What is Christianity Wiki

Jump to: navigation, search

God's Servant Is in the Image of God

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:26,27)

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be changed into the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:29)

The preceding passages set forth the original Divine proclamation concerning man. Man is to be in the image of the almighty God. Also, we notice that the complete image of God is male and female. To mankind has been assigned fruitfulness and dominion over all things. Such is the Word of God.

The Word of God is living and powerful. It contains in itself all the authority, all the power, all the wisdom, all the resources necessary to bring into being the totality of that which has been spoken by the Lord.

The original proclamation concerning mankind governs every fact and circumstance of history. The Divine commission has controlled all the creatures and events of the past. It supervises all the creatures and events of the present. It will continue to govern all creatures and events throughout eternity.

All things are working together, are being compelled to work together, for good to those who have been called according to the eternal purpose of God in Christ and who are cooperating with the Spirit of God in fulfilling God's purpose.

God views each of His elect as perfect in Christ and as possessing extraordinary fruitfulness and dominion. "The works were finished from the foundation of the world," meaning the proclamations made in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis bind all creatures and things for all time (Hebrews 4:3).

Everything God proclaimed at the outset will come to pass in fullness and in detail. Now God is resting and Christ is resting in Him and with Him. They are awaiting the perfect accomplishment of all God has announced concerning "man." Our task is to be totally diligent in entering that rest, into that completed work of God.

We have been predestined to be changed into the image of Christ. We are being changed into that image by means of the resources of the Word of God unless we are turning our back on God and refusing His love and calling.

It is God's plan that His Servant be in His image. Apart from our being in His image, fruitfulness and dominion are impossible of attainment. But as we grow into His image and come into perfect union with Him, fruitfulness and dominion are assigned to us because of the Word of God from the beginning.

We must be in the image of God in order to come into the fullness of our inheritance as sons. We must be in the image of God in order to be the brothers of Christ. We must be in the image of God in order to be part of the Wife of the Lamb. We must be in the image of God if we are to be given dominion over the works of God's hands and are to be able to govern the creation properly.

We must be in the image of God if we are to accomplish the filling of the heavens and the earth with the image of Christ. We must be in the image of God in order to be the Temple of God. We must be in the image of God if we are to be able to execute the judgment of God upon all unrighteousness. We must be in the image of God in order to be the light of the world, the holy Jerusalem.

The purposes of God in Christ can be brought to fruition only as the members of the Body of Christ are transformed into the image of the Head - Christ.

What does it mean to be in the image of God? It means to be like Christ in spirit, in soul, and in body.

Man was created in the image of God. "Man" is male and female and is composed of spirit, soul, and a material body. No other creature of God is male and female and composed of spirit, soul, and a material body.

In terms of the new creation of God (that which is based on the original physical creation but transcends it to the extent that Christ transcends Adam), even Christ Himself is not complete apart from His Bride. She is His body, the fullness of Him. Adam was not in the image of God apart from Eve. Christ Himself, although the express image of the Father, is incomplete apart from His Church, His Body. It is not good that a man be alone.

To be fully in the image of God, and to fulfill the Divine commission, there must be male and female. The reason Christ longs for His Bride with such intensity is that She is an integral part of Himself, being created from His body and blood. She is His Being!

Man is in the image of God in that man possesses a spirit. The Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit. The spirit of man is that part of him that can reach forth and touch God. God is Spirit, the Spirit of life, holiness, power, wisdom, knowledge, counsel, love, joy, peace. When man is not in union with God through Christ his spirit is dead just as an isolated puddle of water is stagnant and "dead."

It is God's will that our spirit be so merged with His Divine Spirit that the two become one Spirit.

But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. (I Corinthians 6:17)

When we become one Spirit with the Lord we reveal in ourselves the life, the holiness, the power, the wisdom, the knowledge, the counsel of the Spirit of God. We are filled with love, joy, peace, and righteousness in the Holy Spirit.

In order to be part of Christ we must cleanse our spirit so our spirit can become one with the Holy Spirit of God.

