Right at the outset of this article I want to show you the entire purpose and intent of the Bible – the meaning of biblical creation – which has nothing to do with the literal material world, including the planet on which we live, but that YOU are biblical creation, and that from Genesis to Revelation, the scriptures constitute spiritual instruction on how to be created in the image and likeness of God, contrary to the belief that man is initially created in God’s image. This should be a ride like no other that you have ever taken. Sit back, try to open your mind, and get ready for some concepts that you probably have neither heard nor understood before. This article is very Scripture-intensive, because the only way to show the intent of the Bible is through the Bible. I’d love to hear your questions and/or comments after you have read it.
But what is the truth regarding this subject? Is it even possible to come to a truth that makes sense regarding this issue? After all, this debate has been unceasing for a very long period of time. The creationists, because of their unflagging belief in literal biblical interpretation, believe the doctrine that God created the material world, and so whether or not this belief actually makes any sense, it is etched in stone in the minds of creationists. Science, on the other hand, refuses to consider anything that is not capable of scientific evaluation and experimentation.
The Letter Kills
As it pertains to the Bible, we cannot understand the things of God with our natural senses. The scriptures tell us that the things of God are spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:14). Thus, we must learn how to see with a different set of eyes, and to hear with a different set of ears. We need spiritual eyes and spiritual ears in order to understand spiritual truths. To read the Bible literally is to read it naturally, and this is the cause of much of the condemnation, biting and devouring of one another, hatred and killing in our material world. Most of religion sees its own beliefs as right, while everyone else is wrong. These issues alone beg the question “is man created in the image of God?” As scripture says:
The way of peace they know not … (Isa. 59:8; Rom. 3:17).
and
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the SPIRIT: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life (2 Cor. 3:6).
The Purpose for the Scriptures
Jesus says in the book of John, “The words that I speak, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63b). Scripture also informs us that:
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Here it becomes necessary to ask the question “what does knowledge of literal history have to do with the perfection of man and instruction in righteousness?” One look at the results of religion and you have your answer – not much.
Reread the above verse. Conspicuous by its absence among the things for which the Bible is profitable, is understanding of how the material world came into existence. You will not find the topics of literal history and understanding the material world among the things for which the Bible is profitable. It’s simply not there, because the Bible has nothing to do with literal history, nor with the creation of our material universe, including “planet” Earth. We simply assume this because of the “natural” way our brains are wired, and because of our “natural” understanding of the words that the Bible uses.
The Bible is Not Written for Natural Understanding
Most people, when they hear that the Bible is not to be taken literally, ask the question: “if it is not to be taken literally, then why is it written so that it is so difficult to understand?” Because the scriptural answer doesn’t make much sense to us, we categorically reject it, but the revelation, when you come to understand it, is undeniable.
And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand (Mat 13:10-13).
This is very interesting language. Is it really intended for us NOT to understand? Who is the “them” that is spoken of here? Who is the “you?”
The “them” are those on the “outside” (those “without”), while the “you” are Christ’s disciples, the “chosen ones?” Those are the ones to whom he is speaking.
Are you a “disciple of Christ?” Do you “worship” (which simply means “asking”) Christ, or do you worship man? When you have your deepest questions, when you are in the midst of your serious trials, when life is at its darkest, do you “worship” the Christ IN YOU, or do you turn to the Internet, or to religion, or to counselors, etc., for help? In eastern mysticism there is a saying that “all power is within you.” Truer words have never been spoken, because Christ, who is the “power and wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24), is WITHIN YOU.
Further, we find these three verses, which I find fascinating as it relates to the allegorical nature of the scriptures. They are all saying the same thing:
For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and [their] ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with [their] eyes, and hear with [their] ears, and should understand with [their] heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them (Matt. 13:15).
He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with [their] eyes, nor understand with [their] heart, and be converted, and I should heal them (John 12:40).
For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with [their] eyes, and hear with [their] ears, and understand with [their] heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them (Acts 28:27).
Sounds incredibly harsh and UNloving, doesn’t it? But what does it mean?
It is critical to understand that what is spoken of here is spiritual law. The spiritual writers are conveying the “law of God” to us. It is how the law works. This law is just as real as the laws of physics and the laws of mathematics, and they function the same way as it relates to their immutability. They cannot change and they cannot be changed. We transgress them at our peril. We must, therefore, come to understand and use the law for what it is.
Who are the Chosen Ones
Most religious people feel that they are the chosen ones, regardless of what religion they profess. If one is a Christian, then he or she believes Christianity, or his or her particular denomination, to be the way of salvation. If one is a Muslim, then the Muslim faith is the ticket to salvation. It is the same with many of the other religions in the world. Their religion is their Christ (their “Messiah”), their way, their truth and their life, and you are only saved if you belong to their particular group. This line of thinking is the reason why some people in these faiths think they can do whatever they wish with impunity. Their religion gives them license to act in whatever way they desire, without regard to conscience, because their religion IS their conscience, their religion is their saviour.
