Hi, folks! After a lengthy hiatus during which this blog was inactive, we are reactivating it with a new, eight-part series on what I have titled "Immanuel: God with Us in the Old and New Testaments." We will explore how—beginning already at the creation of humans recorded in Genesis 1-2 our Creator-God was taking measures to be "with" his creation. We know that God transcends his creation. Obviously, he would have to in order to have created it in the first place. He is not locked into the universe, but is its author. Yet, because his nature is to love and care for what he creates, he has always sought to be intimately involved. This is at least part of what the preposition "with" means in the phrase "God [is] with us."
After the first humans—Adam and Eve—disobeyed him, preferring the lie of a tempter, and thus brought upon themselves and the rest of creation disastrous consequences, God's efforts to be "with" his fallen creatures continued—yes, even increased.
We will be exploring the concept of God's inserting himself into his creation in order to redeem it, reclaim it, and bring it from a fallen state to a glorious one. This applies first of all to humans, who were the source of the Fall, but secondarily to the entire creation. I first thought of titling the class "Incarnation", since the main way in which God inserted himself was in human flesh—first Adam and Eve, then the OT saints and their leaders, and finally in Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. But I subsequently decided that the name Immanuel in Isaiah's prophecy of the coming of the Messiah (Isaiah 7:14) would be just as good, since the name literally means "God with Us." Of course, ultimately this means God in us, since this is how he chose to be on our side as Redeemer and Friend.
So let's get started. How did God—even before the first sin—insert himself in his new creation?
The First Humans as Image-Bearers
Before the Fall, when the first humans were created, they were created "in (or perhaps better as) the image of God." The Hebrew preposition bĕ translated "in" can occasionally have the meaning "as". God created the first human being "as his image."
But what is the “image of God”? What does Scripture mean by the statement that God made the first humans “as/in his image”?
First of all, we need to see how two aspects of the term "image of God" combine to give us a satisfactory understanding of how God used the term in the Bible. Humans are God's image in (a) nature, and (b) function.
Both aspects are significant. Usually we focus entirely on the "nature." We ask: "In what ways do humans resemble God in their makeup?" The answers tend to involve how we differ from animals in possessing rational and moral faculties, which enable us to relate to God.
This is certainly true, but what about the functional aspect? What if this verse should be interpreted as saying that God created Adam and Eve as his image, i.e., as his representatives, to be his authorized surrogates, extending his rule?
We benefit here from some background as to how images of gods and humans functioned in the ancient world of the Bible.
An important insight is also gained from the ancient Egyptian concept of the king (i.e., pharaoh) as the living "image" of a god. The pharaoh Tut-ʿankh-amun's name means literally "living image of (the god) Amun." Amun ruled in and through Tut-ʿankh-amun. In a sense Tut was the god Amun in his rule over his Egyptian subjects. They were to obey the king just as they would obey the god Amun. And the king's actions would mirror to them what Amun himself was like: powerful, wise, just, and compassionate.
As Christians we may well ask if any human king can perfectly mirror the power, wisdom, justice, and compassion of the true God. But remember: we are dealing here with a pagan parallel. And even within the biblical picture, the original idea arose in the Garden of Eden, before humans fell into sin. Mirroring God's character and performing some of his functions in relationship to the creation was not such a reach then.
But another factor needs to be considered. An "image" was by nature a copy or replica. Visual depictions of ancient kings and gods—statues and reliefs—were not perfect likenesses ("photographs"). They were not portraits in the modern sense: they were merely representative. Similarly humans created as images of God mirror him only representatively. Only Jesus mirrors the Creator God perfectly.
Divine and royal images in the ancient Near East were surrogates that allowed persons―usually ones with authority―to multiply their presence (i.e., “clone” themselves). Images of kings at borders. Images of gods in temples and in public places. Images of worshipers placed in temples. To take but one illustrative example: the images of a king erected in various locations both (1) reminded onlookers who it was who ruled them, and what that ruler was like, and (2) by the respect or disrespect that they showed to the images allowed them to demonstrate their respect for the one depicted.
