Knowing and Growing – Who were we - Who are we - Who are we becoming - Part II

Well, we'll see. I hope you got the handout there. They did get it printed off. So what we've been doing the first three months of this elective, we've looked at passages. We certainly didn't exhaust them. We looked at passages that talked about knowing the Lord and whether that was we looked at were psalms in Ephesians 4, 11-16, where that's talking about people together knowing the Lord. See, the term is corporate, not to bring up the idea of corporation. It's not that impersonal. But together, impersonally, we know the Lord.

And then we shifted at the beginning of this month and continuing on for the next two or three Sundays here, looking at what is our spiritual anatomy, that's the term we've been using. We looked at early on with that, the fact that God made People are made with a body, a part of which is the brain. And people are also made with a spirit, a part of which is the soul. The brain and the soul together comprise mind, emotions, and will. So that was in the handout that's still available if you want to take a look at that. But today we're looking at made in the image and likeness of God.

As you look at the first chapters of Genesis, what a lot of people see, well, here are the six days of creation, and those are described, but the other aspect of things that is brought out is also that God said, make mankind in our image, and you mentioned likeness of God. So, that's what we're looking at here.

So this is Genesis 1, 26 and 27, so I'll read from it from the top of the page there. So, 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 air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And God created man in his own image, in the image and likeness of God he created him.

Male and female, he created them. So what are some of the things you notice as you look at that actually brief passage? What are some of the things that jump out at you as you look at Genesis 1, 26 and 27? OK? Let us make man in our image and in our likeness. So then you see, here's what man is going to do, and let man do this and that.

But the initial part of it has to do with relationship between the persons of the Godhead. Does that tell you explicitly that God is a Trinity? three personal beings, one essence. It doesn't tell you that, but it has implications of that, that there is a plurality. So it is not the full revelation, but it is partial revelation in that direction.

You look at it, let us make man in our image according to our likeness and then it shifts over and let them do this and do that, male and female. Okay, so we have this initial creation and so one of the things that said let us make mankind in our image and we're going to see a little more in depth what that means because it's significant. So one question is, is this just something that shows up in the creation and you never hear about it again in the Bible? That's not the case. And as a matter of fact, that's what this table off to the upper left is about.

So Genesis 1.26 has image and likeness, and that's the verse that has us and our, our twice, right? Let us make mankind in our image, ours twice, and then it has both the words image and likeness. And what we find that's interesting is those two words are never repeated again in a verse in the Bible after that, not even Genesis. the image and likeness.

Why would that be? Why would image and likeness not be repeated after this first use of it? This is a theory. You're speculating. The image and likeness had to do with before sin. The fall made them unlike. Okay? So we'll test that. Okay? We'll test that.

Okay, so then here is image and likeness, but see, even by the next verse, it's only image. Which is before the fall, so hmm, okay. So what else, any other ideas on what you think is going on there, that we only get image or likeness, but not image and likeness again? Are image and likeness exactly the same words?

Do they have a different nuance? Stan? They have a different nuance, but they're used interchangeably. It seems that they're used interchangeably. Right. And this is a pattern in Hebrew writing, that you'll have words that are not exactly identical, but that are used interchangeably. They don't mean precisely the same thing. Likeness refers to what? Similarity. Similarity, okay. This is like that, okay. Good. And then how is image different? It looks like there would be more appearance. Yes, so image looks at appearance, the word likeness says similarity, right? So the image would say You know, is an image the exact person that is being represented? For example, Jesus does say about the coin. He says, give me a coin, right? After he gets asked the question about should we give taxes to Caesar, you know. So Jesus asks whose image is on the coin, right? Yes, but probably more importantly is graven image.

Ah, okay, so here's another use of the word. We've not listed all the uses of the word, right? But the point being that image has one nuance, likeness has another nuance. After Genesis 126 and even starting with Genesis 127, the words are used as if they were synonyms. As a matter of fact, I would say it this way, that one is used for both. One is used for the other. So image or likeness, it's like, okay, you've given the whole thing. So we have to, let's step through the table.

