Unfathomable Riches of Christ - Gods Image and the Unfathomable Riches of...

So here's what we're doing. We laid down what does the Bible say about having been created in God's image and likeness. And we spent three weeks just kind of laying the groundwork for that. Then last week, we talked about what does being created in God's image and likeness have to do with our salvation.

And what we find out is it's not optional. It's absolutely essential. And just to give the quick example, would it be sufficient for a lamb to have been the sacrifice on the cross? No, not going to cut it. Because it required, with man having been made in the image and likeness of God, it required one made also in the image and likeness of God. That's what we mean by Christ was fully God, but also fully man. And so Christ was the unique and only sacrifice that could be made. And when it comes to accept no substitutes, the Father accepts no substitutes. Hey, we've got a replacement. Last minute replacement. You ever see that? Remember, in football, OK, well, this guy's hurt. We'll put another guy in there. Rather than get in there quick. No replacement allowed.

Christ is the one and only qualified. And so here, we've got part two, and we run into what is a very substantial teaching of Holly Hill's, and that's the identification with Christ. Our identification with Christ, and we find that that also only makes sense with Christ having been made in the image and likeness of God, as we, but without the moral and spiritual fall. So let's take a look here. What are the five ways in which we've been crucified with Christ?

Death. And some of this is expressed as crucified, because in the Roman system, were you crucified and then you didn't die? No, the Roman soldiers actually were assigned to be there making sure that you were dead. That was the job. The job was not, hey, let's give him a tough time and crucify him and maybe he'll live through it. So crucified implies absolute certainty, died. And Roman soldiers were given the assignment, you better make sure that guy's dead.

Even when they asked for the body of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea asked for the body of Jesus, What did Pilate want to make sure it happened? He died. So he brought the centurion in, this is the one that said, this is the Son of God, right? So that centurion, he brought him in and said, did Jesus actually die?

Yes. He's dead. Next, buried, and why buried? Couldn't we just go directly from, you know, here's this guy, he's crucified, you pull him off the cross, and resurrect him right there. What's wrong with that? Yeah, did this guy really die, or is he just, you know, kind of swollen and go through a bad time, but he's okay now? Right?

So certifiably dead. And certifiably, let's think of some different things. One is who certified to Pilate that Jesus was dead? The centurion certified to Pilate that Jesus was dead. What would be the result if the centurion was wrong? Death. Death penalty if he was wrong. So you better make sure that this guy is dead.

Next thing, they get the body off the cross and they do what to him? So the assignment to get the body off and to bring him to this tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, that was Joseph of Arimathea's job. Nicodemus brought the wrappings. The usual wrappings would be, and all the spices and aloes and everything, would be somewhere around 30 pounds. Jesus, however, got buried with a king's burial, a hundred pounds. really wrap that guy good, goop him up, put all this stuff on him, give him a king's burial and put him in that grave really really dead and seal it up.

Cover it up, seal it up, What was the logic between the two? I'm sorry, say that again? What was the logic between a thirty pound and a hundred pounds? Why would you wrap, spin? Okay, so they had a custom in terms of what you would do. They would wrap the body in this cloth. And if you were poor, which is typical, you'd have less cloth. And then the spices would be minimal.

But with Jesus, the Bible records that Nicodemus, he was the one responsible for bringing all this stuff, he paid for a king's burial. I mean, the amount of material, and the spices, and cloth, and everything, was now 100 pounds. That was roughly three times the normal And so it was Nicodemus' desire to honor Christ with a king's burial. But in terms of, he got a king's burial, he's really dead.

By the way, if someone's really dead, what's more rapping going to do? Made it heavier. Pardon? Made the body heavier. Made it heavier, harder to get out, and really, really, really, really suffocated if there was any life left at all, which there already certifiably wasn't.

So now, buried. And then how about the raised part? So he was crucified on what day? On a Friday. The Romans put a guard on his tomb on Saturday, an early Sunday morning, the guards all ran away terrified. They fainted first. Can you imagine these battle-hardened Roman soldiers, I mean these guys hit up, got crucifixion duty again, And the other thing they did that wasn't just crucifixion, how did James die, the brother of John? By cutting the head off, right? He was beheaded, right?