Although God is omnipresent—always present everywhere, the Bible also speaks of his visible or audible presence. Adam and Eve talked with him in the garden "in the cool of the day." Moses saw his visible presence in the burning bush and in the glory cloud. Some localized glory inhabited the tabernacle and the Holy of Holies in Solomon's temple. The very phrase "Immanuel", "God with us," implies some special relationship of God to people and places that transcends our idea of God's omnipresence.
So God has chosen to allow human beings to be one of the ways in which his kingship is seen and perceived in the midst of his creation.
This is what is meant by Psalm 8, which we have yet to consider. How does that begin, and what does it mean? Psalm 8 is a commentary on Genesis 1:26-30 and intends to explain what is meant by humans being God's image (Hebrew ṣelem and dĕmût). The explanation focuses on exalted status ("only a little lower than God"), dominion (crowned like a king), and having all things under righteous control ("under his feet" is a term that refers to royal control). Hebrews 2:6-8 comments further on Psalm 8, by pointing out that the fulfillment of Man's role as image of God lies in Jesus, who as the Second Adam perfectly realizes in his life, death, resurrection, and second coming the full meaning of Adamic "imaging" of God's rule over creation.
God's Spoken Word as His Image
The first way, then, that God mirrored himself—imaged himself—in his creation was through the creation of the first humans. The second way is equally important. God communicated his will and therefore his character verbally. If we think at all about God's word as playing a role in the beginning—before the first sin, we usually think of his creative words, such as "Let there be light!" But God's verbal communications played other roles even before the Fall and the need for redemptive communication. One such role was instructive.
In the Garden of Eden we are told that God regularly came to Adam and Eve. On one such occasion it was “in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8-19). We should probably assume that this was representative of many such meetings. We aren't told if God assumed a visible form in these meetings, but we are told that he spoke with the humans. He spoke, and they listened and replied. Communication took place. Dialog took place. Questions and answers. Learning.
The Genesis account doesn't tell us all that God communicated to the first humans in the garden. It only tells us of one command: not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which stood in the midst of the garden. But there must have been many such instructions given to this couple, who were serving as God’s management in the garden, which was a microcosm of the Earth.
Some scholars think that agriculture only began after Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden, and their son Cain began to cultivate the ground which the Lord had cursed. But this is an unwarranted assumption. Even in the unfallen state of the Earth, a "garden" or grove required agricultural work. We are told that God put them in the garden "to work it and take care of it" (Gen. 2:15). Working a grove of fruit trees necessarily involved controlling it. In these evening talks, God probably instructed Adam and Eve in how to weed, prune, harvest, and perhaps even plant seeds to grow new trees and fruit-bearing plants. Created animals needed food; so it is obvious that Adam and Eve encouraged grazing, and other forms of consuming plants and fruit by the animals. As anyone who has grown up on a farm, this was a full-time job. But it taught Adam and Eve the Creator's love for his entire creation. In microcosm it also allowed them to imitate their Creator's care for the entire globe. Cain learned his trade from his parents.
And just as caring for sheep gave David natural training for leading God's flock Israel, so also tending God's garden gave Adam experiences he could have eventually used in spiritual leadership: warning Eve against listening to serpents, refereeing quarrels and disputes between his two sons, implementing harmony and cooperation in the family of God. For we must not assume that, if there had been no sin, there would never have been populating of the globe through Adam and Eve.
The first humans learned from these conversations with God. With each expansion of their knowledge, they were getting better at being God’s image in his created world. God’s word as his image was increasing the accuracy and effectiveness of God’s human representatives as his image.
This continues to be the case long after the Fall. The verbal description of God’s nature and his will are vastly superior to a human-like piece of sculpture. Thus, when Moses once asked to see God's “glory” (Exodus 33-34), that is, his glorious visual appearance, the response was to give him nothing visible to see, but a recitation of terms describing God's glorious attributes: his justice, mercy and grace.
