Unfathomable Riches in Christ - What does (made in Gods image) mean? - Part I

We have spent six weeks on Freed from the Law, and it's such a great subject I could take the whole rest of the year on it, but we've got to move on. In fact, that Law and Grace series we did some years back, that was a hundred lessons. We just kept going and going on that. By the way, there's a church down in Sugar Land, Texas that is doing that Law and Grace series.

Alright, so you have a new handout for this week, so make sure the one you've got is the Image of God Part 1, because we had out earlier last week's. So the Image of God Part 1 should be the handout that we're working with. And so, as we mentioned, we've been covering this set of topics, Read from the Law, We're going to now turn to another topic for probably another roughly month and a half. We're titling it, in short, The Image of God. And more fully from scripture, it's The Image and Likeness of God. And we'll explain more about what that is. We want to take a look at what does the Bible mean by that. Genesis 126 and 27 is where that comes from. We'll be looking at that shortly.

We also want to see how that theme is continued throughout the entire Bible, actually all the way up to the last chapters of the book of Revelation. Thirdly, we'll see how the image and likeness of God is essential to how God carried out our salvation, and we'll make them tie in for several weeks as to where this image and likeness of God ties in with our unfathomable riches in Christ. So this is an important connection. and one which is often been under-emphasized and under-taught in churches.

So Genesis chapter 1 begins with a summary statement about creation and talks about God created the heavens and the earth By the way, why would the Bible say God created the heavens and the earth instead of God created the world? Because you've got the heavens above it. Okay, so you've got the heavens above and then the earth is below, right? And so actually the idea of God created everything is a Greek idea. The Jewish concept was God created the heavens and the earth, and that was their way of expressing it. God created everything.

And so you will find in the Bible from beginning to end, starting with Genesis 1, the heavens and the earth, or some variation on that. From there Genesis chapter 1 continues and talks about the days of creation, the first day, the second day, the third day, and goes on with that pattern.

And then finally on the sixth day, Genesis 124, the sixth day of creation, talks about the special attention given to mankind after the initial creation activities. And so we'll take a closer look at that. The passage that we have quoted below is Genesis 121, excuse me, 24 through 31. And the reason for including all that and not just Genesis 1, 26 and 27, so we have context. So here we go from Genesis 1, 24 through 31, and then God said, and let's ask the question, does the Bible go and justify the use of the name God, or reference to God? Does the Bible start off with that?

Pardon? Yes. You say yes, and what do you mean by that? What do you mean? I think God assumes his own existence. Ah, so, but this is the key thing. There is in the beginning God, and it doesn't say, well, you know, there's some justification for it. That was my point. But it assumes, and I think you've tapped onto the right insight.

The Bible assumes God's existence. and then proceeds from there. Human beings do not generally understand how much their assumptions about the world need to be given to them. We're not beings who are able to start from the beginning and work out and demonstrate how everything is supposed to be.

So, then God said, let the earth bring forth living creatures, so this is on the sixth day, right? After their kind, cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind. And it was so. God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind, and God saw that it was good.

One of the things to keep in mind is that 99% of all the species of plants and animals that ever existed are extinct. 99% based on the fossil record, 99% of all the animal and plant species that ever existed are now extinct. So the great variety that we see is but a small remnant.

God initially created a great variety and the ability for those plants and animals to develop within the created kinds even greater variety. So God was a creative God in greater magnitude than we typically imagine. You look at some of these really great nature films, and some of the things, for example, the British Broadcasting Company has put out, and just really astounding photography, just amazing stuff. And they'll go from one end of the planet to the other with some astounding photography.

And just to think that that's a small fraction of what, like about 1% of all the species that once existed. Yes, remember? We went to the ARC last summer. Great. They had cage after cage of animals and stuff and almost all of them said presumably extinct.

Yes, so that's a very good insight that there's all these different kinds of animals and we typically think that we'll go to the zoo or we'll look at some of these great films where they've collected all these unusual species. One of them I've been looking at in recent weeks has been some of the ocean depths where they go down where nobody really sees these things commonly because you have to go way down in like Mariana Trench or something to see some of these very unusual critters and some of them are really odd looking. But all that great variety that we see now is but a tiny remnant of what was a much greater variety in times past. Just really astounding to soak that up and recognize it.

Do you think most of those species were killed in the flood? Yeah, so the Bible doesn't answer that question directly, but examining the evidence, that seems to make a lot of sense. And so one of the questions we would have is how did those animals get fossilized in such a way that we have them?

Fossilization is not normal. It's not the typical way things happen. An animal dies and what usually happens? The usual thing is consumption by scavengers and decay and things become dismembered. Amazingly, a number of the things that we find are instances of plants and or animals that appear to have been buried quickly.

