The
Hebrew word for image is tselem: It means to be God's representative on the earth being the same as Jesus in standing
for His values and purposes. A child of God must be deeply grounded in this scriptural truth if; they are going to know the
difference between being God imaged verses being self imaged.
In only two paragraphs;
we can see that; one definition represents the out ward appearance of things and the other represents being inwardly changed
by becoming a child of God and having the same power and authority that our brother Jesus had when He walked the earth.
To our natural mind; this is in deed a far-reaching thought that must be pondered over and we must
have passion in seeking after a higher wisdom then our own with spiritual perception and personal experiences which only happens
by having a living relationship with God. It is living in this principle that will give us a real appreciation of who we are
as God our Father sees us. God has to be our first love and we must be living with a deep hunger to appreciate Him with a
total commitment if; we are to be Christ's ambassador in the earth. We must not just know about God but be; God faced
focused.
Unless a man is born again from above through the sperm of God through
the Holy Ghost; you can not live by the faith of Jesus and represent God in the earth with power and with God's total
wisdom. You notice in this verse that God said let us make man in our image. He was referring to Him Self, Christ and the
Holy Ghost. When we accepted Jesus sacrifice of Him dying on the cross and had a personal witness from with in of this miracle
taking place; we received the entire God head into our heart and being and we became the temple that God lives in.
1 John 5:7-8 states, "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the word (Christ
Jesus) and the Holy Ghost and these three are one. And there are three that give a sure spiritual witness in earth, the spirit
and the water, and the blood and these three agree as one." When one has a spiritual witness from with in; they know
that God is alive because; their spirit has a confirmation with God's Spirit and they can recognize His voice speaking
to them in their inner man. Many believe that Jesus is the Son of God however; they must become born again to have that witness.
Let's now define what the spirit, water and the blood represent on the earth.
The
Greek word for spirit is pneuma: It means superhuman, Christ‘s spirit the Holy Spirit. The word for water is hudor:
It means rain or shower. Scripture tells us that we have to be going through a continual process of having our mind renewed
daily by the washing of the water of the word of God by us being continually influenced by the thoughts of the Holy Ghost.
The word for blood is haima: This is the atoning blood of Christ which made amends
for our sin nature. When we had the miracle of our second birth and washed clean by Jesus Christ's blood that He spilled
at the cross; it made us a member of God's family because our born again miracle gave us a kindred human being relationship
to God by us possessing His blood.
Our born again experience and becoming a child
of God has already brought us into the heavenly kingdom of his dear son and we did not have to physically die to get in. Jesus
has released us from feeling guilty of breaking God's laws through Jesus blood and our sins have been forgiven past, present
and future. That is why Jesus is the first image of God because; He was and is the first born again believer who has run His
race here on the earth.
Heb. 9:22 tells us. "Almost all things that are covered
under laws must be removed and when a person's sin nature has been removed; they have become pure and free from guilt,
sin 0r defilement by Jesus blood. With out the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness, release from a debt, or pardon."
In the Old Testament in order for the sins of the people to be forgiven; the
High Priest had to sacrifice unblemished animals to God by laying his hands on them and transferring the sins of the people
and his own onto the animal and it was burned as a sacrifice to God. This was a once a year ritual in the temple. Because
of this; the people looked forward to it so they could get rid of their guilt because; they knew they had broken God's
laws. However; this kept them continually aware of their faults and failures year after year and their focus kept them with
a self image sin consciecness rather them being God imaged conscience.
The temple
had an outer and inner court. The people could only go into the outer court to worship however; the High Priest was allowed
right in the throne room where God lived and where the tabernacle of the Lord was housed. This was where they would offer
sacrifice for the sins of the people.
God changed everything when He sent Christ
to live in Jesus on the earth to take the place of the sacrifice of animals and He became the once and for all sacrifice for
the sins of the world by shedding His blood on the cross. Our asking Jesus to come into our life and becoming our Savior through
an inner belief and the confession of His one act; brings us a sure inner witness by His Spirit and our spirit that we have
become one.
Our constant and continual life style of being affirmed of this belief
by the Holy Ghost; strengthens our understanding of how we have already been changed into a new creation the day we became
born again and this continual affirmation gives us a greater depth of assurance as we are having fellowship with Him as He
tells us that; in God's sight; He already sees us as; blameless, free from evil and set apart from the world as His sons
and daughters.
Unless a child of God becomes fully grounded and persuaded who
they are in Christ; they live with the mentality the people had in the Old Testament of feeling that; they do not have the
right to go into the inner court in the actual throne room of God their Father because; they do not feel worthy and have a
inner hidden loathing for them self. They truly don't understand what happened to them the day they became born again
with their new nature because; they believe that they are still law breakers and judge them self which makes them feel unclean
and hopeless.
When this example is still alive in their mind, they carry a Christian image of God loves me and
he loves me not. This is why a born again believer must have his mind daily renewed through the Holy Ghost by meditating on
the word of God day and night to sustain the Godly image that God has for him. This happens as we hunger and seek to receive
more of God's love and grace affection causing us to become more God imaged in our mind and heart as God already sees
us.
Since Jesus told us that He wants to be our friend and for us to not worship
Him but worship God, His motivation in thought and action was being stimulated by Christ who lived in Him as He was physically
born from Mary's womb a born again Christian. He was born a God man and in God the Fathers sight Jesus was born with His
Father's image and continued to grow in that image. (It is my deepest pray that you are getting a revelation of what I
am saying.)
