Why God Created Man

God has a reason for everything He does. This explains why every single thing God created is very important for the ecosystem. He moves with definite purpose, careful forethought and planning. The following Scriptures speak of God’s purposes:

Isaiah 14:26 – God has purpose that involves the whole earth and all the nations on it.

Isaiah 14:24, 27 – If God decides to do something no one can stop Him.

Isaiah 46:11 – God will follow through and accomplish His purposes.

Romans 8:28 – God has invited us to fulfil His purpose.

2 Timothy 1:9 – God’s purpose was fixed before creation, is centred in Christ and is not beyond the means of His grace.

Ephesians 1:9-11 – Our destiny has been pre-determined according to His purpose (our lives were pre-planned to fulfil it).

Ephesians 3:9-11 – God’s eternal purpose is centred in the church.

All of God’s purposes proceed from Himself. What He does is always consistent with who He is. The Kind of person He is dictates the kind of things He does. Of all the descriptions of God in the Bible, perhaps the most all-inclusive one is the title “Father”. God’s Father-heart compels Him to have a family that He can be a Father to. His purposes are easily illustrated around this theme.

There are many people who are working but do not find fulfilment. They go up and down stressed out without being happy. The only way that man will be able to find fulfilment in life or in anything he does is to discover the reasons why he was created. Just as using a saw to hammer nails or trying to use a car to fly are inconsistent with the law of purpose and will not be successful, so man living for reasons other than those God intended will only lead to frustration and failure. Man should be seeking to discover and fulfil the reasons God had in mind for creating him. The Bible reveals God’s purpose for man which is summarized here as follows:

1. Relationship

The first reason why God created man was for the purpose of relationship. God the Father wants a personal relationship with His Children. He wants to be involved in the life of His Children; He yearns to know them in a personal way. Throughout Scripture God’s desire for fellowship and communion with man is revealed. From the time that God sought Adam “in the garden in the cool of the day” God has been seeking fellowship with man (Genesis 3:8). However, the sin which Adam caused has hindered man’s relationship with the Father even till now. But now God indwells each believer because of the new birth making fellowship constantly available (John 14:16-20, 23).

2. Character

The second reason why God created man was to reproduce Himself; His nature and character. God the Father created man to look like Him on the inside. He wanted them to bear the family “image and likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Character is one of the main thoughts in the word “image”. In Hebrews 1:3 Jesus is described as being “the express image” of the Father. The Greek word translated image in that verse is pronounced Character and it is the word from which our English word “character” is derived. God wants man to partake of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4-7), to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:28, 29), and to be changed into His image by the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18; 4:4). Since it was disobedience (a corruption of character) that broke man’s relationship with God, it is necessary that man’s character be changed, restored and made just like God’s own nature. The sinful self-centred element in man’s nature must be replaced by the holy, loving and self-giving nature of God. This can only be achieved through the new birth.

3. Function

The third reason why God created man was to share His function of ruling the universe. Putting it another way, God the Father wanted His children to be involved in the family business. Not only did He want man to look like Him on the inside (character) but also that he may work (function) like Him. God wanted man to share in His dominion (Genesis 1:26). To do this God told man to subdue, which means to conquer (Genesis 1:28). At that time the only enemy there was to conquer was Satan and in man’s first encounter with him, he lost (Genesis 3). Man lost his dominion and came under bondage to Satan, sin, sickness and death. Now, only through Christ, who has conquered all, can man’s dominion be regained.

4. Reproduction

The fourth reason why God created man was to share some of His creative powers. God the Father wanted His children to reproduce more children to be in the family. He told Adam and Eve to “be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth” (Genesis 1:28). This certainly speaks of reproduction by natural birth, but there is more to it than just bringing babies into existence. There is the factor of reproducing “after our kind”. The seed of sin in Adam was reproduced in his first-born son Cain. This necessitates the new spiritual birth in which those who have been “born-again” and have become the children of God by redemption, reproduce “after their kind”. Thus the New Testament exhorts us to “be fruitful” (Colossians 1:10; John 15:16) and records that the disciples of Jesus “multiplied” (Acts 6:1, 7).

These reasons above are both progressive and interdependent. Relationship with God is essential for character development to occur, character is to be the basis for function, and when these three are in order, reproduction will be the natural result. This purpose of God for man has never changed and will yet be fulfilled through the church of Jesus Christ.