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (II Corinthians 7:1)

Man is in the image of God in that man possesses a soul. The soul of man is his will, his power of judgment, his self, the basis of his unique personality. God has a soul and man has a soul.

And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. (Leviticus 26:11)

And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: (Leviticus 26:15)

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Thessalonians 5:23)

Angels never are spoken of as having souls, for angels do not possess a personality like that of God. Neither are angels able to dwell in God or have God dwell in them, as is true of the lowliest of humans. Only man is in the image of God. Man alone is the offspring of God. Man is unique among the creatures of God.

The soul of Adam was not sinful, neither was it righteous. It was blank - a slate on which no one had written. The Word of God had not been written on Adam's soul or in his mind except for the sense of right and wrong contained in his conscience.

Adam did not have a rebellious soul as we have, a fleshly nature that - working through the appetites of the flesh - tends toward wicked behavior. Adam was not filled with self-will, self-seeking, self-centeredness, self-love, or rebellion against God. Adam was neutral as far as sin and righteousness are concerned.

The soul of Adam was not forcefully, militantly righteous, holy, or obedient to God. Adam neither loved nor hated righteousness or wickedness. Adam was in the image of God in that he possessed a soul. But he was not in the image of God to the extent of possessing a soul that loves righteousness and hates iniquity.

Christ is the first man to appear on the face of the earth having the fullness of the Holy Spirit of God. Also, His love of righteousness and hatred of lawlessness exceed by far any other person who has lived on the earth.

Jesus Christ is the first Man to be perfectly and completely in the image of God in spirit and soul. Therefore Jesus possesses total fruitfulness in re-creating His image, and total dominion over the heavens and the earth.

Because the Father is absolutely pleased with Christ He is sowing Christ in us. Our soul is being transformed into the likeness of Christ as we behold the Glory of the Lord. We are being brought down into the image of Christ's death so the Spirit of life from Christ may be filling all that we are, all that we think, all that we say, all that we do. We must decrease while He increases in us. This is the true redemption, the true eternal life, the true Kingdom of God.

Only as Christ is being created in us is the will of God being wrought in us. The end is that we may be changed into the image of Christ in spirit and in soul and that we may be brought into total union with Him.

Man is in the image of God in that man's form is like that of God. God does not have a flesh and blood body as we do, but God became incarnate in Christ and today remains incarnate in Christ in a glorified body of flesh and bones. God does not have the form of an animal, as some religions teach, but has the same form as man, who alone is the offspring of God.

And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about in it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the Glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake. (Ezekiel 1:26-28)

The Lord possesses attributes and powers similar to our attributes and powers. Our temporary attributes and powers are shadowy forms of His eternal attributes and powers. God sees; God hears; God sits; God rides; God walks; God touches; God speaks; God comforts; God makes war; God writes.

Christ was born of a human mother, being given a flesh and blood body. Christ still possesses the same body although now it no longer is bound by the limitations of human physiological processes. Also, Christ's body has been glorified - invested with majesty and capabilities of Divine power and glory.

We Christians are imprisoned in flesh and blood bodies. But the Day of the Lord will bring to us an animation of our present body and an overlay (body from Heaven) of vast power and capabilities - like that of the Lord Jesus Himself. This will be true on the condition that we allow Christ to make us victorious saints; that we sow diligently to the Spirit of God and not to our fleshly nature.

The Word of God is creating us in the image of Christ.

Our spirit is being made holy. Our spirit is receiving the Life of the Holy Spirit and is increasing daily in the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord. We are being created in the image of God in our spirit. All uncleanness is being removed from our spirit as we wash our robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Also, our soul is undergoing a process of change. Our soul is being transformed completely, something like a caterpillar being changed into a butterfly. The Substance of Christ has been born in our soul. Through the Word of God, the body and blood of Christ, and the Holy Spirit, our soul is being broken and re-created into the moral character of Christ.

The disciple can emphasize the reality of Christ being formed in him without fear he is pushing this doctrine to an extreme, provided one fact is kept in focus: God is not creating many Christs, He is enlarging the one Lord Jesus Christ.

