“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God make the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1:24,25).

Three verses earlier, we learn that the fowl of the air reproduce “after his kind” (v.21). Finches, revealing a variety of differently shaped genetics confirms that organisms vary only within certain parameters.

Again, five times in our present text we see that animals reproduce after their kinds. For example, peppered moths reproduce only peppered moths—never butterflies or sparrows. The Lord’s created order stands.

One of the things distinctive about man’s creation is no mention of reproducing after his kind. Man is made in God’s image. He is different from God but also like God.

In fact, a remarkable thing happened in human history. The Creator Himself took on human flesh and walked among us. He did not do this for animals not made in His image, but He did it for us who were meant to be like Him.

Our first parents failed. The Lord had tested them to see if they could be confirmed in righteousness, but they fell into sin.

He could, but it involved stooping low. He had to become man and even bloody His own hands and side. It was possible to do this, however, because man was made to be like God. The Lord could become one of us because we were originally made to be like Him. He became like us—even carrying the weight of our sin on the cross—to make us like Him.

Animals may vary only with kinds, but humans may be adopted into God’s family! PGH