And so they'd have that kind of duty. Their job is just killing people. And that was in addition to the battle experiences. So yeah, the job is just include a lot of killing. The angels are terrifying enough to believers, but to unbelievers, they just overwhelm them. Imagine, here are these soldiers, their job is, boy, if anybody's going to open this tomb, they're going to do anything, they're going to kill them.

And they're going to make sure they're really, really, really dead. Imagine, here comes an angel that's not the least bit afraid. And who knows how it happened, but imagine them swinging and nothing happens. I don't know whether the swords bounced off, or they went right through the space, or what happened, but there was nothing they could do to that angel. Couldn't touch him.

He was raised, and people saw the empty tomb. We had multiple witnesses to that, including John and Peter, right? People saw Christ resurrected, the first one being Mary Magdalene. So he was raised and then, days later, ascended and seated. There were human witnesses to all of the first four. By the way, when Jesus crossed with the disciples, when he crossed the Sea of Galilee, after feeding the 4,000, he crossed the Sea of Galilee toward the west and landed over at Magdala, the place where Mary Magdalene was from.

Were we identified in that? No. We were identified in these five things. That's it. We've used the word identification so far since that is a convenient handle for what scripture teaches. But the actual words used in scripture that convey this intimately related family of biblical truths include. So we use the word identification as a handle. Scripture does not isolate itself to that particular term. Yes?

So, is that because he hadn't received the position of high priest yet? So the identification didn't happen until that happened? Well, so when did he receive the position of High Priest, Christ? When he died and he received... He had gone to the heavenlies, right? He sat at the right hand of God. Right. So he didn't receive that role and assignment until then, right? By the way, as he was, as he became High Priest, were we identified with him in that? Yeah, as far as I know. What does it say we're identified with?

What was the last one? Seated. Seated. So we don't have an explicit statement about other things. How about when we identified with him in his opening of the scrolls, the seven sealed scrolls? Well, but it doesn't say that explicitly, right? So there were specific things here on earth and one specific thing there in heaven in which we're identified with Christ. We don't have any statement beyond that. But once we're identified with Him, we're identified in all aspects of everything that He does and goes through, correct? Not necessarily, because it doesn't say that. And also one other thing.

You're identified with Him, are you identified with Him as deity? Identified with what? Are you identified with Christ and His deity? We aren't deity. No. So there is a very specific identification, is what I would say. We can't extend identification to other things. When Christ was beaten, did he die? Were we identified in his beating? Probably not. It doesn't say that we're identified in his beating. teased radically and horribly by the soldiers were we identified in that. Well, we probably weren't, because he did it for us. Yes.

And so the start of the identification is crucifixion. And scripture is consistent. We have these five things in which we're identified. And we were identified with him. And here's where it gets very particular. We're identified with him because he also was born and made into the image and likeness of God. So when it comes to identification synonyms, one of them is in. So far as I recall, there are 164 places in the New Testament that identify in Christ, or some equivalent. In whom? In the beloved. So all those terms, in Christ Jesus, in Christ, all those terms, there's 164 of them throughout the New Testament. Most of them in the letters of Paul, but not entirely. So this means in being placed entirely in so as to share an identity. So here's this word in, and in those contexts it has a more detailed definition than just in.

We have a president who got a little confused and started playing games with is. What is is? Me. But here, in the New Testament, when it's in Christ, in him, in whom, in the beloved, all those terms, that's being placed entirely in him, spiritually speaking, so as to share an identity. With or joined, ultimately joined in action and consequences. We were joined with Christ.

Where's a place that says that? Can you think of one? What about Romans 7, verses 1 through 6? It says, we were joined with Christ. That's one of the places. So that was identification. It was a different word than was used in Romans 6. But they both mean identification. Here is together with, as above, with together underscoring the same identity in action. And we're going to be looking at the end of the Acts message at Ephesians 2, 4 through 7. We're seated together with him in the heavenly places. United with. United implies a oneness, so a spiritual oneness is communicated. And we have there a footnote. Why the footnote? That doesn't, by the way, mean a note on my foot. All right, so here's the footnote.

