And God said, let Us make man

That man is unique and distinct from the animal world around him is clearly evident from the first occurrence of the expression found in Genesis chapter 1 verse 26, ‘And God said, Let us’. We are made privy to the counsels of the Godhead! It is worth noting what scripture does not say. It does not say, ‘And God said, Let me make man in my image’. The words ‘let us’, speak of plurality. Some might suggest that in ‘let us’, God is speaking to angels. However, that cannot be, for the verse goes on to say ‘our image’. Angels are never said be in ‘the image of God’. So ‘let us’ speaks of deity. Further, it does not say, ‘Let us make man in my image’, but rather ‘our image’. This would confirm equality within the Godhead.

The Hebrew word for man is ‘Adam’ which simply means ‘red’. This is no doubt a strong indication of the colour of our first parents. ‘The first created man, Adam, from whom all other humans are descended, was created with the best possible combination of genes … as all the factors for skin “colour” were present in Adam and Eve, they would most likely have been mid-brown’ – Where Did the Races Come From? by Answers in Genesis.

The expression, ‘Let us make man’ obviously includes Eve too, for we read in verse 27, ‘In the image of God created he him; male and female created he them’.

So God conferred on Adam the high dignity of being made ‘in the image of God’. Many today make strenuous efforts and go to great lengths to gain the grand titles and plaudits of their fellow men, and in the process fail to see that the highest honour of all, already rests upon them – ‘made in the image of God’. Some might ask, ‘Does man still bear the image of God, for after all he is a fallen creature?’ The answer comes in a most definite affirmation! ‘Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man’, Gen. 9. 6. ‘For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, for as much as he is the image and glory of God’, 1 Cor. 11. 7.

Creation is completed and crowned with the forming of man, and, as God contemplates His handiwork, all is very good. [Extracted from Day by Day – Paradise to the Promised Land published by Precious Seed Publications]