Ancient Israel alone in the ancient world worshiped their God without lifeless representations in humanlike form: statues, statuettes, reliefs on stone, painted pictures of God. Instead they used God's verbal communications to convey to themselves his essential character. For them, God's Word was his image. A visual depiction in human form was not only inadequate, it was misleading and inferior—in fact, demeaning! It diverted the mind from what was essential about God—his character, power and love—to what was irrelevant—his physical appearance.
This is why it is good that the apostles never described what Jesus looked like physically. This was deliberate on their part, since they knew he was God in human form, and the Torah prohibits any visual depiction of God.
But what effect did the sin of the first humans have on their status as the image of God? Did it invalidate this role of humans? The immediate effect of the first sin upon the humans and their world is expressed in God's clothing Adam and Eve's nakedness and then by the so-called "curses" uttered by God. The “curses” are directed to three parties:
- The serpent (vv. 14-15)—enmity with the woman's "seed"
- Eve (v. 16)―pain in childbearing [her name Ḥavva is related to the Hebrew word for "life" ḥayyîm], competition with husband for dominance (identical Hebrew wording in God's words to Cain in Gen 4:7 "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”)
- Adam (vv. 17-19)―frustration in extracting a living from cultivating the soil [name ʾadam "soil"] — also figurative for difficulty in making fallen nature do what you know to be right.
After the Fall of Adam and Eve, the created universe suffered the consequences of their sin, and no longer functioned in the perfect harmony it once had. To use Paul's words in Romans 8, humans and the created world “became subject to vanity” (mataiotēs Rom. 8:20). In Paul's vocabulary this meant not only that the senseless minds of fallen humans became darkened (Rom. 1:21), so that they no longer perceived the One True God in the created world, but also that the created world itself fell into a self-destructive mode.
Despite what you may hear on the news about humans causing environmental catastrophes, all of the natural disasters in the long history of the Earth are the direct result of how God changed the Earth after the first humans' sin. They are consequences of the original sin, but not the direct result of current sins in particular. We should be clear about this, and biblical.
At this point God had two choices:
- He could destroy everything and possibly start over, or
- he could engage in a long process of rolling back the apparent victory of Satan, reclaiming the allegiance of humans and restoring the glory of his fallen creation.
In this age-long war of God against Satanic Powers he took seven major steps leading to the final triumph:
Among the direct interventions by God I would include the following:
1. the expulsion from the Garden of Eden,
2. the universal Flood and the saving of Noah,
3. the call of Abraham and the promises made to him,
4. Israel's deliverance from Egypt and the giving of the first Scripture,
5. the Son of God becoming human,
6. the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the world mission of the Church, and
7. the Second Coming of the Son of God and the Resurrection of the Dead to inaugurate his eternal kingdom with a New Heavens and a New Earth.
These are all unilateral works of God himself. During the period of history inaugurated by each of these steps believing humans participated on a tactical level in the struggle against Satan. In all cases the primary way in which they participated was by faith, i.e., by believing God. See Hebrews 11. The second basic way in which they participated was by obeying God. “Trust and obey, for there's no other way.”
But flowing out of the attitude and posture of faith and obedience, there were different and age-specific ways in which believers worked on God's side. Adam, Noah, and Abraham showed their faith and obedience in different ways than Moses, Joshua, David, Elijah, and Paul.
The primary way in which believers today advance God's kingdom is through learning the Word, prayer, and witnessing in word and deed. The latter as we function as "salt and light." It would be appropriate if this morning you and I reflect upon the extent to which we are practicing these "means of grace."
Do you pursue a regular, daily quiet time of Bible reading? Not just to fill your head with new facts, but to gain new insights as to how you can live and witness? A read-the-Bible-through-in-a-year program might help you to know how to start. And don’t overlook the value of memorizing Bible verses.