Or in Darby and the Lexham translations, you ever heard of the Lexham translation? It has nothing to do with Ham. That translation has specifically is identified. And that's where we begin with the identification truths, which, by the way, that's a term that's never found in scripture. But in these translations, Darby and this Lexham, and perhaps others that I haven't found, have been identified with him. in his death, burial, and resurrection.

Next one, baptized into. And by the way, are you baptized into Christ before, during, or after we do a baptism in the water? It's before. So what we're doing, if we have a baptism in here, which is a great thing to do, if we have a baptism, that is symbolizing what has already taken place. It doesn't make happen what is to take place spiritually. We're symbolizing what has already taken place, not making something happen because we got somebody wet.

OK, so the meaning and significance of our identification with Christ in these five things is, and I put in capital letters, HUGE! Right? It is huge enough that we took four lessons earlier in this elective to talk about how huge it was. Let's describe it this way. What would be the consequence if you were never identified with Christ? Like a fire.

Yeah, for us in the body of Christ. By the way, was the thief on the cross in the body of Christ? No. Was Mary in the body of Christ? Mary, the mother of Jesus? Yes. She and Jesus' brothers, who were unbelievers until after the resurrection. Mary and Jesus' brothers are all named or given in Acts chapter 1. So, thief on the cross? No. Mary and the brothers?

Yes. And we have two of them that are authors of New Testament books, James and Jude. Yeah? We would still be identified with Adam? Yeah, so the thing is, for us in the body of Christ, our identification with Christ in these five things is not just the icing on the cake.

This is absolutely essential. Because immediately, here in the context of Ephesians 2, 4-7, immediately, twice in that passage, where by grace are you saved. Perfect tense. Or by grace are you saved? So, what the Bible says about identification goes from doctrine to position to condition. It is not only the means by which we are saved, the mechanism, if you will, it's not only the means by which we are saved, it is who we are. Is your identification with Christ incidental?

No, of course not. It's not just, boy, that's kind of nice. By the way, being crucified with Christ, is that just kind of nice? Yeah, it's absolutely essential. It's no longer I who do the living, so it's practical, right? I have been crucified with Christ, isn't just, you know, this would be a nice thing for everybody here to understand and to memorize because it's a really good thing. It is absolutely essential we were not swooned, we were not given torture, we were not feeling really bad with Christ. We were not slapped around and beaten with Christ. We were crucified so as to die with Him.

And that's a good thing, and it's gracious, and it's complete, and it's total, and it's full on, full out. That is absolutely essential. Why? It's no longer I who do the living, but Christ does the living in me. So, in order to completely introduce this even, we would have to spend the next four weeks reintroducing it. So, I won't do that as much as I am greatly tempted to do so. So, turn over onto the top of page 2, and we'll look at Galatians 2, 19 and 20.

For through the law I died to the law, so that I might try to live by ten of them. For through the law I died to the law, but I'm still going to keep the 613, to the best of my ability. Is this the way it goes? For through the law, I died to the law except for the 10, which I modified one of them so that I can observe Sunday as the Sabbath, and I'm going to add tithing to that. So maybe end up with 11 and 1 half or something. No. Through the law, I died dead as a doornail to the law so that I might try really hard to be a good Christian.

Right? I might live to God. Same message as you find in Romans 6, 11. Live to God is very important. It is not our job to battle the sin nature. Don't try this at home or any place else. Right? It's not our place. It's not our job. Oh, this is important.

In Romans 7 and in Galatians 6, excuse me, 5, 16 through 18, it says you can not will, simply will to do the right thing. So people who say, well I am going to do the right thing, how are you going to do that? As an act of will, good luck with that. The Apostle Paul wrote in at least two different places, you can't will to do the right thing. That's not what he has in mind. God will not be pleased.

Yes. Let's put it this way, since that is not the way God designed it, for me to determine I am going to try really hard, I am going to, as an act of will, do the right thing, apart from the Lord, is that sin or not? By the way, where is the action for doing that apart from the Lord? Where is it coming from? The sin nature. He says whatsoever is not of God. Bingo!

