The Bible provides the answer by proclaiming that God created man to reflect his image and lead over creation. Additionally, He instructed humanity to multiply fruitfully and subdue the earth.
He did this out of love; He wanted to share His kindness and love with humanity; unfortunately, humanity rejected Him by eating the forbidden fruit.
Table of Contents
1. To Know Him
As part of developing our relationship with Him, it is vital that we get to know God better. He has revealed Himself in various forms – creation of the universe, His word (Bible), and incarnational as Jesus Christ are just a few ways He’s made Himself known – yet perhaps most profound is this realization: God is Love (1 John 4:8)! Not only did he create this world for our enjoyment and good but He longs to form lasting bonds between Himself and its inhabitants!
The Bible asserts that once we know Him, we can love and serve Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Additionally, He is revealed as being the Creator of all things and “surveyed his creation and saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:2) which should give us confidence that He exists.
As opposed to other religions’ deities, this God does not depend on its creation for existence; whether He exists or not, its creation was done out of pure love; an act which continues today by keeping everything beautiful and well-ordered in its place. Furthermore, its power does not come from its dependence; He is all-powerful.
God most clearly revealed Himself through His works, yet nothing compared to when He took human form as Jesus, known as the Son of God. For years now, those who know and love Him have long anticipated and dreamed about this momentous event when He would come back into creation and reveal Himself fully.
The Son of God embodies everything God is. As the second Person in the Godhead, his nature and actions represent all that he entails in all his fullness and perfection. He is a loving and righteous deity who cares deeply for all his creation (even enemies!), yet cannot tolerate sin or indifference (Romans 3:9).
The Son of God taught His followers that He is the way to God (John 14:6), and His teachings provide unparalleled knowledge about this One True God. He is Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer all at the same time; love, peace and joy all come from Him; He knows everything and wants all people saved (Romans 8:28).
2. To Love Him
God shows His love for people through many acts that He performs: Creation (Genesis 1:26); Sustaining of Universe (Colossians 1:17); Drawing people close (John 6:44); Disciplining His Children (Hebrews 12:6) and Judging the World (Revelation 20:11) are just some examples of what He does, which shed light on why He made us. These works of God give insight into why He made us.
God is love (1 John 4:8) and desires a close, personal relationship with his creation – that includes you (Genesis 2:17). Therefore He created man in His image: to reflect and show this love while leading and protecting His creation while producing godly offspring.
But for any relationship to exist between mankind and God, there must first be an exchange of love on both sides. Thus God gave humanity free will: so they could demonstrate this love and devotion by either obeying or disobeying His commands – giving mankind this choice honored his image bearer-ness rather than making them robotic automatons.
Adam and Eve disobeyed God, leading to their relationship becoming estranged. Yet He still loved Adam and Eve and wanted a relationship, so He sent His son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins – something the Bible describes as proof. Therefore it states, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him may not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Therefore, we need to do good works so as to show God our devotion and prove we are His children (Matthew 5:16). And because God loves us so deeply that He sent his son as an atonement for our sins so we may receive Him by faith and become part of His family – just as the Bible says “if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
3. To Have Fellowship With Him
God made man in His image, giving them dominion over His creation. However, He knew that mankind would be temped by Satan to disobey Him – this would damage their relationship and introduce sin, suffering and death into their world – yet He knew that obedience to Him would give strength enough for survival.
Because He is love, He wanted to share His goodness and grace with them. While He could have made the world without people, this would not have achieved His purpose of showing forth His goodness to mankind and making His glory known throughout all creation (Colossians 1:17).
God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit had always lived in perfect love and unity; never alone nor needing anyone to love Him back (Genesis 1:27). They enjoyed perfect love between each other as one.
He understands, however, that humans require both His strength and joy in order to obey Him. Therefore He gave His law as an expression of His righteous character; violation of which leads to sin (Romans 7:12). Furthermore He provided people with the chance to join His family by accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
God knows that only through His Son, who embodies His own righteousness and holiness, can sinners receive His grace and be saved from their sins (John 3:16). He knows there is a world who are desperate for truth and need to hear about the gospel message (Romans 10:14). He desires that they may hear what he has promised – He wants His word to reach these souls so they may be delivered from sin, death and darkness and become part of His family for all eternity (John 17:3; Ephesians 2:8-9). He loves them so much He sent His only son into this world to die on their behalf (1 John 4:14)
4. To Have Good Works To Do
One reason God created us was so that we may do good works for Him. That’s why when He made Adam and Eve, He gave them an assignment: reflecting His love by taking care of each other and caring for the world – ultimately reflecting back His love to others while bringing glory to Himself in the form of worshippers bringing Him glory! This ultimate goal is why everything exists as it does – part of His plan for eternity!
The first couple were created in God’s image and likeness, endowed with minds to think, emotions to feel, and free will to make choices. He gave them responsibility and destiny of ruling over the world in His name under His authority; He blessed and instructed them to reproduce fruitfully; multiply, subdue the land that He set aside for humanity – in line with His overarching plan for creation and stewardship of all of earth which He set aside for our use.
He had the right and authority to create, at His leisure, an immense spectrum in the universe ranging from lofty seraphim around His throne to tiny insects that die within hours of birth. If He so chose, He could even design millions of worlds all with unique characteristics yet sharing only commonality through creaturehood.
God knew that, given free choice, humans would disobey Him and bring death upon all creation. Therefore He set boundaries that they couldn’t cross while warning them about its consequences if disobedience occurred – this act was performed out of love for giving each individual dignity in making decisions that honored his image in them.
God never intended this setback to be permanent; rather, He has restored His original plan through Christ and His body, the church. Through them He plans on showing off His vast wisdom in heaven (Ephesians 3:9-12) just as was His eternal plan prior to creating our world.