"IN HIS IMAGE"
In the beginnings {orig.Grk.} (time) God (source of force)
created (action) heaven (spirit)) and earth (matter)..."
Gen.1:1. Thus began the ongoing sovereign works of our
Creator. The first man Adam was to be a unique and
significant generation in the beginnings of God's heavenly
(ie. spirit, soul , mind) creation, as well as His subsequent
earthly (flesh body) creation - Gen. chptrs. 1 and 2. The
planned formation of the human creation into the eventual
spiritually perfected image and the likeness of their Creator
(Gen.1:26), was originally conceived and initially brought
forth by the Word of the Father (Jn.1:1,2), "the faithful and
true witness, the beginning (architect, source, origin) of the
(witnessed, manifested) creation of God." - Rev.3:14.
God saw the beginnings of all His creation, mankind
included, as being "very good." Gen.1:31. Yet, at that time,
this was still far from the fulfillment of His dispensational plan
wherein He purposed to ultimately perfect both spirit and
matter, mind and body. His acts of creation were never
designed to be instantaneous in their work (force), but were
to involve a lengthy (time) processs (action) in reaching their
desired divine objectives.
The very nature of God Himself is the Spirit of love. True
godly love is not at all selfish and needs always to give of
itself to others in order to be satisfied and fulfilled. In His
congenital desire to project and express this image of love in
order to wholly fulfill Himself, the Creator ordered loving
companionship in the form of divinely produced progeny
brought forth in the creating of a blessed spiritual family. God
both arranged and foreordained in His unique creative plan,
for this desired manifestation to eventually come, not only
to need Him and to know Him, but to also come to
reciprocally love and desire Him in a very intrinsic and
personal way.
This plan was designated to include at its conclusion, a much
more intimate relationship than that even of the original
human species. This counsel was not only for man to be
able to communicate with God as could Adam, but was to
be consummated as in the form of a perfect marriage, an
absolutely mature and loving union. Included in our Creator's
ultimate desire, was that His created family would come to
know Him and be very much like Him in the sense of
understanding, experiencing, and sharing in their whole
being, the glorious nature of the pure and holy love that
God's Being is - 1Jn.3:2,3; Col.3:4. Is not godly love a most
important and all encompassing attribute of the image of our
God? Without it we are nothing - 1 Cor. chptr. 13.
God is not at all behind schedule in His creative process.
The first man Adam was only a rough image and facsimile of
the second and last Adam to come. The first was similar to a
creeping caterpillar that would one day be something much
more beautiful. Since the day of Pentecost, the Lord has left
some, a true ministry by the Holy Spirit (Jn.14:15-26;
Eph.4:12) in order that the church---that new creation, which
like unto the soaring butterfly that has come forth from the
old--might grow to maturity in the full beauty and "knowledge
of the Son of God." Eph.4:13. The Creator has purposed
and ensured through His plan of crucifixion, that the original
creation might one day be made perfect in oneness,
gathered together unto a complete and glorious union
(Eph.1:10; Eph.1:13-20), similar in likeness to the love
relationship of Christ with His Father - Jn.17:21-26;
Eph.4:12,13.
The Need For Divine Knowledge And Wisdom
As a part of His all encompassing plan of creation, God
initially created man with an overall insufficiency of divine
attributes, character, and virtues, but not without the capacity
to eventually come to know, contain, and express these in
cultivated and refined goodness, holiness, uprightness,
integrity, justice, morality, love etc. In order for man to share
in such godly attributes and be able come into the essential
likeness of God Himself, it was first necessary that He come
into not only human knowledge but also a godly knowledge
of the existence, the intention, and the prospect of the
essence of "evil".
The Creator in His omniscient wisdom, purposely subjected
him to not only mentally know of the existing potential of
good and evil in his soul and spirit but also that his whole
being literally know and experience these things through the
realm of his body. In the ensuing process and as part of the
plan, he was to learn to abhor, renounce, and forsake their
resulting vanities (Ro.8:20; Eccl.1:13; 3:10) as He
progressed into the revelational knowledge and sharing of a
much higher form of spiritual glory namely that of the
likeness and image of God. "We...beholding...the glory of
the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 1Cor. 3:18.
There has been a remnant of faithful sons in every age
which, through the grace of God, have been learning their
lessons well. They have been learning and teaching the vast
difference between the clean and the unclean, the holy and
the profane - Ezk.44:23; Ezk.22:26; Mal.3:18.
These spiritual priests of the sons of Zadock, shall be the
first to stand manifestly perfect in their appointed times, no
longer bearing the soulishness of the earthy but now wearing
the full priestly garments of "the image of the heavenly."
1Cor.15:49. They shall be the first to be distinctly changed
from the present spiritual order of the Levitical (earthy)
priesthood into a glorious, new, and perfected unity of life
after the order of Melchisedec - Heb. chptr. 7. In the soon
coming advent of Christ, the Lord shall complete the change
of their "vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His
glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able
even to subdue all things unto Himself." Phil. 3:21.
Man was initially created with the capacity for what we know
as human knowledge. The mind of man was created to
exist and operate in likeness to the understanding and
knowledge of the mind of His Maker, but this was functioning
on an extremely in-part basis in the first man Adam. The
essential immaturity, inferiority, imperfection and
unawareness of both man's mind and his body, is very
evident in Genesis chapter 3.
Even today, mankind in general, is still very much in the
process of learning, that apart from impartation of divine
wisdom and knowledge found only in Christ, he will never
know how to be able to wisely use the knowledge which he
has been allowed to acquire. Man not only needs to acquire
godly knowledge, he also needs to obtain godly wisdom on
how to use this knowledge if he is to come into the fulness
of the likeness and image of Christ.
