Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” [27] God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:26-27 NASB
Man was made in God’s image, this means he was to mirror God. God in essence could look at man and see Himself in him and after this creation of man; both male and female in His image, He looked at everything and said it was very good, Genesis 1:26-31. The fall of man is therefore the most tragic event to have befallen man yet. Jeremiah 4:23-25 gives us a unique and prophetic insight into this. God said “I looked on the earth, and behold, it was formless and void; And to the heavens, and they had no light. [24] I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, And all the hills moved to and fro. [25] I looked, and behold, there was no man, And all the birds of the heavens had fled.“. Although the verse above was God’s exclamation because there was so much evil and darkness at the time in Jerusalem, It could almost be said that God looked and could not see His image any more, there was no man. There was just a formless and disorganized mess, with men confused and void of anything godly.
Man himself took a huge hit with this fall. He could not recognize himself again. Prior to this, He would walk with the Lord in the garden and learn of Him. As a result, He could mirror God’s wisdom and life to all creation. This was how he knew what name to call all the animals in Genesis 2:20. Now there was a huge veil over his eyes that He could not see God, 2 corinthians 4:3-4. Since he was made in God’s image, not seeing God meant, he did not know what he looked like either, nor how to act right and was blind. The culprit for all this was sin. This was why Jesus came! Yesterday, we showed how Jesus came to show man who God is. However, He did more than that. He came to show man how who man really is. To do this, the enemy, this veil called sin had to be dealt with. God hates sin and cannot stand it, Habakkuk 1:13. He hates the divide it caused between Him and man whom He loves and so He sent Jesus, John 3:16. Jesus came as a man and lived among men. He lived in total submission to the Father and encouraged his disciples to call God Father, because this was the intent at the beginning. Adam was a son of God, Luke 3:38. He taught men to pray and relate with God as friends and not just strangers. He showed men how to walk in the power of God and in dominion as was the intent for Adam in the beginning.
Next, Jesus took this veil of sin into Himself. God laid all our iniquity upon Christ. Though He knew no sin, he became sin, 2 corinthians 5:21. Hanging on the cross, God saw the thing He hated the most, sin, and not just that, a way to destroy it without wiping out all humanity whom He loved. Hence it is said that Jesus tasted death for every man, Hebrews 2:9. It pleased God to exert His vengeance of sin upon Christ, Isaiah 53:10. In His death, the veil was torn in two. In His death, God destroyed the old creation and sin along with it and He raised a new race, in His image. We were re-created in Christ who is the express image of God. We are again an undistorted image of God in Christ. Christ became the mirror image of God. This means, God now looks and sees Himself in Christ and is satisfied, but not just that, man can look at Christ and also see himself in Christ and be satisfied.
What does this mean for us?
Imagine you are walking down the street and someone comes up to you insisting and convinced that you are a cat. You will laugh and also look at them pitifully, why? Because the stranger is obviously blind or deluded or both. The last time you looked in the mirror, you did not have whiskers, you were on two legs not four and you were human. Even if they were so convincing and you began doubting yourself and you see a mirror on the side, you will look at yourself and be reassured. This stranger is like the enemy who comes and speaks lies, claiming you are a sinner and can never amount to anything but a prideful, lying, pitiful slave to sin. The issue however, is that rather than looking at the mirror, God’s word and Christ who is the image of God, which we are, we often look at ourselves. At this point, we have faith in the lies of the devil and like a man who is blind and not knowing how to function properly, we begin to act like what the enemy says.
Another analogy. If I was going for an interview and was told that I had a huge stain on my cloth. I may not see it, but my confidence drops immediately and I may even cancel the interview. But if I passed by a mirror and saw there was no stain, my attitude and confidence level changes. If I look at Christ (the mirror image) and do not see pride, but a meek and lowly lamb, it means there is no pride in me. At least God does not see pride in me. This is how we find rest for our souls, rather than fighting with our own strength what Jesus already dealt with on the cross. Would I rather believe the enemy who is branded a father of lies, or what the Word of God says about me? Paul in Colossians 3:9-10 encourages us to put off the old man and put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge of the image of his Creator. This can only be done by faith, doubt darkens and veils the mind.
In reality, a man cannot sin unless he has believed a lie about God or himself. Sin is typically caused by an identity crisis. The writer of hebrews said, in Hebrews 2:6-10, that we do not yet see all things under our feet, although they are, but we see Jesus. He then encourages us to keep looking unto Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith, Hebrews 12:2. It is by looking at Him, with unveiled faces that we are transformed into His very image, 2 corinthians 3:18. Next time you find yourself exhibiting a less than godly attribute, pause and ask God to show you the lie you are believing. Next keep looking at the Word of God and the truth of who you are in the mirror (Christ) and before long, you’d notice that you are acting like you should, mirroring God.
Prayer for today. Father, thank you for sending Jesus to restore man in the image of God. Thank Jesus for tasting death for me and reconciling me to God. Now, I can see God as He is in you and can mirror God perfectly to all creation. Lord, You are the one who lightens every man that comes into the world. Shine your light into my darkness and help me to walk upright , not as one who is blind. Fill my heart with your knowledge, Lord, that I may walk worthy of You and fully pleasing you, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Help me to fix my eyes always on You and as I see You, the World will see You in me.
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