But who are the chosen ones? It doesn’t even seem fair that an exclusive group of people are chosen by God. Alas, it IS a special and exclusive group, and though it is an exclusive group, it is not exclusionary. Once you have the answer, you will understand that anyone can make themselves a “chosen one” – a member of this exclusive group.
Here is the biblical definition of this exclusive group called the “chosen ones” or “disciples”:
And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them (Luke 18:7).
Did you get that? The elect are simply those who “cry day (in good times) and night (in bad times) unto ‘God.’” This is consistent with the scripture that says “all that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).
The elect of God, those who are always in communion with God, are the chosen ones. Anyone can join this “group,” but very few actually do. Most religious people worship their religions. This is the meaning of the phrase “many are called, but few are chosen.”
If you have read my articles and/or viewed my videos, of course you understand that the thrust of my efforts is to show that Christ is IN YOU, and that it is Christ IN YOU that is the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). Crying out to God “day and night” is an internal matter. It is a heart action:
For as he thinketh in his heart, so [is] he … (Prov. 23:7).
There is power in your tears. “Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (the inner Christ being the “Comforter”). I’ve experience so much of this in my own life that I’ve been completely reeled in, hook, line and sinker. I could never again commit adultery by looking to man for my answers. Had I continued to depend on man for my answers, I certainly would not have come to my current understanding regarding the scriptures. Man did not give me these answers. I took my requests “inside” and stayed there until I began to understand. In a later article I will explain the seventh commandment, “thou shalt not commit adultery.” This commandment has nothing to do with the relationship between a natural man and woman, even as biblical marriage has nothing to do with the relationship between a natural man and woman.
God is Love
The scripture tells us that God is a spirit (John 4:24), that love is a spirit (2 Tim: 1:7), and that God is love (1 John 4:8). Thus, love is the spirit that God is. In addition, to be born again is to be born of “the spirit” (John 3:6). From these scriptures it is clear that love is the spirit of which we must be born, or re-born, or “born again.” Love is the nature of God, or God’s nature.
To be created in the image of God, therefore, is to be created in the image and likeness of love. If you love, you are born of God (which is to be “born again”) (1 John 4:7), and if you do not love, you are not born of God (1 John 4:8). This is the very clear spiritual teachings of the scriptures.
The Bible tells us that the law of God is summarized in two commands: love God with everything within you, and love your neighbour as yourself (Matt. 22:36-40).
Is Man Created in the Image and Likeness of God
The Bible clearly makes the following statement regarding man’s creation:
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth (Gen 1:26-28).
We read this verse and automatically assume that man is created in the image and likeness of God. Incredibly, this is NOT what the scripture is saying. I intend to make this so incredibly plain that you will wonder how you ever believed anything else.
The assumption that man is created in God’s image overlooks a critical difference between Genesis chapters 1 and 2. Without understanding the differences (and most of religion is in a state of mass confusion regarding these differences), it is impossible to understand the aspect of man’s creation.
Genesis 1 – a SUMMARY of the Creation Process
Yes, you read that right. The first chapter of Genesis is a summary of the entire creation process from Genesis to Revelation. It is “God calling the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10). It is God “calling those things that be not as though they were” (Rom. 4:17). It is God assuring you that if you endure to the end, your salvation is assured because God will NEVER leave you nor forsake you. Then, beginning in chapter 2, verse 4, the creation story begins in earnest.
Until you can begin to understand and decode biblical symbols, none of this will make much sense to you. The general lack of understanding regarding these symbols is the primary reason why the masses are still unable to reconcile Genesis 1 with Genesis 2, although from a spiritual perspective, the answers are clear.
Genesis 1:26 is the “new heaven and the new earth.” It is the marriage supper of the Lamb (Eph. 5:31-32). It is when the two become one flesh. It is Revelation chapters 21 and 22, when the marriage of you and God is consummated; when Christ finally comes in YOUR flesh. This is the marriage of male (Christ) and female (man). Remember that biblical marriage is a “mystery” (it has nothing to do with human beings) and concerns Christ (the man) and the church (the woman, and therefore, YOU). He (the man/Christ) was WITH you (man/the biblical woman), but now is IN you (John 14:17). This is 1 John 4:2‑4, when Christ comes in YOUR flesh (and greater is he that is IN YOU (the post-matrimonial Christ – 1 John 4:4), than he that is in the world (the pre-matrimonial Christ – John 1:10). This completed creation effectively ends the Biblical story. Scripture fulfilled.
It is all allegory, and it is all spiritual and immutable law.