Genesis 126, image and likeness, both words are used. And that says, made in God's image and likeness, and we'll talk about what that means shortly. Next, 127, made in God's image, but it uses just the word image, and then it says male and female. Did you get that from verse 26, from Genesis 126, male and female? You didn't get that at all. So the distinction of male and female is brought out in 127.

So let's ask this question. Does it take both male and female to reflect the image and likeness of God, or can it be just one or the other? Do you have to have both to make for the image and likeness of God, or can it be one or the other? I'm thinking both to get all the attributes.

Okay. Maleness and femaleness, as a matter of fact, what you could probably do is using a Venn diagram where you have two circles that are significantly overlapped, right? And then you get separate, this is femaleness and this is maleness that is distinct. And so you have some similarity and then some differences. And really, as we'll see as we go through this, The either male or female will represent the image and likeness of God, but maleness and femaleness convey some different things, still both within the image of God, as we'll see.

Next one down, Genesis 5-1, made in God's likeness, so this is a summary statement of Genesis 5 where it talks about man having been made in God's likeness, and then continues on with the genealogy. Genesis 9.6, made in God's image, so give respect to that image in the person.

What is Genesis 9.6? What's the context of it? Anybody tell us? Okay, this is Noah's flood. It's in those chapters, and chapter 9 is after the flood, they get off the ark and what does God do? What's in the sky? The rainbow is in the sky, and the rainbow means what?

God's saying I'm not going to do this again, right? And when God says, I'm not going to do this again, he means it. As opposed to what human beings might say, right? So, he's not going to do this again, but the other thing that he says is that the image of God, or made of God's, yeah, the image of God, because notice we have X there under image, the image of God is to be respected, respect the image of God in the person, And does it distinguish male and female?

Yeah, Stan? Sir, do you know in the Hebrew, in the verb, where it says, let us make man in our image, is that completely perfectly done at that point in time? Or does that take into consideration that there's going to be a fall and that we're going to go through this maturation process as time goes on? You know what I'm saying? Yes, I hear what you're saying.

Initially, man was created perfect in the sense of without flaw. Was man basically righteous or innocent? It's innocent. So innocence means he doesn't have sin that you could point to. On the other hand, there is a capacity to choose against God. So that's a difference between the first Adam, this one that was created, and the second Adam, Christ, who was fundamentally righteous. Christ was not innocent. He was fundamentally righteous. Adam was created innocent, but with the capacity to choose. Fundamentally faulty.

Well, and let's think about this. Was Adam under principle of law or principle of grace? Principle of law. And why do you say that? Did they have the law of Moses? One. And I think that's something that people got to understand, that people need to understand. that the principle of grace means absolutely, totally gracious. One law makes it principle of law.

This is why in Romans 7, Paul talks about a tribe did not covet. How did he do it then? Not so good, right? But to get back to your question, the word itself does not convey, you know, here's the future plan and all that. We actually have, from the rest of Scripture, a better understanding of, as Adam and Eve were created, here was God's intent, including having chosen us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, before he said, let there be light, before he said, let us make man, including committing among the Godhead to have Christ pay for the sins of the world that this is going to happen. So the Hebrew word doesn't automatically tell you what's going to happen, the rest of scripture however does.

Right, and the reason I brought that up is because Adam being innocent, not knowing sin but only knowing good. And God making him in the image of God is like making him in the goodness, the good part of God. So then when he eats of the tree and learns about sin and now knows good and evil, the process goes on, so to speak, like a story, like Paul Harvey used to say. And so now that he knows sin, this process is ongoing, if that makes any sense.

OK, so now we have the bottom of page one here. So what are we to conclude regarding the creation of mankind and the image and likeness of God and the impact of the fall of mankind into sin? And this gets to Carol's point here. So here are some starting principles. What is similar in character to God and mankind is the image and likeness of God. And then the image and likeness of God refers to the original state of creation. After the fall of Genesis 3, the image and likeness of God remains, but is marred. So it's not obliterated, but it is marred by sin. Next, that image and likeness, though marred, remains, so respect the remaining image. Respect the remaining image.