And so the Noah's Flood explanation seems to be a good explanation for a lot of it. Some of them, I mean the environment was a lot different after that. Yes, and that's a very good point. The environment was different, as Marilyn pointed out. Another thing that's a fascinating thing to look at, we won't have time to look at it here, but there is a decay curve pattern in the ages of people after the flood. The average age, with the exception of guys like Enoch who were taken early, average age is around 900 years after the fall and before the flood. And then immediately after the flood you start to see a decay curve. And the ages given in the Bible fit a mathematical decay curve very well. And so that decay curve phenomenon appears to be very much in place after the flood.

So it says that And God saw that it was good, and notice that, good. So in God's estimation, what he had created was good. Now, this is the key and pivotal set of verses for us to look at here. Then God said, so this is the middle of the sixth day, right?

Let us make mankind in our image, according to our likeness, So let's stop right there. What do you notice? God's likeness. One is in God's likeness. So hang on to that word because that's pivotal. Yeah? He uses our likeness. Bingo. So our, us, right? So this is big. Is God simply one person talking to himself?

Yes, so what you see implied in here is multiple personhood. Multiple personhood is at least implied. It is as you go through scripture that we begin to get more definition of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But right here at the outset, let us, multiple persons, and just by implication it says at least two, right? create man in our image.

So according to our likeness, so in and according, so according you can use the word they're consistent with, consistent with is another substitute set of words to make sure we have a clear understanding, so good, and then 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. So then this man, mankind, made in God's image, after God's likeness, right? or these people of mankind, as we say, have authority over what? Over God?

No. All the things that God has created, the animal beings, over all the earth, and God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. Let's ask this question, for as long as heaven and earth continue to exist, does male and female make a difference? Yes. and female matters. As long as heaven and earth continue as they are, male and female continue to matter.

That is true based on the even more critical foundation of the man who was created in the image and likeness of God. This is where much of our culture has started to go off track, and even a number of Christians have gone off track. They don't realize that God made them male and female from the very beginning. Even Jesus repeats that. From the very beginning God created them male and female. Jesus repeated it. And the foundation for maleness and femaleness continuing to matter is humankind having been made in the image and likeness of God. So we're going to see where that fits together.

So this is a pivotal teaching, and so instead of just saying something like, well that gay thing isn't right, or people ought not to do this or that. Why? A lot of things, including everything about our unfathomable riches in Christ, are founded in having been made in the image and likeness of God. So we'll be looking at that and we'll see how foundational it is. Let's continue on.

God blessed them and God said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of the earth, and every tree that has fruit yielding seed, and it shall be food to you. And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the sky and everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food, and it was so. God saw all they had made, and behold, it was very good.

Is that different? Before it was good. Now, with this last and final creation, very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. There's a lot more we could cover there, but I think we want to stay on focus here. So the image and likeness of God and mankind is observed in Genesis chapter 1 and throughout scripture by these principles. So you have the first one put here and then the next page on the flip side. of this rare and unusual event where we actually have one sheet of paper for an elective. So, first one down.

What is shown of mankind in scripture to be similar in character to God is the image and likeness of God. We'll see that there are points at which God will be shown to be similar in character to mankind in both the physical and spiritual aspects of mankind. So this is amazing, God has made humankind in the image and likeness of God in respects that are both physical as well as spiritual. Alright, so that's part one and we'll explain more what that means. And next, top of page two, what is confirmed in scripture as being unique and different in the character of God, contrasts with mankind having been made in the image of God.

So are we identical to God? No, we are not. There are respects in which we're different, which, in fact, we'll take a look at here shortly. But is those characteristics that we have in common with God that are based in scripture, including the passage we've just read, that tell us what the image and likeness of God is.

Yes? So do you think that Adam and Eve being innocent, could that be in the perfect character of God? It wouldn't be, would it? OK, so it's important to recognize that they're innocent, and we will be making a point in that. Could God fall? No. Could Adam and Eve fall? Yes. Adam and Eve could fall in the garden, which in fact they did. God is not capable of that, because innocence is not the same as fundamental righteousness.

That's the key to recognize. So really the first one that was created in the image of God was Jesus? Well, and we'll talk more about that, and we'll talk about what that means, because you're on to a very important point, but we'll want to pick it up. The next one, creation is the image and likeness of God, and the image and likeness of God refers to the original state of creation. So, as they were created, just as we've read in this passage here, this is how God originally created them. That's in the image and likeness of God.

