The Crown of Creation: The Sixth Day Text: Genesis 1:24-31
Introduction: The Unraveling of Man
We come now to the sixth day of creation, the pinnacle of God's creative work. Everything has been leading up to this. The stage has been set, the lights have been hung, the pantry has been stocked, and now the main actor is about to walk onto the stage. But in our modern world, we have a problem. We have forgotten the script, we have forgotten our lines, and we have forgotten who we are. We are suffering from a catastrophic identity crisis.
Our secularist culture is desperately trying to define man apart from God, and the results are as grotesque as they are predictable. They tell us that we are nothing more than sophisticated animals, the accidental byproduct of primordial ooze and millions of years of random mutations. We are just cosmic dust with delusions of grandeur. And having reduced man to an animal, they are now trying to reduce him even further, to a chaotic bundle of appetites and identities that can be redefined at will. They are trying to erase the most fundamental distinction God ever made within humanity, that of male and female. This is not progress; it is a full-scale, deliberate unraveling of the created order. It is an attempt to send us back to the tohu wa-bohu, the formless void, because a formless humanity is easier to control.
The Christian worldview, grounded in this text, offers the only coherent alternative. It tells us that man is not an accident, but an artifact. We are not animals; we are viceroys. We are not a random collection of molecules; we are the image-bearers of the living God. And our identity is not something we invent for ourselves; it is a glorious reality bestowed upon us by our Creator. To reject this definition is not to find freedom, but to find absurdity. It is to saw off the branch you are sitting on. If you deny that you are made in the image of God, you forfeit the only possible foundation for human dignity, rights, and meaning.
The sixth day is divided into two main acts. First, the creation of the land animals, which completes the filling of the earth. And second, the climactic creation of mankind, the appointment of man as God's ruler over the earth, and the final declaration that all of it was not just good, but very good. This is not just a story about how things began; it is the blueprint for who we are and what we are for.
The Text
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 made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.” Then God said, “Behold, I have given to you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has the fruit of the tree yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that creeps on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
(Genesis 1:24-31 LSB)
Filling the Land (v. 24-25)
We begin with the first act of the sixth day:
"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 made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:24-25)
Just as God commanded the waters to teem with life on day five, here He commands the earth to bring forth living creatures. This does not mean the earth has some inherent creative power of its own. God is the one who "made" them, as verse 25 makes clear. But it does show the glorious fruitfulness that God has embedded within His creation. He has made the earth a suitable stage for life.
Notice the categories. We have "cattle," which refers to domesticated animals. We have "beasts of the earth," which are the wild animals. And we have "creeping things," which covers everything from insects to reptiles. This is not a modern scientific taxonomy, but it is a comprehensive description of the land animals from the perspective of man, who will be tasked with ruling over them. God is stocking the kingdom before He installs the king.
And again, we see the crucial phrase, "after their kind." This is a direct refutation of the grand, godless theory of macroevolution. God did not create a single-celled organism and then let it run amok for billions of years. He created distinct kinds of creatures with fixed boundaries. There is certainly variation within a kind, a dog kind can produce Chihuahuas and Great Danes, but a dog will never produce a cat. These created kinds are a testament to God's love for order, structure, and glorious diversity. He is not the God of monotonous uniformity, but of patterned variety.
And as with the previous stages of creation, God evaluates His work and declares it "good." The animal kingdom is not an afterthought, nor is it a mistake. It is part of God's good design. This stands against any worldview that would either deify animals, as the pagans did, or despise them, as some Gnostics might. They are creatures, not gods, but they are good creatures, worthy of our stewardship and care precisely because they are God's handiwork.
The Divine Council and the Imago Dei (v. 26-27)
Now we come to the great crescendo of the creation week. The language shifts dramatically. There is a pause, a divine consultation, before the creation of man.
"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness...'" (Genesis 1:26a)
Who is the "Us"? This is a profound glimpse into the nature of God Himself. From the earliest days of the church, this has been rightly understood as an intra-Trinitarian conversation. The Father speaks to the Son and the Spirit. Man is the product of a divine council. This is why we are relational beings, because our God is a relational being. He is a society of three persons in one divine essence, eternally bound in love and fellowship. When God says "Let Us," He is revealing that the foundation of reality is personal and communal.
And what is the plan? To make man "in Our image, according to Our likeness." This is the Imago Dei, the image of God. This is what separates us from every other creature. Animals are good, but man is in a category all his own. To be made in God's image means that we are created to be His representatives, His mirrors, His viceroys on earth. It doesn't mean we look like God physically; God is spirit. It means we are to reflect His character and carry out His will. This involves our rationality, our creativity, our moral capacity, and our ability to relate to God and to one another. The image of God is not a quality we possess, but a calling we have. It is a verb, not a noun.
