Character Of God!
"You have put on the new man who is renewed
in knowledge according to the image of Him who
created him."
Colossians 3: 10
Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar ordered a giant statue of
gold to be built: ninety feet tall and nine feet wide. It
might
have represented the king himself or it might
have
represented Nebuchadnezzar’s patron god, Nabu.
Since kings of the day ascribed divine status to themselves,
the image—whether of a king or the king’s
god—represented
the divine on earth (Daniel 3:1).
We find a similar scenario in the Genesis creation story: God
created
man in His own image (Genesis 1:26-27). The same word for
image—
tzelem—is used both for God’s image (a spiritual image) and the
image
in Babylon (a physical image). What was the purpose of God
creating
mankind in His image?
Mankind was to represent God throughout God’s
Kingdom,
or creation. As Paul writes in Ephesians 4:24, Christians are
a
new creation and are “to be like God—truly righteous and
holy”
(NLT).
Though originally marred by sin, we have been recreated
(born
again) to reflect God’s righteousness and holiness. When
others
see us, they are to see the character of our
God.
"Man is a creature, because he is made by God.
But he is a unique creature because he is made
like God."
Edmund P. Clowney