So what that's saying is you will have pastors throughout the country and throughout the world, you know, you guys need to decide to do this and decide to do that and will to do this and will not to do that, but they don't see it in terms of am I walking in the Spirit or not. If you're not walking in the Spirit, sin nature's got full control. And that's true of the believer. As long as you're not walking in the Spirit, you will satisfy the desires of the flesh, and the flesh will be lusting for control and to use you as an instrument.

That's the message of the last part of Romans chapter 6. So this identification stuff is really, really, really, really big, and most of Christendom doesn't get This first verse says, I have been crucified with Christ. Perfect tense. Done deal. And by the way, can I personally personalize that? Have you been crucified with Christ? Have I been crucified with Christ? Yes, I can take this personally. Ever heard it said, don't take this personally? That's exactly the wrong thing to do. Take this very personally.

I, Vern Peterman, put your name in there, have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live. It's no longer I who do the living. But Christ does the living in me. And Christ did not die on the cross so that I could try my best to be a good Christian. Christ did not die on the cross so that I can decide that I'm going to do the right thing. He died on the cross and I died with Him so that I'm out of the picture here on planet Earth. I'm done. Yes? So when He died on the cross, He did more than just die for our sins? Immensely more. Yes. You ask an excellent question, and we're not going to have some written preparation, but it's such a good question. Let's step through it. What are the things that took place on the cross? Let's not go there yet. So what are the things that took place on the cross?

Christ paid the price for the sins for all the people who tried really hard to be nice. Christ paid the price for sins so that I can earn my own salvation. Christ paid the price for sins so that if I'm really good and try really hard, I can go to heaven. No. Christ paid the price for sins because if He didn't, I'm eternal toast.

There's no other way. You've got that Christ also does the living in me. Christ lives in me. I got crucified so I'm out of the picture, spiritually speaking. Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh, and as you're talking about the flesh as in the sin nature that's active in the body, the life I now live in this human physical body, right?

You're on planet Earth. I live by faith in the Son of God. How does life get lived here on planet Earth? By Christ living in us? Yes, by Christ living in us. The life I live in this body, I live by faith in myself. I live by faith in my own best efforts. I live in faith by this guy over here, because he's a really nice guy, and I just have never met a nice fellow. I live by faith in the Son of God.

Yes? Okay, so by Christ living in me, it says that Christ is in the heavenlies at the right hand of God. Right. So the Christ living in me is through the Spirit, right? So the life is lived by the actual life of Christ. The implementation of it is by the Holy Spirit. Three E's, if you want to keep it that way, and these are from the Bible.

It's not something I made up. Enabling, empowering, and energizing. Those are three different words that are in Paul's letters. And there are different Greek words, so you can carry them as three different English words. Enabled, empowered, and energized by the Holy Spirit.

That's how it gets done. What happens in a car if I put it in neutral? It doesn't matter. If I've got 500 horsepower underneath the engine, I can run that thing up until it redlines and blows up. And by the way, I've had one do that. Anyway, I can rev it up until it blows up. But if it's in neutral, it's going to put how much power to the wheels? Zip. Nothing.

So the Holy Spirit is the one who brings about the implementation in my life of the very life of Christ. So that's why we can say that you walk in fellowship with Christ, abide in Christ, and then the same thing, expressed a different way, walk in the Spirit. Ephesians 5, I think they're not quite studied there yet, but they might be, in the Ephesians elective. And that is, we've been filled by means of the Spirit. So the Holy Spirit has an implementation, power to the wheels, role in us.

So that's why, pardon? He's the one that identified us too. Yeah. So we have multiple roles of Christ. OK, so now to get back to your very important question, though. We've been crucified with Christ. We've been identified with Christ in his death on the cross. Anything else? Are we the church, the bride of Christ?

What was the bride price? His death. His death on the cross was the bride price. In the Jewish tradition, the father would set the bride price and tell the son. And he said ahead of time, before even going to meet the bride and make the marriage arrangements, the father said to the son, capital F, capital S, said to the son, your bride price for that bride, you've got to die.

