"Let Us make man in our IMAGE, after Our LIKENESS..."(Gen.1:26) The word for IMAGE in Hebrew, tselem, means ‘a phantom or resemblance, hence a REPRESENTATIVE figure, an idol’. A representative is one who re-presents someone or something else. In my business I represent a particular company. The clients I serve have not usually seen the company, but when they see me, it’s as if they’ve seen the company. As a representative, my authority is to re-present to clients what the company has presented to me. That same word, tselem, is used several times in the scripture referring to idols. An idol really has no intrinsic power of itself, rather it represents a demonic force that operates through the idol. Adam was the one to re-present the Father in the earth as he subdued it and exercised dominion. So as God made man in His IMAGE, I believe it is primarily a matter of FUNCTION as Gods representative in the earth. He also made man in His LIKENESS... the word there, demuwth, means ‘like fashion, like manner, similitude, to compare, liken’. Admittedly, these two words are very similar in meaning but the word LIKENESS seems to have more to do with ‘LIKE NATURE’ or ‘character’ rather than function.

I Tim.2:14 tells us that Adam was not deceived... OK men, let’s not get all proud of our gender here because the TRUTH of the matter is that Adam was NOT deceived, he CHOSE to know evil! When he did this he suddenly knew he was naked. Ps.8:5 tells us that he was crowned or ‘clothed’ with glory and honor, indicative of the ‘nature’ of God, and when he sinned he was no longer clothed with the glory, the likeness left him, he was naked. Because he CHOSE to operate with a different nature or LIKENESS, God then clothed him with skins, indicative of his new BEAST nature... survival of the fittest was now the order as he toiled over the cursed ground. So here we have Adam, created in the image of God and doing the FUNCTION of representing, yet without the likeness or nature of God... one in the form of God, yet devoid of the Spirit of God... one resembling God, yet with a beast nature... he became anti-(instead of)Christ, the ‘man of sin’ as sin entered the world through this one man.(Rom. 5:12)

Phil.2:6-7 says that Christ Jesus “...although being in the ‘form’(Greek is morphe- nature) of God... stripped Himself of all privileges and rightful dignity so as to assume the ‘form’ of a servant in that He was made in the LIKENESS of men..” Rom.8:3 speaks of “...sending His own Son in the LIKENESS of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh...”. 2 Cor.5:21 says “...He made Christ to be sin Who knew no sin...”. So we see Christ literally taking upon Himself the LIKENESS or nature of Adam, yet without sin in order to restore the LIKENESS or nature of God to man. Heb.2:9 says “We see Jesus... crowned (clothed) with glory and honor because of His having suffered death....”, so here is Jesus clothed with the glory and honor or LIKENESS that Adam forfeited... and then verse 10 goes on to say “...it was an act worthy of God and fitting to the divine nature... in bringing MANY SONS into glory...” (Amplified Bible)

It is interesting to note that in I Cor.15:49 when it says “...just as we have born the image of the man of dust, so shall we and so let us also bear the image of the Man of heaven...”, the word ‘image’ there in the Greek is ‘eikon’ which means LIKENESS. So Christ came to restore the nature or LIKENESS of God to man to bring MANY sons to the glory that Adam was clothed with. Romans 8:29 says “...those whom He foreknew, He also destined from the beginning to be molded into the image of His Son and share inwardly His LIKENESS, that He might become the Firstborn among MANY brethren.” (Amplified Bible) Obviously if He is the ‘FIRSTborn’ then there are more, and if these are referred to as ‘brethren’ and ‘sons’ then they are the same nature or LIKENESS as the Firstborn... they are of the same kind. Genesis 5:3 says that Adam had a son “...in his own likeness, after his image...” whose name was Seth. In Hebrew Seth means ‘put or substituted or to place’. Eph. 1:4-5 says “... He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world; that we should be holy and blameless in His sight... He foreordained us to be ADOPTED as sons...”. The word ADOPTED there means ‘to place as a son’, and those adopted are a ‘substitute’ for natural sons.

So what’s the correlation here?... The first Adam had a son in his image and likeness whose name meant ‘substituted’; the Last Adam will have a SON in His image and likeness who is ‘adopted’. Keep in mind when I say ‘son’ this is not referring to gender, “...there is neither Jew nor Greek... male or female, for you are all ONE in Christ Jesus.”. In Hebrews 2:13 it says “...here am I, (Jesus, see verse 9) I and the children whom God has given Me...”, obviously Jesus was not married with natural children. Is.53:8 says of Messiah “...who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living...”, in other words He won’t have natural children because He dies; but verse 10 goes on to say “...He SHALL see His SEED, He shall PROLONG His days...”. That wording ‘prolong His days’ is used throughout the book of Deut. to speak of carrying on a genealogy in the land. Is.9:6 the very familiar verse confirms this as Messiah Jesus is called “...Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting FATHER, Prince of Peace...”, there it is, Jesus is a Father. The Messianic Psalm 22 that begins with, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?...” says in verse 30 “...a SEED shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord (Jesus) for a GENERATION...”. Matt. 1:1 speaks of the book of the ‘generation of Jesus Christ’; the word generation ‘ghenesis’ means NATURE and we read of this ‘generation’ in verse 17 when it says “... from the carrying away into Babylon unto CHRIST are fourteen generations...”. OK, get out your calculators now... Abraham to David are fourteen generations, David to Jechoniah and Babylonian exile are fourteen generations... here’s where it gets interesting. Start in verse 12 and keep in mind that Jechoniah was number fourteen in the last group... Shealtiel #1, Zerubbabel #2, Abiud #3, Eliakim #4, etc... then Joseph #12, Jesus #13... yes, you counted correct Jesus #13, the Christ is #14, the 42nd generation. Remember Jesus is the HEAD, we are called the BODY of Christ. This is the New Creation Man spoken of in Eph. 2:15, “...that He from the two might create IN HIMSELF one New Man - one new quality of humanity out of the two...” (Amplified Bible). The number 42 is 6 multiplied by 7... six is the number of MAN and seven is the number of PERFECTION. Eph. 4:13 speaks of the time when “...we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a PERFECT MAN, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ...”, this is what all creation is groaning for, the ‘manifestation of the sons of God’.(Rom. 8:19)

The Father WILL have a many-membered MAN in His IMAGE... remember, image has to do with FUNCTION, subduing the earth, and we read in Rev.11:15 that the “...kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdom of the Lord (Jesus) and His Christ (His sons)...”. Micah 4:8 says “And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the Daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the FIRST DOMINION (remember the garden?); the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” Not only will this MAN be in the image of God, but also in the LIKENESS or nature of God, as we “...put on the new nature created in God’s LIKENESS, Godlike in true righteousness and holiness.”(Eph. 4:24 Amplified Bible). Imagine as the IMAGE and LIKENESS of God are fully restored upon this many-membered MAN, “...but the Lord shall arise upon you,, and His glory shall be SEEN on you. And nations shall come to your LIGHT, and kings to the brightness of your rising...”(Is.60:2-3).

God’s ultimate purpose for your life is that you be conformed and transfigured into His image and likeness as a SON, in order that He may embody Himself in a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, to show forth His glory.
 

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