God’s Purpose for Man
Let’s talk a little about what happened in the beginning, and more importantly, to show how what happened in the beginning has something to do with you. In the beginning there was the earth, the plants, the animals and man. What is all this for? Why are we here? These are some universal questions. In the beginning God had a purpose in mind for all things. What is this purpose, and what does it have to do with you? We need to look at the very beginning of the Bible, where God’s purpose for man is revealed. God’s purpose for us can be summarized in two words; image and dominion. In the beginning of the Bible, the beginning of the record, right in the first chapter, God said, “Let Us make man in Our image after Our likeness, and let him have dominion over the fish in the sea, the cattle, the birds and the whole earth.” So we have those two key words that describe why God made man. Let’s write this on the board. First of all we have the word, “image”. Secondly, we have the word, “dominion”. This verse in the beginning of the Bible reveals to us why God created man. We were made in the image of God and we were created to have dominion. What do these two words mean? First of all we have the word, “image”. What does image mean? Image is like a photograph. If you look at a photograph of a tree you see the color, the form and the shape of the tree. You could say the photograph expresses or represents the tree. So, image means to express. We were created in the image of God so we could express God. Let’s write this down—to express God. Then “dominion” means to represent God. So there you have it. We are to express God and represent God. These two words at the beginning of the Bible reveal to us why God created man. He created us in His Image to express Him, and He created us to have dominion or to represent Him.
This is taken from a Bible study, some of these study video’s are on Drew’s YouTube channel.