One of the more confusing elements of faith in the Word of God as given in the Bible relates to the original plan the Lord had for us. Even knowing that we would fall and that Jesus was set aside for our salvation “from the foundation of the world,” he started out with the perfect blue print. In the first 25 verses, the earth and its’ creatures were all created. Saving His best creation for last, verse 26 and 27:
“God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them.” (emphasis mine)
There is an abundance of information that seems to have been overlooked in the preacher pulpit. When God said “let Us make man” He was speaking to His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit. When verse 27 states “God created man” it is enforcing the Trinity. It is not a euphemism a boss might render to underlings to make them feel like they only had to be a witness to an executive decision, but one in which each played an integral part.
In Colossians 2:15-19, we see that Jesus is not only completely God in bodily form, but “holds” all matter together by His will. It also states that Man was a race to be created and not a single, one time “Adam.” (Which brings me to the next point): Where did Cain’s wife come from?
Genesis 1 states that Man was to have dominion over all of earth and in verse 28, he was to be “Fruitful and multiply….. fill the earth and subdue it.” Verse 31: “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good”. Was man or the rest of creation cursed at this point? No. But it is obvious that pro-creation was begun at that point. Eve was created as soon as Adam had his first job completed of naming the animals.
To further prove the point that Eve was having children before the fall, look at Genesis 3:16. Her part of the curse for eating the forbidden fruit: “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth children.” Had she not already been giving birth to children, this curse would have been quite confusing. She might have responded with “what’s a child?”
She must have only had minimal discomfort while giving birth, so she could understand what “multiplying” the pain was. We might also ask what would have happened had she and her offspring continued to give birth without sinning. Just speculation: Would they have stopped once the earth was full or been launching off to start new worlds elsewhere? One other note: Genetic purity was the reason marriages between close family members could occur and were sanctioned by God until later generations after the fall.
Now we have a history and current events all carefully orchestrated to culminate in the final fulfillment of God’s original plan. It will permanently fix a fallen man through the blood of Jesus Christ and restore fallen creation to its’ original beauty and perfection. What then? Is there a new, original plan for man or does it go back to what was intended at the beginning?
Much of what is planned for us is hidden. Like a parent preparing his kids for a great Christmas, God does not want us to dwell on the gifts we are going to get. Jesus hints in His teaching of the parables of the talents, that the faithful use of the gifts He gave us results in varying degrees of leadership honors (Matthew 25:14-30).
But in Matthew 20, He speaks of giving every worker the same pay no matter how long or difficult each individuals work experience is. We, who are fortunate (at least for the time being) in this country to spread the gospel with little consequence, will be paid the same as those who suffer tribulation in other countries for the same job.
We know that we are kings and priests through our redemption in Christ who bring glory and honor from the nations into the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:24). What or who are we ruling over in the new Kingdom? Angels and other created beings for one: “know ye not that we shall judge angels.” As there is hierarchy in the angelic realm, there is a hierarchy for us in heaven. The apostles were told that they would be sitting on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
We will also answer to someone above us and rule over some below us but our main task will always and forever be to bring glory to the God who made and saved us. Jesus also told us that there are many children in heaven. Just think of all those who died before the age of accountability and those who were not even permitted to be born. I can think of few more joyous things than playing with a bunch of heavenly kids!