Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”.
Hmmm … in His image AND His likeness. In His image, image being a word, basically, referring to a representation. What kind of representation though? Five times it is used of man as created in the image of God. You know, some translations seem to over simplify the length and width of the word of God until we begin to lose the context, but let me add, i am, by no means a pro or a highly educated anybody. Regardless though, it isn’t difficult to understand that we are more than just arms, legs, and eyes similar to the Lord. Some people seem to want to relate to God so bad they are willing to redefine the High King of the Universe as someone similar to themselves. Uhh, yea, don’t do that. It’s like they want God to be like them, instead of them finding identity in being like Him. We are supposed to become like Him, not refabricate God in our own image, yet i fear for many, that’s exactly what we’ve done.
We may say He is too high above us that we could relate to Him, but that’s not true. Jesus Christ came to us that we would relate to God almighty, He leveled the playing field, so to speak. He came and got next to people right where His eyes and their eyes were on the same level, physically, metaphorically, and spiritually. He got eye level with us, right down where we live. He came not only to relate to us in the way we look, but also searching for those who reflected His heart. Not only an image, but His reflection also.
Ok, so i’ll just say it straight out, not everyone is a child of God. We may have an image of His person, but we have to do more than simply appear similar in form. We may look similar to our neighbor, but we are not of their family and they are not of ours. They don’t act like us, they don’t have similar ideas or values and we don’t have theirs, and God is the same. Unless we reflect His preferences and standards, and possess His faith and values, washed in the blood of the Son, we simply are not in the House of God. i did not make that judgment, it’s the standard of the Lord Himself.
Up until the advent of Jesus Christ, the Lord was not “eye level” with us, but when Jesus came to town, God got right where He could look straight in the eyes of mankind. God gave us His face.
Some would simplify the whole concept down to saying it is “meeting people where they are”, which truly is a good idea, but i believe the Lord has something more in-depth in mind. The idea of “eye level” has everything to do with where your horizons are and what exactly is your focal point. Being able to see our horizons helps us put objects, both near and far, in proper scale and perspective in relation to where we are.
It’s nice that some just want everyone to be ok, everyone to just get along, sit around the campfire singing Kumbaya and Michael Row the Boat Ashore, but that’s a dream. If everyone was in the family of God, and anyone was considered a child of God, murderers, rapists, crooked politicians, first responders, even the down and out total desponders, no matter what they believed, if anything at all, then Christ didn’t have to be crucified nor be resurrected from the dead to bring us home. We would already be home and His suffering and death would have just, what? Been for funnzies? Not hardly, not ever. Consider that in Christ, who is the truth, are the gates of the glorious city revealed, He is the prince of the Kingdom who reigns supreme in the city of God’s presence, and in His righteous person is all wisdom which we can lean on. In the external and internal appearance of God is our standard of how to look and how to have our being.
To reiterate then, when God said He made man in His image and likeness, He was referring to His external and internal appearance.
In the word for “image”, His external appearance, we see that through the cross is revealed the gates of the city of God from which rivers of living water flow. All of that points to the idea that the character of the cross was worked in the heart of God from before the foundations of the universe were laid.
And in the word for His “likeness”, or His internal appearance, it means He is someone mankind can lean upon, THE one in whom we can find safety, right standards, and salvation. In His internal appearance is the ultimate voice of authority as a strong leader. He knows the truth and He is the truth, for there is no such thing as a “little falsehood”, or “little lie”, and there is neither in Him.
Romans 10:9-10, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” More than saying some magic words and boom, everything is fine, just fine. No. It is more.
From the beginning, God set in motion that through the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ is the door of salvation for all who would come to Him.
Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Once we have asked Jesus to live in us, we take His person, His reflection upon ourselves as a new creation. We who are in Christ are more than just an outward appearance but also the reflection of His person. Without God’s reflection, we are only half of who the Lord has called us to be. We are not ALL the children of God, and only get to be in His family by the blood of Christ who gave Himself a ransom for us.
What do you think?
i’m Social Porter with Living In His Name ministries.