Monday, 5 October 2015

#3, JESUS: IMAGE OF GOD

Come with us as we continue to check out who this Man, Jesus Christ, really is…


First we found that He claimed to be the ‘I AM’ - which was enough to knock soldiers off their feet when they came to arrest Him. 
Then we discovered that His friends gradually saw that He was really God living among us!                        

Hang about!....                                                             
How can God be in heaven and on earth at the same time?

Let’s use George Washington as an example.       
There is no doubt he was once alive on this earth but personally is now as visible to us today as God is invisible.                    

Here is George being sworn-in as first President…no just kidding…that’s a very close resemblance. (by David Morse)


In the same way Jesus resembled the invisible God:


‘…Christ, who is the image of God…’
 
‘the Son…who is the image of the invisible God…by Him were all things created…all things were created by Him and for Him…’
         
…where ‘image’ comes from the Greek: eikon meaning ‘likeness’ or ‘resemblance’.                 



Better than a resemblance….                                                 
Artists have portrayed Mr. President so we have images of him in paintings, on dollar bills and even sculpted in rock.


In the same way, we find this one:

‘the Son…the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person…’

Wow!... ‘express image’??....in human form?                       
This comes from the Greek: charakter, the same word used for the emperor’s engraving stamped on a Roman coin.

Okay, John the fisherman didn't have an i-phone in his back pocket, and it's probably just as well. Not only did Jesus resemble God, He is the EXACT IMAGE of God in heaven!...so close, just like identical twins, that the apostle Paul doesn’t distinguish any difference!
‘…our Lord Jesus Christ; which in its own time the blessed and only Ruler shall show, the King of those that reign, and Lord of those that exercise lordship; who only has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; who no man has seen, nor is able to see; to whom be honour and eternal might.  Amen.’

Perhaps ‘doubting’ Thomas had more idea than most of us…

“My Lord and my God!”

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