Okay, so let's take a look at the top of page two. So as to specific aspects of the image of God, so this is observing things in scripture, and notice that after each one of these bullet points, there are six of them, we have at least one biblical reference.

So this isn't just out of my head or anybody else's. One is a personal image and likeness. So God did not create inanimate impersonal beings. He didn't say, let us create man in our image and it will be a rock. Male and female he created the rocks. So there's masculinity and femininity focused upon personal beings. So personal image and likeness is the first Next, a spiritual image and likeness.

It is remarkable what you can train animals to do or what they can even learn on their own. Various experiments have been done. Will this bird, for example, learn to use tools? I remember looking at videos, just astounding what a bird can do. and not even necessarily training, figuring out how to use some stick to get into some, you know, almost a lock kind of circumstance and go do this and do that. I mean, it's astounding also what you can train animals to do. It's very remarkable.

But that spiritual image and likeness, that has not been reproduced in others of the physical realm. Others of the physical realm do not have that spiritual image and likeness of God. Next there is a moral image and likeness. So why do we say a moral image and likeness?

Yeah, in other words, in mankind, even fallen man, is there a sense of right and wrong? I'm not saying that it's good or well formed, and in some cases it can be horribly distorted. But there is a sense of right and wrong. You will have people argue for no morality whatsoever, it's all relative and cultural. And one of the things I like to ask someone who says, well, there really isn't any absolute morality. I would ask them, is it ever right to torture babies for fun? Not too many people would say yes, right?

There is a sense of morality, even if it's very distorted. that's built in man. Yes. That's the basis of conscience, right? Yes, and of course, why is conscience not a perfect moral guide? What would be the problem with conscience being a perfect moral guide? It's too human. Yeah, and conscience is a part of what we say is the moral image, but the fact is the moral image has been marred, correct?

So you will have people who Like I said a few weeks ago, I have known a few different mass murderers personally. And it's because of this little valley I lived in, you know, that I tell farm stories about. And so they're horrible people. They're just awful, horrible people.

But in general, on the spectrum of humanity, people, even though very distorted, will have a sense of what's right and wrong. It will certainly vary from one culture to another and between people within a culture. Even if that right and wrong is that you're not going to punish me, there's a sense of you're going to do to me what I want you to and not do to me what I don't want you to.

Here's the next one, an interpersonal image and likeness. So, God did not say, I am going to make man like myself, and leave it at that. And he's going to be all alone, and he'll replicate my self-vision, and that's it. He didn't do that. So there is an interpersonal characteristic of man.

Some are far more inclined towards that interpersonal image and some less. But even the way that we are made physically, I think about the ways we are made physically that make for interpersonal relationship. We have eyes that look forward in one direction and focus on one image. They don't always work correctly because of the fall. However, we have one image and so the idea is we are made to look at another person and have relationship. And even our facial expressions. express things to other people.

What has been said for example of eyes, eyes are the what of the soul? The windows of the soul. So we are made for interpersonal relationship, which can in fact be, depending on how people share and trust one another, can be very deep. It can be more than just on the outside, I'm hungry, that makes me mad, or something like that, but it can be very deep. We can express things from deep within. Next is an authority image and likeness.

From Genesis 1.26 on into verse 27, there was a granting of authority over nature. Is there anything wrong with how that's expressed now? That authority image of likeness over the creation? Yeah?

Well, man was supposed to initially be the entity that had the authority over everything, and when he fell, he lost that. And so now Satan, the power of the air, is the one who controls and manages. So yeah, it was corrupted. Yeah, it was corrupted, and so now we have the prince of the power of the air over everything, instead of man being over everything, and how did the prince of the power of the air over everything arrange that? That he was in charge?

Rebellion. The rebellion, in other words, what Satan was doing, and he gained by deception, is, okay, let me deceive this woman and I will have the man fall so that I will have a position of authority and take the authority that God just granted to the man and the woman. Breaking the one law. Yeah. So what does that do? It gives Satan an authority that he is not otherwise justified in having. And man handed that over to Satan, the prince of the power of the air, by sin. And by the way, it was Adam who did it.

