February 27 - Let Us

You’re listening to OKY. The place where we discuss what we believe and why we believe it to be true! Today I want to quickly touch on a question from Theresa whose 13 year old son Cody asks, “why does Genesis 1:26 say let us make man in our own image?” 

 

This is a great question! And I am excited to talk about this today. 

 

But first, let us read Psalm 139:1-18

 

David is the psalmist here and he is expressing a truth that he has found to be true. He can’t escape the presence of God. This isn’t because he wants to. He has found that God is like a persistent friend who won’t walk away no matter how badly they’ve been treated. This shows the desire of God. He has always wanted to have relationship with us! This has been his heart. In fact, this is why he invited us into the creation narrative. After creating mankind, he said in 

 

Genesis 1:28 “God blessed them and said to them, “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.” 

 

God was inviting us into the process of participation in the earthly kingdom he had designed. He is so relationally oriented, that he called Adam into work by naming the animals and participating in the creative process. Then he called Adam and Eve into such close relationship that they were given the task of ruling over every living thing that God had made. 

 

So we see that God is a relational God. 

 

This is also why Jesus spent most of his time with the disciples teaching them how to love others and be a force of transformation in the world around them. Jesus, too, wanted us to be a relational people. 

 

So while David explains that we can not get away from God, it is important to understand that this is because God is unified in relationship. He wants us to be part of that unity. 

 

But who else is he unified with? 

 

Well, we read in John 1:1-3 that Jesus was part of the creation narrative too. It wasn’t just God the Father creating, he did it through Jesus. 

 

John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”

 

John explains that Jesus was with God in the beginning. In fact, it was actually through Jesus that God created the physical world. This is because Jesus is the physical embodiment of God. He is fully God, yet part of the created world. 

 

So “us” is talking about God and Jesus. But, there is actually one more part to this. 

 

Genesis 1:1-2

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

 

Enter the Holy Spirit. 

 

Now it’s interesting, the role of the Holy Spirit today is to call people to relationship with God the Father, and to empower believers to be part of the restorative act of redemption. Whenever the Holy Spirit is empowering someone, it is for the betterment of the world. Romans 8 talks about the fact that the earth is growing with eager expectation to be restored and made whole again. And we too are filled with groaning of the Holy Spirit. 

 

Why do we see the Holy Spirit playing this role? Well because that’s how we first saw the Holy Spirit. The Spirit started by creating life in the middle of chaos in Genesis 1 and continues to play that role today as Holy Spirit calls all people into redemption and restoration. 

 

So there were three parts in one. This is what we call the trinity. Now, try as hard as you like, you will not fully understand this concept, but God is three persons in one. Father, Son, And Holy Spirit. They are not separate. They are one. Yet each seems to play a specific function in how we understand God. So when Genesis 1:26 says, “Let us. . .” it is referring to the triune God, father, son, and Holy Spirit, acting in unison to accomplish the goal. 

 

Again, because God is a relational God. He is united with himself, and therefore calls us into unity as well. In fact, as I stated at the beginning, he is calling us into unity with himself in all three parts. He calls us to be in relationship with him in such a deep level that it creates unity. 

 

So “Let Us” refers to the unity that was there when he brought us into existence, and implies the unity in which we are supposed to pursue as we seek out the presence of the Lord. 

 

So seek God and search for his fullness that you might be unified with him, and find wholeness in the presence of the triune God.