![]() Tim: Yes, but that also includes growing families then, which become neighborhoods. So they rule the earth by cultivating it, by harnessing all of the earth’s raw potential and then making something more and new out of it. Tim: So the picture we get in Genesis is gardening. Jon: So what does this mean? I mean, how are we all supposed to rule? This was a revolutionary statement in its day because all humans are being called to rule and to participate in the human project. 6 And so this task that once belonged only to elite kings is, here in the Bible, the task of every human being. He tells the humans to subdue the earth and to rule it. Jon: Wait, so he gives all humans the authority to rule? 5 And he calls all of them the “image of God.” 4 ![]() But then surprisingly, as the pinnacle of all of God’s creative work, he makes humans. 3 And he defines what is good and not good. He’s the one with authority over all creation. And the first person we meet there is God. Jon: When did he do that? Humans and God’s Image People aren’t to make images of God because God has already made images of himself. This was rooted first of all in Israel’s belief that you can’t reduce the Creator God down to any one thing in creation. Tim: That’s exactly right, and that was really unique for that time and culture. In fact, they were never supposed to even make images of God. Jon: But for Israel, they didn’t view their kings as the god. And these kings would often make statues of themselves, which in Hebrew were called tselem, often translated as “idol” or “image.” 1 Jon: Meaning they had authority to tell people what to do, order things to be made. Tim: And many of these kings claimed that they were gods, and they would even call themselves the “image of god.” Jon: So if you lived in ancient Bible times, odds are you lived under the authority of a king. The Ancient World and the Image of the Gods At the very end of the Bible, we see God’s ideal first introduced in the garden realized-a new creation where humans rule over creation and push the world forward as images of God with Jesus as their salvation and example. Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus showed us what it means to be created in God’s image, what it means to bear this royal calling. Jesus then confronts the evil and destruction that humans brought to God’s good creation, taking on the full force of the consequences of our sin when he sacrificed himself on the cross. Through his life, we see that living as an image-bearer means to serve and love others-no matter what they do to us. Jesus shows us what it truly looks like to live life as the image of God. Thankfully, Jesus came to do what humanity could not do on our own. These kings would also create idols-statues of wood, stone, or precious metal-that were also said to be the physical embodiment of gods on earth, or "images of god." Jesus is the new human and the perfect image of God. Most people in the ancient world lived under the rule of a king, and these kings proclaimed themselves to be a god's image on Earth, having the authority to carry out the will of the gods. But in the ancient world, being made in the image of a god was a familiar concept. In our modern context, it can be difficult to understand what this phrase means. What does it mean to be made in God's image? What is one way we can shift our mindset to be like him? Read Philippians 2:3-15 and describe the attitude of Jesus, the complete image of God. Jesus shows us the mindset we need in order to rule as images of God.To rule as image bearers like Jesus, what does Jesus instruct us to do? Consider how Jesus-the exact image of God (Heb. ![]() What ends up ruling over humans when they create carved images for themselves, and how do consequences multiply through generations?
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