We who love the Lord all love our Bible. We also know that the Bible is a book that speaks specifically about life; it is a book of life because it speaks specifically about God, and God is life. Although we may not know very much, we have tasted and have enjoyed God as life. In the Bible, whether the Old Testament or the New Testament, there are a lot of stories. On the surface, it appears that what was recorded was merely some stories, but these stories are different. They may appear to be stories, but actually they are life. I want to say strongly that what is recorded in the Bible is not stories, but life.
The first thing recorded in the Bible is that God created the heavens and the earth, all things, and mankind. This may have the appearance of a story, a history, but what is within this story, this history, is altogether life. God created the heavens, the earth, and all kinds of things as well, but God’s creation did not stop there. The heavens are needed, the earth is also needed, and all things are needed, but these alone are not enough—at the end it was necessary for God to make man. Although God had created an innumerable number of things, yet all those things were not the conclusion; the man whom He created last was the conclusion of all things. The ancient Chinese also said that man is the spirit of all things. Without human beings all things are meaningless. Therefore, concerning all things—whether the fowl of the air, the beasts of the field, the fish of the sea, or the various kinds of trees and flowers—none of these is the conclusion. Man with a spirit is the conclusion. Whatever things we can see, especially the things on this earth, would be empty and meaningless if there were no human beings.
In God’s creation, only man has a spirit. This spirit is out of God who is life. God created man in this way simply for the purpose that man may obtain God as his life. In Genesis 1:26, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” It seems that before the Triune God created man, He held a conference. This was different from His creating of other things. In creating all other things, He spoke and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast. When He came to create man, it was not that simple. It seems that the Triune God held a conference, deciding that He should make man in His image and according to His likeness.
This is not a simple matter. I would like to emphasize again that although we are human beings, we were made according to God. Not only were we made by God, but we were also made according to God. How honorable this is! We human beings were made in the image of God. God made man in this way so that man can be like God and can express God, and so that God’s attributes may be expressed in man’s virtues.
(Conformation to the Image of the Son of God, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee)