Genesis 1:27 “And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female.”
1 Cor 15:47-49 The first man was out of earth, earthy; the second Man was the Lord from Heaven. 48 Such the earthy man, such also the earthy ones. And such the heavenly Man, such also the heavenly ones. 49 And according as we bore the image of the earthy man, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.
Yeshua (Jesus) is described as the “image of the invisible God” [Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:3], that is, God, manifesting Himself in a visible, tangible form, a human form in whom dwells all the fullness of Deity [Colossians 1:19; Colossians 2:9; 1 Timothy 3:16], equal with God before Creation [John 1:1-5; John 1:14], but choosing to be emptied of His glory for the purpose of incarnating as a flesh and blood human being on Earth; [Philippians 2:6-8].
The Hebrew word for image is ‘tzelem,’ within which is another Hebrew word, ‘tzel,’ meaning shadow…kind of an image within an image. It seems that God’s idea was for humans to be a shadow or a reflection of Himself from the beginning. [Genesis 1:26]
However, the first Adam allowed sin and death to enter this world, thus fracturing mankind’s relationship with God.
Now, through the second Adam, Yeshua [1 Cor. 15:21-28], this relationship can be restored. He came to address the problem of death and repair the relationship broken by sin, which had distanced humanity from its Creator. Now, through the second Adam, we have the opportunity to bear the “image of the heavenly” [1 Cor 15:45-49], which was God’s original intention.
What does this look like, the restoration of the image of God in spiritually regenerated human beings now, since God’s intention from the beginning was for mankind to reflect His holy image and to be an expression of His nature? Now, we are presented with the “opportunity of a lifetime” to touch a world in need! The world needs to see the reflection of His love, joy, and peace radiating in our lives — when we do so, we are fulfilling His original intention for us — to truly image Him!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]In his book, Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan has written one of the most beautiful allegories about the journey we all travel as a believers. The book describes the hero, Christian, and his journey from the City of Destruction to his heavenly destination, the Celestial City. Now there’s one part of Pilgrim’s Progress that I want to focus on today — walking through the Swamp of Despondency!
While many around the world are apathetic and lack understanding about the times in which we live, we as believers should realize these are merely signs of the times and have a sense of urgency to be about the Lord’s business.
In Ancient Greece, mythology and history were hard to distinguish. Tales of gods and demigods abounded. The chief god of Mount Olympus was Zeus. It is told that Zeus became enamored with the princess Europa and decided to seduce and ravish her. Zeus shape-shifted, transforming himself into a tame white bull. Europa, the daughter of King Agenor of Sidon, was picking flowers, when she saw the bull, and then climbed on his back. Zeus carried her away. The Romans later recounted the tale which became known as the “seduction of Europa”, (with the Roman “Jupiter” replacing Zeus).
Some time ago, an old mule fell into an abandoned well which was no longer in use. The farmer who owned him tried and tried to pull the mule up out of the well — however after many attempts he realized he was not going to be able to rescue his mule. So the farmer decided to solve two problems simultaneously— by burying the mule in the well. Tragic as it was, he would, bury the mule alive, and in the process, prevent future accidents of this kind by filling up the well hole.
Growing up, one of my favorite Saturday activities was watching ABC Sports. I can still remember the opening line — “The thrill of victory or the agony of defeat!” One of the greatest prophets of the Bible, Elijah, experienced his share of victories — but he also knew that sudden feeling of defeat.
When a Michigan man entered the hospital for tests one day, he never would have guessed what the doctors would find. A routine chest x-ray revealed that the man’s heart was on the wrong side of his chest! Because of a rare reversed-organ condition, his heart was in the wrong place. This is a strange story indeed, although I think some of us suffer from this condition in a spiritual way.
There is a fascinating true story about the Apostle John narrated by the early church “Father”, Eusebius, well worth reading.