Human knowledge in itself, invariably leads to evil. It began
with the disobedience of the first man Adam. We are still
discovering that human, self desired, self learned knowledge
and its accompanying wisdom (Gen.3:5-7) is for the most
part, incomplete, immature, and foolish (1Cor.1:17-31), and
is unable to righteously handle this evil without the true
experience of godly knowledge and wisdom---a divine
wisdom that comes only from above (Jas.1:5,17; 3:17) and is
neither earthly, sensual nor devilish - Jas.3:15.
Man must learn that true knowledge and wisdom is birthed in
genuine obedience to God's Spirit and word. It is by
continual and accurate obedience in the knowledge of the
written word, that one does progressively take on the
likeness and image of the life of Him who is the way to the
fulness of the word of truth - Jn.14:6. "Then said Jesus....if
ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and
ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Jn.8:32. As disciples, we can learn much helpful truth by
studying the nature and image of both the first and the last
Adam - 1Cor.15:45,46. We will touch on some of these little
known truths.
Adamic Imperfection Because Of Ignorance
God's divine plan from the beginning, was for mankind to not
only acquire true and useful knowledge of earthy things in
earthy ways, but through this earthly experience, be
prepared to receive and enter into a greater way of life and a
higher spiritual knowledge which contains true godly wisdom.
Through this revelational discovery man now is able to know
the source and purpose of his being, and begin to live
eternally with, as well as in, the grace, knowledge and
wisdom of his Creator.
Understanding of this wisdom and its source has been
purposely hidden from the eyes and holden from the ears of
every living thing, and is according to the timing of God's will,
gradually being revealed to His new creation - Prv.4:18. Only
"the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding."
Jb.32:8. Only the Most Holy Spirit of God "understands the
way thereof; and knoweth the place thereof." Jb.28:23.
"Where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of
understanding?" Jb.28:12.
The Lord declares this precious treasure of wisdom to be far
beyond the natural thoughts and abilities of man who dwells
within the God restricted boundaries of the land of the living -
Jb.28:12,13; 1Cor. chptr. 2. Job rightly declared that the
characteristic of a person who has a portion of this divine
wisdom is reverent toward God. Sadly, we see so little of
this wisdom and reverence in the church today.
Many characteristic traits of the Creator's flawless personality
were obviously latent and dormant or at least
underdeveloped within Adam and Eve. Though they were
basically created of God "in His own image" (Gen.1:27), they
came well short of His complete likeness in some crucial
characteristics. Inadvertently, through no fault of their own,
they failed to discover, that growing within the center of the
watered garden of their own spirit, along with the blemished
fruit of the forbidden tree, was the perfect fruit of the Spirit
(Gal.5:22) of the tree of life, hidden in the thick foliage of
their own spiritual ignorance. This was the pure, righteous
fruit (Jas.3:18; Eph.5:9) of the "pure" and godly "wisdom that
is from above." Jas.1:17.
They did not first eat of the fruit (the characteristics) of the
tree (way) of eternal life. Nor could they have. They were
virtually ignorant of the attributes and virtues of their Maker's
image. They were yet unprepared in knowledge and wisdom
(Gen.3:5,6) to be able to partake of that holy fruit and live
forever. In order for them to grow and develop in the image
of God, they were "appointed" first to experience the evils in
death and judgment (meaning a separation from God) -
Heb.10:27.
The Lord had created and placed the other way (tree) in their
midst, and ordained that they must first acquire the
knowledge and experience of other present things in creation
which we now have come to know as "good and evil."
Gen.3:22. Like unto Israel, the casting of the Adam creation
out of the garden (Gen.3:23,24), provided the first divine
impetus in God's plan to begin the actual reconciling of His
creation into His full likeness and image - Ro.11:15.
The Knowledge Of The Image of Evil
How could Adam and Eve (mankind) in the beginning,
without the fear of the Lord or the beginning of His wisdom,
actually resist partaking of that desirable yet forbidden tree?
After all, they had no idea what death was, nor of the
undesirable, negative, and dire consequences of it. How
could they in their initial ignorance, even begin to have a true
understanding and active life in the knowledge of the holy
(Prv.9:10), much less remain obedient, without first acquiring
the knowledge that the Father and Son possessed..."to know
good and evil"? - Gen. 3:22. They could not know the
purpose, much less the actual results of yielding to the very
present temptation and reality, of that other than holy
concept called "good and evil." How very real this image
was!
The Creator's foreknowledge of this evil, expressed in the
symbol and form of a detrimental and forbidden tree
(Gen.2:17) which He Himself had planted, unequivocally
guaranteed that this image of evil was real and inevitable,
and about to become manifest as an overpowering spiritual
force in the natural creation. What's more, the original
Adamic creation hadn't even come into the knowledge, much
less the experience of mortality. Morality could not come
forth except there be mortality. Godly life could not come
forth except there first be death. How could this imperfect,
vulnerable, unfinished creature called man, possibly begin to
share in the morally perfect, invulnerable, immortal,
incorruptible, eternal life and qualities of Christ's likeness and
image---especially when most every created characteristic,
quality, and attribute of his own life and image remained
virtually undeveloped, untried, untested, and even unknown
by him?
Mankind is coming to know good and evil and eventually
every attribute of Christ's impeccable holiness in exactly the
way that the Creator had planned - Eph.1:11. Ironically,
Adam was destined to grow and learn much through his
disobedience and his predestined decline into sin. So also is
natural Israel (Ro.11:11), and so are we. In the Almighty's
plan of omniscient wisdom, He chose even before the advent
of creation, to divinely impart of His spiritual wisdom to the
minds of all mankind; not all at one time, but gradually
through hard stages and ages of learning and preparation.