The next one is a creative image and likeness. I was telling someone at Holly Hills, this was some years back, but I was just saying, you know, when you do this and that, that expresses creativity. And sometimes it's temporary creativity. Someone cooks something and it's just a wonderful meal, right? And so this is temporary, consumable creativity. Other things are things that last and have some enduring value. That creativity was expressed in many ways in things that are in this room.

Right? And the creation of this structure and our, you know, sitting down here. I mean, somebody created this and it wasn't here. In 1960, this was a cow field. Right? And in fact, that was Holly Hills, just the old part of the building there. It was in 61, 62 then, this part was created.

So there's creativity expressed in that. There's creativity expressed, and here's where you talk about maleness and femaleness, there's an inclination for women to express their creativity in different ways than men. Is there overlap? Yes, but there's a tendency for women often to express their creativity and some of that's culturally defined differently than men. So you have these six ways that are specific aspects of the image of God in man.

Every one of them we can point towards some sense of those being marred. by sin. So the image remains, but it's marred. I think that's the best way to express it. That would be the way to express it succinctly. Now there are also some very important things in the middle of page two. Very important things to say what is, though that God has created man in his image. When I say man, I mean human beings, male and female. But there are also some important distinctions.

God did not just say, let's make other gods. So here we have the first one, God is not a physical being except as Christ was born later after the creation. Christ was born later as a man. Was the Holy Spirit also given a body? Was the father also given a body? By the way, this is one of the evils of Mormonism. They tease the father was given a body. That's how Mary became pregnant. Weird. Yes. So God is not a physical being except one exception as Jesus Christ was born as a human being. That's it.

Secondly, God is eternally righteous by his very character. Man was initially created innocent with the capacity to choose against God to sin. The third, mankind was created in the context of a time-based universe. God is not subject to time, which is basic to his creation.

One of the things I was talking to someone about recently was, I said, It says in Genesis 1, God said, let there be light, and there are jokes that you can find of God said, let there be light, and here are all the physics formulas. And so here are all the physics formulas about all the characteristics of light that are mathematically defined, and a great many of those formulas include time as an element in the formula. Why? Because time was a part of the creation, in fact even a part of the definition of light and its equivalence in other matter. time as a part of the physical world, time as a part of the biological world.

Alright, and then fourthly we have God is infinite in his character, but man is finite, even in the respect to which he expresses the image of God. Man is finite. God created for Adam what kind of a place? Pardon? What did you say? God created for Adam what kind of a place? He created the garden, right? Here is the place, finite place, where you're going to be. And it is a finite place because when Adam sinned, what did God do? Hey, you're out of here, right? You're out of here, you no longer have access to this grief, right? And that's because it was finite. Man's qualities are also finite.

It is astounding the creativity that I see. And of course today with the internet we have the possibility of seeing amazing creativity in people. I'll see tiny, tiny things that people have carved. And I just think, wow, that is phenomenal. And then big, giant things that people make. and everything in between, and sometimes it's short-lived creativity. It's like, okay, here's something that's meant for dinner, and it's just, it not only tastes wow, it looks wow, right? And so you'll see amazing creativity in that respect, that has a very short time frame, and other things, and just look at Mount Rushmore, right? So here is creativity, that has lasted for decades and will likely last many more.

So you can have creativity, but it's not infinite creativity. Man cannot go and say, well, I'm going to make another universe, right? And I'm just going to make another one parallel to this one, but I'm going to tweak this, that, and the other thing. I'm going to change the gravitational constant to this.

So man does not have infinite creativity, man has creativity within a scale, within a realm. So next, bottom there, well some have taught that salvation by faith in Christ offers to make us Adam again. There is a musician I used to listen to a lot because I really liked his music decades ago, Michael O'Marty and his wife Stormy. have made Christian albums, written Christian books, things like that. Good-hearted folks, but one of the things, he made an album called Adam Again, with the idea and the intent that we're being restored back to the garden.

