AN APPRAISAL ON THE NEW ORDER OF MAN THAT BEARS GOD’S IMAGE
Dearly Beloved,
Great mercy comes our way the day the Lord confronts our theology concerning a long held notion that says, “Adam was made in the image of God”, and the Lord does so by comforting us with truth which says “Man was made in the image of God”. The first Adam was called to attain God’s image and likeness but didn’t, and the first man to do so was the last Adam (1Cor. 15:45c, Heb. 1:3). Our Lord Jesus and only a very few others, over generations, have subscribed and completed the process of being fashioned into the Man God dreamt of in Gen. 1:26-27.
God the Father had to table out His divine intention to pluralize the ownership of divine power (their Faith) and of divine nature (their Love) before God The Word and God The Spirit and, fortunately for man, they all agreed to embark on this risky adventure (Gen. 1:27). Every believer would therefore have to receive a divine deposit of their nature (i.e. name) before God’ image can be completely formed in their souls (Matt. 28:19).
- Matt. 28:19 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing (teaching/christening) them in the name (i.e. nature) of the Father, and (the name/nature) of the Son, and (the name/nature) of the Holy Ghost: …”
- Gal. 2:9 “And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars (i.e. they had come into the inheritance/name of THE HOLY GHOST – Eph. 1:13-14), perceived the grace that was given unto me (i.e. Paul was a bearer of the name/stature of THE SON), they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision...”
- Jn. 14:21 “He that hath my commandments (the doctrine/revelations of Christ’s Faith), and keepeth them (i.e. treasures Christ’s Life until he overcomes the world with it – 1Jn. 2:15/5:4), he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father (i.e. Christ’s Faith or Divine Power prepares us for The Father’s Love i.e. Divine Nature), and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him (i.e. Christ would then indwell our hearts by His Faith – Eph. 3:17)…”
- Jn. 14:23 “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him (i.e. the Father and the Son – Jn. 17:21-24, Rev. 14:1), and make our abode with him (i.e. the completion of being made a man – God’s image)…”
So God was refreshed to know that someday, man would receive the manifestations of the Persons or names of the Godhead (Matt. 28:19, Gal. 2:9, Jn. 14:21&23) and thereby inherit all things of God (Rev. 21:7). God rested from the works of His hand in Gen. 2:2 but later engaged a higher work (Jn. 5:17) with the use of His face some 4,000 years after the account of Gen. 2:2. So according to truth, God rested for the first time after He raised His son Jesus into His image (Isa. 66:1-2, Jn. 3:35; 5:20; 16:15, Heb. 1:3).
Gen. 2:2 “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work (i.e. of His hands – Isa. 66:1-2a) which He had made…”
- Isa. 66:1-2 “Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? And where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man (the man that’ll attain His image) will I look (i.e. engage or make with my face), even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word…”
After the Godhead had agreed to declassify the secrets of their nature to man, they kept it as a secret from the reach of glorious angels (1Pet. 1:12e, Eph. 3:9, Col. 1:2) and prescribed salvation as the vehicle and process through which man would journey into God (Jn. 13:3c, Heb. 11:6b). So on the account of Gen. 1:27, God stepped into His shoes as the creator and created the end product of His very image and likeness and called him MAN! (Rom. 4:17d-f). God the Word then stepped into business by making and bringing into visibility the image of God (God-man), all before man was formed from the dust of the earth.
- Gen. 1:27 “So God (i.e. God the Father/Elohim) created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them…”
- Gen. 2:7 “And the LORD God (i.e. God the Word/pre-incarnate Christ) formed man (Jn. 1:3) of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul…”
Adam’s (man’s) soul was meant to come into full salvation (i.e. God’s image and likeness) by keeping God’s commandments to the end like Jesus later did! In Adam (a living soul), we bear the image of the earthy (1Cor. 15:48-49), which is designed to receive incorruptible seeds/words/commandments (1Pet. 1:23, Jam. 1:21) from heaven. In Christ Jesus (a quickening spirit), every seed/commandment has been warehoused for us, and by receiving and keeping them (1Pet. 1:22-23, Jn. 14:21&23, Rev. 1:3c) we’ll trade every worldly image and attain the image of the heavenly; the image of He who came from heaven and brought God (God’s image and likeness) to man.
Heb. 1:3 Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person (i.e. Divine Nature/Immortality/Love – 2Pet. 1:4, 2Tim. 1:10), and upholding all things by the word of His power (i.e. Divine Power/Life/Faith – 1Pet. 1:5, Heb. 11:3, Col. 2:12), when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:
Faith and Love are the “dollar” and “pound” of the Spirit; the currencies for processing the present man into God’s image, and the church would do well to tarry with what Paul and John primarily unveiled concerning both.
Blessings!
Tayo Fasan