Both good and evil have been instruments of the Lord used
in our instruction and our introduction unto the image of
holiness. We are all in various grades in the school of
divinity, learning that the "fear of the Lord" comes through
"the instruction of wisdom, and before honour is humility. The
preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the
tongue is from the Lord." Prv.15:33; 16:1.
If one can acknowledge the omniscience, the omnipotence,
and the omnipresence of God in His foreordained plan of
creation, redemption and restitution of all things, then it is
easy to believe that the "fall" of mankind was not an
unforeseen nor unexpected event. It was certainly not an
accident, neither did it involve any element of random chance
at all. It may have been unseen and seemingly preventable
by man in carnal theory, but it was sovereignly foreknown,
purposed, planned, prepared for, and divinely determined in
the scheme of God's creative plan.
It is God who basically brings forth, controls, and carries out
"ALL THINGS by the word of His power." Heb.1:3. Who
else but the Master Designer, Creator, and Source of all
original things had the divine foreknowledge of the tree (way
of death) with its spreading branches containing the
infectious fruit of both good and evil? Ro.11:36. Who else
but the Lord God Himself brought forth and planted all the
trees of the garden and made them to grow from out of the
lower realm of the ground? - Gen.2:8,9. Who else but the
Lord God purposely placed the Adam creation in the
immediate presence of this good and evil tree stating, "that in
the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die?"
Gen.2:17. Who else but the Lord God designed and
implemented the basic laws and principles of life and death
(Jn.12:24; 1Cor.15:36-38), commanding the earth to bring
forth "the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his
kind?" Gen.1:11,12. These laws apply to both the natural
and the spiritual creations, for man is both a natural and
spiritual creature.
The Deadly Law
In short, these governing laws are all part of either "the law of
sin and death" or "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus."
Ro.8:2. Adam, like Christ, was destined to die in God's
ordained fiat of....first the natural and then the spiritual -
Cor.15:36-49. This God-dictated working law, applied in a
natural as well as spiritual sense to the living soul of the first
man Adam. It also is applicable after the same manner, to
the second creation man ---the finished product of Adam, our
Lord Jesus Christ. It therefore also applies in a way to us
(1Cor.15:31), even until the Lord comes - 1Cor.15:51-57;
1Ths.4:14-17.
We see basically the same principle carried on in Deut.
30:19 "I have set before you...death...and cursing: therefore
choose life." God's chosen, throughout the Old Testament
were themselves unable to do so for long, unless there was
the divine intervention of God Himself. Through Christ and
His word, and through His indwelling Spirit of Life that is
manifest in His chosen, we are now given the divine
knowledge and understanding of things which are in true life
and things which are not; and in the power of faith we are
graciously enabled to choose life over death. The original
Adam man was purposely not so blessed.
Adam's situation in the garden was in close type to Paul's
understanding of the law. The first recorded holy law
(Gen.2:17) was designed specifically of God to give
knowledge of the presence of an other than godly evil thing
called sin & death - Ro.7:7. Without the presence of law "sin
was dead", lifeless, non-existent - Ro.7:8. Yet, some believe
angelic sin and rebellion was before Adam.
Adam was once in a virgin form of life apart from the
consequences of any law, but when that first commandment
was made "Thou shalt not", the reality of the existence of sin
and death came to light. The law that was dead became a
deadly law. Adam in his pristine weakness and innate
inability to resist temptation became a sinner, and
consequently was lowered into that realm wherein abode
both sin and death - Ro.7:9. Sin, taking opportunity or
occasion by the commandment, beguiled and deceived
Adam, causing his partaking of death - Ro.7:11. To will was
present with Adam; but how to perform that which was
continually good, he could not find. Neither can our own
personal Adam nature.
Evil was in the original man's presence and remaineth in ours
- Ro.7:18-21. The first godly law and the first Adam
portrayed humanity's short-comings. Adam, even before his
fall came short of the glory of God, for he was extremely
ignorant and naive. How could he be other than what God
purposed?
The newly created first man Adam had not yet the quality of
life that God planned for Him in the future. Neither had he
the quantity of the likeness and image that he was created to
receive. But the last man Adam, the son of God and son of
man, was the epitome, the archetype, the forerunner of all
that God yet has for his new creation sons. Jesus was the
fully expressed image of God in humanity - Heb.1:3;
Jn.14:9-11. "God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him"
(Jn.3:34) for the qualitative fulness of the Spirit of God dwelt
in His body - Col.2:9.
Like unto Jesus, Adam was not "saved" as some would
suggest. In their first state, neither sin nor death which one
needs to be saved from, had manifest in their lives. Although
eternal life was present within Adam's reach, and Adam in
his infancy appeared to have the ability to choose of himself
to first eat of the tree of life, the Lord's will was sovereign and
clandestinely influential in directing Adam's choice so that it
could not be. This is in likeness now to the operation of
man's initial salvation experience, whereby it appears to man
that he has the ability and absolute power of choice to at any
time choose of himself to partake of this same tree of life
which contains his salvation. Not so! The completion of our
salvation is not designed to be instantaneous and neither
was Adam's. For a much more detailed scriptural
explanation of the sovereign and absolute free will of God
and the extremely restricted free will of man, we have
several other booklets available upon request!
The absolute Sovereignty Of God's Will And Works
The Lord in his predestined planning has first chosen us.
God, through the design of His faultless plan, insured that
Adam could not choose first to partake of the tree of eternal
life. The plan of creation and redemption was so designed
that the power of sin and death had to be included in the plot
of God's plan or there would have been no need for
salvation, no need for Christ, and no need for morality and
free will at all. But it was God's plan that man be created
basically in his own image. This image primarily included a
functioning brain and mind which had an ability to reason and
to choose of oneself, and which also contained a moral
conscience.
