INTRODUCTION | LESSON 1 | LESSON 2 | LESSON 3 | LESSON 4 | LESSON 5 | LESSON 6 | LESSON 7 | LESSON 8
CLICK HERE: LESSON 2A AUDIO
CLICK HERE: LESSON 2B AUDIO
Review of Lesson 1
Gen 1:26 – Image, Likeness, dominion
Gen 8:29 – Morphed into the image of his son
Purpose: To openly set forth the design
Predestinate: to determine or decree beforehand
Definitions:
Make: 6213- Asah – “This important root means to work, labor, to make, create, construct, build; to accomplish, to acquire, earn, procure; to prepare, to be, to handle; to squeeze. The basic meaning of asah is “do” or “make” in a general sense. In the account of creation, bara (1254) and asah alternate, Bara conveys the thought of creation ex nihilo (out of nothing), while asah is broader in scope and dealt with refinement. In other words, the emphasis was on fashioning the created objects. (LA)
Created: 1254 – Bara – To create, form, make, produce. Bara emphasizes the initiation of the object, not manipulating it after original creation. Entirely new productions are associated with bara. The word also possesses the meaning of “bringing into existence”. (LA)
Image: 6754 – Tselem – From an unused root which probably meant “to shade”. The meaning is image, likeness, resemblance, illusion, a representative figure, an idol; phantom, nothingness. Tselem is not an exact duplicate. Psalm 39:6 shows that it is only the shadow of a thing, representing the original in an imprecise manner, lacking the essential characteristics (reality) of the original. (LA)
The Greek Equivalent: 1504 – Eikon – Image, always assumes a prototype, that which it not merely resembles but from which it is drawn. Thus the reflection of the sun on the water is eikon. (LA)
Likeness: 1823 – Demuwth – Resemblance; model, shape. (HSC)
The Greek Equivalent: 5481 – charakter – engraving, the figure stamped, exact copy, express image. (GSC)
Dominion: 7287 – Radah – To tread down (as a winepress, with the feet); to subjugate, subdue, to rule, cause to rule, reign, to prevail against, to take. (LA)
Jesus is:
1. Image: Col 1:15, 2Cor 4:4
2. Likeness: Heb 1:3
3. Dominion: Math 28:18, 1Peter 5:11 , Rev 1:6
Some deductions that can be made about Gen 1:26 and Gen 1:27 from the above definitions are as follows:
1. There is the image of God and the Likeness of God, and they are two different things denoted by two different Hebrew words.
2. There is a creating (bara) of man and there is a making (asah) of man, denoted by two different Hebrew words.
3. In Gen 1:26 God makes (asah) man and in Gen 1:27 God creates (bara) man. This is a problem as, by definition, bara must come before asah.
4. Man was first created into the image which was an immediate event, but was then to be made or formed or refined into the likeness, which was a process.
5. The creation of the “image” was the creation of the spirit in man, while the formation of the “likeness” is the process of the soul becoming mature. The end result of “likeness” is where the soul perfectly manifests in a real-time experience what God has reflected into it from the spirit.
6. Dominion is somehow linked to the process and end result of man moving from image to likeness.
Discussion of above points
Man was placed into an “earth” environment where he was to establish dominion through his word and his action. In doing this, he would solidify the image or reflection from the spirit into likeness in his soul.
There was something on the earth to take dominion over. There was something that would provide the necessary challenge and resistance to mature Adam’s soul. Adam would have to draw from the nature of dominion (image) in order to experience dominion in his soul, because his soul was created as a clear, blank slate. The challenges of dominion would keep Adam close to his Creator, Father, and Prototype. He would have to learn of his Father in order to overcome and dominate the earth that he had been given. This was because his Father was the reality of dominion while Adam in his state of existence immediately after his creation was only the image or reflection of dominion. At his original creation state, Adam had no substance of dominion in his soul, and no life in himself apart from God. He only had the hope of what he could become and the means by which to become it. The substance was in God who lived in his spirit and reflected or mirrored dominion into his soul. But no manifestation of substance took place until Adam acted upon what he saw reflected by God from his spirit. At this point the substance of what he was hoping for (dominion), would become materialized or manifested into the now reality of his earth experience. This part of dominion that Adam saw and responded to with action became Adam’s possession or inheritance forever. It is in this area that Adam would actually be “born of God” in his soul. Remember Adam, though a man in physical size and stature, was only a child in his soul. Whatever he heard and saw from his Father that he put action to, he would grow or mature in that area of his soul. Literally his soul would be formed by his actions based on spiritual truth and this would become his experiential knowledge.
As Adam made the decision in his soul to act out what he saw in his spirit, his body would be trained for righteousness. The nerve, brain, and muscular development would literally be updated continually to handle the increasingly glorious acts of righteousness that would eventually require a body that was spiritualized by the residing Glory of God wherewith he could operate in Heaven as well as he could operate in earth and with the same proficiency. At this point of body spiritualization, glorification, and maturity, Adam would have completed his dominion on earth and would be ready take dominion in Heaven forever with His Father as a duplicate or Image/Likeness of God Himself.
This was realized in the Lord Jesus Christ as we see in the following scriptures:
Hebrews 1:3, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image (likeness, character) of his person, and upholding all things by the word (rhema) of his power.”
Math 28:18, “All power (authority) is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”
1Cor 15:46&47, “ Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven.”
John 20:28, “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.”
John 14:7, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?
Heb 1:8, “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever…”
In other words, man would have to draw from what he saw reflected into his spirit and make it an earth reality in his soul. Man can only “know” what he has experienced. To know God is to experience God. To experience God is to become like God, for God changes everything He truly touches. The soul is the part of man where God is experienced. The spirit is the candle of the Lord, that hidden part of man where each man can see God; the well from which man draws his experiences of Heaven and translates them through his soul into the earth. When this happens, dominion takes place and is indeed established or manifested. Romans 8:19 tells us that the creation still “earnestly awaits” this manifestation of Heaven in and through the sons of God for this prophesied “dominion” to be finally realized.
The “dominion” has first and already been realized in Christ, but now must be realized in the many sons that will be brought to Glory, or Godlikeness. In truth, Christ’s dominion will not be complete until His entire body (all sons) have realized Godlikeness and have put on immortality. (1Cor 15:22-28, Rom 8:17-21)
If this has taken you somewhat by surprise, and left you in a bit of shock, do not worry, for, in Paul’s words to Timothy, “Great is the mystery of godliness (godlikeness)…”(1Tim 3:16)
This is the end of the written part of “Lesson2”. For more on this subject, please listen to the audio recording entitle “Lesson 2” in this section. You may also refer to the book entitled “Redeemed for His purpose”, a work in progress, which will be available for purchase sometime in 2010. Excerpts from this book, when completed, will be made available upon request to qualified members. Thank you for joining me in the exploration of God’s most amazing Word.
Mark
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