In His Image

"The blood which fell from Emmanuel's veins was shed for men and women."

HE DIDN’T crown Himself King. He earned it. Being born of Mary, setting aside the power and dignity of His Godhead, laying aside all He knew to be an infant, He became completely reliant on His mother. Being a son of Joseph, He was descended from King David, who was promised an heir always on his throne. To be King, He was born King. To be Israel, He was raised as a Jew, dedicated on the eighth day as the firstborn son, consecrated as the heritage of His Father.

God could have done what humans have pictured gods do, but He isn’t like what men picture. The Father isn’t consumed by emotions, at war with decisions, unable to see what might happen. He isn’t tempted by evil at all and so tempts no one with evil (James 1:13). That goes against what He sent His Son, our Savior, Jesus the Christ, here to do.

“Who has ever provided God with something that didn’t come from him to begin with? Who could ever have God indebted to them?” (Romans 11:35 Remedy)

We are all made in His image and after His likeness. Those in the church. Those out of the church. Those remote and far from it. Our likeness is why we replicate like we do, why we create like we do, why He can reach us even when we’re distant and on the wrong path. It’s why we are rescued from sin. No animal creature is given that choice. Romans 8 tells us they will all be changed when things are remade, but they must wait for it. No angelic being, fallen or godly, is given that choice either. The blood which fell from Emmanuel’s veins was shed for men and women. Now, what God chooses to do with His fallen hosts, He is Lord of Hosts, is not said in God’s Word, but knowing Him, I do know He grieves for what they’ve chosen that they were not given.

You can’t turn a turnip into a potato. What they were, they remain, meaning not-human, and what they’ve become, they will stay, failing an act of the mercy of God. But my point is we, as humans, are all spirit beings just as God is spirit. We are like Him in nature. We are also like Him in a body, just as Jesus has one made for Him before time (1 Peter 1:20). Only, His is better than ours now, being filled with glory (Philippians 3:21). But at our heart, down where we have chosen His life or remain in spiritual death, is this yearning for how we are supposed to be.

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

He is God, and He is King. But He did not ascend to the throne based on a power struggle, through a coup. He did not take the throne because He is God and Creator, and it is His right. No, He earned it. He chose to walk the path set by His Father. His Father chose to let Him walk it, seeing the pain, but knowing the victory.

And here is our image again. A lone man, lost in the visions in his head, seeks a spiritual future, not knowing that is what he does. We call him a creative type, when the truth is, at the heart of our design is the reason an ape fails to become a man. It’s why they, along with other animals that God created, yearn for our manifestation as bodies filled with glory just like Jesus. That we are from conception to birth, across our lifespan and past the grave in His image, like that of our Redeemer who chose to be human forever, is a most marvelous thing best not squandered on vain pursuits. Musical notes out of order can make a nice sound but God wrote the symphony, and it only plays its proper tune when working as He designed it to be, back before “before.” And salvation is what puts us all back into order to flow like He designed us to be.

Here is God’s heart on display. They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Not fabrications cooked up in man’s heads. It’s not “you do your thing,” and “I do mine,” but instead, that having seen the truth and knowing it, His heart becomes ours, and our yearning is for others to find who they really are in Him. We are all trees of the same order, equal genus, all planted in the soil to feed and grow like trees.

“For God foreknew who would accept and value his methods of love, and who would reject him and his methods of love. And God predetermined that all who accept the truth about him and trust in him would be fully healed and transformed in character to be like his Son, so that Jesus would be the prototype of all who are fashioned in his likeness.” (Romans 8:29 Remedy)


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

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