Our Almighty Creator wanted these foremost abilities and
attributes of His own being to be prevalent in His creation of
man. So in the likeness of God we were given a portion of
the power of His free will. But it was not to be without
restraint for God knew how easily it could be misused. In
order for the will to operate in a moral sense, there had to be
knowledge of evil as well as good. So God determined to
instigate and execute His plan of creation according to His
own absolute sovereign will and who could resist it -
Eph.1:11; Ro.9:19. Adam certainly couldn't resist the
potentate will and workings of God and neither can we.
Believe it or not, it was the Creator Himself that arranged and
then proceeded to sovereignly allow and even cause the
circumstances surrounding man's fall into depravity. This is
of a basic and sound scriptural truth as we shall further see.
After all, has not our Lord, the Creator of all existing spiritual
principles and laws, the legal right to do what He will with his
own creation? Ro. chptr. 9; Matt.20:15. He did as He
willed in Adam's day regardless of Adam, and is He doing
and shall continue to do so in ours - Dan.4:35; Psa.135:6;
Jb.23:13 etc. "Hath not the Potter power over the clay of the
same lump (humanity) to make one vessel (the second
Adam) unto honour, and another (the first Adam...now
unregenerate man) unto dishonour?" Ro.9:21.
This truth applies collectively to all humanity as well as
individually. Is not God still molding his vessels in the way
that he purposes (Psa.115:3; Jb.8:3; Jer.18:4; Eph.1:11 etc.)
regardless of what man wills? The carnal mind often
wrestles with the spiritual mind in both of these scriptural
concepts. But we declare that human responsibility and
divine sovereignty is not irreconcilable truth. Only in
traditional doctrine it is!
In accordance with the divine precepts of His own chosen
principles, laws, and works, and as a part of God's on-going
creative process and will, the Creator deemed it necessary
that man and the rest of creation be for a time, put into
subjection to a transient, depraved, yet profitable vanity -
Ro.8:20,21. "To EVERYTHING (in life, death, salvation and
total restoration) THERE IS A SEASON AND A TIME
(appointed of God) TO EVERY PURPOSE (in God's creation
plan) UNDER HEAVEN. A time to be born (both naturally
and spiritually), and a time to die (again, both naturally and
spiritually)....a time to break down and a time to build up....a
time to rend and a time to build up.." Eccl.3:1-9. This is just
as applicable to God's time and work as to man's.
Solomon in His God given wisdom says, "I have seen THE
TRAVAIL WHICH GOD HATH GIVEN TO THE SONS OF
MEN to be exercised in it. He hath made every thing
beautiful in His time: also HE HATH SET THE WORLD
(ages, time periods) in their heart, so that no man can find
out THE WORK THAT GOD MAKETH (has secretly done)
from the beginning to the end." Eccl.3:10,11; Isa.46:10,11.
The ages of time for creation were ever in God's plan. The
passage of time as we experience it, is and always was, in
God's will and in His purpose.
According to plan, these are "HIS APPOINTED TIMES."
Gal.4:2-4; Isa.14:31; Ac.17:26; 1:7. The first Adam who
spiritually died at his appointed time (Heb.9:27) was a
forerunner, a figure of Him that was to come (Ro.5:14) "at the
time appointed of the Father." Gal.4:2. When the fullness of
the time is come for the manifestation (Ro.8:19) of mature
new creation sons (Gal.4:1-7), they too shall receive of the
completed glories of not only His spiritual image but also the
likeness of His immortal, incorruptible glorified body -
Phil.3:21. "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we
shall also bear the image of the heavenly." 1Cor.15:49.
Beloved, Satan didn't appoint any of these times, Men didn't
appoint them. Only God did! And men, apart from God's
working, cannot change them.
Yes, it is God alone, who in the omniscient wisdom of His
own creative planning, turned man to destruction (Psa.90:3)
and in so doing, "appointed unto men once to die" since the
foundation of the world -Heb.9:26,27. "By one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed
upon all men.." Ro.5:12. It was the Lord's purpose from
before His creation, and not at all the result of an after
thought nor an accident, nor a contingency plan....whereby
according to design, He "hath concluded them all in (a
temporary prison of sin death and) unbelief, that (through the
carrying out of His divine plan of salvation unto perfection)
He might (justly and ultimately) have mercy upon all."
Ro.11:32;Lam.3:22.
Because the fall of all mankind was foreknown,
predestinated, predetermined and primarily instigated by
God (Ro.8:20) through one man, so also is the redemption
of all mankind foreknown, predestinated, predetermined
and initially activated by God through one man, even our
Lord Jesus Christ - Ro.5:12-21. "For whom he did
foreknow, He also did predestinate TO BE CONFORMED
TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON.....them He also
called...them He also justified...them He also glorified."
Ro.8:29:30.
There is much valuable wisdom to be discovered in the light
of the true operation of God's sovereignty wherein we read,
"the Lord killeth and maketh alive." 1Sam.2:6; Deut.32:39.
But justly and mercifully, this is a planned process wherein
mercy and new creation life shall be restored to "every man
in His own order (rank, group, order of resurrection)."
1Cor.15:23. This is being done graciously and sovereignly
according to God's own divine order through the greatness of
His own power - Psa.66:3.
Our Father foreordained the Lamb to be slain for all mankind
"before the foundation of the world." (1Ptr.1:22), even before
Gen.1:9,10. It was most certainly not after Adam's
transgression as some suggest. Man in his own disobedient
choice did not dictate nor necessitate a change in God's
plans. He inadvertently and unknowingly carried them out.
Everything that was to happen in the garden and later, was
according to choice; but it really was the predetermined
choice and counsel of the great Designer's will - Dan.4:35;
Eph.1:11.
