In the beginning…11b. Earth Overlook: Day Six

Next God turned to his Son and spoke so all could again hear his proclamation, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the Earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

At these words, the anticipatory stillness was so silent that Gabriel thought he once again could hear the flutter of birds’ wings from the sky above the Earth below. He immediately handed the smaller second book to Jesus who relinquished it to his Father.

God stirred many in the crowd to utter amazement with his next words. He turned to the separated but close-knit group congregated in the back and inquired, “Lucifer?”

“Yes…your Majesty?” the startled angel queried apprehensively.

God continued, “Would you mind going down to the Earth and collecting a handful of dirt and then bringing it back up here to me?”

“Me? Now?” Lucifer responded incredulously.

“If you please,” God said.

“Of course. It won’t take a moment,” Lucifer agreed. Then turning to his cohorts he whispered, “What am I, his trained fetcher? We’ll consider this my Earth-claiming flight. The old man sure makes things easy sometimes.” With that he took off over the crowd and beyond the railing. Floating gently to Earth, Lucifer landed on a grassy knoll from which all the animals scattered, seemingly frightened at his approach. He bent down and scooped up a handful of dirt immediately rising in the sky and returning to the railing beside God. He deposited the dirt into the Father’s outstretched, waiting palm; and strutted through the stunned host back to his friends. There were nods of approval, thumbs up and even a high five from his nearest companion Dagon. Lucifer turned back toward God with folded arms and a smirk on his face. His whole countenance seemed to exude a stubborn rebelliousness.

God seemed not to notice as he sprinkled the handful of dirt from one hand onto the purple-embossed book he held in his other hand. He then covered the book and dirt with both hands and made gentle circular motions as if to rub the dirt into the vary pages of the little purple booklet. After a few moments, he brought his hands up to his mouth and breathed into them for several seconds blowing on the book. A little dust blew gently from his enwrapped fingers. Then he stretched out both arms and dropped what had been the clump of book and dirt over the edge, letting it fall lightly to Earth. It plopped onto a patch of dry land.

Almost immediately the clump seemed to come alive. It grew larger and took on form. Arms, legs, a head, and torso all appeared in sequence but then again in no apparent order. They simply became. Suggestions came from the shocked gallery above.

“It’s an angel!” exclaimed Allen.

“It’s a god,” said Michael.

“No, it’s another Jesus,” interposed Gabriel.

“You’re all wrong,” stated Jesus. “It’s man! I designed him and my Father formed him from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man has now become a living being.”

“Just like us,” Allen spoke first again.

“Not exactly,” Jesus corrected. “Man is a physical being like the animals, birds, and fish; yet he does have a spirit and soul as we do. He can feel emotions, think, plan, and choose.”

At this Lucifer let out an astonished yet muffled shout, “He can choose? You mean he can choose to, uh, to do good?”

“Yes, Lucifer, man has the power of choice. He can decide to do right or wrong.”

“That would surely separate him from all those fish, birds, and animals we drew,” Gabriel concluded.

“That’s right, Gabe; God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them,” Jesus explained.

“Male and female?” Michael asked. “All I see is one creature – it appears to be a male.”

“The female will come shortly. Be patient,” Jesus continued. “We know the man will be lonely on this huge, beautiful paradise of an Earth that’s been made for him to inhabit; so the plan is that God and I will find a female that suits him from among all the creatures already made. We will then instill the emotions and personality of the man into the selected creature giving it a spirit and soul. That creature will become a female helper and mate for man the male.”

[to be continued]