But Jesus, what was his motivation for that death? For the joy set before him, hindered the cross. Was it really, really joyful and fun to have those nails put in his side? No. He was motivated beyond the gods by the joy set before him. Isn't that amazing? And the joy set before him was what?

Forever fellowship with you and me. Wow. Can you imagine that? Here's Christ. He's saying to the Roman soldiers, essentially, let's do this. That pilot, I'm not going to defend myself, goes, let's do this. Let's get on with it. And what would possibly bring him to that point?

Galatians 2.20, he loved and he gave.

Ephesians 5.2, he loved and he gave.

Ephesians 5.25, he loved and he gave. And God would give up his son because he loved and he gave. He loved and He gave, He loved and He gave, He loved and He gave, He loved and He gave, and for the joy set before Him, looking forward to eternal fellowship with us as His bride, hindered the cross.

Yeah, let's do this. And additionally, doing His Father's will, John 17. Okay, so looking at it, was this according to the Father's will? Yes, and that pleases him because he is giving the glory to God. So it does two things. It's for the fellowship of everybody after that, but it's also following and complying with the Father's will.

So what would it be? Do you have a hand up? God's plan A. God's plan A when there is no plan B. God doesn't have to make plan B. Aside from which there is no alternate sacrifice, was there an alternate to Christ dying on the cross? One way, this is it.

What amazes me, even with what we'll be looking at here in the book of Acts, What amazes me is that God continuously puts absolutely critical things in very precarious situations. Here is Christ, the Son of God, and he's born in Bethlehem, this little town, and here it's going to send the soldiers out there. This is precarious. Here's the Son of God, this guy's going to save... and you put him at risk. Why didn't God have him born into the right family with a whole bunch of soldiers around and keep him safe? Nah. God's going to do something that you and I would not plan.

Now, there are other things we can look at in order to get through this. I'm going to shortcut it, and that's also he paid the price to confirm the New Covenant for Israel. His death on the cross confirmed the New Covenant for Israel. Remember, with a covenant there was a sign or a gesture. Here's Abraham and what did he do? He did sacrifices to confirm the covenants that God had made for him. Christ dying on the cross was the confirmation of the new covenant for Israel that won't be implemented until when? The Millennial Kingdom. New covenant for Israel. So he did that. And he paid the price for you and me. He paid the price for us. We also have, on top of that, we also have, as we talked about God's will, it's also fulfillment of the eternal covenant. And actually I think if we looked at more details we could probably find more of them, but certainly about a half dozen different things there.

Ephesians 1, 3, and 4, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing of the heavenly places in Christ. And that could only be done if Christ was fully God and fully man, including having been made like we in the image and likeness of God, but the unique sacrifice that is not spiritually and morally fallen as Adam and all his descendants were.

He chose us in Him before He said, let there be light, and before He said, let us make man in our image and after our likeness. Chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. That we would be holy and blameless before Him. And by the way, holy and blameless shows up again, this term in chapter 5, for the bride. That's us. Christ would make us holy and blameless as His bride.

If he chose us, that seems very specific because it says us, but yet in John 3.16 it says that he died for the sins of the whole world. That's right. So here's an amazing thing. This is a great point in Calvinism. By the way, that was taught at the seminary and I came out of there and said, I don't believe this stuff. It was taught at the seminary and I don't believe it. Why?

The Bible doesn't say it. The Bible doesn't say that. What it does say is, on the one hand, he chose us in him. On the other hand, I looked and Paul said to the Philippian jailers, believe and you'll be saved. How do I reconcile those two? The Bible doesn't say so. But what people like to do is to oversimplify it and to try to reduce it down something to what I can understand. Good luck with that. By the time I reduce it down to something I can understand, I've got something unbiblical. Yes? She died for the sins of the whole world, no matter where, what, when, or ever. But that does not mean that they'll be saved. That's correct.

There's an action on each individual's heart. And the Bible doesn't reconcile how that works together. because his ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And what happens is people want, what they do is they say, give me an ism, give me a man-made model that I can understand. Don't give me a man-made model, please! I don't want that! Right? I don't want that. This man-made, I'm not interested. Right?

