In these messages we have clearly seen that the revelation of the Scriptures is progressive and consistent. It starts from Genesis and goes through sixty-six books, ending with Revelation. In Genesis 1, after God finished the work of His creation, He created man. Zechariah 12:1 says that the Lord stretched forth the heavens, laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of man. The heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man, and man is for God. But for man to be for God he must have an organ to contact God and take God in. This organ is the human spirit. Therefore, Zechariah says that God created the heavens and the earth and the spirit of man.
The whole universe serves God’s purpose. His purpose is to have a group of human beings that He may work Himself into them so that they might bear His image. In this way God would become their life and content. God would be one with them, and they would be His expression, filled with all that He is.
For this purpose, God had to create man. For man to exist there is the need of the earth, and the earth needs the heavens. The sunshine, the rain, and even the air are all required for life. Without these things, no life can exist. The heavens are for the earth, and the earth’s existence is for man. If the earth were a little closer to the sun, everything on the earth would be burned up, including man. If the earth were a little farther from the sun, everything on the earth would be frozen. Praise the Lord that the distance between the earth and the sun is just right! Therefore, the heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man, and man is for God.
John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and reality” (Recovery Version). God made a spirit for man that man might worship Him. The way God made man was unique. He did not make anything in His own image but man. A glove is made in the image of a hand that the hand might enter into the glove. When it does, the glove is no longer empty, but has a content which is expressed by the glove. If we remove the hand from the glove, the glove becomes empty and useless. Its usefulness is just to contain the hand. In the same way, God made man in His image that He Himself might come into this man.
All containers are made in the form of the content. A round item has a round container. A square item has a square container. God made man in His image that man might contain God. Hence, Paul tells us in Romans 9:23 that man is God’s vessel. “And what if He should make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory” (Recovery Version). Man was made as a vessel to contain God. This vessel as the container of God was made exactly in the form of God. We human beings are not good for anything but God. Anything else does not fit. Whatever else we have tried to fill ourselves with can never satisfy. When we called on the Lord Jesus, He came into us. Then we all testified that we had found the purpose for living. To put anything but a hand into a glove is awkward and meaningless. A pencil or a book does not fit. Only a hand fits. Paul says in Galatians 4:19, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” Many Christians have Christ in them, but He is not formed in them.
God created man in His image that He might become the very content of man. To have the image is one thing, but to have God’s life and nature is another. A wax man is made in the image of man, but does not have man’s life. Our parents not only gave us man’s image, but also man’s life; but God in His creation only gave man His image, not His life. Therefore, after man was created, God placed him before the tree of life. This indicated that man had God’s image, but he still did not have God’s life. In Genesis 1 we see the image of God, and in Genesis 2 we see the life of God. God gave us His image in creation, but until we take in the tree of life, we do not have His life.