What came first, the chicken or the egg? – Neither!
Ephesians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He [Father] chose us in Him [Jesus] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him [Father] in love”.
That is, we were with God before the foundation of the earth as being in Jesus in the Father (John 14:20 & 17:23).
If we are one in Christ as He is one in God, and we have been in Him and known by Him since before Creation, then in Gen 1:26 when God says let US make man in our image, He is not using ‘us’ in the traditional concept of the royal pronoun, nor even as an identifier of the Trinity, but it is us (you, me and all of humanity) that decided to create a separate spiritual/physical group of beings. It is You-manity (you the human) that was always involved in the Creation, as was The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as they have also always been part of You-manity.
Hence, the image and likeness in Gen 1:26 is a spiritual being, as is the Father. Verse 28 warns the new entity to subdue its earth before becoming a person of the physical universe in Gen 2:7, to have authority over creation and not to let the physical universe have power and authority over us. Of course, Adam failed to heed the warning, allowing his physical appetites to take control, and thus his earth subdued him. His knowledge of his identity as part of the Godhead died, and he now subjugated his perception of himself as part of the creation. They therefore lost their dominion and became dominated by the physical universe in which they were now trapped, having excluded themselves from the perfect reality of Eden. Believing the lie that his identity was not worthy of his participation within the Godhead, Adam thought that God had turned against him and would seek retribution.
Genesis 1 :1-25 speaks of the origins of the creation of the physical universe, but verses 26 to 28 describes the spiritual creation of humanity. This means that You-manity was not made in the same process as the rest of the universe, and is therefore unique (different, set apart, holy), as God is holy (different, set apart, unique).
Recommended reading:
Meredith G Kline: ‘Kingdom Prelude’ & ‘Har Magedon’
Francois du Toit: ‘Mirror Bible’ & ‘Divine Embrace’