Do you spend regular time alone in prayer each day, with a list of specific needs to pray for—both in your own life and in the lives of your friends and fellow believers? Are you using prayer requests circulated in your church or adult community of believers?
Are there specific non-Christians whom you know (family members, neighbors, associates) that you pray for each day by name and circumstances? Praying for them inevitably leads to authentic witnessing to them, because you know your concern is genuine by your investment of time and energy in the closet. If you have lacks in any of these areas, will you take steps today to rectify them?
God's Promises are also His Image:
those to Noah (fulfilled) and Abraham (anticipated)
those to Noah (fulfilled) and Abraham (anticipated)
Noah
In the life of Noah God continued his two-pronged "imaging" of himself: (1) in the character and conduct of Noah mirroring Adam's pre-fall obedience, and (2) in the giving of new verbal revelation in the form of warnings of the coming judgment by flood.
God's intervention with the universal flood was a one-time revelation. The rainbow-covenant assured that it would never be repeated. But 2 Peter assures us that the present universe will be dissolved by fire, and beyond that will be a re-born New Heavens and New Earth.
The promise (i.e., warning) to Noah of the coming flood was fulfilled before his very eyes. His obedience in building the ark was a sign of his faith in that word of God before he saw its fulfillment.
Second Temple Judaism transmitted a tradition that Noah was also a "preacher of righteousness" (dikaiosunēs kērux) and this tradition was echoed in the NT book of 2 Peter (2:5). And Hebrews 11 also adds:
“By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” (Hebrews 11:7 ESV)In his twin role of verbalizing God's warnings of judgment and acting out that warning through his building of the ark, Noah qualifies as the first prophet of God in recorded human history, but also enlarges the twin "imaging" or "incarnational" roles of Adam by witnessing to God's word verbally and pragmatically.
Abraham
The call of Abraham and the promises to him anticipate the emergence of the nation Israel, which we will take up next week. Accordingly, we will delay that one aspect of Abraham's relationship to God for our next session. But we cannot ignore in this session Abraham's role in further extending the Adamic and Noahic paradigms of God's "incarnating" or "imaging" of himself.
Adam imaged God as ruler of the creation, and showed his (initial) faithfulness as God's vice-regent by carefully listening to God's spoken instructions and carrying them out.
Noah imaged God as judge, and showed his faithfulness by verbally warning others of coming judgment and by taking public and visible action to save himself and his family—all according to God's explicit commands. As you read the biblical description of the construction of the ark, you cannot help but be struct with the verbal repetition used by Moses to emphasize how carefully and meticulously Noah followed his instructions.
Hebrews 11:7 tells us "By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith." Noah was then both a compassionate prophet, warning and pleading, and a stern judge when the warnings went unheeded.
In a real sense, by believing and obeying God's words to him, Noah controlled both nature (the Flood) and history (a new beginning of the human race), and thus imaged God as Lord of Creation and Lord of History. As in Adam, so in Noah, God was there as Immanuel.
Abraham imaged God as promise-keeper. From the NT standpoint we tend to think of Abraham as primarily exemplifying justification (i.e., righteousness) by faith. But we must remember that Paul who stresses this aspect, needed to do so in order to clarify this crucial doctrine in the earliest church. It by no means exhausts the role of Abraham in salvation history.
Abraham lived by faith in a much broader sense than simple "righteousness before God." He fulfilled the meaning of that key phrase from Habakkuk in the same sense that Habakkuk meant it: he survived by patient waiting on God to fulfill his promises.
Do you see how incremental the "incarnating" or "imaging" of God is in the biblical history? What begins seminally in Adam blossoms in Noah and Abraham. And in the coming sessions we will see how it continues to do so—through Moses, David, the Prophets, and Jesus. The goal—in the Greek term is eschaton—is the complete incarnating of God in his redeemed and glorified creation. Using the phrase of Paul, "that God may be all [and] in all" (1 Cor. 15:28).
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