After the fall, recorded and detailed in Genesis chapter 3, the image and likeness of God remains in man, but is marred and corrupted. It is, one, a mistake to think that the image and likeness is simply perpetuated as it was, because it's not. There is marring and corruption that takes place because of sin. But it also does not completely disappear, right? There is not a complete elimination of the image and likeness of God, as we'll see.

The image and likeness of God, though marred and corrupted, remains, so respect the remaining image and likeness. One of the things that we see throughout Genesis and on into the New Testament, even as last recorded in the book of James, is the image and likeness of God continues on into the New Testament. After the fall, it remains, even though it is marred, and there are reasons for doing and not doing things based on man having been made originally in the image and likeness of God, and that image and likeness, though corrupted, continues. Next, God has purposely made both time-based and eternal outcomes of having made mankind in his image and likeness for the salvation of mankind and for us in the body of Christ as foundational principles for our unfathomable riches in Christ. all of our unfathomable riches in Christ and our salvation are only possible because we have been made in the image of God, in the image and likeness of God, to state it fully.

We'll see that match up in the weeks ahead. So, let's take a look here. Here are some of the ways in which We are made in the image and likeness of God and the scripture passages that go along with them. These scripture passages are not all the ones that we could list, but they're a good start. So here's the first one. We're made in a personal image and likeness.

Is God an impersonal being? God is not an impersonal being. This is Hinduism. So we are made in a personal image and likeness. The fact that each one of us is made as an individual person, and that is based on God himself having a set of personal characteristics. He is a personal God, and as we'll see, the Bible expresses things in exactly that way. In Hinduism, and in those parts of Buddhism that believe in a God, There are parts that are atheistic or agnostic.

God is impersonal in the ultimate. God is impersonal and our being a person is but a temporary existence. Years ago I sat down with a fellow who used to be a professor of religion in India, Dr. And as I sat down with him, he said, we are living a dream. God is having a dream. And we're living that dream that's God's dream. And when God wakes up, the dream will be over. Come up with everything. Don't wake him up. Yeah, don't wake him up. Yeah, man, this is like, wow, that gives me a lot of hope. I'm just a dream and eventually God's going to wake up, right?

So a personal image, God is a personal being, and we'll talk more about what that means, but that is a foundational and an essential teaching that starts right there, let us make mankind in our image, that there is a personal aspect that God has as a part of his characteristic, and he passed that along to us when he created us. He did not make us into rocks. He did not make us into bamboo. He didn't even make us into lizards. But we are instead created as personal beings. Next one, a spiritual image and likeness. Is God a personal and spiritual being? Yes, God is a personal and spiritual being. He created us as personal and spiritual beings.

So that aspect is there. Do the other animals have that in common? No, they don't. There's no evidence that they do. People will say, well, see, look, I can train this bird to use this piece of straw as a tool, and I can have this monkey do sign language, say thank you, Yeah, you can see various levels of fascinating intelligence in the animals, and also what they do by instinct is just rather amazing.

But, man is uniquely, on this earth, a spiritual being in his creation. A moral image and likeness. So where this goes is, why does this moral image and likeness matter? So here's where we have it. Man is created in the image of God as a moral being. God is a God of right and wrong. But he himself is fundamentally righteous. In the Eastern religions, God is not some mixture of evil and good. He is fundamentally, totally, and eternally righteous.

That moral image, which gets down to Stan's question, that moral image is what they covered in the Romans elective. Because in chapter 2, those who are without the law of Moses, which is a moral law, right? Those who are without the law of Moses are judged how? By their own standard of morality. Is that God's morality? No. But even by their own standard, mankind will fall. So that's what they've gotten to cover in the Romans elective summary in chapter 2.

What we have next then, and we see that, by the way, carried on in the rest of scripture. What's right and wrong and what's good and bad matters. Next, it is an interpersonal image and likeness. Let us create mankind in our image. And one of the things we said earlier is we have even been created physically to accommodate this. Exactly.

One of the things that's happening is you're not laying down on the pews and wondering, what am I saying? There is an interpersonal aspect to the way we were made. eyes, looking forward, focusing on someone, hearing, and so even physically we have been made for an interpersonal relationship in the body of Christ. What is substantial in scripture is the interpersonal relationships between people. Even spiritual gifts are for interpersonal relationships.

Next, it is an authority image in likeness. Does God have authority over his creation? He certainly does, and what we see here, right there in Genesis chapter 1, is that authority image. These human beings will have authority over what? things on the earth, and the animals, and this is how you'll deal with the plants. So there is an authority image. Our authority is not the same as God's authority, is it?

I don't know about you, but I never created anything out of nothing. But there is an authority image that reflects God's own authority that he has handed off to mankind. And finally we have here, and by the way this is not all of it, but this is a good start, is a creative image and likeness.