All God's created sons including Adam, as well as those
chosen of natural and now spiritual Israel, along with all
those in the ages to come, were chosen "in Him before the
foundation of the world - Eph.1:4. Chosen to live individually
as a new creation, "a new creature" "in Christ" (2Cor.5:17),
becoming part of the image of the "one new (corporate)
man." Eph.2:15. God drew up the unerasable blueprints of
His plan, and in His chosen sacrificial sons it was to be
perfected and finished.
The first Adam was in a sense sacrificed by God unto a
temporary death. The last Adam was a sacrifice of God unto
eternal life. Both were according to the redemptive will of
God. The Lord God put this plan into the unalterable motion
of omnipotent power from the beginning of the ages
(Ac.15:18; Heb.4:3), commencing from the first recorded
periods of time - Gen.1:5. Even so now, in our new creation
by salvation, "He which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Phil.1:6.
The Image Of Free Will
Maybe you have heard the following question asked, or
maybe you've asked it yourself? Could the original man
Adam really have perpetually resisted the original temptation
of evil influence which entered in through the newly planted
garden of His mind. Could He actually have chosen to
forever remain in obedience to God's first law? In the grace
of Christ, we have that power available now, but did Adam
have the power then? After all, he was created with a free
will in the image of God.
The shallow depths of the reasoning of our natural mind may
answer in the affirmative. But let's dig a little deeper into the
garden of paradise with our spiritual shovel and see if this
was possible. There is much spiritual treasure yet to be
found under the watered surface of God's beautiful garden.
It seems Adam certainly had a free self will. But, remember,
He had no further knowledge or understanding of God's will
for his life other than what he had heard Him speak in the
elemental, uncomplicated, undisturbed paradise of his virgin
mind. In the beginning, neither do we. In the image of His
maker, Adam had a legal, God given, God created, God
allowed, authorized right in independent freedom of choice
and expression, at least so it seemed. So it seems also to
us. In truth, we have a certain degree of voluntary freedom,
workable within the limits which God has purposely set and
operating in a balanced harmony with His own absolute,
sovereign, omnipotent will and with His personally
established and controlled universal laws.
Our will operates within a limited scope of function and
effects. It operates randomly, depending upon whim and
circumstance. Often, depending upon its limitations, it has
no choice at all. The agencies of God's will operate in an
unhindered freedom and determination, always in an orderly
and systematic fashion. Unlike man's, its operation is totally
absolute and never subject to outside influence. In reality,
man's so called free will is totally relative, and is subject to
the unhindered will which God Himself possesses and
activates. The Lord has no problem bringing anything to an
ultimate conclusion in whatever way He wills
Surely Adam had a legal right of choice in either keeping the
law or breaking the law of Gen.2:17. But as we touched on
already and shall show in more detail later, Adam actually
was divinely limited in volition at that time through certain
God-willed facets of his own creative makeup. And now we
ourselves are vastly limited in expressing God's perfect will
through His particular design of this fallen creation.
It is obvious that Adam's mind was very limited in the
knowledge and wisdom necessary to be able to always make
only lawful choices. Jesus on the other hand, by the grace of
His Father, had a God given will power and ability in the
power of the holy Spirit to do only the will of God. Because
the law was made weak through sinful flesh, it was God's
predestined will for Jesus alone to condemn sin in the flesh
(Ro.8:3), and to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil
whilst clothed in the form of humanity - Act.2:23,24.
Adam, whilst clothed in his natural state could not remain
sinless. Neither can we. It was reserved for Jesus. Without
Him we can do nothing. It is imperative that man be
empowered from on high. Adam lacked the personal power
and quality necessary for true holiness. Jesus lacked the
power and aptitude to be a sinner. Despite some objections
which on the surface may point to the contrary, Adam could
no more have remained innocent than Jesus could have
become a sinner. Ask for our booklet, "The Sinless Son"
which affirms this in great detail.
It was not possible for Adam to be holden in his original
created life any more than it was for Jesus to be holden of
death - Ac.2:24. The will of God, not man, remains prevalent
in every event necessary in order to fulfill God's creative will.
The legal right Adam had, became illegal when he
transgressed the law whereby he was judged as guilty. Like
unto our court system today, he was legally innocent until he
was tried and judged to be in need of correction. This was
according to the established law of the great Lawmaker and
Judge of creation. The sentence of this judgment passed
upon all Adamic men, manifesting in the form of a much
greater degree of both natural and spiritual separation from
God.
The Bible likens man's sinful state to being in a prison house
(Psa.102:20; Isa.61:1) of death - Ro.5:12-15. Any man that
is yet apart from the saving grace which contains a pardon
and a release for his spirit from that prison, remains
condemned and sentenced to the unholy self will of his own
adamic nature. His will by nature is a confined prisoner of
the spiritual law of sin and death . But now, through a higher
court of law in the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, there is no
more condemnation to them who are walking and living in the
Spirit of God - Ro.8:1-4. Because of the established quality
of life in this lower estate, unbelieving man continues in sin,
missing the mark of righteousness because his deeds as
judged in the light and revealed truth of God's word...are evil
- 1Jn.3:19.
This was not as some think, a penalty that the devil imposed
upon men. Not at all! It was master-minded, ordained, and
instituted by Almighty God - Gen.3:14-24. Adam in his first
stage, was found to be short in the likeness of God's glory
as measured against God's own glorious standards of
righteousness and holiness....and so are we - Ro.3:10,. But
thanks be to God, the present corrupt nature that men
possess as a result of their unsolicited imperfection, is under
a condemning, yet constructive judgment - Jn.3:17; Psa.
90:3.