Here's Philippians 3, 20-21, it says, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power He has even to subject all things to Himself.

Our citizenship is where? That's home. That's where home is. That's where citizenship is. By the way, Philippians has our citizenship not just here. Three times. Three times. Philippians 1.27 where it says conduct yourselves. That's citizenship behavior. It's not just behave yourself. And the Book of Life is the list of living citizens. That's Philippians chapter 4, first four verses there. So three times in Philippians, our heavenly citizenship is just expressed in different ways.

And one of the reasons why we talk about not just You know, what do I see there in English, but also, what does the Greek mean, and what does it mean in the culture? In the culture, it meant this is the list of living citizens. Paul said, these saints, their names are in the Book of Life. So in the culture, they would understand, oh, my name is in the Book of Life, the Lamb's Book of Life. Because I had a heavenly citizenship. Colossians 3, 1 through 4, Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, and by the way, to be raised up with Christ, what if I had a lamb raised up with Christ? Is that good enough? Not going to cut it. How about, hey, Michael the Archangel, here is a great guy. Michael the Archangel, if he's crucified and buried and resurrected, is that going to be good enough? Why not? I mean, he's a really nice guy. But what's the problem?

He was not elevated in the image and likeness of The lamb didn't supply life, it was just a covering. So what we have is the lamb was sacrificed, was the lamb ever resurrected? No. So even the sacrifice of the lamb was only a part, it pictured only a part of the total process, right? You didn't go around resurrecting lambs all over the place. It's only the death of the Lamb that is pictured, but not the burial and not the resurrection. Here we go. Set your mind on things above. Set your mind on things above. Set your mind because that is a part of how you are made in the image and likeness of God. And that's why it could even be done.

Set your mind on things about where Christ, the one who is also made in the image and likeness of God, where he is seated at the right hand of God. OK, so it says, for if you have died with him and your life is hidden with Christ in God, when Christ who is our life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. And none of this is possible except through Christ, who was the unique sacrifice, and who was uniquely qualified, and with whom the identification only makes sense, because he, too, was made in the image and likeness of God. spiritually and morally unfallen.

Yes? It's interesting, I was looking it up on my phone, but when we studied Isaiah, Isaiah 45, 14, truly you are a God who hides himself. Yeah. And then you see here, life hidden with Christ. Yeah. So we aren't supposed to see these things, because that's the beginning of faith. Okay. Yes, it's hidden. How do you know it even exists? It's by faith.

Did you ever experience it? Did you ever, like when Christ was on the cross, did you feel the nails? Did you feel those? When he was buried, did you go through that? Do you remember that? He was resurrected and the tomb was open and he came out. Soldiers were terrified. And the angels were there at the open tomb. And Christ came out of the tomb. By the way, he may have come through the door with a stone. It didn't necessarily that he came out, right? Because he could go through things. So anyway, here's Christ resurrected. Do you remember that? No, you don't. You didn't experience it. So we have here a conclusion that has no end.

Each believer's identification with Christ and our joint identification with him. So here's something else to ponder, where each of us as believers individually identified with Christ. Were we together identified with Christ? So that's one of the things you see in a lot of these, especially here's Ephesians 2, 4 through 7. What you see is also a joint identification. So I have been crucified with Christ. That's my individual identification, right?

But what I also see in the New Testament, in Ephesians 2, 4 through 7 at the bottom of this page as an example, as we were crucified, buried, raised, ascended, and seated with Him together. God being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together. together, and may just you, or just me, or just Paul, may us together, together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, perfect tense, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, all of us together. Does it apply to each of us individually? Does it apply to all of us together as believers in Christ?

Yes. So up here you said in the above paragraph, each believer identification with Christ in these things and our joint identification with Him only makes sense because we all were made, is that created or is that made in the image and likeness of God? Ah. Ok, so let's look at this. When the word created is used in the book of Genesis there, especially in those first chapters, what's that say? Made out of nothing. Made out of nothing. Ok. And were we made out of nothing? Well...

