PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

God's Purpose in Man

When we study the Bible and when we teach our children concerning the contents of the Bible, we need to be always conscious of the thought that traverses the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation-God's intention is to be life to man.

In the principle of Moses' admonition that we need to declare to our children the things which God has done (cf. Deut. 4:9; 6:6-9, 20; 32:46-47), We should put these things in our hearts and in our understanding. Then we should teach our children according to the burden and the operation of God in His people. For example, we are told in the Bible that God made man in His own image and likeness and that He gave man dominion over all the earth, saying 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 heaven and over every living thing that moves upon the earth" (Gen. 1:26-28). We need to know the significance of this marvelous statement-man is a special part of God's creation, even at the very center of His divine purpose.

In addition, we are told that after the creation of man, God put him into a garden full of fruits to be enjoyed by man. But in particular, there was a tree there called the tree of life. This makes a very interesting story to be told to your children, but it is important that you realize the significance of the tree of life. This tree actually signifies God as the source and supply to man. God wants to become life to man-the intrinsic element in man by which man lives, and moves, and has his being. Man is not principally made to worship and serve God. Rather, his purpose is to express and represent God. We need to know these things and teach them to our children.

Still further, the Bible shows us that after the fall of Adam, he lost his right to eat of the tree of life-to partake of God as life. So man was driven from the garden signifying that man was no longer allowed to enter into God or to take God as his life. Now Christ's redemption has met the requirements of God's glory, holiness, and righteousness. Through the precious blood of Jesus we can enter into God and enjoy Him as our life. Hence, God's intention for man has been completely recovered. Our teaching of our children should be governed by this vision.

In the New Testament the Triune God became incarnated for the purpose of imparting Himself as life into His believers. The Old Testament begins with the tree of life (Gen. 2:9), and the New Testament ends with the tree of life (Rev. 22:2). Thus, the thought of God being man's life runs through the entire divine revelation. In this message we will consider the thought of God being man's life in the Old Testament.

GOD'S CREATING OF LIVING THINGS INDICATING THAT GOD IS THE GOD OF LIFE

In Genesis 1, in His creating of the earth God created many different kinds of life. These different kinds of life are in three main categories: the plant life (vv. 11-12), the aquatic life (vv. 20-21), and the animal life (vv. 24-25). The category of the animal life includes the cattle, the creeping things, and the beasts. Ultimately, man was created (vv. 26-27) as the highest of the created lives. The plant life is on the lowest plane because it has no consciousness of life. Man is on the highest plane because man has the highest consciousness of life.

GOD'S CREATING OF MAN IN HIS IMAGE INDICATING THAT GOD WANTS MAN TO HAVE HIM AS LIFE SO THAT MAN CAN EXPRESS HIM

God's intention is to work Himself into His creatures that He may be life to His creatures. However, He cannot be life to the plants or the animals. He can be life only to the highest created life, the life that is after His kind (Gen. 1:26-27). This is man. Thus, man is a vessel that God may put Himself into His creation in order to have a beautiful expression. This is God's intention, but it has not yet been completed. Today we are in the process of being mingled with God. Eventually, through this mingling God will have a complete and full expression.

GOD'S PUTTING MAN BEFORE THE TREE OF LIFE INDICATING THAT GOD DESIRES THAT MAN WOULD TAKE HIM, SIGNIFIED BY THE TREE OF LIFE, AS MAN'S LIFE

In Genesis 1, three main categories of life are unveiled, and in Genesis 2:8-9 the tree of life, signifying the divine life, is revealed. Hence, in the first two chapters of Genesis, four kinds of life are mentioned: the plant life, the animal life, the human life, and the divine life. The highest of these four lives is the divine life. God's intention is that the human life have the divine life. The plant life has the plant life, and the animal life has the animal life. But the human life should have the human life mingled with the divine life.

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