The Incorruptible God vs. Corruptible Man
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an IMAGE made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things (Rom. 1:23).
If we have eyes that see, this scripture effectively obliterates, in one fell swoop, the idea of man being created in God’s image. This scripture plainly tells us that the image of man is “corrupt,” while “God” (the spirit of love within us (1 Cor. 3:16)), is incorruptible. Well if the image of man is corrupt, then he cannot possibly be created in the image of the incorruptible God. Further, we find in 1 Corinthians:
So also [is] the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption; It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit (1 Cor. 15:42-45).
This is a key scripture. The “resurrection” spoken of in this scripture is man being made in the image and likeness of God, for God comes in YOUR flesh, and the resurrection is from corruption to incorruption, from the fleshly (carnal mind) to spirit (the spiritual mind – Rom. 12:2). Consider that if man were already made in God’s image, there would be no need for a resurrection, for he would already be perfect. However, natural man is NOT made in the image and likeness of God, and therefore must spiritually die and be born again. When man is born of love, he is thus born again, or united with Christ in marriage. Only THEN is man made in the image and likeness of God.
The Sabbath Rest
Hidden in the following scripture (Prov. 25:2) is a golden nugget of information that further corroborates that man is not initially made in the image and likeness of God:
There remains therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his (Heb. 4:9‑10).
In Genesis 1, immediately after man has been made in God’s image, the Sabbath comes, and God rests, because the creation has been completed. But in the above verse, we find that the Sabbath rest is still to come, and therefore the “labor of God” continues:
And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work (John 5:16-17).
The “work” spoken of here is God’s labor of creation. And how do the scriptures define God’s labor?
Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent (John 6:29).
Indeed, from Genesis to Revelation, the work of God is to lead us to Christ, which is why Christ says in the infamous John 17 prayer:
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word … While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled (John 17:6; 12).
The phrase “thou gavest me” is revelatory of the work of God that leads us to Christ. It is only when we are made male and female that we are created in the image and likeness of God. It is only then that:
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we SHALL(!!!!) also bear the image of the heavenly (1 Cor. 15:49).
The fact that “we SHALL also bear the IMAGE of the heavenly,” shows this event, from a scriptural perspective, to be a future event, and if it is a future event, it cannot be something that transpired in the past, and if it has not yet transpired, then man is not now “made in the image and likeness of God.” Hence, day six has not yet occurred, the Sabbath has not yet arrived, and so the creation process is still ongoing. “Creation week,” therefore, is still in progress. And if it is still in progress, then the scriptures, which speak of it in the past tense, cannot therefore be taken literally.
Yes, God is still working in all those who are still being perfected.
Further Proof that Man is the Creation
In a previous article/video I showed you that the word “sons” in the Bible does not apply to literal people, but to the “offspring of God.” To reiterate, God is a spirit, and “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.” Because God is spirit, his offspring is not flesh and blood, but spirit. I also showed you that the “sons of God” are the fruit of the spirit, the first of which is love (the “firstborn” of God, or “Christ”). This explains the following verses regarding the creation (which I will annotate in bold and double parentheses):
For the earnest expectation of the creature ((creation – YOU)) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God ((fruit of the spirit)). For the creature ((creation – YOU)) was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected it in hope. Because the creature itself ((creation – YOU)) also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the [sons] of God. ((NOTE: This “deliverance from the bondage of corruption” is when that which is sown in corruption is raised in incorruption.)) For we know that the whole creation((!!!!!!!!!)) ((YOU)) groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now (Rom. 8:19-22).
“The words that I speak, they are SPIRIT, and they are LIFE” (John 6:63b).
What is Biblical Earth
I have produced a video on this subject, which you can find here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHfSM9fMcQA)
The short answer is that YOU are biblical earth. Biblical earth has nothing to do with the literal planet on which we live. First, in the earth of the Bible, a distinction is made between the earth and the waters in the first chapter of Genesis. It is only the “dry” that constitutes earth. The “waters” are called seas, and the Bible makes a clear distinction between the earth and the seas (Gen. 1:10). Of course, on our literal planet it is both the land AND the water together that constitute PLANET Earth, but that is not what we are talking about here.
Second, as we see in the New Testament (Matthew 13), biblical earth constitutes the soil/dust from the ground. Notice:
Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth (Matt. 13:5).
It is this soil, or dust, that constitutes earth. This makes so much sense when you look back at Genesis 1:10:
And God called the dry Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [it was] good. (Gen. 1:10).
The entire purpose of the Bible is to provide you with spiritual doctrine, spiritual reproof, and spiritual instruction in righteousness, so that you are whole and complete — created in the image and likeness of God — lacking nothing.
Until next time, this is Paul Young saying, flee from the crowd and dwell with the Christ within you. Christ IN YOU, your hope of glory.