Man is the last but not the least of God’s creations. This is seen in how God gave him the authority, power, and mandate to reign over everything else.
When God began the work of creation, He ensured that He made available for man all he would need to survive upon the surface of the earth.
He created light, creeping things, animals, fish, plants, etc. in order to facilitate the survival of man in the world.
God might have decided not to create man; however, He did because He had an intention; He had a purpose in His mind while He was fashioning man in His image.
There wouldn’t have been the need to create man in His image if there were no specific reasons behind it.
This is because God already had the company of three—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Apart from this, He had innumerable angels who ministered to and worshipped Him in heaven. God still created man after His likeness and character.
Why did God do this? Why did He create man in His image? Why did He make man after His likeness and character? The answer to these questions is what this article is centered on.
In this article, I have provided five different and distinct reasons behind the creation of man as revealed in the Holy Bible.
I therefore encourage you to peruse this article so that you will understand the reason behind your creation as an image of God.
May the light of God shine upon your heart as you read through it in Jesus’ name. Amen. Cheers to a transformative reading!
1. Man Was Created For Reflection:
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Genesis 1:26a KJV.
God is an invisible personality whom no one has seen face-to-face (physically). He is an undescribable God who desires to reveal Himself.
This is the first reason behind the creation of man.
Since God wants to reveal Himself, he needed a personality who would help him achieve this.
He wanted a creation who would bear His image, glory, likeness, character, power, etc.
He sought a creation among everything He had created before man to see if there were any that could reflect His image, but he found none.
The sun and the moon could not bear the full glory of God. The day and night could reflect the wholeness of the creative power of God.
The seas, the sky, the plants, the fish, and all of God’s work of creation couldn’t help but fulfill this purpose.
That was why God had to create man—a personality who is graced to reflect the image of the invisible God.
This gave rise to the call in Genesis 1:26a. It says, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
God called unto Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He said,
"I have searched all the work that I created; however, I haven't found any that could fulfill the purpose of reflection. There is none among these creatures that can bear the image of my glory. Therefore, we need to come together to create a personality that will fit into this. That personality will be called man, and he will be created in our image; he will be fashioned after our likeness."
Jesus and the Holy Spirit, after hearing this, nodded in agreement, and man was created.
God could have chosen animals, plants, seas, or any of His creatures to reflect His image, but He didn’t.
Instead, He chose man, who was the last but not the least of God’s work. He singled you and me out of other creatures to be the carriers of His image.
This is nothing but love, and you must learn how to accept, appreciate, and reciprocate this exceptional and overwhelming love.
Although Satan tried to destroy this image of God in man by causing him to disobey God in the Garden of Eden, grace still found man through Jesus.
That image of God’s glory that was lost when Adam and Eve sinned was restored when Jesus died for the sin of man.
When Jesus died on the cross of Calvary and was resurrected on the third day, one of the things that happened was restoration.
The lost glory and image of God were given back to man. This means that anyone who is Jesus Christ can now bear the image of God and reflect His likeness again. Hallelujah!
Colossians 1:15 says, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature?”
In the beginning, Adam was made in God’s image, but he fell short of this image when he sinned.
Now, Christ, who is the perfect image of God, has done the work of restoration. Hence, you must be in Christ to reflect God’s image and likeness on earth.
A fallen man cannot fulfill the purpose of reflection for which he was created on the foundation of the earth.
It takes a man who has been restored to God through Christ to reflect His image. This is why you need to come to Christ so that He will help restore God’s image in you.
Romans 8:28–29 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those that love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the first born among many brethren.”
You were created to image God. God wants people to look at you and see Himself in you. When people are searching for God, God wants you to be His representative.
He wants you to reflect His character, His excellence, His love, His kindness, His integrity, His attributes, His personality, His justice, His fairness, and many more.
Reflecting on God is one of the reasons for your existence. If you refuse to do this, you have refused to give God the glory He deserves to take over your life.
Therefore, I am calling you to come to Jesus today. Come to the image of the invisible God and allow
Him to do the work of restoration in your life. When He does this and you continue to behold Him daily, you will see yourself being changed from one glory of God’s image to another.
2. Man Was Created For Fellowship:
Fellowship is another reason why God created man. Although God has His company of three whom He can fellowship with, he decided to extend the tentacles of this fellowship to man.
God desired to build a cordial and intimate relationship with man. He wanted men to experience his presence, love, and care.
He desired to have a close fellowship with man, hence the need for Him to create man in His image.
When God created Adam and Eve, He placed them in the garden of Eden, where He often visited them to have a solemn communion with them.
