by Wendell Tenison

There have been many things written concerning the relationship between God and man, but little regarding the handiwork of his creation. In fact, the theme of the word of God focuses entirely upon the creation of the heavens and the earth. More prominent is the creation of man, his purpose, existence, servitude, and destiny.

The Lord willing and with his help, I will endeavor from a careful search of the scripture, to bring to light the great truths about man and his God in the creation.

(Genesis 2:7) "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."

In the beginning all life originated from two sources: the earth and the seas (Gen. 1:11-22). Man and beast from the earth, the fowl and fish from the sea. Even though the earth and the seas differ in physical character, they both yield basically the same ingredients for the reproduction and sustenance of life. Of all of God's living creation from both the earth and sea, he chose only man to be made in his image. However, in the matter of death and decay, man has no preeminence over any other creature (Eccl. 3:18-20).

The earth and the fullness thereof belong to God because he created it. But God gave to man dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth (Gen. 1:28). Not only did God give man the preeminence, but he gave him the earth itself.

(Psalms 115:15-16) "Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth. {16} The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men."

The doctrine of the "wacko environmentalist" cult (tree huggers, etc.) bitterly denies these verses. On the contrary, they advocate that man must worship "Mother Earth."

By reason of the power of the Almighty, he transformed the dust of the ground into flesh and blood. Without the further handiwork of God, man would have remained inanimate. Therefore, God, formed a spirit within him to make him move. The final ingredient was the breath of life which God breathed into his nostrils. Within this body of flesh and blood, God created a fleshly mind and a spiritual heart. Our mind consists of five divisions: the intellect, which is the center of learning; the will, which is the stop and go; the memory, which is the data base; the conscience, which is the courtroom; and the emotions, which are the stovepipe. It is the combination of the two in which we are made in the image of God. Thank God for the psalmist David for writing these words:

(Psalms 22:26) "The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live forever." [Jehovah's Witnesses vehemently deny that our heart will live forever].

The animals differ from man in this one respect; they do not have a spiritual heart. See Paul Tenison's book, "The Godhead In Creation."

No sweeter words could have been penned by David than when he wrote:

(Psalms 139:13-17) "For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. {14} I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. {15} My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. {16} Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. {17} How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!"

We are fearfully and wonderfully made! In the book of God are all of our members written. Does God know everything about us? Absolutely. As our Lord said:

(Matthew 10:30) "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered."

Before we move on, here's a final point for consideration:

(Job 27:3) "All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;"

In this case, our breath is the spirit of God, which sometimes is referred to as the wind (John 3:8), but not the Holy Spirit. There are seven spirits of God (another subject by itself), but for the sake of information they are listed as follows:

(Isaiah 11:2) "And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;"

(Zechariah 4:10) "For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth."

(Revelation 5:6) "And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." See also Rev. 3:1; 4:5.

It would be remiss on my part if I failed to show by what power we are created.

(Job 33:4) "The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life."

Next the reference is made to replenishing the earth of both man and beast.

(Psalms 104:29-30) "Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. {30} Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth."

It is by the power of the Holy Spirit of God that we are created. The Holy Spirit also creates the new man born into Christ:

(1Cor.12:13) "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit."

Again, this study is not about all the works of the Holy Spirit, and we will not go into it. It may be that the brethren are in need of more teaching on just how many works the Holy Spirit performs on a daily basis. Amen.

(Jeremiah 1:5) "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."

God knew Jeremiah before he was conceived. Did he know us before we were conceived? The answer is yes. If not, why not? Now we are approaching the deeper mysteries of God of which we will refrain, at least for now.

(Job 31:15) "Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?"

(Isaiah 44:2) "Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen." [Jesurun, a poetic name of Israel. Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon, page 449].

(Isaiah 49:5) "And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength."

Does God have a purpose for you and me today? There has been no change in the will of God that men serve and please him. But unfortunately, mankind for the most part has gone after his own way of destruction.

The same questions are asked over and over: Does God have anything to do with our birth? The answer is yes.

(Psalms 22:9) "But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts."

(Psalms 71:6) "By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee."

(Isaiah 49:1) "Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name."

Now we begin a closer look at the thing God formed within us to make us move:

(Zechariah 12:1) "The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him."

We have already seen the power of the Holy Spirit who makes us. Therefore, it is incumbent that we should notice and understand just when did the Holy Spirit form our spirit within us.

(Job 3:11) "Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?"

(Job 10:18-19) "Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me! {19} I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave."

(Ecclesiastes 11:5) "As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all."

Without any controversy, our spirit is formed within us at conception. Every young boy and girl, every young married couple, and all others need these truths of God now.

In conclusion of this study together, hopefully I have saved the best for last. As stated before, it is our spirit who animates us (James 2:26). We know that the unborn kick, suck their thumbs, hiccup, hear, etc. The best example the bible has given is recorded by the writer Luke.

(Luke 1:41-44) "And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: {42} And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. {43} And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? {44} For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy."

The best comparison that I can make to the living unborn, is that to a person on life support in the hospital. Because one is on life support, does that mean his spirit has departed? Absolutely not. So it is with the mother who provides through her veins to her unborn child the oxygen of life, food, and water. When finally the water breaks, the newborn comes forth. There is little difference in the spiritual womb of baptism in delivery, and the natural birth. When the water breaks in baptism, the newborn comes forth in Christ.

(Psalms 127:3) "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."

Or, as rendered in the Septuagint (Brenton), p. 777:

"Behold, the inheritance of the Lord, children, the reward of the fruit of the womb."

We often say we have been rewarded by the success of our accomplishments. If they fail we don't want to talk about it; if they succeed, we are most happy. There is no doubt that God is much pleased with his creation of life, and has openly declared this unto us in the preceding verse. There are many ways in which we are created in the image of God, and this happens to be one of them. In the likeness of God, we also receive the rewards of self satisfaction with great joy at the arrival of a newborn sent from God. Again, the fruit of the spiritual womb is the reward of God. What more can we say?

The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon, p. 969, defines "reward" as: "reward, for work done, faithfulness, etc., . . . (fig. of reward of one's labours), . . ." Reference made to Eccl. 4:9, 9:5; Isa. 40:10, 62:11.

(Ecclesiastes 4:9) "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour."

(Isaiah 40:10) "Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him."

(Proverbs 1:7) "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."