We're going to see, no, that's not quite the way things are going to go. So, a closer examination of scripture says God does not restore things on this earth to the Garden of Eden, but to the conditions in the Millennial Kingdom. So He doesn't restore things back to the Garden of Eden. Matter of fact, we don't go back to the place. But the whole earth, not just the Garden of Eden, will be subject to this restored earth.

Yes? The location of the Tree of Life was in the garden. Yes. And the Tree of Life is one of these major symbols as far as I'm concerned in the Book of Revelations. Yes, and you see it in the last couple of chapters. So doesn't that kind of infer that at least at some point in time mankind will go back to that same area?

No, not location, but what's interesting is that if you look at the garden, you say, what was transplanted from the garden into the new heavens and new earth, because that's where you see it, right? What was in the new, is the tree of life was transplanted there and there appeared to be a number of them versus one particular tree, right?

A number of them and not just one. And it's also, instead of man being driven from it, it's offered to people. So would that be because that part of the revelations is not time-space dimension, whereas the garden was? Yeah, for Herod in the garden, keep him away from this tree. Right? Whereas in Heaven's New Earth, not only don't keep them away from it, but have lots of them and have lots of access. So it's very interesting. And no serpent hanging around it. Right?

So we have the Millennial Kingdom is the direction towards which God is managing all of this present creation, when all things will be summed up in Christ. So this is Ephesians 1, 9, and 10. Fascinating verse, the more I look at it the more I'm just amazed. Those two verses, Ephesians 1, 9 and 10. The present heaven and earth will be ended and a new heaven and earth will be created. So this is an examination.

So we don't take the present heavens and earth and go back to the garden and the conditions of the garden and everything like that. Instead, we're going to And not only the present earth where there was rebellion and sin and the curse of sin upon the earth, but we're going to have a new earth and a new heaven. Why a new heaven? What's wrong with heaven?

The rebellion. It is a place of rebellion, both essentially in heaven and on earth in a different respect, but nonetheless similar. And so a place where no rebellion has ever occurred will be what the New Heavens and New Earth are. Fourth bullet, the only thing from the Garden of Eden that will specifically show up in the New Heaven and New Earth will be the Tree of Life.

And by the way, and I forget whether it's chapter 21 or 22 right offhand, but it says in there, in the translations oftentimes say, for the healing of the nations. Well, wait a minute, why do they need to be healed and what's that all about? And I think a better way to translate it that would be more clear would say, the health of the nations. Anyway, just a quick thought.

So if God isn't going to take us back to the Garden of Eden, back into being Adam again, then what is God doing with us? What direction is he taking us? And that's one of the reasons for this elective. What is God doing in the life of the believer? Is it all about putting us back in the garden and making us Adam and Eve again, and just putting things back there? Or is he doing something entirely different?

And so that's one of the reasons we could spend months on this. And that question at the bottom of page two is worthy of studying for many months to come. And so that's what one of the things we'll do here. So top of page three, here's Romans 8, 28, and 29. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love the Lord and to those who are called according to his purpose. Nancy and I actually talk about these two verses quite a bit. Sometimes I would even say we talk about them weekly. So, it says, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son, so he would be the firstborn among many brethren.

So, I mean, this is big. This is really pivotal. First of all, does God just let everything happen? Does he just make things and then just say, okay, you guys, we'll see what happens. This is kind of a grand experiment. We'll see how it works out. Yeah.

That's deism, right? Yeah, that's deism, the idea that God made things and then just kind of walked away or at very most just kind of stood back and said, well, let's see how things go. I wonder how this is going to turn out, right? So yes, this is deism.

And there are deists now, although it was much more popular a couple centuries back, about two and a half centuries back especially. So deism, that God just made everything and kind of wound the clock and then walked away or at least stood back. But what does God do In this world now, with respect to those who love him and are called according to his purpose, what is God doing?

Transforming and transforming. And that's what we'll be looking at here for weeks to come, essentially. But in this instance, being conformed to what? To the image of Adam? conformed to the image of his Son, to Christ. So that's what's going on, and it's going on in circumstances.

