Made in God's Image: Part 3

In the Beginning...

After Adam and Eve took a bite of the apple that God had commanded them not to eat of, they realized that they were naked. Now, you can do an in depth study about what the original language means by the word "naked," but there is no use for that at this point. The thing that we need to grasp, though, is that Adam and Eve realized that they were naked. Now, according to Genesis, Adam and Eve had been naked the whole time and felt no shame over that fact. However, after the apple, things changed.

Where they had been clothed before, they now realized that they weren't clothed any longer. Something vanished after the apple, leaving Adam and Eve conscience of their own exposure.

I have argued elsewhere, and will do so here again that what vanished was God's Spirit. In other words, humanity was designed to be cloaked in very presence of God, saturated by His Holy Spirit.

When they took the bite, they lost nearness to God. Once nearness to God is lost, learning how to live in His image becomes rather difficult because humanity no longer has direct exposure to Him, at least not in the Way that Adam and Eve did. Of course there is much more that can be added here, such as the nature of sin and the total depravity of humanity, but those things flow out of what I have already previously stated.

The most important thing to note is that, where heaven and earth were once interlocking and directly connected, where humanity once dwelled in the fullness of God's presence...all of that was lost with the apple....with once bite of counterfeit servitude.

Mankind could no longer live in the presence of God and live to talk about it. Remember what God told Moses; "no one can see my face and live."

From the apple, humanity thought it best to stray as far from the image of God as possible:

A brother kills a brother; instead of fostering life, humanity decides to take it away.

Even though God commanded Noah's descendants to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, they congregate in one city and fortify it against God, directly rejecting God's initial purpose for humanity.

God's people ask for a king, directly rejecting God's Kingship.

Even though God warned them of this, the King that the people chose started a chain reaction of oppressive kings.

Like Adam of Eve in the garden, humanity sought to please God by their own merit and religious rites.

war, murder, rape, incest, lies, abuse....all because of one bite...one notion that I can do this thing better on my own by my own effort.

Where heaven once ruled, hell now reigned.

"You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them. Not so with you." -Jesus in Mark 10

In the End: Thy Kingdom Come, They will be Done.

"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people." -Peter quoting the ancient prophet Joel in Acts 2:17.

What has been broken will be fixed. What was lost will be found.

Where there was nakedness before, God has decided to cloak yet again. "I will pour out my Spirit."

The world is currently in the midst of a 2nd Genesis. We don't know what day were are on, where God is at exactly in His creation project. We just know that the 7th day is yet to come, the day when everything is finished...when creation is renewed and restored, when God fully and finally decides to allow His presence to "rest" on His good creation again. Sin will be eliminated, death will die fully and finally, satan will be vanquished, every tear will be wiped away as we see the King face to face.

Isa. 26:19
Job 19:25

Heaven on earth.

The Image of God: Jesus of Nazareth

What does it mean to be made in the image of God?

To live as Jesus did.

"You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them. Not so with you. Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many."

Just as God called Adam and Eve to fill the earth and subdue it...to reign with Him...
Jesus calls His disciples to fill the earth and subdue it...to reign with Him.

Where the authority to reign with God had previously been lost, Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 28 that, "all authority has been given to me."