When God created man, He said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). This was to set us apart from all other creations. We are to reflect the image of our creator. This does not mean that we look like God physically, for God is Spirit (John 4:24) and he became flesh (John 1:14). No, we are to reflect him in his nature, that is, in our sense of morality and ability to reason critically.
This image was displayed to us in the coming of His Son. The Hebrew writer says in Heb. 1:3, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint (or exact representation/ express image) of his nature…” Jesus is the radiance, that is, the ever-shining light of the glory of God. He is the exact imprint of his nature. The Greek word used here is often translated to mean a tool for engraving or a mold. In other words, it is by the example of Jesus that we were created and it is for him that we are created and redeemed (John 1:3; Heb. 1:2). We have seen that glory through the Son (John 1:14), yet we have all “sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). However, God, through his Son, has provided us a chance for restoration into the image we were created in (Rom. 3:24). If you’ve ever seen an old picture, covered in water stains and fold lines, that’s an idea of what our life in sin looks like: a distorted image of what once was. Through Christ’s sacrifice, that image can be restored.
Having been restored by being immersed into Christ, God transforms and conforms us into who we ought to be. Each day, God is working all things, that is both the good and the bad, together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). But what is that purpose? What are all things working together for? Paul says, in the following verse, that our purpose is to be “conformed to the image of His son in order that He might be the firstborn of many brothers” (Rom. 3:29).
Have you seen the movie The Lion King? In the film, Simba is struggling to grasp who he is supposed to be. His evil uncle, Scar, has usurped the throne and left the land in a state of disarray. Simba cries out to his dead father Mufasa, unsure of what to do, when the wise baboon Rafiki tells him that his father is in a small pool of water. Looking down at the water, Simba says, ““That’s not my father. That’s just my reflection. Rafiki responds, “Look harder. You see, he lives in you!” When we look at ourselves in the mirror, we must see the image of God that we were created in. We need to see our Heavenly Father in us.
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Simba then goes to his mother. She sees him and, not believing her eyes, says, “Mufasa?” When others look at you, do they see your Heavenly Father?
God created us in His image. Let us now “with unveiled face, behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). Let us and let others see the beauty of Jesus living through us.
Jared McLeod
