Daily Dose of the Word of God - Genesis 1: 26-31

Gregg DeMey, Lead Pastor

Transcript

Gregg DeMey  0:10 

Good morning friends and welcome to Elmhurst CRC's Daily Dose of the Word of God. It is Thursday, January 2 and Sunday is coming. It's a new year and God is inviting us to get more of his Word into our hearts and lives. Today's reading takes us back to the beginning of history - the sixth day of creation - reading from Genesis 1, verses 26 and following.

Gregg DeMey  0:33 

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. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. He created them, and God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it." And God saw all that he had made and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.

Gregg DeMey  1:13 

This moment is the high point of all of God's creative activity. God shifts gears from making space, time, life and all its fullness to creating something extra special - a creature made in God's own image. Here, God speaks in the plural: "Let us make mankind in our own image," and then God makes humans to dwell in community as male and female. From the very beginning, it's written into the very fabric of the universe. Also written is that as human beings, we have a special responsibility to steward and care for God's beloved creation.

Gregg DeMey  2:01 

Now these first few chapters of Genesis are both the story of all of humanity in a nutshell and they're also the story of our original, created ancestors. It is a biological reality and I'm quoting from Google AI here: "according to current scientific understanding, all human DNA can be traced back to a single female ancestor, often referred to as mitochondrial Eve." Now around church or in spiritual circles, we might be more inclined to call her biblical Eve, but it's all part and parcel of the same reality: all living humans are descended from a common mother - but more importantly - all living humans are the image bearing handiwork of the Lord God almighty, creator and King of the universe. And having completed this creative work on the sixth and final day of creation, God declared it all to be very good. And there was evening and morning - the sixth day.

Gregg DeMey  3:08  

Let's pray. Oh God, we thank you for making this universe to share yourself and to share your love. Thank you for the privilege that we as human beings have of being made to bear your image and likeness. Help us today to care for this beautiful world, its creatures and our fellow image bearers. We know that they are precious to you - so precious that you came to save and redeem us at the highest cost. And we thank you for this. In Jesus name, Amen.