One of the things that we find fascinating as human beings is the range of creativity that we see in people. And it's everything from some, you know, here is some massive piece of artwork. Here's Mount Rushmore. Here is a massive piece of artwork that you can see from a long ways away. On down to here is somebody who takes some tiny little thing and does a carving that's just small and intricate and so we'll see that.

It happens in music, it happens in various expressions of art. It happens in how things are made. Just think about a house. A house can be an expression of creativity, plus the things in it, making the house a home. The things people wear, all those things are expressions of creativity.

Yes? We get pieces of each one of these, but we don't get the totality. What do you mean by that? I think you're on to something really important. When you talk about the spiritual image, we are spiritual, but it's not to the degree that God is. If you talk about moral, you have a sense of what's right and wrong, but it's not to the degree that God is. When you talk creative, we each have different creative talents. So we're made in the image and likeness of God, And at the outset, none of it was, you're going to be gods. I'm going to have gods number one and number two and number three and number four.

So that was never there. By the way, that's part of what's wrong with Mormonism. God says in Isaiah, there was never anyone before me like me and neither shall there be after. Mormonism is a real problem with that verse. It's not going to happen. We are not going to be gods like God. It's not happening. It's not how God designed things.

Our being made in the image and likeness of God is an astounding thing. And as we'll see, our unfathomable riches are based on having been made in the image and likeness of God. But, we're not just cookie cutter deities. that you just mentioned? We don't create out of nothing. Yes, we do not create out of nothing. What we do in our creativity, we reform in some way, at some scale and in some manner, what God has already brought into existence. So we reshape things, we don't bring things out of existence.

And along with that, I think the word creation actually means to be made out of nothing, right? Where made means that you make it from something. Yeah, so different words are used in the Bible, and one of them that is typically used for creation out of nothing is bara, okay, in Hebrew. And so this is God brought these things into existence. But then you find other words like formed, right? that talks about God taking things as they are and then forming, for example, mankind from the dust of the ground.

So you have different words that the Bible uses and they're not just randomly different, they're explicit in what they bring about here. So what we have are these things, and in fact we're going to find other things that fall under these, that we could certainly explore, but this is just to get the points introduced, to start thinking, and your points well taken, that we have all these aspects that are biblical as to the ways in which we are made in the image and likeness of God. We also, it's very clear, that we have these aspects and they are always limited Whereas in God's characteristics, they're absolute, they're untainted, and they're infinite. So radically different character and magnitude in respects, and those differences are important.

As a matter of fact, that's what we'll come into in the next part. There's much more that we can bring to light regarding mankind having been made in the image and likeness of God. We'll bring those forward next Sunday. The following Sunday, if you want to show up, that's fine, but we won't have the elective, remember, because that's the campout weekend. But next Sunday, we'll talk more about what this means to have been made in the image and likeness of God. Meanwhile, what we're going to point out now, and always to be kept in mind, is this is where cults and other religions get off the mark. These are important distinctions.

One, God is not physical except as Jesus Christ was born later in time as a human. By the way, that is one of the areas where Mormonism again falls down. They teach God the Father having a physical body came into Mary and therefore Jesus was born. Kind of sick. Anyway, but that's the teaching.

Christ as a human became fully human but remained deity. God is not physical except as he intentionally and purposely steps into time and Christ stepped voluntarily into time to become a man. And as we'll see, only a being made in the image would be an adequate substitute, would be adequate for identifications? Could God have had a lamb die there on the cross and be just as good? Nope. It had to be a man, and specifically the definition of that man is he was made in the image and blindness of God, in like kind.

Another animal, even if it's a chimpanzee or an ape, is not going to be adequate, because they were not made in the image and likeness of God. Next, God is eternally righteous by his very character, but man was initially created innocent, and that's a different thing. God is never going to fall. Man, having been created innocent, still had the capacity to choose contrary to God and to fall. Next, mankind was created in the context of a time-based universe, but God is not subject to time which is basic to this creation.

There is a view that has become more popular called Open Theism. It's one that various Christians have drifted towards. But Open Theism says that 1. God doesn't know the future. Not really. God likes surprises, if you can imagine that. God is not omniscient, therefore, and God is not totally sovereign. So this is the view of open theism. Does that square up with scripture? No. God is not subject to time. He created it. God is not subject to time. He created it.

It's you and I that are in this time tunnel. And even in space. And even in space. So here I am. I'm here. And part of my family lives over in California, and part of my family lives in Nevada. I have two relatives along a few other places too. I can only be here. And by the wonders of modern technology, I can fly to other places within the same day. That's pretty amazing. But I have to fly. I can't be in two places at once. Yes?

