Made in God’s Image

This free Bible lesson, In God’s Image, will teach preschool and elementary students about how humans are created in God’s image as described in Genesis 1:26-2:25. We are given God’s character of love, morality, and compassion.

FOCUS BIBLE PASSAGE: Genesis 1:26-2:25

This lesson comes from the Seeds of Truth Elementary Bible Curriculum that is free to anyone looking for ideas to "plant seeds" into the hearts of children as they are learning about Jesus. Find more details HERE.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Seeds of Truth podcast, where seeds of biblical truth are planted into the hearts and minds of listeners so they can grow into a relationship with Jesus. I'm your host, Miss Dana. Thank you for joining me today. Let's get started. Hello, friends, and welcome back. Today, our Bible story is coming from the book of Genesis, and then we're actually going to read a lot of different Bible verses to go with our lesson. So we know that from the Bible, how God created everything. God created everything in six days. And we know this because we can read about God's creation in the Bible in the book of Genesis. Now on day six, God created all of the land animals, and he saw that it was good. But then in Genesis chapter 1, verse 26, we can start reading about the later part of day six. So Genesis chapter 1 verses 26 through 28 says, Then God said, Let us make human beings so that they are like us. Let them rule over the fish in the seas and the birds in the sky. Let them rule over the livestock and all the wild animals, and let them rule over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created human beings in his own likeness. He created them to be like himself. He created them as male and female. God blessed them. He said to them, Have children so that there will be many of you. Fill the earth and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the seas and the birds in the sky. Rule over every living creature that moves along the ground. Now I want to stop here for just a second. You may have noticed at the very beginning of verse 26 that it says, God said, Let us make human beings so that they are like us. I talked about this in our episode about creation, but I want to mention here this is the first obvious mention of the Trinity in the Bible. So the Trinity is actually present in Genesis 1, verse 1, the very, very first verse of the Bible. So remember, our God is three persons in one, and that's why we call him the Trinity. The Godhead is the Trinity. There is only one God, but He exists as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Three persons in one. Each person of the Trinity is fully God. They are all equal and they all work together as one. So moving on to verse 31, it says, God saw everything he made, and it was very good. So God created all of the land animals, and then he created human beings to rule over all the other creatures. He described his creation as good until after humans were created. Then he described his creation as very good. Just a few verses before this one, we learn about the way human beings were created. Verse 27 says, So God created human beings in his own likeness. He created them to be like himself. So we were created in God's image, in his likeness to be like him. What do you think that means? Being created in God's image means that we are given God's nature and his character. We are given his love, his creativity, his compassion, his goodness. God has always had and will always have a special connection with humanity. He created us so that we could have a relationship and a friendship with him. God made us in his image. So we're going to read a few different verses from throughout the Bible, and then we're going to talk about them a little bit. So verse 26 of Genesis chapter 1 says, Then God said, Let them rule over the fish in the seas and the birds in the sky, let them rule over the livestock and all the wild animals, and let them rule over all the creatures that move along the ground. It says, You made human beings rule over everything your hands created. They rule over everything that swims in the oceans. So now this is a psalm that is talking to God. So psalms are typically verses that are giving praise to God. So this psalm is giving praise to God about his creation. So to rule over or to have dominion over, some translations will say to have dominion over. Both of those phrases mean that God gave authority to humans to take care of his creation. And this was a job that was only given to humans. When someone has authority, it means that they are in charge of something. To have authority means that someone has the right and the responsibility to care for something or someone and keep it safe. So the teacher in your classroom has authority over the decisions that happen in the classroom. He or she has the right and the responsibility to keep the students safe and to make good decisions that help the students learn and grow. There are many different positions of authority. Think about law officers, police officers. They have authority over making decisions to help keep citizens safe. Your parents have authority over you to help keep you safe. This is the same type of authority that God gave to humans when he created us. God gave humans this authority because we are made in his image. We are made like him. God gave humans this authority over all of the rest of creation. And when God gave humans the authority to rule over creation, he made us above the rest of creation. He gave us the job of taking care of his creation. In Genesis chapter 2, verse 7, the Bible says, Then the Lord God formed a man. God breathed the breath of life into him, and the man became a living person. We see two things in this verse that God did when he created human beings that he didn't do for any other part of his creation. So, first of all, it says God formed man. And then secondly, God breathed life into the man. So God brought Adam to life in a special way by breathing life into him. He did not do this for any other part of his creation. But the Bible does not say that he breathed life into the animals and the plants. Then the Lord God made a woman. What did God say is not good? God said in this verse that it is not good for man to be alone. So what did he do? God created woman to be a helper to the man. So this was the very beginning of relationships between people. And it was also a model of the relationship that God wants to have with us. Friendships are part of God's design, and He God wants to be in a friendship with us. God gave us relationships because we are made in His image. What does it mean to be a Christian? To be a Christian means that a person has believed in Jesus and has asked him to save them from their sins. A Christian is a follower of Jesus. What does it mean that a Christian's body is a temple? Just like this verse says, don't you know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? So a temple is a dwelling place, and to dwell means to exist and live somewhere. So when a person believes in Jesus and asks him to be their savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of that person. The body of a Christian is God's temple. It is where his spirit lives. God's spirit can live inside of us because we are made in his image. Being made in God's image means that we were created to behave like God. We have the ability to think, to love, to create, to have relationships, to be compassionate, to have patience, to be forgiving and kind. We have the ability to make decisions, show emotions, and know right from wrong. These are all character traits that God gave to humans that are like him. We should always remember that God loves us so much and he wants to have a relationship with us. Since we are all born sinners, we are separated from God. But the great news is that Jesus died on the cross and rose back to life to take the punishment for our sins so that we don't have to be separated from God anymore. The only way that we can have a relationship with God is by believing in Jesus and asking him to save us from our sins. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you for giving us the special gift of being created in your image. Please help us to continue to learn more about you from the Bible. And please help us to be bold enough to ask questions when we don't understand something that we read or that we hear. We love you and we pray all of these things in Jesus' sweet name. Amen. I hope that you enjoyed this lesson. And until next time, God bless. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Seeds of Truth Podcast. For more free Bible resources, visit seeds of truth ministries.com.