Each day, God visits the garden to check on Adam and Eve. He goes there daily to share his mind, plan, and agenda with them.
Psalm 8:4 says, “What is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him?” The unconditional love God has for man makes him desire fellowship with Him.
So if you are lagging behind in fellowship with God, you are automatically lagging behind in the fulfillment of one of the purposes for which you were created.
You were created for fellowship because God wants to be your friend. He wants you to be the person he can always share his mind and plans with at any point in time.
When I say fellowship, I don’t mean going to church alone. No! Fellowship goes beyond engaging in church activities.
It is cultivating a consistent, processional, and progressive way of communicating with God.
It is a lifetime journey of building a cordial relationship where you experience God closely for who He is.
This is achieved through consistent prayer, studying and meditating on God’s word, meditation, listening, worship, etc.
Just as you can build relationships and connections with people, you can do the same with God, because fellowship is one of the major reasons He created you.
Therefore, I advise you to start involving yourself in a deep and intimate experience with God.
3. Man Was Created to Represent God
When God began the work of creation upon the surface of the earth, He created a lot of things before He created man.
After this, he made a man and placed him as a leader over everything he had created.
The significance of this is that God wanted man to represent Him on the surface of the earth.
Just as He rules and oversees every affair in heaven, He desires that man do the same on earth. This is another reason why God created man.
Genesis 1:27 says, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them… have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
This is the blessing God pronounced upon man when He created him. It’s a mandate that God has given to man.
Man was mandated to represent or stand as an ambassador for God in life.
Although man lost this position when he disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, God restored it to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.
This means that if you are in Christ Jesus, you are an ambassador—a representative who is here to bring the will of God to the earth.
2 Corinthians 5:20 says, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ.” As long as you are in Jesus, you are His representative.
This is why you must always represent God well, wherever you find yourself.
You must stand for God in dominion, power, authority, excellence, good judgment, etc.
You must expend your potential as a representative leader of God while you live in this world.
Whenever God is in search of men, He must always find you ready and willing.
If you fail to represent God well here, you have not fulfilled one of the purposes for which you were created.
Representation is one of the key reasons God had to create you. You must therefore decide to always represent God well.
4. Man Was Created for Procreation
In the beginning, when God completed the work of creation, He didn’t want creation to stop with man.
This was why He had to bless man and ask him to replenish the earth. The word “replenish” as used in this context means to flourish, multiply, increase, etc.
God intended that man fill the surface of the earth. This can only be achieved through procreation.
Procreation is the process by which human beings reproduce their young ones alive.
Since God wanted to have innumerable people who were made in His image and likeness, this is why He instituted marriage between the two of them.
This is because the purpose of procreation cannot be fulfilled outside the bond of marriage.
Hear this: You were created to replenish the earth; however, God wants you to do it in the right way. He doesn’t want you to procreate outside of wedlock.
This is not God’s will for you.
To fulfill the purpose behind your creation, you must be patient and not rush through it. When it is time for you, you will reproduce as many children as you like.
Procreation is what help man to reproduce, be fruitful, and multiply as God has commanded. So when man procreate, he is fulfilling one of the purposes for which he was created.
⚫ Man Was Created to Advance God’s Work
There were still many things God wanted to create when He created man; nevertheless, He stopped there because He wanted man to continue with the work of creation.
Even though God had prepared what man needed to survive, he still had something on his mind. He knows that when He gets an available man who will be able to intimately relate to Him, His work of creation will continue. This was why He made man.
If you look around you today, you will see a lot of things. You would come across inventions that have made life easier for us to live. Life would have been a mess if there were no inventions, technology, science, or innovations.
In the olden days, early men could not have access to some gadgets. However, now we have free access to internet gadgets like phones, personal computers, etc. All these were once ideas that some intentional people got and started running with.
Dear you, I want to emphasize that you were created to advance God’s work on earth. Your talent, gifts, potential, etc. should be used for the furtherance of God’s work of creation. You are meant to give yourself to anything that moves God’s work forward on earth.
With you here on earth, God should rest assured that His work will prosper. He should be able to trust that through you, the gospel of Christ will be preached.
There are many work which God wants done on earth, but He can’t come down physically to do them. He needs a vessel He can work through and that vessel He needs is you.
I am therefore encouraging you to always engage in anything that will advance or promote the work of the kingdom on earth.
Conclusion
Man, as the last but not the least of God’s works of creation, was created for some purposes. Among these purposes are reflection, procreation, fellowship, and many more.
It is therefore necessary for you to understand these purposes and start living them out.
May God give you the grace you need to fulfill His purposes on earth, in Jesus’ name, amen. Many thanks to you for reading through.