Young People’s Blog

“And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).

During the first five days of creation, God made everything except the land animals, and man. Finally, on the sixth day He created land animals, and last of all, man. But the creation of man was different from all the rest of creation. We read that God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.” The whole Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — was involved in making man, for man was to be different from all the rest of creation.

To be made in the image of God means that man is God’s representative in this world. This is quite a responsibility! Man was to have dominion over everything else; he was to have control over it.

To be made in the likeness of God means that man is a moral being and can appreciate the same things that God appreciates. He was without evil at the first, and upright. After sin came in, man lost much of his likeness to God, for sin has affected every part of our being. But God has preserved His creation, of which we are a part, from the full effects of the fall, for we can still appreciate beauty, goodness, and distinguish right from wrong. There is still a dignity attached to man, in spite of his sin, even though in himself he does not have the power to do what he knows is right.

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:30).

John tells us that the Lord Jesus said those wonderful words, “It is finished,” and then voluntarily dismissed His spirit (called “the ghost”) and died. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell us that these words were said with a loud voice. Normally a man dying of crucifixion had become so weak that he could not speak in a loud voice, but the Lord Jesus did not die from weakness or loss of blood, as some people try to say. No, He was in full control of Himself, and cried with a loud voice when He had borne all the judgment that God laid upon Him. Then He dismissed His spirit — something no ordinary man could do.

All this had a strong effect on the soldiers, and on the centurion (a commander of 100 men) who was there. They had never seen a man die like that before, and the centurion said, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Matt. 27:54). All the others who were watching ought to have realized this, too.

“And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear…and God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called He seas: and God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:9-10).

Many years ago, a young girl whom I knew asked her father the question, “In Genesis 1, why did God have to wait until the third day to say the words, “God saw that it was good?” Her father did not know, and when he asked me, I did not know either. So, we asked someone else, who gave us the answer.

The expression “the third day” in the Bible usually speaks of death and resurrection. The expression “the waters” often speaks of judgment, and when “the waters” were “gathered together into one place,” it speaks of the cross and the judgment the Lord Jesus suffered there. As a result, the dry land appeared, speaking of the blessing that we get from the work of Christ for us. Man could not live on the earth unless dry land appeared, nor could we have eternal life unless Christ died for us. So God could not say that “it was good” until after the Lord Jesus had died for us, and suffered the penalty for sin. Everything that is good in this sinful world is the result of what happened at the cross of Christ. I really enjoyed this answer, and I hope you do too!

“For the love of Christ constraineth us…and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live into themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

The verb “constrain” means to force or compel someone to do something by moral or physical force. The love of Christ does not force us physically to do something, but if we realize how much He loves us, and how much it cost Him to save us, then how could we refuse to do something He wants us to do?

I have left out part of verse 14, but it says, “If one (the Lord Jesus) died for all, then were all dead.” That means that before we were saved, we were “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). Now we have life — new life in Christ, because the love of Christ took Him to the cross to die for us. His love ought to constrain us, but sometimes it does not have that effect. Why not?

You have all seen a magnet, and it attracts iron. But if you have a small magnet, and place it thirty feet (about nine meters) from some iron filings, it will not attract them. Why not? Because they are too far away from the magnet. In the same way, sometimes we are spiritually too far away from the Lord, and we do not feel the attraction of His love as we should. We need to get closer to Him, and enjoy His love more!

“As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in My love” (John 15:9).

The Lord Jesus was just about to go to the cross and die, to put away their sins. He reminded His disciples of His love to them, and told them that it was the same love as God the Father had for Him, His beloved Son. This is a wonderful thing, and perhaps we do not realize enough what it means. We all know how much it means to us to know that someone really loves us. But is there any human love that is like divine love? No, for the Lord Jesus loves us with the same love as the Father loves Him.

When I was young, we had an older brother who used to tell us, “Memorize this verse and repeat it to yourself every day of your life!” It was good advice, although I have to confess that I have not done it every day.

Even if you have had a happy life as a child, you will find that when you have to go out into the world, you will have some difficult times. It is a sinful, selfish world out there, and we all experience it. Perhaps some of you who read this calendar are growing up in unhappy homes. Whoever we are, if we know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, we can go out every day, either to school or to work, with the sense in our souls of the Lord’s love for us. This is a tremendous encouragement!

“I became in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” (Revelation 1:10 JND).

