Third, man was made to express God. Image and likeness both denote expression. When God created man in His image and after His likeness, He did not put the divine life into him. The divine life was not imparted to the created man until Jesus came and died and was resurrected for us. Now whosoever believes in Him has eternal life (John 3:16). If we have the Son, we have this divine life. If we do not have the Son, we do not have this life (1 John 5:12). God’s life did not enter the created man until the accomplishment of Christ’s full redemption.
God created man with the intention that one day He would enter into man and that man would be able to receive Him. Romans 9 reveals that the man created by God is a vessel, intended to contain something. Just as a cup is a vessel to hold water, so man was made as a vessel to contain God.
Genesis 2:7 tells us how God made man. First, He made man’s body from the dust of the ground. Then He breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of this body of dust, and man became a living soul. Here in this one verse there is the body, the soul, and the breath of life. The Hebrew word for breath in Genesis 2:7 is translated “spirit” in Proverbs 20:27, which says, “The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah” (lit.). This indicates that the very breath of life breathed into Adam was the human spirit. Two materials, then, were used to form man: the dust and the breath of life. The dust became the body, and the breath of life became the spirit. When these two things came together, a by-product came out: the soul. Thus, Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 that a human being is of three parts: spirit, soul, and body.
Genesis 1 tells us that God created man in His own image, after His likeness; this was so that he could contain God. A container must be in the shape of the thing it will contain. If something is square, you would not make a round container for it. If something is round, you would not make a square container for it. The shape of the container is made according to the shape of its contents. Man was made in the image and likeness of God.
Genesis 1 tells us that everything created brought forth after its kind (vv. 11-12, 21, 24-25). The apple tree brings forth after its kind, and the tiger after its kind. Man was made after God’s kind. If two trees are grafted together, they must be of the same kind; otherwise, the grafting will not take. Hallelujah! Man is of the same kind as God! Because we were created after God’s kind, with the intention that we would be grafted together with God, this “grafting” will take and we can be made one with God.