Enter Through The Narrow Gate

CHAPTER 1

God's Perfect Creation

Here, in Genesis, we begin the most exciting and fulfilling journey imaginable as the Holy Bible, brings to light some of God's personality character traits, while clearly explaining His structured plan of creation and describing the responsibility and authority He gave to the human race when He created us.

God who is Spirit, said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fishes of the sea, over the birds in the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)

Adam was created in God's likeness, not a physical likeness because God has no physical body. But spiritually created in God's image holy, righteous, moral, and perfect in God's likeness. God created us fully equipped with the physical and spiritual senses and need to communicate and walk with Him.

Go created mankind a spirit being with a body of flesh that was holy, righteous, and pure, without sin. We were also created with an eternal soul to live forever and had a free will to choose what we wanted.

The purpose of man's spirit is to communicate with God's Spirit, and in turn communicate what God's Holy Spirit says to our soul.

Our body of flesh contains the spirit and soul of man as long as the body remains alive. Our mind is part of our body and functions only in the physical realm. Our body of flesh is sensitive to the things of the flesh and natural physical surroundings. For example, sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste.

The body sends information regarding the senses, emotions, desires, and needs, to the mind. The mind gathers information and articulates to the soul what the body wants. (Initially, at creation, every thought function that went through Adam and Eve's mind was holy, righteous, and pure. It was all good, because no evil existed in humanity at that "time").

Our soul, also known as the heart of man, is also confined in the body. The soul of man is the real me and you; our personalities, likes, dislikes, and attitudes. The Soul of Man, is the decision-making part of us humans. The soul decides either to go with what man's spirit which is from God, communicates to the soul, or the soul could decide to go with what the body communicates, through the mind, to it. This process of decision making we refer to as our free will.

One of the most important traits God created in humanity is the ability to freely choose to accept and be obedient to God's will for us, or to reject God's will and do what we want to do.

God created us with an independent will so we could chose to love and obey Him or reject Him. So, God created mankind with a free will independent of God's Will. It's our own free independent will. Humans are free to choose, to say, and do what we desire to do. We are not robots or puppets on a string who do whatever God tell us. Humans really are in charge and responsible for making their own choice.

God knew humans could not have a loving relationship with Him unless we have a free and independent will to decide for ourselves to accept and obey Him or reject Him in disobedience.

No matter what we decide to believe, God must honor what we choose, even when it goes against His Will, and structure of creation. God cannot go against His Own Word, therefore, God must honor our choices.

Though God is sovereign and all powerful, Scripture clearly tells us that He limited Himself, concerning the affairs of earth, to working through human beings. God has restricted Himself to working through human beings, to accomplish His Will on earth. God did this, even at the cost of becoming a human being. This is the story woven through-out God's Word. God needs human beings to ask for His Kingdom to come, and for His Will to be done, here on earth as it is in Heaven.

Without question, humans were forever to be God's link to authority and activity on earth. God chose from the time of creation to accomp-lish His will on the earth through humans, not independently of them.

What was God's intentions?

God's intentions are specific and clear. Initially, God gave Adam, Eve, and their descendants, dominion and authority over the entire Earth and all creation. "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground." (Genesis 1:28)

Whatever God intended for Adam and Eve, He intended for the entire human race. The Bible says, "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas." (Psalms 8:3-8)

God loved Adam and Eve so much, that He gave them the dominion and authority over all earth's creation. Adam (and his future descendants) were to be God's managers of the earth. God's governor, representing God's Will on earth. The Bible confirms this by telling us, "The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to man" (Psalms 115:16)

God didn't give ownership of the earth to man, But He did assign the authority and responsibility of governing His Will, on planet Earth, to humanity. We were created to represent God here on earth.

The Garden

God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden and in the garden, "The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2:8-9)

So, God took Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden to work in it and take care of it. God told Adam, You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. (Genesis 2: 16-17)

God brought all the living creatures to the man to see what he would name them. So, Adam gave names to all the livestock, all the birds, and all the wild animals. When he had finished, naming all of them, God saw Adam had no suitable helper to help him.

We really can't imagine what it was like to be the first and only person on earth. It is one thing to be lonely, but to be the only human being on earth. Adam had no parents, and no other human to talk to. He had to learn to be a human all by himself.

God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him." God caused Adam (the Hebrew name for man) to fall into a deep sleep and took a rib from his body and made the female species of humanity. Then, God brought her to the Adam.

Adam was pleased with his help-mate and said, "At last!" "This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called woman, because she was taken from man." That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh." (Genesis 2: 23-24)

God wanted a family of sons and daughters who could personally relate to Him, and He to them. The Bible says, "Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit, they are His. And why one? Because He was seeking godly offspring." (Malachi 2:15)

So He created Adam and Eve with the ability to reproduce spiritual beings, in exactly their likeness. Godly offspring to represent Himself on earth. The dictionary definitions define representation as: "a person to speak and act with the authority on the part of another; to be a substitute or agent for;" A representative is one who re-presents the will of another. A delegate usually being invested with the authority of the principal.

Re-presenting God is no small task. When the Bible says that mankind is the image and glory of God, It is telling us God was recognized in humans. (Reference I Corinthians 11:7)

In the first two chapters of Genesis, the Bible discloses God's deepest desire which is to relate to and fellowship with the people He created, and they with Him. God made us in His image so human beings could accurately represent God and His Will here on Earth.

Adam represented God's Will on earth. Adam was God's governor assigned to manage God's Will. The earth was under Adam's charge, he was the guardian and watchman. How things went on planet Earth, for the better or worse, depended on Adam and his descendants. Think about this for a moment. If the earth remained a paradise, it would be because of mankind. If things became messed up, it would be because of people. If the serpent ever gained control, it would be because of humankind.

Life was really good in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve chose to be obedient to God and followed the instructions He gave them. God's Holy Spirit dwelled in their bodies. Their body, mind, and soul were pure, knowing only God's goodness. No sickness, no disease, no physical aliment's, it was a magnificent relationship as God walked and communed with them in the cool of the...