The Likeness of God – Lost and Regained

“In the day that God created man, in the LIKENESS OF GOD made he him” – Genesis 5:1.

One of the most precious gifts that God has bestowed on mankind and something that everyone should be excited about is the fact that we carry the form of God in us. Isn’t astounding to know that we actually look like God? Yes! God created man and woman in the LIKENESS OF HIM. Genesis 1:26 says “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”. Next time you see yourself in the mirror shout a big thank you to God. Never complain about how you look for you are created by God in His own likeness. Today let us look through the Bible how man lost this impeccable form and regained it.

Genesis 3 narrates the fall of man because of his disobedience. The serpent tricked Adam & Eve to believe a lie that he formulated and made them betray God. This sort of betrayal is not just eating an apple against God’s will rather a higher form of betrayal where man replaced satan for God. His right as a son of God having the likeness of God was despised to satisfy the lust of his eyes. Esau, in Genesis 25:32 lost his birthright for he didn’t value the sonship that he was entitled for. Esau resembles the fallen man. Thus when man despised God he actually started to lose the form of God as God was no longer his father but it was satan who snatched that place by his craftiness.

God had to send man out of the garden of Eden because he betrayed him. In chapter 6 the Bible says that men began to multiply on the face of the earth. If you furl a few chapters back you would notice something peculiar. God sent Adam & Eve out of the Garden of Eden for their disobedience. Adam knew his wife and bore a son and named him Cain. Then she bore Abel. If you notice the characteristics of Cain and Abel, Abel chose to be a shepherd and was pleasing to God. Genesis 4:4 says God had respect on Abel and his offering. But v5 says that God did not respect Cain and his offering. I was wondering why God portrayed this favoritism. On reading these chapters again and again I got this revelation – when man disobeyed God, he bore the fruit of sin within him as he walked out of the Garden of Eden. He knew his wife during this period of guilt and the seed of sin came out as Cain. But man did repent for his transgressions and the God of grace did grant him repentance. Abel was born during the period of repentance. That is why right from the beginning Cain had bitterness towards Abel and wanted to kill him as there was an enmity between the son of man (Cain) and son of God (Abel).

Later Eve bore Seth and she considered him as another seed instead of Abel. So Adam and Eve had two descendants Cain and Seth, the former being a seed of sin and the later seed of God. Now when they began to multiply Cain’s descendants lost their identity with God whereas the descendants of Seth resembled God’s form. It’s until chapter 6 when the sons of God mixed with the sons of men that they all lost the likeness of Christ. V4 says that there were giants on the face of the earth, a form of man that God didn’t intend to be. God’s prime purpose to create man in his likeness was no longer worth it as he already destroyed it by his sin. Now when God saw that every thought of man was only evil, he had no other resort than to destroy him because he lost the form of God.

Surprisingly Noah and his family kept themselves from mingling with the sons of men and still had the form of God. So Noah found grace in the eyes of God and his family was spared. All the giants and mighty men who lost the form of God were destroyed in the great deluge. Thus, though we were about to lose the likeness of Christ we were able to regain it because of Noah’s righteousness. Noah is a shadow of Christ in the Old Testament. He resembles Christ as through him we regained what we thought we almost missed.

I still argue with historians and atheists that the fossil remains of pre-historic man are true. It’s nothing but the remains of guys who simply didn’t value God’s likeness and became disfigured. Sin separates us from God and we start to lose the likeness of Christ as we move away from Him. This is a warning to each one of us to understand how we need to conduct ourselves as told in 1 Corinthians 6:19 – “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”

Lord Jesus, thank you for making me in your likeness and help me value your form in me and live a life worthy of it. Amen

The 3rd Perspective – Courtesy satan!

The Bible begins with the creation of the earth and everything within it. The Bible says God said and it was there. In the process God created man and woman and placed them on the earth and gave them authority over all His creation. The Garden of Eden was such a beautiful place to live and Adam & Eve enjoyed the beauty of God’s creation.

In Genesis 2:9, it says God made trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. The next verse goes on to say that the tree of life and the tree of knowledge were in the middle of the garden. It’s like this - every time Adam and Eve saw a fruit, they felt good because it was pleasing to the eye and good for food. They would immediately reach for it and satisfy their hunger. It became a day by day routine for them to just go ahead and have what God has provided for them. But remember, whenever they saw the forbidden tree, though it was pleasing to the eye and good for food like all the other trees, they reminded themselves of God’s commandment and withdrew.

Later we see how the serpent with his craftiness hit a conversation with the woman. Chapter 3:1-5 describes how satan was able to convince her in no time. A startling climax to this whole epic can be noticed in verse 6. It says “When the woman saw the fruit was good for food and pleasing to eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it”. Did you notice that 3rd point-of-view, “and also desirable for gaining wisdom”? This is called the “3rd Perspective” (3P) and the credit goes to satan for inventing it!!

Everything God created is awesome. It has its best use when used properly. Satan’s primary job is to exaggerate and bring a new perspective to it which always leads us to sin. That was exactly what happened in the Garden of Eden and is still continuing in our everyday lives. We are able to praise God for His goodness and are willing to obey His laws. Life seems to be pleasant with this kind of a set-up. It is when we allow satan to influence our lives, he brings the 3P to take us away from God.

With faith and trust in God, unwanted theories about God’s existence is 3P
With Wealth and prosperity, lust for more money is 3P
With love and faithfulness in marriage, extra-marital pleasure is 3P
With sincerity and commitment in work, desire to reach high by immoral means is 3P

and the list goes on...

As I say in all my other posts, the best way to keep away from the evil one is the Word of God and Prayer. The more you meditate on His word and keep a constant relationship with God, farther goes Satan and closer you go to God. There can never be an instance for satan to even give you an idea about 3P as you walk with God.

Beware of 3P!

Lord, help me to get closer and closer to you by meditating Your Word so that I keep away from satan and all his craftiness. Amen