The theme of this devotion is that
God uniquely made Man—male and female—in his own image and likeness in order to make his divine attributes and power manifest in the Creation and in order to present to himself in love a relational counterpart—a “Neged”—in temporality, One that is comparable to his own Eternal Person.
In Genesis 1:26, the scripture tells us, in the plural:
VA’YOMER ELOHIM [And God said]
NA’ASEH ADAM BE’TZAL’MIE’NU [Let us (volative “hey”) make man in our image]
CID’MU’TEI’NU [After our likeness]
In Genesis 1:27, the scripture reiterates the event in the singular, saying:
VA’YIV’RA ELOHIM [So God (in the majesty of uni-plurality) (he) created]
ET-HA’ADAM BE’TZAL’MO [The Humanity in His image]
BE’TZE’LEM ELOHIM [in the image of Elohim (man also a majestic uni-plurality)]
BARA OTO [He (God) created him (Humanity)—a uni-plural singularity]
ZA’CHAR U’Ne’KI’VAH BARA OTAM [male and female created he them]
In Genesis 2:20 God later said that the female was to be an EZER Ce’NEG’DO, “a helper fit for him” (the male). The picture of the NEGED is that of right-and-left hand counterparts: exact mirror images of each other. This concept therefore extends to the Humanity that God created to be His own NEGED in the Creation: His exact counterpart in Time to his own Person in Eternity. The perfection of this is the Messiah, as described in Hebrews 1:1-3 and fleshed out in the Body of Messiah in Ephesians 1:19-23, where we read,
“And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
“Which he wrought in Messiah, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenlies,
“Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
“And has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the Called-out Community, (“the Church”)
“Which is his body, the fulness of him that fills all in all.”
In the Foreword to DESIGNED LIFE: Reflections of a Theologian, pages 15 through 16, Dr. John Garr wrote, “When the Talmudic sage Simeon ben Azzai was asked, ‘What is the most important verse in the whole Bible?’ he instantly responded: ‘The verse from the Book of Genesis that says “Man was created in the Divine image.”’ Claus Westermann agrees, saying that ‘the most striking statement’ of the Genesis narratives ‘over and above God being the creator, preserver and sustainer of creation, is that God created human beings in his image.’ Abraham Joshua Heschel says, ‘The symbol of God is…not a temple or a tree…a statue or a star, but man, every man.’” Garr then continues to develop the truth that, “Humanity was divinely designed specifically for the purpose of imaging the heavenly God in the terrestrial world….”
And Jesus specifically told Pontius Pilate, “I have come to bear record of the truth.” He had already told his disciples, “I AM…the Truth.” And he said to the disciples, “He that has seen me has seen the Father….”
Yeshua is the visible manifestation of the Eternal Father just as likewise every human being bears the stamp and likeness of the Eternal Creator. In Messiah, through the miracle of the new birth, we have been elevated into the status of Sons and Daughters of God (John 1). We have eternal life within us, even now, as we await the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies.
Let us therefore continue to exhibit that for which we were created, the likeness of our Creator and the indwelling of our Redeemer. Let us grow into the perfection of Him, who is the fulness of the Father given to us that we may become the fulness of him in the world.
