Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

God's Witnesses : Mankind
Sep 18th, 2011
CommentaryPastor Ian Kurylyk
Categories: Exhortation

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Gen. 1:26a).

While the heavens declare the glory of God, and the bounty of the earth tells us of God's goodness, one part of creation is a special witness of Him, mankind.  Even though sin has greatly marred the original pattern, enough remains to teach us certain things about the One who made us in His image.

We can begin by considering man constitutionally.  God has given us certain faculties that are miniature finite impressions of what God is infinitely and perfectly.  Man has an intellect because he was made in the image of the great Thinker, the God of all understanding, knowledge, and wisdom.  Similarly, man is an emotional being, so we can grasp something of what the Bible says about God's love for us, or His hatred of sin.

We can also learn about God by considering man morally.  Though we are all guilty of breaking God's laws, it does not mean we do not know about right and wrong.  Human experience demonstrates moral consciousness.  The Apostle Paul observed that even the Gentiles (nations apart from Israel) who weren't given the law by Moses yet acted and lived by certain laws.  "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts" (Romans 2:13, 14a).  Anybody in any culture, for example, would know that it is wrong to betray a true friend.  And our conscience tells us that we stand condemned when we violate the laws we know.  All this means that the Creator must Himself be a God of laws, and that He will judge His creatures accordingly.

Finally, man is a spiritual being.  God made him a worshipper so that he could relate properly to Himself.  A study of human cultures shows that man worships.  Ask any anthropologist.  North Americans worship themselves (secular humanism).  This religion has its doctrines (evolution, atheism) and its prophets (Darwin, Freud, etc.).  It has its own worship activities (pursuit of pleasure, materialism) and moral standards (Hollywood).  But no matter how worship is perverted because men do not know God, the bottom line is that men are all worshippers, and that testifies that there is a Creator God.