For atheists and deniers of the Holy Scriptures, the first sentence of the Bible has no great meaning: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. For us, on the other hand, this statement is a great reassurance: God works according to His plan. We see this in the account of re-creation in Genesis 1.

God separates light and darkness, land and water. He brings the plant kingdom to life, followed by the creatures in the water and on the land. And about these God says: "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind" (Genesis 1:24).

That the animals reproduce according to their kind reflects God's plan. The "kind" is, so to speak, a limit that cannot be overcome. Mules, the result of a mixture between horse and donkey, serve as examples. Horse and donkey are obviously different species. When the genetic material of the horse mare and the donkey stallion is mixed, an odd set of chromosomes is formed, which means that mule stallions are not procreative. In rare cases, fertile mares occur, but if possible, procreation takes place only through mating with a horse. There is no new mule "kind" with its own reproductive ability.

Man can only reproduce according to his kind. But more important is God's revelation in Genesis 1, verses 26-27, showing us that man was created after the God "kind": "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness . . . So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

The immediate prior context — the creation of animals — is about "kinds". We have been created after the God "kind". We cannot be or become anything else. And that reminds us of the words of King David: "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels [Hebrew: elohim], and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet" (Psalm 8,4-6).

We are to become be like God and live eternally with Him as His children: "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty" (1 Corinthians 6:18). And Jesus is "the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together" (Romans 8:16-17).

We are not the result of an evolutionary lottery, not a product of chance. We are the result of God 's plan, which will only be fully accomplished when we, after the God "kind", enter his family through the transformation of flesh and blood into spirit.

With these thoughts I wish everyone a rewarding Sabbath!