Now when I say circumstances, I don't just mean things happening around us, although that includes what's happening around us. But God is able not only to act in the physical realm, but also the spiritual realm. So I think as we look at the picture of the two halves, there's the physical realm and the spiritual realm that we're in. God is working in both of those realms to the good that we're being conformed to the image of the Son. And that leaves us free to say that some things are not at all good.

Some of you know my daughter Becky and her husband Kurt. Becky had a friend a few years back who had three boys and the boys spent a fair amount of time you know, our grandkids as they were growing up. And anyway, so her friend developed cancer and had the third boy not long before she died of cancer. And this woman's husband decided that this was so painful that he would get hooked on heroin. And so he's basically abandoned the kids for the sake of heroin, these boys. And so our daughter, Becky, and her husband, Kurt, have adopted these kids or are in the process of adopting these kids. They've got legal guardianship to take care of them. So if you look at it, do I love those boys? Yeah, I do. Is something good going to happen as a result of these things? Yeah, it's a good thing. On the other hand, some really bad things happened in order for this to have to come about, right?

So we're free to say, no, that wasn't good what the dad did. And it's really sad what happened to the boy's mom, that she died of cancer and the youngest doesn't even remember his mom. So we're free to say, well, some good things are coming out of this. Some things happen that are also not good. And we're free to say that.

So when it says God causes all things to work together for good, it doesn't mean that we have to kind of paste a smile on and say everything's good. No. Some things are really awful. Some things are really awful, and a lot of us can think of certain things that, boy, that's really awful.

But, if you're a believer, God's working all things together for what good? The eternal good, and what is the good? For those who love God, and what's the good? being conformed to the image of his son. That's the good part. So I can look at there's good things that happen, I can look at it and say there's bad things that happen, but the good thing is that God works all things, including the things that are really bad, God works all things for the good that we're to be conformed to the image of his son. And that's cool. That's eternally cool. And here's one other thing. is I can't blow it, and nobody else can blow it ultimately.

I can do things and act in such a way that in the short term I may not be working in cooperation with this, and we'll be taking a closer look there. But in the big picture, that's where this word predestined comes in. It's not a word of dread. It's not a word where I just throw up my hands and say what God's going to do, He's going to do, and I just can't. He predestines everything, including the next breath I take and the next move I make. Instead of having that sort of dread or complacency, it's assurance. It's comforting that neither I nor anyone else can blow the ultimate conformity to the image of His Son. But, I can, in loving God, and having been called according to His purpose, I can, in each moment, be a part of God's process.

Yeah. Yes? Certainly, at least in my opinion, in the midst of a crisis, a trial, certainly a process to work through, to accept that. You might know it, but in the process of it, somebody has to say it to you. That's a hard concept to work through that. Yeah, it is. Four of our eleven grandchildren are from circumstances that are very difficult. I've told you the story about three of the boys. But, yeah, four boys of our eleven grandkids are from difficult circumstances. Are they good things? Nah.

How it all came about was not all that great. I can't say it's good. But I can say that God's working all things together for good, and that he'll make good things of it. Even if the originating circumstances were, eh, that's not good. And I think it's important that we're free to say, this isn't good, or this wasn't good. And we feel free to say that. As Christians, we're not compelled to pronounce something that wasn't good to be good.

And in some cases, we can all think of certain things and say, okay, here's what Saddam Hussein did was horrible, and what Adolf Hitler did was horrible, and we could see big evil military political figures, and horrible people. They did horrible, horrible, horrible, awful, awful, awful things. Is that going to thwart Romans 8, 28, and 29? It won't. That's good. That's good. Isn't that something? Yeah. Yeah. Because if nothing ever caused you travail, you wouldn't be conformed. Yes, yes.

Okay, so then in the middle of the page, page 3, Here's first Corinthians 15 45 to 49 So also it is written the first man Adam became a living soul The last Adam became a life-giving spirit and here again is the use of the Hebrew poetry pattern where soul and spirit are kind of used as synonyms when in fact they have slightly different nuance but synonyms for the sake of Hebrew poetry However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual.

