Why was Mankind created?

Let us go back to the beginning and look at the time Adam was created to see if there are any clues to why man was created in the first place.

Genesis 1:26-31 “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.[27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.[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 thing that moveth upon the earth.[29] And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.[30] And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.[31] And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

Genesis 2:4-9 “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,[5] And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.[6] But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.[7] And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.[8] And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.[9] And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

Genesis 2:15-17 “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.[16] And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:[17] But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

We find that man was created not just in God’s image, but the image of the hosts of Heaven. Just as they have freewill it to was given to us along with power and authority over the earth and all living creatures that were on it. In that sense we were created in God’s image for we were given power and authority over the earth. The whole earth was not a garden when Adam was created. It was for him to make all of earth a garden. That is why it is said that he was placed in the Garden of Eden, not that all of Eden was a garden. To make earth (Eden) into a paradise there would be a few things Adam and his offspring would need to do.

Now we know we were created in the likeness of both God and the hosts of Heaven and given freewill, power, authority and that he was to make all of the earth like the garden in which he lived. But the question still remains WHY? You need to look at a couple commands that were given to Adam.

1. Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it…”

2. Genesis 2:17 “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

First we will look at Genesis 1:28 where we find God telling Adam to do two things; to replenish and subdue. To replenish means to fill up again or to restore something that was lost. To subdue means to overcome or bring under control. Adam was created to refill the earth again meaning there was once something here before. He was also to subdue something that was here before Adam was created, because all that was created had been given over to man’s dominion, for God said not once but twice “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.”, “have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” This means that Adam (mankind) was going to have go and subdue whatever it was because he was not given dominion over it. It would be by force that he would gain dominion over it.

Secondly is why was Adam commanded not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, when he was allowed to eat everything else? Since Adam wasn’t God’s first creation and undoubtedly not His last why than was this test given to Adam? Did or does God test all His creations similarly? There has to be a reason behind God giving this specific test to Adam. This test was not for both Adam and Eve, but for only Adam. That is why their eyes were not open until after Adam eats of the fruit and not just Eve. Eve’s eyes did not open until Adam eats of it. Genesis3:6-7 “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.[7] And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked;…”

Let us recap what we have discovered about the creation of mankind.

1. Created in the image of God and the hosts of Heaven

2. Given power and authority of the earth

3. All living creatures that had been formed and created were given under the dominion of Adam

4. Adam was commissioned to replenish the earth

5. Adam was told to subdue something that was not yet under his dominion

6. Adam was told not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

Even with all this information we still do not know WHY Adam was created. The reason for his creation goes back even farther than we know, but we will look into what that event was and that will tell us the WHY. If we look at Genesis 1:1-2 we will discover part of that event.

Genesis 1:1-2 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.[2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

Deuteronomy 32:4 “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.”

If everything that God creates is perfect then we know that something happened between verses 1 and 2. Some traumatic event took place to leave the earth in a ruined state. That event was the war that broke out in heaven between Lucifer and his forces against Michael and his. Though Lucifer wanted to take God’s place the war would be fought between Lucifer and Michael.

Revelation 12:7-8 “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,[8] And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.”

Lucifer wanted not only to be like God, but wanted to replace God. Lucifer felt that he could rule all of Heaven, but to do so he had to take it by force. Another aspect of this war that is over looked is that if Lucifer was just an angel what hope was there that he could possibly win or what chances would he have had in convincing other angels to side with him to take on God? No Lucifer was more than just an angel, but we will not cover that at this time. We will look at what question that Lucifer did raise when he went to war and challenged God’s authority.

Isaiah 14:12-14 “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations![13] For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:[14] I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”

Lucifer challenged God’s authority and that question of the right to rule had to be answered. Though God being who He is did not have to respond, but at the same time God wanted this to be settled once and for all. In that way no further doubts or questions about His authority could ever be raised again. This is where the creation of Adam comes into play.

In a sense Adam was going to be the evidence to show who had the right to rule Heaven. That is why the Tree of Knowledge or Good and Evil was placed in the Garden of Eden. If Adam had chosen not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil then the case would have been settle right then and there, but we all know what Adam had chosen. By eating the fruit the case had to go on and all that Adam was given had been turned over to Lucifer. Also, because Lucifer cheated and interfered with Adam’s decision making by involving Eve the case was not settle at that time. Each individual from that point on would have to make their own choice just as Adam did. Our life that we live is about whom we choose, Lucifer or The Almighty. This would also be his chance to show what kind of ruler he would be and from the way the world works we see exactly how Lucifer rules. Lucifer’s kind of kingdom is based upon pride, selfishness, hatred towards God with an underlining of self-destructiveness. God on the other hand would also make a provision so that He could one day redeem those that would choose Him as God. That redeemer we know as His son Jesus Christ.