This is the only time in the Word of God that we get the expression “the Lord’s day.” It is the Apostle John speaking, and at the time he had been banished to the island of Patmos because of his Christianity. Since the book of Revelation was written about 96 A.D., John must have been a very old man! (The Lord Jesus had been crucified more than 65 years before.)

As far as we know, there were no other Christians with whom to have fellowship, so John would have been very lonely. The phrase “became in the Spirit” suggests that it took some effort on the part of John to focus on the Lord. Yet he made that effort and received a wonderful prophecy of what was to happen in the future.

In much of the world today, the Lord’s day is treated like any other day: people do yard work, go shopping, play sports and have parties. How important it is for us who know the Lord to honor and respect the Lord’s day! If we use it for Him, we will surely get a special blessing from it. Even in difficult circumstances, John remembered the Lord’s day and listened to the Lord’s voice.

“And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).

To be “filled with all the fulness of God” is an expression beyond our understanding. Can we really be filled with all the fulness of God, who lives and moves in eternity? In one way, no, but in another way we can.

Let us try to illustrate it this way. The oceans of this world hold a tremendous amount of water. If somehow we could empty all the oceans in this world of their water, yet keep all the rivers of the world flowing into those oceans, it has been calculated that it would take about 40,000 years to fill them up again! If we think of big rivers like the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, the Amazon, the Nile, the Ganges, the Yangtze, etc., that is a lot of water! If we took a pail down to the Atlantic Ocean and dipped it in, we could fill it easily. In that sense it is filled with all the fulness of the ocean, for it cannot hold any more. Yet it holds only a very tiny part of that ocean. In that sense, it cannot ever be filled with the ocean’s fulness.

The love of Christ is like that. We can enjoy it, but it is so big that we cannot take it all in. But we can be completely filled with it, and this is what the Lord wants for us.

“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name” (Malachi 3:16).

This verse comes right at the end of the Old Testament, when the nation of Israel had failed greatly in being a good testimony to the Lord. Yet there were those who really cared about Him, and who spoke often to each other. It does not say that they did anything more than that, but the Lord so appreciated those that feared Him, and spoke about Him to one another, that He wrote it down in a special book.

Today we live in a world that has rejected the Lord Jesus, and is on its way to the judgment of God. Sadly, there are even many true Christians who are not a good testimony for the Lord. The Lord appreciates those who think about Him, and who encourage one another by speaking with each other about Him. Are you and I among those who do this? When we talk with other believers, do we speak about the Lord and all that He has done for us?

“It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth” (Lamentations 3:27).

“Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:29).

We do not see yokes much in western countries today, for most of the farm work is now done with tractors. However, in many parts of the world oxen are still used to pull ploughs, wagons, and other equipment. Often these yokes are double, to permit two oxen to pull together.

The Lord Jesus asks us to take His yoke upon us, so that we are on one side of the yoke, and He on the other side. When farmers wish to get a young ox used to pulling in a yoke, they often place it alongside an older ox. The older ox is used to pulling steadily, and helps the younger one to go at an even pace. So it is with us when we are in the yoke with the Lord Jesus.

Samuel Rutherford, a godly man who lived in the 17th century, once said, “Oh, what a glorious yoke are youth and Grace, Christ and a young man!” He could easily have said, “A young woman” as well. Notice too that he capitalized “Grace,” showing that he was referring to the Lord Jesus. It is good to get used to being in the yoke with the Lord Jesus when we are young. Walking with Him is not difficult; rather, as our verse tells us, we will find rest unto our souls.

“And he (Joseph) shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh” (Genesis 41:14).

Joseph was in prison in Egypt when he was suddenly called by Pharaoh to come and interpret a dream for him. When he was called to appear before Pharaoh, he went and shaved, and changed his clothes. Out of deference for Pharaoh and his position as king, Joseph took care to appear before him in a respectable way.

While we know that “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7), yet how we dress shows our respect for the one in whose presence we are. It is good to come into the Lord’s presence in a respectable way.

Tycho Brahe was a famous Danish astronomer who lived in the 16th century. When he went into his observatory to look at the stars, he always dressed in his best clothes, out of respect for the God who had created the vast universe.

When we come together in the local assembly, we come into the Lord’s presence. It is a good thing to remember the respect that is due to Him, and to dress in a proper way. This does not mean that we make rigid rules about what we should wear, but it does mean that we dress in a way that is fitting for the Lord’s presence.