The Word Speaks For Himself
It’s about time I share this. I’ve evaded a couple opportunities to share it in Ethnos church gatherings because it feels like it would take too much time. I also sense it is one of those things that impacts the one to whom it was given to, but it would perhaps lose its effect being passed on verbally. It’s hard to concentrate on things said orally one time in person. It would just get lost. Anyway, I feel it is a profound thing and wish to share it. Please consider it if you will.
The basic background story is this. A few weeks ago Elder Dave asked us during a response time to share what came to our minds when he said, “God sent His only Son into the world”. At the time I felt like I would only be hunting for something to say in response. I don’t like sharing when I am simply saying stuff to fill a silence. I’d rather BE and JOIN the silence in such cases. After a couple minutes of others sharing and me thinking, a concept finally came to mind – as if from “nowhere”. I began thinking about “the image of God”.
At the time I didn’t feel I had enough specifics to share, just vague impressions of a forming idea. Considering the image of God is not a new idea by any means, but since it occurred to me I have been intrigued by it. I was a little confused about the Christmas Eve service and somehow got the impression there would be a sharing time. I spent the first part of the service writing scriptures from memory that related to the image of God. I truly believe I was blessed in that moment, for I had unusual recall of the necessary Scriptures to form this ordered collection of passages. Afterward I said to myself that “The Holy Spirit was my concordance”, since I didn’t have reference tools at the time (and I’m not an expert at remembering where to find Scriptures).
Before this Sunday’s service, I once again found some spare time to prepare my thoughts. I brought my huge concordance with me and ended up adding a few verses to the sequence, but most of them came out of the Christmas Eve service journal scratchings. Sunday was a prayer and praise service, but there wasn’t a great deal of sharing time, so I opted not to share my Scriptural findings. I share them now.
You could have skipped these boring paragraphs and jumped right into the Scripture below. I simply felt led to share the little background story – if for no one else, me. I find great comfort in writing the accounts of God’s appearing in my life so that I don’t forget and foolishly accuse Him of being absent or distant. Read the following sequence of Bible passages, paying particular attention to the repeated words and themes that string the verses together. For now, ignore the references and read the text as one continuous story. From what I understand, the words “image”, “glory”, “likeness”, “begotten” and a couple others have a very similar if not synonymous function in these passages. Focus on that and see what happens to the image of God – how it is originally given to us, it falls from glory through Adam’s sin begotten to us by “his image”, is reconciled through Christ, and is finally renewed to a far richer glory, even in those who have fallen dreadfully and worthlessly short! It is a beautiful picture. Mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13) This theme is repeated far more throughout Scripture than I sample here, but I believe the concise inclusions complete a profound message.
(red emphasis and underlines added below. The ESV and many modern translations “weakly” leave out the very important word “begotten” in reference to Jesus as the Son of God, so I added it back in to help us understand why Jesus is distinct and separate from the fray… though the “Good News” is that even we the fray can somehow – and this is ridiculous – become much like Him).
The Word Speaks For Himself
Then God said , “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness … So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one … for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
He (Jesus) is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only (begotten) Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?” Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only (begotten) Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Thus it is written, “The first Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are from heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
and we have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
WOW
Bible passages in the order they appear above: Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 5:1-3; Romans 3:11-12,23; Hebrews 1:3; John 1:1-2,14; John 14:8-11; John 3:16; Colossians 1:15-20; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 3:10; Romans 8:29; 1 John 3:2
Yeah, I agree … “wow”. I have to say I read this rather quickly just now, and hope to peruse it more ponderingly at another time. BTW … Happy Birthday; you are looking more and more like your Father every day!
