The Image of God

"Every book in the Bible contains the story of God's goodness to men and salvation through Jesus Christ."

TO READ A STORY, you must know the characters. In Romeo and Juliet, you must know who he is and who she is and what keeps them apart. Why does one family fight against the other? And why can’t they settle their differences? Being pulled by the tragedy of strife that consumes each side is what makes the death of their young ones so horrible.

To read the gospels, you must know who Jesus is, that He is the Christ (Messiah), and the Son of God, God made flesh. You must know He came to fulfill the Old Covenant Law and that fulfillment would require His sacrificial death. Through reading the gospel books, you will learn Jesus came to reveal the Father and to send the Holy Spirit to live in the hearts of men. If you continue reading in the New Testament, you learn He came to destroy the works of the devil, which include sin in the spirit of man, all mental turmoil of any kind, and sickness, disease, and any physical calamity.

Jesus came to do a complete work, to reveal the love of the Father, and dispel all the effects of sin and death upon men.

By knowing who God is, that He is love (1 John 4:8) and He does not bring fear (2 Timothy 1:7), we can properly understand the gospel story. It is not a story only written in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but begins before creation in Genesis and continues past the end of Revelation. It is written throughout generations. God’s love is displayed in the story of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. His love is shown in their years sustained in the wilderness. God’s holiness is pictured in their chastisement for idol worship. We can Jesus in the Covenant laws and the design of the tabernacle and, later, the temple.

Every book in the Bible contains the story of God’s goodness to men and salvation through Jesus Christ. They are all in agreement. No book goes against what another says. All of the Old Testament is meant to lead up to the New Testament, where the mystery of God’s plan is fully revealed. Though many have tried, you cannot understand the Old without knowledge of the New. You must know who God is as shown in the New Covenant in order for the truths revealed under the Old Covenant to be complete.

So if something in the Old seems not to be who God is under the New, then we must seek the Holy Spirit, the teacher of the church, for greater revelation and refuse to compromise the beauty of our wonderful God.

The apostle Peter is a good example. Who he was when Jesus called him from his fishing boat stands in great contrast to who he was as he grew in understanding of Jesus. We see him proclaim Jesus as the Christ, then deny Jesus the right to die, and later, deny Him entirely. Except, as Jesus had said, Peter became a rock the church was founded upon and gave the speech which resulted in 3,000 men and women being saved on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. Yes, he cut off the servant’s ear as Jesus faced arrest, but he also led the family of Cornelius to salvation because he was given the dream revealing God’s love for the Gentiles.

God in the New Testament is abundant love. So love. He is healing. 1 Peter 2:24 tells us by Jesus’ wounds we are healed. Throughout the gospels, Jesus healed all who came to him. No one of any gender or social status, of any level of faith, or any type of illness was left out of His compassion to heal. He healed despite the hatred of the religious leaders for Him. He healed on the Sabbath, although He was chastised for it. He healed every form of mental turmoil and physical illness in every part of the human body.

He forgave all sins – the woman taken in adultery, the man seated for 38 years at the pool, the man let down through the roof. He forgave the thief on the cross. Forgiveness through His blood is for whosoever will believe. Male or female, Jew or Gentile, nothing can separate us from the love of God which forgives all sin and heals all sicknesses, diseases, or injuries. He doesn’t make sick in order to heal. Jesus made this clear saying, A kingdom divided against itself will fall. Satan cannot cast out Satan, and God does not tempt man with evil (James 1:13).

We learn these truths through the instruction of the Spirit of God and renew our minds to our previous way of thinking. We know that God is good and does good, and so whenever we hear otherwise, whenever what we read seems to go against God’s character and nature, His methods and principles, we know to toss that out and seek revelation. God did not send the flood upon the earth, saving only Noah, because He was petulant and short-tempered. He did not make a rash decision to “start over” with Moses and need persuading otherwise. He did not send poverty and loss upon Job to flex His God-muscle.

He did not do these things at all. It goes against the image of Him we learn through Jesus. God. who sent His only Son to die for us, who willingly sacrificed everything, cannot, will not break His promise of salvation. Jesus did not come to earth to destroy the works of the enemy, but in the meanwhile, He’ll work with him. When Jesus faced Satan in the wilderness, He was not in doubt about how to reply, nor did He waver at the enemy’s suggestions. He knew who He was. He knew who Satan was. He knew what He’d come to do, what He’d have to do to accomplish it, and for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. He is God. He despises the devil.

“If he did not withhold his own Son—but gave him up for us all—don’t you realize that he will withhold nothing good from us? But along with his Son, he will give us all things that are for our good!” (Romans 8:32, Remedy)

Endured and won. Although His endurance required His physical death, the result was everlasting life for all, both quality of life on this earth, and the promise of heaven. God’s desire is to fill all of earth and sky, all of mankind with His presence (Ephesians 1:23) Any other image is a lie, and we know who the liar is. Jesus made sure of it.

"You belong to your father, the devil: you prefer his methods, share his motives, and carry out his desires. His methods lead only to death, and from the beginning he has been murdering all who follow him. He rejects all that is true, because truth exposes him as a fraud. He speaks the language of lies, which he invented, for he is a liar and the father of all who lie.” (John 8:44, Remedy)

Photo by Yashaswita Bhoir on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com