There's such a thing known as time dilation. And if you go faster, you're able to exit. Yeah, so there have been some discoveries, and I'll just summarize them in the last century, with regard to time. Time being compressed. having some, how do you say it, elasticity. But time, getting out of sequence is a tougher thing.

And those are theories. Pardon? And those are theories. Yeah, and we can test some of those to a certain degree. And to a certain extent, the ultimate, there are things that are outside of our ability to test them as exhaustively as we might like. But time is still this thing that even with relativity and time elasticity and things of that sort, those have formulas to them. Those have formulas to them, and those formulas then tell us that time is still defined. Even with relativity and time elasticity, time dilation, if you will, with all that, there are still formulas that apply to those. God's not subject to those, all those formulas, except that He volunteers to do so. God volunteered to step into time in the person of Christ, and to be subject to time, and then to step out of it.

How about that? He stepped outside of time. We're seated there with Him where He's outside of time. Oh, that's kind of amazing. Anyway, there's some things with identification and all that that, time-wise, is very interesting. Yes, Dan? I was going to say, I heard it once defined as a slice of time, like every moment is basically a slice of time. Right. We go from one moment to the next. And we're in the sequence, right?

And there is a certain, we've discovered in the last century, a certain elasticity to time. There is a certain relativity to time. But even those are subject to certain mathematical formulas. And mathematical formulas say definition. It's not undefined, right? So time is a constraint that is a part of this universe, and I wouldn't be surprised if over time we discover other things about time, but nonetheless it is a created entity.

God is not subject to it. And unlike the open theists try to tell us, God is not ignorant about what's next. God does not like surprises. That's not how God's made. As a matter of fact, Jesus said, before Abraham was born, did he say, I was? I am. It means that God's perspective on time that he created is that he sees all times as present. That's God's viewpoint on time.

It's certainly not ours, is it? I look back and I say, my heavens, I've got this body that's 66 years old. How did that happen? And time goes on and it doesn't matter how hard I dig my heels in, the next birthday will come unless the Lord takes me home. Relentlessly we move through time because that's the way God has defined time. But God's not subject to that. God sees all time as now. Here's one that I think will be fascinating for us to explore.

In what ways were you identified with Christ? In his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. When did those happen? without getting nitpicky type, looks like about 33 A.D. when that happened. Did everybody on the planet get identified with Christ in his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding? No. OK. Well, how did I get there? And here I am about roughly 20 centuries later. How did I get identified with Christ 20 centuries later and God didn't do that to everybody. Pardon? You believed, right?

But God did the identification how long ago? So when you start looking at it, He did the identification in historical time when Christ was crucified, buried, raised, ascended and seated in historical time. He only did it for those who believe, knowing the future, and knowing who would believe. But that's not the end of God's time perspective, if you will, on our identification.

Our identification with Christ began when? Ephesians chapter 1. He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. So before God said, I mean, we look at Genesis chapter 1 verses 26 and 27, but before God said, let there be light, He chose us in Him.

And by the way, were you choosable except in Christ? No. Why would God pick me? But in Christ, we're choosable. So not only is it a matter of God taking me, here I can say, I was pretty young so I don't know the exact date, but I can say about when it was, in 1957, I think.

They had just released the 57 Chevy. So about that time, I became a believer in history. But God chose me in him before he said, let there be light, and before he said these words we just read in Genesis 1, 26 and 27. And he implemented it there in time, knowing whom he had chosen, knowing who would believe, He took that effective identification that took place in history back in 33 AD and made that effective to me and you now.

Wow. So is God limited by time? No. Is God ignorant about what's going to happen? No. He made time, and He says, before I make time, let's make sure these people are chosen in Christ. So that's when He included you and me. Yeah, Matt? Or are you just scratching your head? Okay, alright.

So we look at this, this is an amazing thing that God has done. Just astounding. So, let's pray because we're running out of time. But this is going to be something as we continue to explore it. This is going to continue on for some weeks to come, just to explain all the meanings of, and the outcomes from, our having been made in the image and likeness of God. And the outcome is forever.

Maleness and femaleness is based on our having been made in the image of God. That's what we see here. By the way, does it take both male and female to reflect the image of God? Or do male and female, each of them, reflect the image of God? And likeness of God?

We'll talk about that. Okay? Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for what you've revealed. This is a rich and a deep truth. We want to bring it before you and we want to look to you to give us understanding and insight as we move forward in these weeks ahead. We just thank you for your faithfulness. We thank you for your grace and for your love that you continue to reveal and express to us. We pray in Jesus' name.