Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:7-9; John 1:4; 6:35, 57; 4:14, 24; 6:63

God's economy and God's building both depend on the tree of life. In Genesis 1 there is a full record of God's creation. On the sixth day, God created a man in His own image and then committed man with His own authority (Gen. 1:26). Image means the expression. Something in your image is the expression of yourself. God created man in His own image for the purpose of having man as His very expression in this universe and on this earth. God is hidden and invisible, yet God does have a heart's desire to express Himself through man. God did not create a thousand men at one time, but He created just one man. All the descendants of that one man were included in that one man. God created a corporate man in His image to express Himself, so man is the very image, the very expression of God.

Why did God also commit man with His authority? God's purpose is to express Himself, but this purpose of God was greatly frustrated by His enemy. God has an enemy in this universe and on this earth, and this earth has been usurped from the hand of God, robbed away from God. Thus, God had to create a man to deal with His enemy. It is for this purpose that God committed His authority to man, that man may be not only His expression but also His representative, representing Him on this earth as the very authority to deal with His enemy.

God gave authority to Adam for the purpose that he may rule over the earth, and especially that he may rule "over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Gen. 1:26). The implication here is that God's enemy is embodied in the creeping things. In Genesis 3 the head of the creeping things came in, that is, the serpent, the enemy of God. The serpent in Genesis 3 and the scorpions in Luke 10, representing the sinful and unclean evil spirits, are creeping things. God committed His authority to man that man may have not only the power but also the authority to rule the whole earth and to subdue it. That meant that the earth had been in rebellion and that the rebellious earth had to be subdue. Throughout the sixty-six books of the Bible, there are always these two aspects. God's intention positively is to expre0ss Himself through a corporate man, and negatively to deal with His enemy, Satan, through this corporate man. At the end of the Scriptures there is a city called the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2). God's image is expressed through that city (Rev. 21:11; 4:3), and God's authority is exercised through that city (22:5; 21:24-26). That city is the very expression and representation of God.