The first man is from the earth, earthy. The second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy. As is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. So what is the difference between being made in God's image with the possibility of being Adam again and being conformed and transformed into Christ's image?

This is the key difference and why it's exceedingly important as we proceed to study over the next several weeks. It isn't, hey, let's get back to the way things were. No. God has progress not to restore everything the way things were, but to head a different direction.

So one, God's original creation of mankind in His image was when God had no person of the Godhead in the form of a human being. But our being conformed and transformed into Christ's image will ultimately include each one of us having a new creation body like Christ's. This is interesting, okay? So, let us make mankind our image.

There was no, at that point in time, time being just created, at that point in time, there was no person of the Godhead who had a physical body, yet. Christ would have that. So we will have a body unlike the one the first Adam had. So I don't go back into the Adam body.

I instead have a new creation body that I can look forward to. And I'm getting more and more eager for it as the days go by. for the new creation body. Next one, are being made into the image of Christ as it processes to make us daily more in accordance with the history we already share with Christ in our eternal position. Did Adam have that history in Christ? Was Adam identified with Christ's death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding?

No, he was not back there in the garden. This history could not have taken place without Christ who was and is and will be full deity. This history could not have taken place without Christ who was and is and will be full deity. First having taken on the form of man is now a glorified man.

That is a past impacting our eternal future that the first Adam did not have. Our future is to catch up with our history in Christ. See, this is the thing about believers is from the day we believe, from the day we believe, we're going to spend the rest of our lives catching up to what God already did from the day we believed. He had everything in motion for that from before he said, let there be light.

Why will we one day have a body like Christ's that are being conformed and transformed into the image of Christ, who will not simply be made perfectly identical with Christ? What will be different? We are brothers. We saw that, just read it earlier in Romans 8. Christ is the firstborn among many brethren. We are brothers.

We will be like Christ in every respect, and a quick summary is accept his deity. There will be one other minor difference, and it's an important difference, but it will be one other difference, and that is we will not have all of his history. We will only share the history in his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding.

So here's Revelation 2.17, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna. I will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone, which no one knows but he who receives it. So it's interesting, Revelation 19, Christ has a name that only he knows. He gives you a name that only you and he know.

Isn't that interesting? It means that Christ shares something with you forever that is unique to your relationship with Him. So we don't get homogenized, cut me off a slab, the same relationship with the Lord. How about that? His relationship with you, the character of His fellowship with you, your identity, that the two of you know about uniquely will be between the two of you forever.

And as we've been saying, you have God's undivided attention. God is not looking down at his watch, like I have been. He's not looking down at his watch and saying, you know, you've got about two seconds here. I've got to move on to the other millions of people. So I'm sorry, we're just going to have to let it do with that. And hurry up, because I have to leave mid-sentence. God's not doing that. He says, you have my undivided attention. God as an infinite being can do that. I can't. You can't. But God as an infinite being can do that. He can give you His undivided attention and be totally focused on you, undistracted, and not having to spread His time, because He's not subject to time. You'll have a unique relationship with Him.

Okay, so what we'll do is we'll move on to some other aspects of how God made us, because we'll want to take a look at, in the believer, what changes over time and what does not change over time. And as a result of that, we're looking at, if we talk about spiritual growth, What's growing? And what isn't growing? Because growth has changed, right? And what does that growth look like? So I will be looking at these things actually for months to come. Because I think scripture does provide clear, distinct answers to these questions. That's going to take enough, we're going to be looking at it for months to come.

And it's cool. I think it's really cool. Let's pray, because we're out of time. Lord, we do thank you for your word. We thank you for what you make clear as we look at how you made us, even the impact of the fall and how you won't restore us back to the garden, back to Adam again, but will instead take us forward to be conformed to the image of your son to be transformed into the image of your son and Lord how wonderful that is and so we give you thanks for that. Thank you for the insights that we can look forward to and Whether we have weeks and months ahead of us or whether you come for us today We have so much to look forward to thank you for that. We pray in Jesus name. Amen