Grace and peace be unto the Israel of God in the name of our God and Father, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 1:26-27, 2:7)
The Lord Jesus Christ at the time of creation made man in His own image. Many have been taught that the image He made man in was a physical image, the arms, legs, torso, and head. We have been led to believe that God made man in a physical likeness as He was. But, when we read the totality of the record of the making of man, we find that, though He formed us in this physical likeness, that this is not the image God had made man in.
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)
When God made man, He breathed of His own Spirit, His own holiness, and made man a living soul. Man was not made a living body, but a living soul, holy and righteous before God. He was made a spiritual being in a physical body, more spiritual than physical. The body was but a mere shell of what the Lord God had breathed into it. Man was originally made holy and righteous before God, because had breathed into man of His own holiness, His own Spirit.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)
Until the manifestation of Christ in the flesh, God had no physical body to call His own. He manifested Himself as a theophany in the times of Abraham, and I believe as Melchizedek in
Genesis 14. But, God is a Spirit. The flesh of Christ was human flesh, but in Christ’s physical body dwelt the fullness of the Godhead. This was possible because God is a Spirit. So, in other words, God breathed of Himself into man in the Garden.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. (Romans 5:12-13)
When man sinned, he ceased being in the image of God. He lost the holiness of God. Life was still within him, but there was also sin and transgression. Man severed himself willingly from the holiness of God. The Lord Jesus did not withdraw the life from man, but His holiness was no longer there. Sin and come forth, and spiritual death had taken place. Man died in the image of sin, and we left the Garden lost and condemned for our sins.
For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Romans 5:17-19)
When Christ came, He died not only for forgiveness of sin, but to also restore us back to the Garden state we abandoned through our sin. He came to make us righteous before Himself. His death made us righteous, just as we were before we lost His likeness through the Spirit. But, how is this done, and at what point are we restored back to the likeness of God?
Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. (John 20:21-23)
When Jesus breathed on the disciples, He breathed His Spirit back into them. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is the breath of God back into the life of an individual. Our very salvation is what makes us righteous before God, when our sins are remitted through the waters of baptism, and we receive the Spirit back into us. We are restored spiritually back into the state humanity was in before the fall. We are made holy and righteous again through Christ Jesus. We are once again, back into the image of God, just as the Lord God intended all along.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)
It is important to not only be made holy and restored back into the image of God at salvation, but that we maintain that image through the transformation of the mind. We can longer think as we did when we were fallen. We cannot maintain the mindset of an individual that was lost, for we have been returned back to the image of God that we once were before the fall. We must maintain holiness, lest we fall as Adam did, as far too many believers are doing right and left.
Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. (Hebrews 12:16-17)
Too many have received the restoration of the image back into their lives, just to reject it later through carnality and personal satisfaction. They have walked in holiness to start with, and have maintained the image that was restored, but then left holiness for an abomination of worldliness and sin, and have lost the image. They have forsaken their birthright, and lest they do repent, can never be restored back to that which they have lost.
Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. (James 5:10-11)
We have been formed, reformed, and restored back into the image of God that was lost at the fall of man. Our sins have been remitted, and we have, once again, been breathed into by the Spirit. We have been made as Adam was before the fall, and are holy and righteous before God. We must now endure the attacks and persecutions of this world, and maintain the image we have been restored back into. Through His blood and by His grace, we have been restored back to the image of God, holy and righteous. Let us not forsake this which He has so freely restored us to, and let us run this race until the end.
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