God is not unjust - Psa.96:13; 98:9. His work of salvation
and reconciliation is really no less than a divine apology to
mankind. In actuality, He had justly planned and provided
for the forgiveness of our sin and for the reconciliation of all
sinful things, including our sinful nature, having compensated
by making peace with man through the blood of His cross to
reconcile all things unto Himself (Col.1:20) even before His
creation was made manifest. The result of His compensating
ransom in the form of an all inclusive sacrificial atonement
providing man's essential personal salvation, is according to
plan, being perceptively made evident to each individual in
the designated timing and appointment of our Saviour God -
1Tim.2:6; Tit.1:1-3; 2Tim.1:9,10; 1Cor.15:22-28.
The Immature Seed Image
Both Adam and Jesus' earthly creations were void of the
natural involvement of man. Their creations were virgin in
nature. Both were the seed of future generations. Jesus
brought with Him the maturity and perfection He had in God
before He took on the likeness of flesh and was planted in
the earth. In contrast, Adam brought with him the immaturity
and imperfection he had in the spirit when he was planted in
Eden. Just as Jesus was not brought forth into natural life in
a true state of mortality, it is also evident that Adam did not
originally manifest the nature of a "mortal man", for the
destructive power of death had not yet tainted his virgin self
life. However, he was purposely created in spirit and body
with a genetic predisposal, prone to corruption and mortality.
In the beginnings of His creative work on man, God first gave
Adam a mind and body "as it hath pleased Him" (1Cor.15:38)
to serve its purpose in Eden and later in the remainder of the
ages. At the Edenic stage, it was "very good" with respect to
God's whole creation plan, but it was immature, undeveloped
and far from perfect. It is now in this age that justified men
are closer to being made perfect, firstly in becoming a living
soul and now in becoming a quickening spirit - 1Cor.15:45.
As a testimony of his Creator's existence, the first man Adam
was created in the likeness and image of God, but only in
part. He may originally have had the full glory of an earthly
man (Ezk.28:12) but he lacked in the expression of God's
perfect glory. The Creator had chosen out of His sovereign
right, to originally express only a firstfuit portion of His own
life and being through this created offspring (Jn.1:4) called
Adam. He had also chosen to bring forth a portion of this
first creation, renewing it after the likeness and fulness of His
own firstfruit Image--the Lord Jesus Christ - 1Cor.15:20.
Adam was created of God in the likeness of a single spirit
seed of His own heavenly substance which He ordained to
multiply. The outer portion of this seed represented the
humanity destined to come. The Lord planted this dormant
spirit with a less than perfect body and nature, in the lower
elements of earth. Through bringing law into effect, He
subjected a portion of the seed to die. The inner portion of
the seed (the spirit) of the first Adam was created in a
measure of God's heavenly image, but at the same time the
outer portion of man's makeup was created in the image of
the earthy - 1Cor.15:47,49; Gen.2:7. This temporal portion
of the image (corruptible soul and body) is, like a natural
seed, destined to die and pass away as the new creation
growth matures taking on the eternal splendor of its intended
glory - Rev.21:4,5.
Ultimately, the Creator's alpha sons shall come forth as
mature, perfected omega sons in the glorious image of Him
"which is, and which was, and is to come." Rev.1:4, 8, 17.
These seed sons are coming forth as glorious mature "trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be
glorified." Isa.61:3.
The Lord had programmed and built into the first Adam man,
the potential to be a separate creature, a unique individual,
the first of a multitude of glorious creatures called man. This
was to be a creation of "gods" (Psa.82:6; Isa.41:23;
Jn.10:34) of His own choosing which were destined to
multiply and take root, eventually blossoming as full grown
flowers in the perfected beauty of "the Rose of Sharon and
the Lily of the Valleys"(S.S.2:1); a sweet and fragrant
smelling bouquet bound together in inseparable unity in the
likeness and image of our Lord Jesus Christ - 1Cor.3:18.
In much the same sense that the woman was originally
brought forth from Adam to become one individual, yet a
slightly different species than the male, so was Adam
brought forth from God. And as it was in God's heart to
create man out of Himself for His pleasure (Rev.4:11) and for
His close fellowship (Gen.1:26; Col.1:16), so the woman was
created out of man and for the man - Gen.2:18. And again in
like type, He brought forth from the seed of His last Adam
Son, a woman, His church. Her spiritual offspring will
eventually involve the remainder of humanity coming forth as
seed after His spiritual likeness and kind - Gen.1:12.
Together, mankind will ultimately contain the totality and
completeness of the image of God (1Cor.15:28) and His
former dominion (Gen.1:28) will become an everlasting
dominion (Dan.7:14), and God's new kingdom an everlasting,
eternal kingdom, wherein all other dominions shall serve and
obey Him - Dan.7:27.
God's Overall Image
"God created man in His own image...male and female
created He them." Gen.1:27; 9:6. What it mean to be
created in God's "image" involves many facets of natural and
revelational truth, some of which we have touched on
already. We will continue further in some of these truths.
First of all, a name in scripture reflects authority as well as
other true characteristics of the one it describes.
For instance, the likeness of male and female is found in the
names of our most High God. Elohim and El Shaddai reflect
both of these images. "El" has the meaning of dominant
power, strength--denoting masculine character. "Oh"
denotes the faithfulness, loving female, mother quality. "Im"
has the meaning of a plural unit, a family vine. "Shaddai"
means "breasted", "pourer forth or provider of life", fed with
milk of the word - Isa.28:9. "In the day that God created
man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and
female created He them...and called their (family) name
Adam in the day when they were created." Gen.5:1,2 There
is both a heavenly and earthly family (Eph.3:15) in the
similitude of the family of God (Father and Son).
Secondly, we see that God is a living Spirit (Jn.4:24), and He
has created man in the shared substance of this spirit which
manifests this existence. In conjunction with this, the Creator
has imparted to man many goodly fundamental qualities,
characteristics, attributes, virtues etc. of His existing spiritual
nature. Man has a personal nature which contains
consciousness of a self image as well as a God image -
Rom.2:15. "There is a spirit in man" (Jb.32:8), an individual
portion of eternal God substance, which when clothed upon
with a body of flesh substance and given a breath of divine
life, "man became a living soul." Gen.2:7.
