Sermon Tone Analysis

Genesis 1:24-31.

"The Dominion Mandate"

Genesis 1:24-31.

24 And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds-livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds."

And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good.

26 Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them.

And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

29 And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit.

You shall have them for food.

30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food."

And it was so.

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

(ESV)

In July 1969, Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the surface of the moon.

When he did so he wrote out and left these words on the lunar surface from Psalm 8:3-4: "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, The moon and stars, which you have ordained, What is man that you are mindful of him, And the son of man that you visit him?.

These verses answer our fundamental questions of Who are we?

And Where have we come from?

As we look at the vast heavens made larger by all that astronomers tell us, what is our place in the universe?

The only true and satisfying answer is found in this revelation from God.

In Genesis 1:24-31, on the sixth and final day of physical creation, God forms the creatures that are to inhabit the dry land.

In this activity: God creates the animal kingdom, which includes livestock, creeping things and wild animals; then, humans are formed.

As the final object of God's creation, humanity represents the culmination of creation.

Recognizing how precious and valuable people are in the sight of God, we see that they are made in the image of God, male and female, with distinct but complementary roles.

As vice-regents of the planet, they are charged to faithfully work.

Their stewardship is a divinely commissioned Dominion mandate.

God charges His created beings to a specific Dominion Mandate.

In Genesis 1:24-31 we see: 1) The Mandate (Genesis 1:24-26), 2) The Mission (Genesis 1:27-28) and finally, 3) The Means (Genesis 1:29-31)

God charges His created beings to a specific Dominion Mandate as seen through:

1) The Mandate (Genesis 1:24-26)

Genesis 1:24-26.

24 And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds-livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds."

And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good.

26 Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

On the third day, 'the earth' sprouted forth vegetation at God's command.

Now 'the earth' is to produce land animals from the direct command of God to 'bring forth' (jussive).

Apparently, the earth is serving as the secondary cause in the generation of living creatures.

These creatures are brought forth according to their kinds.

This notation kills the idea of evolution.

Animals do not evolve into humans.

They reproduce "according to their kinds."

Animals produce animals not humans (Butler, J. G. (2008).

Analytical Bible Expositor: Genesis (p.

16).

LBC Publications.)

Here in Genesis 1:24, three categories of animals are listed.

The first, "livestock/cattle", (behēmāh), often describes large, four-footed, domesticated animals.

Second, the expression 'creeping things' refers to small animals.

And third, the term 'beasts of the earth' probably signifies wild animals, in contrast to the domesticated ones previously mentioned.

This category would include dinosaurs like Behemoth (Job 40:15ff.).

A tripartite classification of the animal kingdom is a common scriptural view (Gen.

7:14; Ps. 148:10).

It is important to note that humanity never appears in any of these classifications.

Humanity is not part of the animal world.

(MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006).

The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible.

(Ge 1:24).

Thomas Nelson Publishers.)

* From the earliest descriptions of created creatures on this planet, it must be clearly specified that humans rank above all.

We alone are made in God's image with particular worth and value.

It is not to say that animals are of no value, but to state that humans are of supreme value on earth.

Giving animals equal status therefore is in rebellion to God's view of humanity.

There is no greater sign of rebellion of the created realm on this earth than the low view of humanity that is prevalent.

Some even see viruses and diseases as cleansing excess population.

Likewise, abortion, and euthanasia are seen as a simple choice or a mercy.

As 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 states so clearly: 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price.

So, glorify God in your body.

(ESV)

Genesis 1:25 now repeats verse 24, but with two significant changes.

First, so that there would be no confusion, it states that God is the primary source and cause of the creation of the animal kingdom.

The 'earth' of verse 24 is merely a secondary agent in the activity.

Second, the three categories of the animal kingdom are recapitulated here but in a different sequence.

The change of order, or chiasmus, is for the purpose of emphasizing the completion of the creative act.

This is further accentuated by the statement: 'And God saw that it was good,' a clause that also reflects the idea of completion.

Certainly, we must never worship nature as the pantheists do, but we worship the Creator of the material universe.

He called his handiwork "good," and thus it represents his thought-so varied and beautiful and joyous.

The God who created all this did it to form an environment for (His creation).

And as his children we must understand that it hints at the depth of his care for us.(

Hughes, R. K. (2004).

Genesis: beginning and blessing (p.

35).

Crossway Books.)

In verse 26, we now come to the climax of God's creative activity: 'Then God said, "Let us make man".

The credal statement in Deuteronomy 6:4 that God is one LORD affirms that there is only one absolute Being, but it does not mean that God is solitary, or a single person.

In the plural word for God (Elohim) and the use of the first person plural forms 'us' and 'our', we have the first hint that God's being is much more profound than we imagined and that there is in God a plurality of persons.

Other parts of Genesis will confirm this and point us forward to the New Testament's revelation of a Trinity within the unity of the Godhead.

The significance of the creative act is brought to our attention in a number of ways.

In the first place, this is the final activity of the week.

When the jewel in the crown had been formed and put in place God finished His creative work.

Secondly, more space is given over to describing the creation of human beings than anything else in the chapter (1:26-30).The creation of humanity here is unique in beginning with a picture of divine thought in process: 'Let us make ...' This plural cohortative with the best explanation of the trinitarian idea or plurality in the Godhead.

Possibly the best solution is to understand the statement as a plural of self-deliberation.

Here we see that God deliberates with himself.

'Let us make man.'

In all previous cases the divine word expressed the divine will: 'God said, "Let there be ..." ', followed by the words of accomplishment: '... and it was so.'

This is not the case here.