January—We Are Sons and Daughters of God

That God Created Man in His Own Image, January 1

Amazing Love!

God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:27.SD 7.1

All heaven took a deep and joyful interest in the creation of the world and of man. Human beings were a new and distinct order. They were made “in the image of God,” and it was the Creator's design that they should populate the earth. They were to live in close communion with heaven, receiving power from the Source of all power. Upheld by God, they were to live sinless lives.^{1The Review and Herald, February 11, 1902.}SD 7.2

The holy pair were not only children under the fatherly care of God, but students receiving instruction from the all-wise Creator. They were visited by angels, and were granted communion with their Maker, with no obscuring veil between.... The mysteries of the visible universe—“the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge”—afforded them an exhaustless source of instruction and delight. The laws and operations of nature, which have engaged men's study for six thousand years, were opened to their minds by the infinite Framer and Upholder of all. They held converse with leaf and flower and tree, gathering from each the secrets of its life. With every living creature, from the mighty leviathan that playeth among the waters, to the insect mote that floats in the sunbeam, Adam was familiar. He had given to each its name, and he was acquainted with the nature and habits of all. God's glory in the heavens, the innumerable worlds in their orderly revolutions, “the balancings of the clouds,” the mysteries of light and sound, of day and night,—all were open to the study of our first parents.^{2Patriarchs and Prophets, 50, 51.}SD 7.3

God created man a superior being; he alone is formed in the image of God, and is capable of partaking of the divine nature, of cooperating with his Creator and executing His plans.^{3The Review and Herald, April 21, 1885.}SD 7.4