IN WHOSE IMAGE AND LIKENESS ARE YOU?

Adam's fall changed him, and all his lineage.

Genesis 1:26-27 - "And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them."  [Man was created looking like God (image as in a mirror), and like Him, that is, having the character of God - innocent, holy, righteous].

Genesis 2:16-17 - "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."  [Adam and Eve DID die the day they disobeyed; they died spiritually; they ceased to be "like God"].

Genesis 3:5 - "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."  [Satan convinced them they needed to do something in order to be like God.  "Like" and "as" are interchangeable - they mean the same thing (this can be seen by how they are used in similes).  Adam and Eve already were "like God"].

Genesis 5:3 - "And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth."  [Note:  Seth was born in Adam's fallen image and likeness.  As we shall see below, all of humanity has the image and likeness of Adam, not God].

John 4:24 - "God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth."   [Spiritually dead, one must be born again in order to worship God as his or her Father.  We must be "in Christ," and we must be "indwelt by the Spirit"].

With that in mind, now read 1 Corinthians 15:42-54.

"So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:  it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:  it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit.  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.  Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."

 

I cannot wait until Jesus calls me home (1 John 3:2)!