Yeah, I’m looking more like both my father in the flesh and my Father in the Spirit. All of this is very interesting. I believe God designed DNA, genes and all that just so we could partially understand and appreciate how His attributes are imparted to us as “His image”, “His seed”, “His children”, and so on. These are not just words. They are a reality. And we will “reign with Him”? My mind is boggled by this, as if being His beloved children was not enough! It scares me to think how much He offers us. I fear a bit because look what happened to Lucifer when he saw a taste of somewhat similar things (though I don’t think it is quite the same… after all, to what angel did God say, “Today you have become my son, and I have become your Father”?) Yet perfect love casts out fear. And I know that whatever state we receive in newness will still pale in comparison to the pure and blinding light that God is. I think that because we will “see Him as He is”, we will not view Him through whatever limited lens Satan does. How can one possibly be tempted to ascend to the heights of God, replacing or competing with the Almighty? I believe that our unique transformation is in such a way that we will not be so foolish, for the more we perceive of Him the more we will bow down before His majesty, not consider the possibility that our small share of glory is power enough to overthrow Him.
Why is God invisible? Perhaps BECAUSE He is light. You cannot see light itself, much like you can’t see the wind, but its effects. You can see the things lights shines on (through divisions of light – spectrum components into RGB, greys, and the like), but not the light. If you look at the light, you will not see forms, for a “form” indicates shadow and reflection. But light does not have these things. No shadows can be found in God because every angle of perception only emits light. Think of the invisible wavelengths of light that penetrate all known matter, passing through it as if the most dense steel was nothing at all. I know, this is very speculative and imaginary. Even “light” as we know it – as amazing as it seems – is something found in creation, so I doubt God can be summed up by such a limited concept – as if we should start worshiping the creature/image/reflection (NO!) rather than the Creator/Source/Alpha… If God was light, He’d be gravitated into a black hole as punishment of proximity to a “more powerful” enemy, for even light cannot escape such gravitation. No, God is more than mere light as we know it. But it is interesting to consider how creation reflects the true unseen realities. God surely created light as we know it to be yet another reflection of His nature. In the same way, I believe the universe reflects His infinity. There is no boundary to the universe. Scientists who look for such a thing with their goofy lenses have become foolish in their knowledge, when what is plain to them is right in front of their naked eyes, no need for instrumentation. God IS. What He says about Himself is TRUE. Every person will have to give account, and there will be no excuse. Choose to humble yourself now, before you will be humbled on that day with a weight you cannot possibly bear. If you think life is meaningless and chance now, I promise you with all certainty that the emptiness you experience on that day will be far greater – when you finally realize you have missed the Being who is the only potential for fullness and LIFE, when He is ashamed of your blind and idolatrous flesh. Yet there is hope if you simply believe in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, if you submit to the reality your puny eyes will never see with scientific proof. There is great mercy. There is joy. They are guaranteed if you put your hope in the only trustworthy and eternal Constant. God IS. God is who He says He is, not who YOU SAY He is. He is not made in your image, that filthy image (created image = idol, for He cannot be pinned down except through His freewill revelation) you have in mind of how you think He is. No, He is that He is. He is One. He is the God of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac, come in the form of Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God, the Messiah promised of old. He is alive and well, born from the dead by the power of an indestructible life. This same power can be found in you if you covet power not, but covet only to know the One who gives His Spirit. Ask. Receive. Today. God has been described by the Word of Life. Everything you need to know about Him has been revealed, and His revelation – through His creation, His incarnation, His Bible, His Church – BEYOND adequate, if not ridiculous evidence. What are you intending to do about that perfect science? Lose science if your mind elevates it above the One who created science.
WOW is right. I LOVE the scriptures you were led to and arranged. It paints a beautiful picture of man (us) being created in God’s image, have fallen out of His image (because of sin), so He sent His begotten Son, who is, even as a man (without sin), the full/true image and glory of God, so that someday we (those who believe in Him) will be transformed back into His image. It’s what He is waiting for, and those who know Him are longing for! And then we will see Him as He is, and will understand His glory…until then we can re-read His Words so many times and always find new truths, and we’re always learning more, because we can’t fully know Him as He is until we are like Him.