Photo: Zebras, Serengeti National Park. Tanzania. ©1998-2023 R. John Anderson
Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures,
and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”
Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind:
cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them. – Genesis 1:20,24,27
Entonces dijo Dios: «Llénense las aguas de multitudes de seres vivientes,
y vuelen las aves sobre la tierra en la abierta expansión de los cielos».
Entonces dijo Dios: «Produzca la tierra seres vivientes según su especie:
ganados, reptiles y animales de la tierra según su especie». Y así fue.
Dios creó al hombre a imagen Suya, a imagen de Dios lo creó;
varón y hembra los creó. – Génesis 1:20,24,27
Man is a created being, not the Creator. It is written: “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living person” (Gen. 2:7), “Because from it [the ground, dust] you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19), “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it” (Psa. 24:1). We were created out of the dust of the ground, but we are also created in the image (likeness) of God (Gen. 1:26) – meaning we all have an immortal spirit/soul that lives on after the body dies (Heb. 9:27). It is that eternal soul that you must look after. Most people spend more time planning their upcoming weekend getaway or sporting event than they do planning for their eternal life. I urge you to consider the enormity of eternity – it is a very, very, very, very long time! Those who end up in hell will be fully conscious and alive in spirit, and they will have all eternity to regret that they rejected “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23), which God offered to everyone. God doesn’t send anyone to hell, which was created for the Devil and the angels who sinned (not for man, Matt. 25:41) – man sends himself there (Josh. 24:15).