创世记结晶读经（一）:按着神的形像样式造人
创一 26『神说，我们要按着我们的形像，照着我们的样式造人，使他们管理…全地…。』. 二 9 『耶和华神使各样的树从地里长出来，可以悦人的眼目，也好作食物；园子当中有生命树，还有善恶 知识树。』
神的愿望和定旨是要得着一个团体人，有他的形像彰显他，并有他的权柄代表他。现在我们必须问：人怎能有他的形像彰显他，并有他的权柄代表他？
人被造以后，一面，神安息了；但另一面，神的工作尚未完成，因为人还没有得着神圣的生命。那时，人有神的形状和外表，却没有神的生命和性情（本质）。
创世记一章有不同程度的受造生命，但在二章有独一、最高的生命，神圣的生命，非受造的生命，由生命树所表徵。亚当被造，在受造生命当中是最高的生命，但他在被造的时候没有神圣的生命。神的心意是要亚当接受神作他的生命。
神圣的生命没有被人接受、得着、实化并经历，人就绝不能成为神的彰显和代表。
创世记一章关于创造的记载，虽然启示神创造人的目的，却没有告诉我们达成这目的的路。所以需要〔创世记二章里关于创造〕第二次的记载，以启示神所采取来达成他目的之路与手续。
神是要借着他自己的生命来达成他的目的. 我们若要彰显神，就需要神的生命。我们若有神的生命，就会自自然然、不知不觉的彰显他。
我们有了神的生命，就会彰显他的形像。生命乃是达成神目的的路。这生命不是我们天然的生命，是神那神圣、永远的生命(永生)。
权柄也与生命有关。…你越有生命，就越有权柄。…你的年龄给你这权柄。为了有神的权柄代表神，我们需要他的生命。
人虽然是按着神的形像创造的，但只像一张照片稍稍表明神，并没有神的生命。人虽然有神的形像，却没有神的生命。神要人有分於生命树所指明的生命。
创世记一章启示神永远的目的，就是借着人彰显他自己，并与人一同管治。人被造是为著彰显神并代表神。…神有了目的，但他必须有路达成他的目的。神的路是甚么？我们已经看过，他的路乃是生命。神要进到人里面作生命。
为了达成他的目的，神要进到人里面作人的生命和生命的供应。此外，二章启示神的手续包含三个步骤。第一步是神造人为器皿，好盛装神作生命。人既被造为器皿盛装神，就能凭神而活，彰显他并代表他。
第二步是神将人摆在生命树跟前。…神将人摆在生命树跟前，就是指明神要人将他接受到里面，使人为著召会的建造，变化成为宝贵的材料。…第一步是造器皿，第二步是将这器皿摆在生命树跟前，第三步是将神作到人里面作生命。
参读：神建造的异象，第一章；创世记生命读经，第六至八、十篇；神中心的思想，第三章；神圣启示的中心路线，第五至六篇。
Gen. 1:26 "And God said, Let Us
make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion...over all the
earth..."
2:9
"And out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that
is pleasant to the sight and good for
food, as well as the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."
God's desire and purpose are to have a corporate man to express Him in
His image and to represent Him with His authority. Now we must ask a question:
how can man express God in His image and represent Him with His authority?
(Life-study of Genesis, p. 117)
After man was created, on the one hand, God rested, but on the other
hand, God's work was not completed because man did not yet have the divine
life. Up to that point, man had the form and the appearance of God but not the
life and nature, the substance, of God. In Genesis 1 there are the created
lives in different degrees, but in Genesis 2 there is the unique and highest
life, the divine life, the uncreated life, signified by the tree of life. Adam
was made as the highest life among the created lives, but he did not have the
divine life at the time of creation. God's intention was that Adam would take
God as his life. Without the divine life being accepted, received, realized,
and experienced by man, man can never be the expression and representative of
God. (The Central Thought of God, p. 26)
Although the record of creation in Genesis 1 reveals God's purpose in
creating man, it does not show us the way to fulfill this purpose. Therefore,
we need the second record [of creation in Genesis 2] to reveal the way, the procedure,
God takes to fulfill His purpose.
God is going to accomplish His purpose by means of His own life....If we
are going to express God, we need the life of God. If we have the life of God,
we will express Him spontaneously and unconsciously. Once we have His life, we
will express His image. Life is the way to fulfill God's purpose. This life is
not our natural life, but the divine and eternal life of God.
Authority is also related to life....The more life you have, the more
authority you have....Your age assigns you the authority. In order to represent
God with His authority, we need His life.
Man was created in the image of God, but he was like a photograph
showing something of God
without having the life of God.
Although man was in the image of God, he did not have the life of God. God
intended that man should partake of the life indicated by the tree of life.
Genesis 1 reveals God's eternal purpose, which is to express Himself
through man and to exercise His dominion with man. Man was created to express
God and to represent God....Although God has a purpose, He must have a means of
fulfilling it. What is God's divine way of accomplishing His purpose? As we
have seen, His way is life. God desires to come into us as life. In order to
accomplish His purpose, God wants to come into man to be man's life and life
supply. Furthermore, Genesis 2 reveals that God's procedure involves three
steps. The first step was for God to create man as a vessel to contain Him as
life. Since man was made as a vessel to contain God, man can live by Him,
express Him, and represent Him. As the second step, God placed man in front of
the tree of life....In placing man before the tree of life, God was indicating
that He wanted man to take Him into his being that he might be transformed into
the precious materials for the building up of the church.
The first step was to make the vessel, the second was to put this vessel
in front of the tree of life, and the third is to work God into man as life.
(Life-study of Genesis, pp. 117-120, 215-216)
Further Reading: The Vision of God's Building, ch. 1; Life-study of
Genesis, msgs. 6-8, 10; The Central Thought of God, ch. 3; The Central Line of
the Divine Revelation, msgs. 5-6
- 未完待续
