The Scripture content for this portion of this post is found in Genesis 1:24-25
In the first part of day sixth of the creation God expands major animal life from the oceans to the plant populated light infused landmass of the world. The sea creatures were a precursor to the major land animals, but His focus of activity will be on land. Land is where the important history of creation will be recorded, and land is where His crowning jewel of creation will be fruitful and multiply.
After creating the land-dwelling creatures God again shows His pleasure by declaring them good. God then moves on to His final and consummate act, the creation of Man.
Genesis 1:26-28
For the third and final time in the creation narrative the use of the Hebrew word bara (Created) tells us that God is declaring and bringing forth a completely new part of creation through a fiat of His creative light.
God distinguishes the creation of Man by conferring with His own immeasurable, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient fullness of being as He declares “Let Us make Man…”
It should be clear to us that God was passionately invested in what He has created so far. But with Man a special relationship is displayed by the intensity of focus and fullness of action implied by the above declaration to and with Himself.
God further distinguishes man by declaring He will be made in God’s own image and likeness. Of everything that God has created nothing has come close to this type of intimacy of relationship. A relationship expressed as humanity being shaped in the image and likeness of the creator.
God goes further still in distinguishing Man from the rest of His creation by declaring that humanity will have dominion over all of God’s creation including all the other living things that He has established under the light of the earth. Man is unique in creation and nothing can approach his status as God’s consummate expression of creative light.