He became a combination of spiritual and natural substances
subject to all spiritual as well as natural laws of God. He
became a living human being; a conscious, intelligent
creation, endowed with a mind as well as abilities similar to
his Creator. In likeness to God man is able to rest, to work,
to be productive, act, behave, think, sense, imagine, reason,
study, understand, believe, remember etc. He was able to
exist in two realms simultaneously; the natural earthy realm
and the heavenly spiritual realm.
Through the body realm, he was able for the first time to
function in other likenesses of His Creator in things such as
sight, speech, hearing, taste and touch and smell. Each
man's soul (the personification of his mind, will, and
emotions) was to characterize his unique individual spirit as
well as reveal the existence of a Creator.
Adam, like his Creator, was a being capable of moral
conscience but in his original created infancy, was naturally
incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong. He
lacked any mental or experiential understanding of good or
bad, right or wrong as well as any knowledge or
understanding of His Creator's own personal fundamental
standards. The application and operation of God's laws were
inauguraly designed to ultimately bring man this full
knowledge of "the image of Him that created him." Col.3:10.
Today we have many laws recorded for us in the written
book of life, whereby true holiness is being supernaturally
transferred through the Spirit of the word and being written
upon the tables of men's hearts. Because of the first Adam's
moral immaturity and imperfection, and because he had not
known death, his soul and body lacked the basic godly
quality of immortality. Because he had no knowledge of evil
and sin, he had no concept nor means of attaining the godly
quality of incorruption. And most important of all, he had no
way at that time to experience a relationship of quality with
His Maker, called "life eternal." Jn.17:3.
We find that the Spirit of God always contains the highest
quality as well as an unending duration of His life, whereas
the spirit of man was first created in a lower parallel realm of
temporary eonian existence. However, man was created to
live in and experience much more than temporary or even
eternal existence. He was created for God's good pleasure
to forever share in the likeness and existence of God's
eternal life.
God also is revealed through His word as One God....a triune
being. Namely, the Father and the Son who share the same
holy Spirit. In like pattern to His image, man is also a
singular three part being....one creation consisting of body,
soul, and spirit - 2 Ths.5:17. One visible God substance (like
unto Jesus), and two invisible. In somewhat the same
manner, visible light has three parts, the invisible two being
ultra-violet and infra-red. Just as God's Spirit was able to
function independently (ie. the Father and the Son) so was
man created to have an independent spirit. Just as God
existed as "Himself", man was created to be "himself" also.
As we have previously stated, man was created in the image
of God with a personal will to do as he pleased (Gen.2:19;
3:6) within the law and dominion of God - Gen.2:17. Although
the functioning of a personal will was a necessary operation
given in the likeness of his Creator who originally had the
only power of choice, it was lacking in wisdom and the
mature perfection of God's own incorruptible will.
Adam's own personal will and psyche was originally
uncorrupted but obviously not incorruptible. He remained
perfect in his ways until iniquity, a perverse and unlawful self
will was found to be in him - Ezk.28:15. Adam's creation in
this imperfect state of humanity contributed to the weakness
of his own human will. Thanks be to God, there is One now
whose greater power is working within us both to will and to
do of all His good pleasure - Phil. 2:13; 1Jn.4:4. The Creator
and Redeemer is now tabernacling within earthen vessels,
"that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of
us (2 Cor.4:7; Eph.3:16-20) lest any man should boast of the
power of his own self will and works.
The image and likeness of God is present also in the
projection of His power of holiness, righteousness, mercy,
justice, liberty, wisdom, knowledge understanding etc. On
the other hand, the image of God is seen in His divine yet
righteous anger, wrath, vengeance, judgment, hate etc.,
opposing every form of sin and iniquity. Man is destined to
also reflect this perfected image of His nature. Any similar
nature arising from the unregenerate first man Adam, is yet
imperfect in varying degrees.
Adam, in his original state of creation, was untried and
untested, and therefore had immature and imperfect
personal characteristics. These characteristics were
unable to develop unto God--likeness in major attributes
such as godly fear, godly anger, godly sorrow and godly love.
It was ordained that they must first fall into degeneration and
death upon Adam's transgression.
Science says man continues to evolve or ascend from lower
life forms. The Bible says unregenerate man is a
descendant of Adam who was originally created in a higher
life form. If the first Adam were not ordained to vanity as he
was, and was created perfect in the sense of Christ-likeness,
he would never have yielded to temptation. There would
have been no need for Christ, the second Adam, who
fulfilling His Father's will, yielded not. Nor was the first Adam
created with the quality of incorruptibility, for he was easily
corrupted. The second Adam was not.
It therefore follows, that the first Adam was brought into this
world, as immature in the emotional make-up and faculties of
his soul and spirit as that of a very young infant. Like as to a
baby, he was brought forth in the flesh in a state of
innocence and was along with many other things, ignorant
of true moral values. He was brought forth in a
comparatively weak, undeveloped condition of spirit, mind
and body. In man's spiritual rebirth, we can also find a
parallel of this original truth - 1Cor.3:1; Heb.5:12-14.
So we see, Adam in type to mankind, could not help but
harbor weak, immature, imperfect characteristics and
faculties of selfishness and self will, because he had not yet
partaken of the perfect, complete, and mature knowledge of
evil. This state he found himself in was ordered of God as
the first stage of development towards the full likeness and
image of His Creator. Adam neither had the maturity nor the
ability, nor the responsibility at that time to be able to partake
of the way of the tree of life.