It is the Father's pleasure that Christ be conceived and formed in the believers. This is the multiplication of Christ of which the Scripture speaks. As Christ is formed in us we are brought into oneness in Christ in the Father. This is the supreme will of God. All else of the Gospel is to bring to pass this single, supreme objective - that the saint be made perfectly one in Christ in God.

The Holy Spirit is inscribing the Word of God in our mind and heart. Our old nature is diminishing as the Lord from Heaven is being created in us. There is a new creation. All things that pertain to us are being made new.

There is more to the operation of redemption than the entrance of our soul into Paradise in the hour of physical death, as wonderful as that prospect is. Our soul, at the present time, is being completely re-created, changed, transformed into the image of the Person of Christ. That image includes love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. The ninefold fruit of the Holy Spirit are traits and attitudes of the new man, the image of the Soul of Christ.

There are other aspects of the Personality of Christ, such as His kingly majesty, His fierce anger, His dauntless courage, His unswerving obedience to His Father, His love of righteousness and hatred of lawlessness, and the beauty of His holiness.

The new covenant results in the total transformation of our spirit and soul into the image of the Glory of the Lord (II Corinthians 3:18).

As soon as our spirit has been made holy and filled with life and power, having been made one with the Spirit of God, and our soul has been re-created into the image of the Character of the Lord Jesus Christ, then our physical body with its appetites and limitations no longer will be a suitable covering and vehicle for our spirit and soul. New wine cannot be contained in an old wineskin without the danger the old wineskin will burst.

God has prepared for us (and has prepared us for) a body from Heaven that will clothe our present body. The new body will be perfectly suited to our transformed spirit and soul. Our new body will reflect the Glory of God, as will our cleansed spirit and our re-created soul.

Then we will be at rest in God because there will be no part of us in rebellion against the will and way of God. There no longer will be sin or rebellion in us. Our spirit, soul, and body will be in the complete image of God in every respect.

As soon as our transformation has been accomplished we shall be suited to be God's sons, brothers of Christ, the Wife of the Lamb, the rulers of the creation of God, the fullness of the image of Christ in the heavens and upon the earth, the eternal Temple of God, the judge of men and angels, the radiantly beautiful light of the world.

The Lamb and His Wife are the fulfillment of the Word of God concerning "man." To them have been assigned unlimited fruitfulness and the fullness of dominion throughout all ages to come, world without end.

God's Servant Fills the Universe with the Image of Christ

That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Genesis 22:17,18)

Christ, the Servant of the Lord, is the beloved Son in whom God is well pleased. Christ is the Word of God from the beginning, the image of God's Person, God's Being, God's will, God's way, God's holiness, God's love. There is nothing in Christ that is not in God and there is nothing in God that is not in Christ.

Christ is the perfect, complete revelation of God Almighty.

God is so pleased with what Christ Is He has determined to fill the creation with the image of Christ. For this reason God counts the creation currently in existence as being dead - finished.

Christ is the Firstborn of the new creation. He is the Seed that eventually will influence every saved creature on earth and in the heavens. The heavens will be planted with Christ and the foundations of the earth will be laid upon Christ.

Christ is the Way in which God desires that every creature exist. Whether we are referring to the heirs of salvation or to the spirits that minister to the heirs of salvation, all will find their proper place in Christ. All will be subject to Christ.

Christ is King and Lord of all. He inherits and fills all things.

Only people can be transformed into the image of Christ. It is not given to angels to become the temple of God, sons of God, brothers of Christ, heirs of salvation, or the Wife of the Lamb. The Presence of Jesus Christ will fill the heavens and the earth, all angels and other spiritual creatures being in absolute subjection to Him.

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:15-18)

The method God is employing to fill the universe with the image of Christ is the creation of a company of brothers, of holy ones who themselves are the image of Christ.

The Church, the Wife of the Lamb, the sons of God, the brothers of Christ - call the saints what you will, is the enlargement, the magnification of the image of Christ. The Church is the fullness, the completion of Christ. It is the Body of Christ. The Church is the Body of the Servant of the Lord.