Paul tells us in Philippians 2:5-8. "Let this same attitude
with purpose live in you which was also in Christ Jesus. (Let Him be your perfect example in humility.) Who although he was
essentially one with God (possessing the fullness or the nature which makes God God), He did not think the equality with God
was something to be leaned on for security or to hold on to. He made Him self of no reputation and took upon Him self the
form of a servant, and was made into the likeness of men. And being in the fashion as a man, he lowered him self in rank or
importance and became obedient unto death and especially his gruesome death on the cross."
Here we have the basic foundation that must be in place if; we are to function as a child of God and be able
to relate and have the mind set of Jesus when He walked the earth. This verse says; we must have the mind set of Christ Jesus.
Let's try to get a deeper insight into this.
The word Christ in the Greek
is Christos; it means the anointed one and an epithet of Jesus Christ. Epithet means that; Jesus was genetically related by
birth into the family of God through the seed of God the Father into Mary's womb and He was not adopted. Just as mankind
was born into the physical world through his parents DNA; so God's genes which are the basic unit of His heredity, He
invested His characteristics into the new born again generation of His first child Jesus and all of His other children through
their second birth when they became born again. DNA carries the determined sex and the characteristics inherited from its
parents. Now I ask you; how can a child of God know their Godly image if they do not understand who birthed them into the
spiritual kingdom of God in the first place?
Jesus said this in John 10:27-30
"My sheep know my voice and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them to me, is greater then all; and no man is able
to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one." Now if Jesus and the Father are one because He
was the first born again believer then; aren't we as His continually growing family one with Him also?
This revelation of who we truly are in Christ Jesus as God's child must be for front if in our
heart and mind if; we are going to understand the image we hold in our Father's eyes. Can and are we really believing
that almighty God the creator of the universe; stepped out of His security and splendor in the heavenly realm to take on the
afflictions and infirmities of mankind his creation; so He could relate to our growing pains, hunger and longing emotions
of trying to discover who we are; as we search for the meaning of life and why He put us on the earth in the first place.
As the High Priest's of the Old Testament stood in the gap as a mediator
between God and his creation; so now we have Jesus our great High Priest that has passed into heavens, who is Jesus the Son
of God our permanent Mediator that lives for ever. So let us hold fast our belief and be forever settled in our conviction
and declaration as being a child of God through Christ Jesus.
Jesus who is our
High Priest is touched with the feelings of our infirmities because; He was tempted in all points as we are and yet (with
out sin. If we truly know and understand this; we can boldly come to the (throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and (find
grace in our time of need. Let's clarify these three things I have underlined. I am sure for some of you that what I am
about to say will cause you to wonder if you can believe it. God's grace is the only power that will keep the Godly image
of who we are strong and fixed in our being and it makes us know; we are without sin in our new birth in Christ Jesus as Jesus
was with out sin in His life.
11 Peter 3:18 Peter tells us how we must grow if
we want to identify as a child of God. "We are to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ"
The word for Grace is charis: It represents God's divine influence on our
heart and the image or reflection of it on our life. It creates an attitude that when we meet and have fellowship with him;
we experience kindness and a feeling of well being with a joyful security that guards our heart. This word reflection represents
the image of somebody that appears in a mirror or other reflecting surfaces.
I
am convinced that our worst enemy in life is the man or woman you see in the mirror every morning. There are far to many of
God‘s children (if there was only one) who look in the mirror and are constantly being reminded by God that they are
His children whom he loves and he sees them as pure and complete. However; they walk away and forget because they get entangled
and mislead in the cares of life and forget who they are and look for love in all the wrong places for security.
A person who knows that God does not judge His children as sinners any more but saints in progress;
likes and loves the one they're always with; which is them self. That is why it is a matter of life in the spirit world
or death when they sit under ministries that are teaching that; we have to try harder and do more works and constantly living
with what I call a fixing up mode philosophy. God's grace influence in our life does not judge and it is not hard or harsh
and does not cause us to feel we have to measure up.
Parents who truly love their
children do not beat them when they mess their diaper or spill their food on them self or when they fall down tell them that;
they are clumsy and stupid. Come on let's become sober minded born again believers and truly understand God our Father's
love for us and not grope around in the dark but start walking in the light of his counsel so we can see His reflection in
the mirror and not our image of feeling incomplete and staying with a weak minded mentality and inept. It is by us truly knowing
how God feels about us; will give us the boldness to enter His courts with thanksgiving and joy and ask Him for the things
that we need but also for the things that we want according to His will.
A child
of God who doesn't know who they are will never be able to truly enter into God's rest. When one experiences rest
in God; there is a feeling of well being living in God's house and being totally accepted by Him. It's like feeling
idle and content trusting in God's provision. Feeling idle and not busy doing things at times can be tormenting if; one
has not learned how to wait on God and trust His provision.
Resting represents
us loving our self and finding our self acceptable and we know that as far as God is concerned; we become the most important
or influential person in His life as our relationship grows. This is what we have to be reminded of daily by the Holy Ghost
especially in the day in which we are living.
The confusion and strife that has
descended on the world can be a fearful thing to behold. We have job loses, scandals and perversion with in the body of Christ
and in the secular world, the government fighting each other rather then serving the people of this country. A gospel of fear
and hearing that God has come to judge this country with fire and pestilence from well know preachers who have missed God's
intensions. In my travels; I find the majority of people I encounter are looking for a Shepherd who they can trust to help
them in their time of need.
Cont. in part2
