III.
Jesus is the image of God, Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3.
You may remember in a previous post we noted
Jesus’ words to His disciples in Luke 24:39: “a spirit does not have flesh and
bones as you see I have.” We were
talking about how God is “spirit” and is therefore invisible in His essential
nature or form. You may have wondered
how Jesus could be God and yet have a body.
He was obviously human, having a body.
The answer to this is that Jesus was and is
God who came to earth as a Man. The
Bible says that Jesus “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). God, who is by nature “spirit” took on the
human form. Jesus was “in the form of
God” but humbled Himself, coming to earth “in the likeness of men” (Phil.
2:5-8). He was still fully God, but was
now fully Man. The Bible, speaking of
Jesus, says in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form (Col.
2:9, NASV).
How could this be? The answer is that Jesus was “the image of
God.” Let me explain. Jesus was a real man which means He was made
in the likeness of God, just like Adam was.
But because Jesus was born of a virgin and conceived in her by the work
of God (Luke 1:35). Therefore, the image
of God in Jesus was not marred by sin; He did not receive the sinful nature
like we have at birth from our fathers.
Unlike Adam, Jesus lived a sinless life.
Because as a Man He was made in the likeness of God, and that likeness
was not marred or damaged, there was no conflict between His Deity and His
Humanity.
The next question is, why did God do
this? Why did God come to earth and take
on the form of Man? The answer takes us
back to the Garden of Eden. God had told
Adam that in the day he ate from the forbidden tree he would die (Gen. 2:17). Sin brought, and continues to bring, the
judgment of death on sinful men. Adam’s
situation was hopeless. He could not go
back and undo his sin. The only hope
would be if someone else would be able and willing to take Adam’s punishment
for him. This One would have to have no
sin; then He would not have to die for His own sin and could die for the sin of
Adam and all the other sinners.
In Gen. 3:15 God promised just such a
Man. This promise was in words God said
to Satan in the Garden of Eden: I (God) will put enmity between you (Satan)
and the woman (Eve), and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your
head, and you shall bruise His heel.
This One would be a Man because
He is said to be the Seed of the woman.
People began to hope for this Savior. God gave instructions that people could show
their faith in Him, that He would keep His promise, by sacrificing an
unblemished animal as an act of worship.
The animal was not the Savior because it was not a human. But this act would remind people that someday
the Savior would come and would die for the sinner. Generation after generation went by. People continued to hope. Several thousand years later people were
still hoping for the Savior. And finally
the Savior came. It was announced to
shepherds on a hillside near the middle eastern village of Bethlehem: There
is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord
(Lk. 2:11).
Jesus of Nazareth, the One who was the very
image of God, He was the Savior!
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