Life is the processed Triune God to be our destined portion. God created us as vessels that we might contain Him as our life. Without Him the created vessels are empty, having no portion, and their existence is a vanity. All thoughtful persons realize that their human life is vanity. Ecclesiastes was written by the experienced and wise King Solomon. In it he said, “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity” (Eccl. 1:2). Everything on earth is vanity of vanities because apart from God, man is empty. Man was made as an empty vessel in order to receive God as his portion, that is, as his life, life supply, and everything.
God created man in a marvelous way. Whether one has received God or is an atheist, not willing to receive Him, he must admit that man is the masterpiece of God’s creation. The first items of God’s creation were the things without life. Secondly, the things with the lowest life, the vegetable life, were created. They cannot speak or understand; they do not have a mind, emotion, and a will. Then a higher life, the animal life, was created. Among the animal lives, there are higher lives and lower lives. An insect’s life is not as high as a dog’s life, and a dog’s life is not as strong as the lives of higher animals. However, the animal life is not the highest. The highest life in God’s creation is the human life.
All living things are according to their own kind (Gen. 1:12, 24). The human life, however, is not according to the human kind but according to God’s kind (Gen. 1:26). We are according to God’s kind because we were made according to God, having God’s image and God’s likeness. Image refers to the divine attributes. God is loving; this is His image. Therefore, we also are loving. God is pure, and we were made pure, even though today we are fallen. God is in the light, and we desire to be in the light; we do not like to be in darkness. These are some of God’s divine attributes. The attributes which we possess are the same as God’s attributes, but the nature is different. God’s attributes are divine; ours are not divine. What we possess is God’s image. Therefore, man with his attributes is a vessel to contain God.
Likeness refers to the outward form. According to their appearance, man, the angels, and God are in one class. The angels look like human beings. After the Lord Jesus resurrected, His disciples came to His tomb, where they saw two men (Luke 24:4). Actually, those were not men but angels (John 20:12). On the one hand, the Bible tells us that God has no visible form. However, when He came to Abraham with two angels in Genesis 18, He appeared as a man (vv. 1-2). Abraham welcomed the three and prepared water for them to wash their feet. His wife prepared a meal, and they all ate, including Jehovah and the two angels. When Jehovah was leaving, Abraham accompanied Him, walking and talking with Him. In the form of a man, Jehovah talked to Abraham as an intimate friend (vv. 16-33; James 2:23).
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