However, we have all this made available today through the
completed perfect man, Christ Jesus our Lord. Like unto a
child, man had to first come to know good and evil
(Gen.3:22) by tasting the bad fruit. How is a child to know
the difference between hot and cold unless he touches or
somehow partakes of these realities? Only upon tasting the
bad fruit and becoming critical of it, could man truly
understand and appreciate the value and the deliciousness
of perfect unblemished fruit when it was finally revealed and
given unto him to taste. Sadly, it seems a lot of God's
children have not yet quite had their fill of the evil fruit,
namely the works of the flesh - Gal.5:19-21.
In the unguarded garden of his mind, the deceptive and
subtly, enticing serpent (even the iniquity) of man's lust,
slithered silently out of the darkness and attacked Adam's
limited intellect. First Eve ( the soul), and consequently
Adam (the spirit), in a moment of weakness, reached out in
seemingly innocent curiosity, disobediently touching the tree
(way) that was to bring not only the knowledge, but also the
experience of deaths' many evils.
As a result, rather than ascending further into glory as did
Christ when He touched upon death, Adam descended,
falling into a state of even lesser glory where he now must
depend upon life touching him. Brethren, let us be very
careful of what we touch, for there is a way which seemeth
right unto man but the end thereof are the ways of death -
Prv.14:10.
Both the first and second man Adam had no spiritual form of
evil or death operating in them, although the first Adam was
purposely made much more susceptible to latent iniquity. It
appears Adam's body was more subject to releasing and
manifesting this evil from within.
Christ's body in His humanity was more subject to the
temptation of evil from without. Both were sent of God to
carry out the will of the Father in furtherance of the divine
creative plan. Adam was the prototype of the inferior race of
all humans, who through divine design, became dependent
on themselves. Jesus was the prototype of a new and
superior race who also through design, shall become wholly
dependent upon God.
Both really had no other choices to make than those that
they did. Overpowering iniquity in his human makeup
empowered and compelled the first Adam unto sin, while the
omnipotent holy Spirit in Christ empowered and compelled
Him without sin, to carry out the will of His Father as the last
Adam. At this particular time, our own natural mortal bodies
of death still may be subject to both inward and outward
adamic evils, but if Christ be in you, greater is He in you who
has now given you the power in your spirit to become totally
subject to Him.
God's Image Perfected In Man
Back in the garden, it was not in God's perfect will nor timing,
and therefore not in the designed plan of creation, to quickly
mature or miraculously perfect Adam in his infant stage of
immaturity - Gen.3:22. This is not at all how he had
designated maturity to take place, neither in the natural nor in
the spiritual plane of existence. Nor is there any such thing
as instant maturity in Christianity today.
As with Job, the Lord had taken away Adam's protecting
hedge - Jb.1:7-12. If you are an servant of the Lord who
aspires to go on unto perfection (Heb.7:1), do not be
surprised if there seems to no longer be a hedge around your
life either. There are many parallels to be found between
Job and Adam.
Adam became as it were, the first prodigal son. Only through
the Spirit of the Lord in much tribulation is mankind ordained
to be able to return unto taking his rightful place of
inheritance and dominion in the earthly kingdom of God. The
Lord's stated purpose of creation was, "Let us make man in
our image, after our likeness...and let them have
dominion...over all the earth." Gen.3:26. Dominion in the
coming kingdom however, is not reserved for the "teknon"
developing sons of God, nor shall the kingdom be left to any
other people but is reserved only for "huios" fully mature
sons of God - Ro.8:17; Dan.3:44.
What a lot of people fail to understand is that the Lord
sovereignly ordained that it would take ages for His full
likeness to be perfected in man. Christ Jesus was the first
evidence of the finished product of God's perfect likeness
and image (2Cor.4:4; Col.1:15; Heb.1:3), learning obedience
and maturity through the things that he suffered - Heb.5:8.
He has become the manifested forerunner of the new and
perfected Adamic race in bringing many sons unto the
manifested glory of His own image and likeness - Heb.2:10;
Ro.8:29,30.
The "born again" (Jn.3:7) and first maturing children of God,
a type and species of the "firstfruits of His creatures"
(Jas.1:18), are born of the spirit to be amongst the first of the
whole Adamic creation to express the likeness and image of
Christ their saviour. These shall have "gotten the victory
over the beast and over his image" (Rev.15:2), "being the
firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb." Rev.14:4.
Some other important major likenesses which are a reflection
of God's image in man, are found in the created capacities to
be able to partake of the fruitfulness of His Spirit of love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness
and temperance: against which there is no law - Gal.5:22,23.
Beloved, are you allowing His fruit to ripen? Will your fruit be
ripe when He calls upon His firstfruit company (Rev.14:4) to
begin to feed the multitudes of needy ones at the end of this
age?
Finally, we find the Lord's image also reflected in man's God
given ability to progressively multiply, not only in natural
creative reproduction, but in spiritual reproduction as well.
We are also now well able to increase in godly stature and
authority in order to fill the earth, subdue it, and have
responsible dominion over every living thing - Gen.1:28. The
first man Adam was not ready for this. Are you who are the
partakers of the second Adam nature, faithfully preparing for
this? Are you part of the church "that hath made herself
ready"? Rev.19:7; Matt.25:10.
Adam may have lacked the full glory of God's image to a
lesser degree than that of mankind today. But within you
who are going on unto maturity and perfection, is an
everlasting well of the full hope of this glory - Col.1:27. Drink
deeply of it while you are yet able. "The night is far spent,
the day is at hand." Ro.13:12. The full glory of the Lord is
about to rise and shine, heralding the dawning of a new age,
a new kingdom government, and a perfected new creation
man - Dan.7:27. See then that ye......
"PUT ON THE NEW MAN, WHICH IS RENEWED IN
KNOWLEDGE
AFTER THE IMAGE OF HIM
THAT CREATED HIM." COL.3:10
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