2 Cor. 3:12-18, Through Christ the Image is Restored

IV.                  In Christ, the image of God is restored in men, Col. 3:10.

Not only was Jesus the Savior who came to earth 2000 years ago.  He is the Savior today.  There is only one Savior: We trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe (1 Tim. 4:10).

What does this have to do with restoring the image of God in sinful people?  The Bible says that when a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ he is saved (Acts 16:31).  We are saved from our sinful condition.  We are spiritually dead, and when we believe in Christ we are made alive in Christ (Eph. 2:4-5).  Jesus, referring to His resurrection, on the night before He was crucified told His disciples, Because I live, you will live also (Jn. 14:19).  Our new life comes from Christ living in us.

Here is one of the best statements of this in the Bible: I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal. 2:20).  Think about this!  Christ Jesus, the Savior who loved me and died in my place, and who also is the image of God, He lives in me.  What do you think will happen, the longer I live with Christ in me?  I will be transformed into His likeness.  I will be more like the One who is “the image of God.”

That is what the Bible says.  We will “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 13:14).  We are putting on “the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24).  This “new man” is Christ who “lives in us.”  The more we are focused on Christ, the more we become like Him.  But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory … (2 Cor. 3:18). 

How do we focus on Christ?  It is through the simple disciplines of the Christian life: Bible study, prayer, and through the fellowship of other Christians.  As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby (1 Peter 2:2).  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching (Heb. 10:25).  Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16). 

The day will come when this life will be over.  Christ will come for us, either when we die or when He returns to take believers who are alive to be with Him in heaven (John 14:1-4).  At that point the restoration process will be complete.  We know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).  This is what we, as humans, were created for!  This is how we bring glory to our Creator.