My Black Biblical Heritage. Chukwuemeka Livingstone
upon the waters.”
All these continued until Gen. 1:26 that the singularity of the Godhead began to make a broader meaning in the process of creation. The mystery of the Godhead started, becoming revealed when the creation of man started.
And God said, “Let us make man in our image after our likeness.” The plurality of the Godhead was spoken of right there in Genesis 1:1–3:
In the beginning, God created the heaven and earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved (brooded) upon the face of the waters, and God said, “Let there be light!” And there was light.
The Godhead singularly projected was plural, concealed in the beginning of creation until God spoke his word, “Let there be light.” This word spoken has been with God even before the heaven and earth were created. And since God made the heaven his throne (Isa. 66:1) and his dwelling place, this spoken word being in God that is God, illuminated the heaven because God is light and in him, is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). Therefore, the heaven cannot be in darkness since God abides there. So the proclamation of God that “let there be light” was based on God using his word power, and this word which was with God, (being God) from the beginning is God himself.
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him (the Word) and without him was not anything made that was made. In him (spoken word) was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness. (John 1:1–5)
Did you see that light shining in darkness in Genesis 1:3? Second Corinthians 4:6 also declares, “For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
So we identify the word as one of the entities that is the Godhead. In Genesis 1:2b, it says, “And the Spirit of God moved [was brooding] upon the face of the waters.”
Second Corinthians 3:17 says, “Now the Lord is that Spirit.”
John 4:24a supports and confirms it, “God is a Spirit” (check Acts 17:24).
The revelation here is that the (Godhead) who was responsible for the creation of the heaven and earth could not continue, i.e., the creative power and ability of the Godhead could not go farther than Genesis 1:1–2 until God spoke. The identification of the Godhead as the Father, Holy Spirit was not in doubt. Though the Word had been in him as a partner, cocreator with the Father and the Spirit, coequal and coexistent, he was only made manifest when God spoke. This Word as found in John 1:3 is the Son (light) Jesus, who has a masculine gender “he” and became flesh as in John 1:14. “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” When the heaven and earth were created, he being a partaker was silent though actively involved until God spoke that the world be made. The world referred to in Hebrews 11:3 are the countries, nations, habitats, colonies that comprise the earth and heavenly bodies that make up the heaven, so the plurality of the Godhead was revealed when the creation of man started.
Let us make man in our own image and after our likeness.
The “let us” signifies the manifestation of the Triune (triunity, trinity), creator, God.
Illustrated thus:
illustrated in a circular form
Father—Deut. 32:6
Son—John 1:14&18. 3:16
Holy Spirit—John 4:24 2 Cor. 3:17
God is the Father
God is the Son
God is the Holy Ghost
1 John 5:7—the three is one.
A simple chemical formula of the compound H2O goes further to prove the tri-unity with each having separate identity while maintaining the same substance, quality, and value.
For example, H2O is water
| SOLID | Ice block | |
| LIQUID | Water | THE THREE IS ONE H2O. |
| GAS | Vapor |
Despite the revelation of Genesis 1:26, only few Israelites of old could understand. This is because, God at sundry times and in diverse manners spoke in times past unto the fathers by the prophets in Hebrews 1:1. Jesus being the light and revelation of God was not yet made manifest. Therefore, they saw the Triune God as only the father with his Spirit manifesting scantily on specific people whom God would choose to do his work on earth. So they saw God as the father above only whom Moses met on the mount in Exodus 3:1–6. In his song that set forth the perfection of God, Moses referred to God as their (the Israelites) father (Deuteronomy 32:6) and just like Genesis 1:2b, the Spirit of God only moved on the surface as per the lives of the prophets, priests, and kings who were obedient to God. The manifestation can only come through the revelation of Jesus Christ (the Word), nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. That’s why the book of Hebrews 1:2–3 has a lot of significance to John 1:13–14, 29–34, John 3:16–17. When we apply John 1:12 in our lives and fortify it with Acts 1:4, we bring into reality the promise of God in Joel 2:28 and operate in Ephesians 3:2–9. Amen.
Jesus came as Emmanuel, (God with us) in Mathew 1:23. The Holy Spirit can now be shared abroad in our hearts through the outpouring to reach Paul, Silas, and Timothy because he now dwells in us (John 14:16–17).
So the conclusion in this chapter concerning the origin of man is that God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) created man in their (Gen. 1:26), his (Gen. 1:27) image. In the image of God, he created him.
This can only be made possible for us to understand because we now operate in the dispensation of grace through the Spirit to know the unknown. Dear reader, the Old Testament was the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.
Chapter 2
The Purpose
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” (Gen. 1:26–29).
From the above Scriptures, it is evident that God’s purpose of creating man was to be like God in likeness, authority, and productivity as can be seen and elaborately quoted in Genesis 1:28:
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 that moveth upon the earth.”
Notice that in Genesis 1:27, God created man in his (God’s) own image. The man here did not refer to a particular color or race, but man as a being (which included male and female) as further recorded in Genesis 5:2.
It was in this image of God that man was made that pleased God to bless man (them). So when God created man, he (God) blessed him (man). Hence, the image of God (which man is or was) is still blessed.
The purpose therefore of God creating man is
To bless Him
To be fruitful
To multiply
To replenish the earth
To subdue the earth
To have dominion over God’s creation or creatures on earth.
The Word of God went forth concerning man when God blessed them, and God said unto them, “Be fruitful and multiply.”
This word shall not return to God void. That is why up till today, the blessing continues (even down to the physical aspect to those who have not accepted God’s perfect work for their salvation). The problem is that man fell out of favor with God