According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. (Philippians 1:20)

In the disciples of Jesus the eternal moral law of God is magnified and made approachable and desirable to people. The disciples are God's covenant - the new covenant - with the nations of the earth.

The saints are the living epistles of the ministry of the apostles, written with the ink of the Holy Spirit of God, known and read by all people. The disciples are the light of the world, the salt of the earth. But not of themselves - it is because Christ is in them and with them.

The Church, the Servant of the Lord, is the fulfillment of the original proclamation concerning man: "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." This announcement points toward the day when the heavens and the earth are filled with the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, as expressed through His saints.

He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. (Isaiah 27:6)

And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles [nations], and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. (Isaiah 61:9)

The Church, the Body of the Servant of the Lord, is the Seed of Abraham that is multiplying in the heavens as the stars for number and on the earth as the grains of sand on the shores of the oceans and seas.

Christ is singular in number, being the Seed. But the singular Seed is multiplying and influencing the entire heavens and the earth. Christ is becoming All in all, under God the Father.

The Church of Christ, the Servant of the Lord, is Israel. Israel, Christ, is destined to "blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit." The fruit being borne by the Church is the fruit of the Spirit, the righteous and holy image of Jesus Christ.

It is in the Church that Heaven and earth behold the love, the goodness, the holiness of God Almighty. We are revealing in ourselves, because of the transforming operations of the Holy Spirit in and upon us, the Glory of God in the face of Christ.

All the peoples of the nations of the earth, the "Gentiles," of Isaiah, Chapter 42, will behold the Seed - Christ. "All that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed" (Isaiah 61:9).

Everywhere the Servant of the Lord goes the people will see in blazing light on Him (them) the name of God, the name of the holy city of God, and the new name of Christ. Each of the members of the Body of Christ will be readily identifiable to the peoples of the earth. They will serve forever as the kings and priests of God. They have been called out from the nations and chosen by the Lord to be His unique treasure.

Christ, the Servant of the Lord, is the Vine whom God has planted. We, the members of His Body, are the branches growing out from the one true Vine.

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (John 15:5)

In Christ there is neither Jewish, nor Greek, nor English, nor Japanese, nor American, nor African, nor male, nor female, nor poor, nor rich, nor slave, nor free. The Vine of the Lord is singular in number. The Vine is Israel, the Servant of the Lord, Christ.

Each saint was cut out of his natural background and race and grafted on the true Vine. The true Vine is Christ. The Vine of God will continue to grow and expand until all saved creatures, things, and places have been imbued with the Personality of Christ, who is the living Word of God. This is the effect of the new covenant.

Apart from Christ the saint is dead, a barren branch, useless, fit only for the fire that destroys what is worthless. But in Christ the saint is part of the Vine of God destined to fill all the creation.

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)

As the saint remains in Christ, walking in Him, he bears the fruit of the Spirit The fruit of the Spirit is the image of Christ's Nature. As the saint continues to bear fruit he is pruned again and again by the Father until he is more perfectly in the image of Christ. He who bears fruit is able to be used by the Spirit to bear fruit in other people. He who bears much fruit is able to bear much fruit in other people.

All creatures, things, and circumstances have been placed under the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. They already have been placed there legally (de jure ); and it has been assigned to the Church, as God directs and enables, to bring about the actual (de facto ) subjecting, the actual subordinating of every creature, thing, and circumstance to Christ. We are to portray in ourselves the supreme lordship of Jesus.

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:22,23)

In the present hour we are wrestling against fallen rulers and authorities, who in fact are beneath us in spiritual authority, so we may bring into visible reality the total dominion of Christ. It has been assigned to us to make manifest His victory.

It has been appointed to the saints to bring down to destruction the enemies of God so Christ may rest His feet upon them. It is the Holy Spirit of God in the saints who is bringing about the total destruction of the adversary and all his forces.

It has pleased the Father in Heaven that in Christ should dwell all the Fullness of Almighty God. Christ is destined to fill all things in the heavens and on the earth. As we abide in Him we partake of His inheritance. Let us press forward to the full realization and achievement of all God has written concerning His eternal purposes in Christ. The purposes of God will be fulfilled through the Servant of the Lord.