Knowing the Great Artist (Part 4)

Let me state our case based upon the Scriptures on how we were wonderfully planned and awesomely made by our great Artist and Creator. Within our innermost being we have an innate longing to know something of our ancestral history. We often ask our parents, grandparents and close and distant relatives about our ancestry in order to create a scenario about our family tree and history. This is our normal desire. But this longing that we have as individuals concerning our origin is also equally true of us as a racial representative of the human species. So we are compelled to ask these questions: What is man? Where did he come from?

Based upon our knowledge of the Scriptures there is strong evidence to show that man’s (generic term) origin was designed from above through the creative power of the Triune God. The Hebrew word for create is ‘bara’. This means that mankind is totally unique and distinct from the animal kingdom or from any other creation. First, man’s creation was decreed by God, according Genesis 1:26, Then God said, “Let US make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” It was first decreed by the Triune God, then secondly, it was declared as Gen.1:27 tells us, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them.” Man existed because of God’s direct creative action; Gen.2:7a says, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.” And finally, man was a complete living personal being, “And man became a living soul” (Gen.2:7c; cf.Zech.12:1).

You see God is a great Artist or Sculptor. We were fashioned. He fashioned us because He wants us to be a part of that circle of joy which the Father, the Son and Spirit have from eternity to eternity. Are you joyful in your life? Or are you just surviving waiting for “The End.” The Bible says in 1Corinthians 15:19, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the moat pitiable” (miserable). But the good news of the gospel is: Jesus lives, He rose again from the grave, and because He lives we shall live also. There is a life beyond the grave. While we are on earth, He gives us purpose and meaning in our existence. All because of His abundant supply of GRACE. All by grace and by grace alone.