"...so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." (Genesis 1:26b)
The immediate purpose of being made in God's image is to exercise dominion. We are created to rule. In the ancient world, kings would set up images of themselves in the far-flung provinces of their empire to signify their authority. We are those images. God has placed us here to govern His creation on His behalf. This is not a license for tyrannical exploitation, but a summons to faithful stewardship. We are to tend, cultivate, and develop the world, bringing all of its latent potential to fruition for the glory of God. This is the foundation of the cultural mandate.
Verse 27 then describes the execution of this divine plan in a beautiful, poetic structure:
"And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:27)
The repetition emphasizes the monumental importance of this act. But notice the flow. It moves from the singular "him" to the plural "them." The image of God is not just vested in man as an individual, but in mankind as a community, specifically as male and female. Both man and woman are equally created in the image of God. Yet they are not interchangeable. The distinction is fundamental. The glorious diversity within the Godhead is reflected in the glorious diversity of humanity as male and female. To attack this created binary is to attack the very image of God. It is an attempt to deface the divine portrait.
The Cultural Mandate (v. 28-30)
Having created man, God now blesses him and gives him his marching orders.
"God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion...'" (Genesis 1:28)
This is the cultural mandate, the prime directive for humanity. It has two parts. First, procreation: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." God wants the earth to be filled with His image-bearers. This is why marriage and family are at the very heart of God's plan for humanity. Second, cultivation: "subdue it; and have dominion." This is the task of building civilization. It means farming, building cities, composing music, discovering scientific principles, establishing just laws. It is the work of turning the raw material of creation into a glorious culture that reflects the wisdom and goodness of the Creator.
In verses 29 and 30, God provides for His creation. He gives plants and fruit to man for food, and green plants to the animals. This was the original, pre-fall diet. There was no death, no bloodshed. This points to the peaceable kingdom that God intended. Sin would later bring violence and death into the world, necessitating the shedding of blood for both sacrifice and sustenance (Genesis 9:3), but the original design was one of shalom.
The Final Verdict (v. 31)
The chapter concludes with God's final assessment of His completed work.
"And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day." (Genesis 1:31)
Throughout the week, God had declared each individual part "good." But now, seeing the whole integrated system, with man as its crown and king, He declares it "very good." This is the superlative of divine approval. The created order was perfect. It was a flawless symphony. This is crucial for us to grasp. The world as God made it was not broken. It was not filled with death, disease, and disaster. All of that is the result of man's subsequent rebellion. Theistic evolution, which tries to cram millions of years of death and struggle into this "very good" creation, is a theological disaster. It makes God the author of death and turns the fall into a meaningless hiccup.
The sixth day ends, like the others, with the liturgical refrain: "And there was evening and there was morning." The work of creation is complete. The world is ready for its Sabbath rest, and man is ready to begin his task of dominion.
The Second Adam and the New Creation
Of course, we know the story does not end here. The first Adam, the crown of the first creation, failed in his task. Instead of exercising dominion over the serpent, he allowed the serpent to exercise dominion over him. He abdicated his throne, plunged the world into sin, and marred the image of God in himself and all his posterity. The cultural mandate was not revoked, but it is now pursued in a world hostile to God, with sweat, thorns, and thistles.
But God, in His infinite grace, did not abandon His project. He sent a Second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the perfect image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). In Him, the Imago Dei is seen in its untarnished glory. And through His death and resurrection, He has come to restore that image in us. "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29).
Our salvation in Christ is nothing less than a new creation. Just as God spoke into the darkness to create the first world, He speaks into the darkness of our hearts to create a new man (2 Corinthians 4:6). And He restores to us the mandate we lost. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are once again called to be fruitful, not just physically but spiritually, making disciples of all nations. We are once again called to take dominion, not with the sword of steel, but with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. We are to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and work to see His Lordship acknowledged over every square inch of creation.
The first creation was "very good," but it was fragile. The new creation in Christ is even better, because it is indefectible. The first Adam was a king who fell. The Second Adam is a King who has conquered, and of His kingdom there will be no end. He is making all things new, and one day, the work will be complete. We will inhabit a new heavens and a new earth, filled with the glory of God, and we will reign with Him forever. That is the promise that was planted on the sixth day, and it is a promise that finds its ultimate fulfillment in the face of Jesus Christ.