         Just as the firstborn son had certain privileges and rights in the Biblical world, so also Christ has certain rights in relation to all creation—priority, preeminence and sovereignty.
• ·         Christ is supreme in the church as the one on whom it is dependent.
• ·         For Paul “fullness” meant the totality of God with all His powers and attributes.
• ·         So when Christ died on the cross, He made peace possible between God and humans, and He restored in principle the harmony in the physical world, though the full realization of the latter will come only when Christ returns.
• ·         Humans are the climax of God’s creative activity, and God has “crowned them with glory and honor” and made them rulers over the rest of His creation.
• ·         Humankind goes forth from the hands of the Creator under His divine benediction—flourishing, filling the earth with their kind, and exercising dominion over the other earthly creatures.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV