TITLE : LET US MAKE MAN IN OUR IMAGE
Article Body :
As we begin our journey in this writing in exploring The Lord God’s Purpose, Plan, and Process in Making Man ( All Mankind ) in His Image , I want to emphatically state that the Lord God and His Christ has YOU precisely in His Plan . God has a specific Purpose for YOU.
He is the God of the “ Individual “ , not just of the corporate body.
Every Detail of His Plan and Purpose For YOU Shall Be Fulfilled and Completed for the Mouth of the Lord Has Declared This from Eternity past .
Our Brilliant Creator is not a God of chance or randomness but rather a God of Exacting Purpose . Everything that exists , including , YOU and I , have been created for a Specific Purpose.
Though we currently “ see through a glass darkly “ and only function in the” part realm “ at best … I know by the Christ Faith in me , that regardless of what transpires in my little world or the entire earth ,whether good or evil , ALL Things are working together for GOOD and towards a Glorious Outcome,in a synchronistic method Purposed and Planned long before the Foundations of this world by our All Wise , All Knowing, Everywhere Present ,and All Powerful Creator – Our Heavenly Father and His Christ .
The Religious Church Systems, made with man’s hands ,teach not the True Gospel (Good News ) of Christ .Nor do they understand with their faulty foundation of human religious wisdom the Aionian Purposes of YHWH .This can only be Known by ,and through His Spirit .
Among the many religious errors and misrepresentation’s of our Heavenly Father’s Word , that have permeated the world and the Judeo-Christian Culture , there is one that towers above all….. and that is the lie and false teaching of eternal damnation for the mass of humanity . This doctrine of devils ,totally rejects ,denies , and weakens the All Powerfull Finished Work of Jesus Christ .
God has a Distinct Purpose and a Plan for All of Mankind that Stretches Far Beyond This Lifetime or this Age.
In our Triumphant Christ and His All Encompassing Finished Work , ALL Creation Shall Be Elevated and Restored in Harmonious Completion of His Plan of the Ages ,in the period that Paul writes about in Ephesians 1:10 called “ the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times”. The Lord will gather together ALL Things in the Universe into a Perfectly Unified “ONE” in Christ .
The Lord has purposed wonderful and lofty things for mankind which eye has not seen, ear has not heard , nor has entered into the heart of man but the Lord by His Spirit has revealed these things unto His elect in this age.
Many years ago ,as a young man in my early twenties, The Lord through unique circumstances began to awaken my spirit to His Plan of the Ages in Christ. This Plan of Divine Purpose is very different than what I was taught and Fed within the confines of “Mystery Babylon “.
At that time, I was attending a Denominational Bible College . The Lord’s Quickening and personal visitation to me had nothing to do with the Bible College itself ,but rather was initiated in spite of it .
Nor , was it because of myself or my doing in any way-it was because of His calling , election and choosing for me . It was Our Loving Father’s Tender Mercy, Grace, Favor, and Truth in His Faithfulness Enveloping His Purpose and Plan For Me .
As always , the true Living Word of the Lord brings Division and Separation Unto Higher Ground in Him . The old wineskins of man’s theory and doctrine cannot contain or hold the New Wine of His Spirit .
I found that with His Enlightened Revelation , and Brooding Presence upon me , I could no longer fit into the religious prison cell that engulfed my mind or be confined to its religious chains and limitations . The Lord was indeed guiding and directing me to “COME OUT “ and to
“COME UPWARD “…. To “ Go Without the Camp Unto Christ “.
I was as an Eagle Raised With Chickens , who now was aware of their true identity and had to leave the limits and filth of the barnyard to rise and soar in the heavenly realms of His Kingdom.
The Way of the Eagle Saint is the way of loneliness , misunderstanding , Divinely Appointed Suffering ,and Severe Testing of His Faith within us .
Which is more precious than Gold … and is the Pathway of Genuine Sonship in Him.
My spirit was coming alive as it had never before – and though I had been a so-called Spirit Filled Christian for many years … for the first time in my Christian experience I intensely sensed that I was being “ Born Again “ of “incorruptible seed “ and I was now able to SEE His Kingdom in an elevated way as never before.
In this “ secret place “ of the Most High God ,the Lord began to unveil to my being , His Eternal ( Aionian ) Plan and Purpose of the Ages .
The blinders of religious tradition and imprisonment were removed from my spiritual eyes that I might behold His Glorious Plan and Purpose for Man in Christ .
The Revelation of the Lord concerning the Deep Things of God are part of the Inheritance Of those in Christ Jesus ,Even His Elect … Those Foreknown and PreDestined to be Conformed to His Glorious Image .
If YOU ,as you read this writing , are moved by His Spirit , know that , Deep calls into Deep in the Christ . As with Mary , the “ babe will leap “ within you in witness of His anointing and Holy unction upon you .
To His Chosen Disciples the Lord Jesus said “ Unto you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God ,but unto them that are without , it is not given “ . May the Lord even NOW , fresh and new , reveal unto YOU His Mysteries, which is the Christ Himself, that you may KNOW HIM and the Power of His Resurrection and the Fellowship of His Suffering being made conformable unto His death . And this is the very Preparation of Being Conformed to the Image of His Son , the only authentic pattern of Our Sonship , Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.
Amen .
During this time of a new and living awakening in my life , the Lord began to show me His purpose for Man and His Destiny and His Destination for Mankind.
We shall now explore the heart of the Lord’s brilliant and Wonderful Plan for Man.
Let’s go together to the Book of Genesis – Verse 1:26 – Here in the very first chapter of the Bible is the Divine EDICT and Declaration Concerning His Eternal Purpose For Man :
“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.”
This is the Destiny that the Lord God ( YHWH) has planned and purposed for Man – Even For Man To Be In His IMAGE and LIKENESS (Form ).Literally and Manifestly GLORIFIED in Him.
The Lord expanded to me The revelation that Man was Not only to be Created in His Image and Glory , But MAN was created to Rule ,Reign,and Be in Dominion of the Works and Creation of His Creator.
The Deluded Church System of Men , paint a picture of saved man spending eternity strumming harps in clouds and walking on streets of Gold etc.
The Lord God’s Plan for Man in Christ is to Rule and Reign in Christ – Restoring and Bringing Aoinian Life – God’s Life – to the Entire Created Universe . Man Engaged in Divine Purpose in the Ages to Come and Beyond .Man Doing the Greater Works that Jesus spoke about .
This Edict of the Divine Intention For Man Was Given From the Divine GodHead . The “ US” in Gen 1:26 is the plural version of Elohim . The Father and Son and Holy Spirit – the Three in ONE in magnificent harmony and perfection..
Take a moment now to meditate before the Lord concerning the Sublime , Awe Inspiring ,and Brilliant Greatness of this Divine Edict and Purpose for man/mankind. .
Consider Lowly Man , currently clothed in death, mortality and corruption , is chosen to be a “ Partaker of the Divine Nature “ ( 2 Peter 1:4 ) and Elevated as an Heir with Christ Jesus ,as a Full Inheritor of His Glorious and Blessed Kingdom and Divine Estate . How great a salvation indeed is the Plan for Man fulfilled in Christ Jesus .
We see in this even the blessing of Jesus Christ , who emptied Himself and became a servant to taste of Death, in all its forms , for Everyman . Out of this Death Came Divine Resurrection Life For All Men and All Creation . Jesus Christ was now the Pattern Son and the Perfect Copy of the New Creation Man . He is the Last Adam , fulfilling what Adam could not … and Becoming the Firstborn of many brethren, even in bringing many SONS to GLORY. We do not YET see all things submitted or subdued unto man , BUT , We SEE JESUS- the First Perfected , Holy , and Completed SON , Clothed in Exceeding Glory.
Placed Far Above All Things By His Father and Given ALL Power in Heaven and Earth To Subdue All Things Unto Himself .
And I humbly declare that we too shall follow in that Glorious Order . As Paul said “ As in Adam ALL Dies , So in Christ are ALL Made Alive , but everyone in their own rank and order “.( 1Cor 15:22-23 )
The Almighty YHWH and His Christ YESHUA Shall Have the Destiny of Man in the Lord’s Image Fulfilled in absolute manifestation , not just in theory or position.
Thus the Lord declared in Genesis 1:26 His Purpose and Intention For Man.
I will also add at this juncture that there are two things that I have been persuaded of, concerning this Created Man Adam .
FIRST , ADAM was a NEW , Separate,and Different creation of Man . He was a Man created in the image and form of the Lord and NOT after the animal and fleshly man that he now is , since his Fall .
I personally believe the Lord had created other types of men on the earth long before Adam .( How else did Cain who slew Abel,find women to take as a wife ?)
BUT Now in Adam , God was Creating a New Order , a New Kind of Man – One who was to be a SON of God – Fashioned After the Image of the Lord Himself . Even a foreshadow,as the New Testament would describe ,as the New Creation Man …after the Risen Christ .
SECONDLY, as alluded to above , Adam was not at first in a carnal , fleshly state ,but rather ,being in the image and likeness of The Lord God His Maker , he was clothed in Glory . He had a Glory Body not a flesh body .
However , Adam in the process of his fall and humiliation , lost the Glory and became “ naked “ , and was dressed/clothed now in an Earthly Image, no longer a Heavenly image .
Yet, as Paul revealed ,“ And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.(1 Cor 15:49 ), Our True and Future Destiny is the clothing of ourselves in His Radiant Glory .
Though Adam was created in the Image of God , He was not yet Completed or Finished and This was the beginning of the process of his being fully conformed to that image . Adam was yet in a state of innocence and in that state he could not be trusted to Rule the universe but rather must be tried and tested through fierce fires of adversity, even experiencing the fruit of the deadly “ Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil .”
The Plan of the Lord to complete Adam and all mankind ,would take Millenia and the Process Would Require Adam to “Fall” from his lofty estate … to be lowered into the state of Humiliation, Death, Darkness , Sin , Failure, Adversity , and Separation from His Creator .
This Fall From Glory was NOT a mistake in God’s Plan as is typically preached by the Christian Religious Systems . NOR was God’s Plan Marred and Ruined by the Adversary’s Deception and Evil Trickery ….. NOR did the Lord God ,Infinite in Wisdom , have to have a rushed meeting in heaven to come up with a Plan B for His Fallen Man .
Instead , ALL that transpired in the Fall of Adam was exactly as the Lord had planned from the Foundation of the Earth – Made clear and Confirmed in Revelation 13:8 where Jesus is referred to as the Lamb , Slain from the Foundation of the World, long before Adam’s Creation , Transgression , and Fall.
The Lord God is Alone Sovereign and Is Working ALL Things after the Counsel of His own will . Whether Good or Evil , Light or Darkness , Absolutely ALL Things Are His Servants . When the Omnipotent Creator Speaks , ALL things in Heaven and Earth Move to Fulfill His Will and Word , and Nothing can Hinder Him .
Thus, the Lord God Most High in Making Man In His Image , Has strategically planned for Man to Fall , to taste of death ( the realm of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil )…. and that in this thralldom of Death and Decay ,He Would Send His Son Jesus Christ to become what we are , that we might become who and what He Himself is .
Hallelujah! Glorious Redemption into His Image – an exceedingly greater Glory awaits us then what the first Adam knew in His UnFallen state .
I want to now share a few Bible scriptures that declare the Lord’s INTENTION to bring man back to a GLORIFIED state in Christ .
We shall be Transformed and Transfigured as Jesus , the Pattern Son, Was Transformed and Transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration ….a Foreshadowing of the Manifest Sons of God and a New Race in the Lord’s image to follow .
When the Lord began to show me His True Purpose For Man , His Word Revealed To Me a vast trove of Bible verses that concerned our Glorified New Bodies after His Image . Verses that were once dead to me concerning His Purpose were now alive to me. For the Spirit Word is Life , while the Letter Word of man Kills and imprisons.
I would sincerely encourage you to use a Bible Concordance to search out and explore ALL the scriptures concerning His Glory for yourself and see the amazing discoveries His Spirit will unveil for you .
One of my favorite scriptures concerning the Glorification of His Elect is found in Romans 8:29-30 :
“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.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also GLORIFIED .”
This portion of scripture fully lays out the Progression of the Lord’s Elect Son’s , From Being known of the Lord in Eternity Past, to being PreDestined , Called , Justified, and Ultimately Entering In to Full Glorification – the Receiving of a Body Like That of Christ Jesus . The End Destination is Being Glorified .
Take note , the end Destination is not to die and go to heaven to be “ unclothed “ as Paul the Apostle describes it but rather to be “ clothed “ and enveloped, engulfed in His GLORY.
I am convinced that this scripture from Romans 8:28-29 refers precisely to the Elect Sons of God , who are the Firstfruits of a Great Harvest of Mankind ,
who will ALL be made in the image of their Creator in the ages to come (Every one in their own Rank and Order ).
The Lord in this present Age of Grace has been Focused primarily on Forming a “select group “ who will be the First to follow their Christ into Transformation and Transfiguration.
These are the “ Overcomers “ and the “ Manchild “ of the Book of Revelation . They are the Manifest Sons of God of Romans 8 . These are the “ Saviors “ that shall come upon Mount Zion and Rule found in Obadiah 1:21 .
Another Blessed Scripture that points clearly to our sharing in the Lord’s Glory ,in a new body after His Image , is from Colossians 1:27
“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the Glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in YOU , the Hope of GLORY :”
As this verse suggests ,The True Hope Found in Every Christian Should be the HOPE of GLORY…His Glorification Within Us .
Another example is in Hebrews 2:20 which states the words “ in Bringing MANY SONS to GLORY “. Once again the Purpose and Destination is His Glory , His Image , His Radiant Essence in Our Body .
A Few More Scriptures to Accentuate this theme of His Glory and Glorious Image Being Given To Us .
Colossians 3:4
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in GLORY .
Philippians 3:20-21
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will TRANSFORM our lowly body to be like his GLORIOUS body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
1John 3:2
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be LIKE Him, because we shall see him as he is.
All of these above verses link our being Changed and Glorified to His Appearance . May we be found in this hour , by His Merciful Drawing , to be looking for ,and Loving His Appearance .
Also there is a connection between our sufferings in our journey in this life ,and His Glory within us . Romans 8:18:
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the GLORY which shall be REVEALED IN US.
To reiterate again – there is a ranking and order to God’s making ALL Men/Mankind in His Image.
I Corinthians 15:22-23
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order: Christ the Firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.”
To see Paul the Apostle’s understanding of these things of mystery revealed to him , read all of 1Corinthians 15 . Here Paul describes that there are different glories given , different glory bodies . He emphatically declares that as we have borne the image of the earthly , so shall we also bear the image of the heavenly .
Our Corruptible Body will take on the Incorruptible….Our Mortal Body will take on Immortality.
Our Destiny is sure because the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah Has Prevailed “. Blessed Be His Name Forever … Jesus/Yeshua the Christ – Our Lord , Saviour , and Deliverer .
Remember again – our Destiny is not just go to heaven and dwell as a spirit in a blissful state but our Destiny is to become Glorified in Him with a New Body , even a New Wineskin to Contain the effluent Glory of His Essence .
Paul in his writing to the Phillippians expressed his earnest desirefor this when he declared with intense longing and determination
“ I PRESS toward the MARK for the PRIZE of the HIGH CALLING of God in Christ Jesus . “
Paul Had Been Given Spiritual Eyes to See his Destiny in Sonship and Was in Great and Continual Pursuit of it . Even to wit, the Redemption of his Mortal Body Which is the True “Adoption “ and Witness of Sonship …the Glorious Image of Christ within and Upon us .
In bringing this writing to a summation , I am reminded of the Lord being described in the Old Testament as a “ Potter” and Israel ,His Chosen People ,as the “ Clay “.
Paul in the New Testament makes this enlightening statement in Ephesians 2:10
For we are His WORKMANSHIP created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
One translation of Eph.2:10 states “ For We are God’s MASTERPIECE “.
I love the analogy of our loving Heavenly Father and His Christ being a Potter and Forming in OUR Clay ,His Glorious Image and Likeness . Which is in His Careful and Skilled Hands , a Masterpiece like none other.
All Creation , whether in the Heavens , the Earth , or Under the Earth will be swept up and elevated in Great Praise and Worship before His Throne ,when the Lord has Fully Finished His Work and Process in Bringing ALL Mankind in to His Image and Form .
Until then and Until Our CHANGE , we humble ourselves under the Mighty hand of God …. Surrendered , Submitted, and Yielding Ourselves fully unto His Personal Work and Process in Our Lives as He Creates and Makes His Glorious Image and Likeness Within Us .
Oh Give Thanks Unto The Lord , For He is GOOD and His MERCY Endures FOREVER . (Psalm 136:1)