Scripture References: Genesis 1:26
If we were to look at ourselves in a mirror we would see a reflection or an image of ourselves, but the image in the mirror would not be real; it would just be an image of something that is real. We are told in Gods word that man was created in both the image and likeness of God; so a man is what God would be like if God would allow us to see him with our physical eyes. Man of course is not God, because he is only an image of what God would be like if he revealed himself to us so that we could see him with our physical eyes. Our physical eyes are not capable of seeing God as a spirit without it causing instant death and his brightness would no doubt incinerate our total being into nothing but ashes.
We cannot look upon the face of God and live. Man was created from the dust of the earth and has a beginning, but God is eternal without a beginning and without an end. Who was the man Jesus Christ when he lived on this earth? Was he just a man like any other man that ever lived? What does Gods word tell us about Christ and who exactly was he? “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.” Paul is clearly referring to Christ in these scriptures telling us that Jesus Christ was the image of the invisible God. It was the apostle John that tells us these words about Christ in what he says in John 1:1, 14 that says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” These scriptures plainly tells us that the Word was God and the Word that was God was made flesh and dwelled among us. So who was Jesus Christ before the Word was made flesh as the person of Jesus Christ? He was God. Since the Word was God, then why was not the Word still God in the form of a man? Paul tells us these words stated in I Timothy 3:16 that says, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
Paul could just as well have said that the Word was manifest in the flesh, but instead he said GOD was manifest in the flesh or manifested as a man. Why didn’t Paul say that the Word was manifest in the flesh? It was John that said the Word was made flesh. This truth was revealed to John, and so therefore since it was not revealed to Paul, then he did not use the same word that John used, but rather he used the word God, and by doing this a revelation of truth was revealed. God and the Word are one and the same, as John 1:1 very clearly reveals.
What did God have in mind when he said, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness?” Since we know that man was created in the image of God, then by this we know that the image of God refers to a man, but Adam was not God manifest in the flesh. God manifested in the flesh was the one single man that was the Word made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. The first man Adam was created from the dust of the earth and certainly was not the Lord from heaven as Paul said that the second Adam (Christ) was. Paul tells us this in I Corinthians 15:47 that says, “The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.” The first Adam was a creation of God that had a beginning, but the second Adam (Jesus Christ) had no beginning and was not a creation of God as some believe. Many get this idea from what John tells us in Revelation 3:14 that says, “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.” This scripture is not saying that Jesus Christ was the first creation of God, but rather it tells us that Jesus Christ as the Word was the beginning of creation. God created all things by his spoken word and that word was the Word that was with God and was God, as John 1:1 says. Genesis 1:1 tells us these words saying, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” So the beginning of the creation of God was the creation of the heaven and earth; not the creation of Jesus Christ. When God created Adam he was created in both the image and likeness of God; meaning that Adam was like God in so far as his character and nature was concerned. Adam was created sinless and lived a sinless life until he disobeyed Gods command and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam then became a partaker of both good and evil having been spiritually separated from God. Adam was no longer like God, because he began to live a life of sin and rebellion against God. Adam’s fall into sin and rebellion against God fell on every individual that was ever to be born into this world. So this very clearly reveals the fact that we have all sinned because of the sinful nature that we were born with into this world. Adam was the only man that was like God in his character and nature until he sinned by disobeying the command concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The next man that was like God was Jesus Christ, but he was not only like God he was the manifestation of God in the flesh. Christ came and revealed a perfect plan of redemption that will redeem man from a life of sin and back to the state of perfection that Adam was in before his fall into sin. Christ came to take away sin, which is the sin that entered mankind beginning with the first man Adam.
Most people fail to realize that the sin that entered into Adam was a very strong powerful force that motivated him to do things totally contrary to the ways and nature of God. The
removal of this sin will spiritually bring man back into a state of perfection and spirit- ually conform him back to the likeness of God as Adam was when he was first created. Very few people seemingly is aware of this fact, but Hebrews 7:19 tells us these words saying, “For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.” The teachings of Christ revealed in the New Testament covenant is given for the sole purpose of perfecting the saints by spiritually conforming them to the image and likeness of Christ who was the image of the invisible God. It is believing and obeying the teachings of Christ that will in time make a new creature of the believer. To be conformed to Christ’s image is spiritually redeeming fallen man from a life of sin that will bring him back to the likeness of God like Adam was created in before he fell into sin. It was Paul that reveals this truth in what he said in Romans 8:29 that says,
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Those who will be conformed to the image of Christ are called Christians, which means to be Christ-like. There are multiplied millions of people today confessing to be Christians, but they are not simply because they still live in sin and rebellion against God. They are not like Christ, because Christ was no sinner nor a minister of it like they are. Deception is rampant in the world today causing millions of people to believe lies to be damned instead of believing the truth to be saved. Paul makes this clear in what he said in II Thessalonians 2:10-12 saying, “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” What most people has done they have accepted a certain teaching thinking it’s the truth of Gods word, when in reality its one of the many devilish doctrines of the many false prophets that Jesus said would rise and deceive many. A false teaching is easily detected, because a false teaching does not save a person from the power and influence of sin, but rather it binds them tighter in their sin like bark on a tree. Millions of people confess today to be born again Christians, but listen to them blaspheme the truth that the apostle John gave us in I John 3:9 that says, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” These many millions of people who confess to be born of God still live in sin and rebellion against God and they will not accept what John tells us in the above scripture. They have been deceived into believing that Christ’s death on the cross already paid the penalty for all their sins they continue to commit as long as they live even as they confess to be born of God. Christ only died for our past sins and not sins of the present and future. Paul clearly reveals this truth in Romans 3:25 that plainly says, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” Can you not see how Paul tells us here that God demands his righteousness for remission of sins that are past; not sins of the present and future? In other words God demands that we submit to his righteousness instead of continuing on in a life of sin after he forgives us of all our past sins. And listen to Peter who also says the same thing in what he tells us in I Peter 4:1-2 that says, “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.” Can you not see Peter telling us that he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin and is no longer to live the rest of his time or the rest of his life in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God? Why then do millions of people who are confessing to have been forgiven of their sins still living in sin and rebellion against God? Can you not see that these people have not suffered in the flesh and ceased from sin? They have not ceased from sin simply because they have accepted and believed some false prophets doctrine that taught that Christ’s death on the cross paid the penalty for all their sins including the past, the present, and the future. Both Paul and Peter very clearly disproves this devilish doctrine. What about you friend are you going to continue to believe the lies of the devil and end up in a devils hell, or are you willing to let God be true according to his word? “He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” AMEN