How was Adam formed? Dusty earth. Dusty earth and Adam out of... out of him was made Eve. So there is an essence. Right, and so he made, not created out of nothing. So that's the significance there. The new self is created. The new self is a creation. It's not simply, I took the old person and I just kind of mushed it around a little bit and now I've got the new one. That's why I asked this. Yes. We're made in the image and likeness of God. Yes.

So is that like the new self or the new being? That it's created? Okay, so created is a different word, right, than made. When it says, let us make mankind, we're talking about beginning with something that's there. which we see with Adam, which we see with Eve. God began with something that he'd already brought into existence. So this is equivalent to Amar, made, not created. Made, not created.

So, what we have then is our identification with Christ from beginning to end, and we've just very lightly touched on it, our identification with Christ was only possible And it only makes sense with us having been made in the image and likeness of God, though fallen and marred and corrupted. Christ was also made in the image and likeness of God, born into that through Mary, right? Made in the image and likeness of God, but without a fallen moral and spiritual character. And no angel, no lamb, No palm tree, no sea anemone, nothing else could replace that. We could not be identified with any of those other things.

Even Michael, the really good archangel who was completely faithful to the Lord, he didn't qualify. We weren't made like him. It's one of the things that Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventist teachings stumbles over, is they have Jesus as Michael the Archangel. It's not going to cut it, is it? Jesus is not Michael the Archangel, and we're not going to be angels, ever. We're not going to transform into angels, no matter how good you try to be. It's not happening.

God brought about salvation for us in the body of Christ in a very unique and special way, and it was only possible because we were made in the image and likeness of God, and though corrupted, that corruption needed to be dealt with. But Christ was born in Mary, born of Mary, in the image and likeness of God, uncorrupted in his moral and spiritual character. Uncorrupted physically too though. Talk about that. What does uncorrupted physically mean? The body you have prepared for me in the Old Testament is mentioned. Now what was unique about Christ's body compared to ours?

Could he bleed? No. Could he feel pain? Sure. What was different? No sin. There's no sin nature. Nancy kind of teases me. No sin nature attached to this thing. That's because the source is different. Yeah. No sin nature attached to this thing. And so that's one of the things that we say, what uniquely qualifies him? This uniquely qualifies him. He does not have the sin nature. Yes?

So he didn't get a new body. He still has the same body. When he was resurrected? He did get a new body, right? But did he die? He died physically. Yeah, but Thomas could put his hand in there. Yep, in his resurrected body. He could both have the evidence of what he had recently experienced as well as walk through the walls to get into the room. But nothing was left in the tomb. Yeah, there was nothing left in the tomb. So what she's saying is that body was resurrected. The body was resurrected but it didn't remain the same.

It was changed. It was changed. And so this is the same thing that Paul says is going to happen to us. We will all be changed. It's not talking about diapers. We will all be changed, every single one of us, just as Christ was changed with a body not the same as before. But in our grave, our bones will still be there, for in the tomb there were no bones.

Well, let's take a look at this. One of the great things that I have to do at a gravesite service, one of the great things that I have to do is tell people, this is honorable and respectful as it should be. We're respecting the remains of this person. But I've got to tell you, this is only temporary. If Christ comes for us today, that body's not going to be in the ground but for hours, maybe minutes. So everything that we're doing here is honorable and respectful, but it's temporary. that Christ's body was changed is he couldn't walk through walls before he was crucified. Yeah, we have no such example as that. See? Yeah. Before, he didn't say, don't touch me. Don't cling to me. Now, after the resurrection, he's saying, don't cling to me. Why? Something's different. He could walk on the water. Pardon? He could walk on the water. Yeah, he could walk on the water previously. Let's ask this question. Could Jesus have walked on the water with both his pre-resurrection and post-resurrection bodies?

Yeah. Yeah. So we better cut it here. Can you cut it short? And so next week we'll take a look at one more instance in which our having been made in the image and likeness of God It is spiritually critical. This will come out of Romans chapter 5. Let's pray.

Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for, as we look at this, thank you for the blessed hope. How marvelous, how amazing, you loved and you gave. you gave uniquely and sacrificially, that you loved and you gave, and not only that, but through the joy said before you, you endured the cross. Thank you, Lord, for your amazing love and grace towards us. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.