In Our Image, In His Image...

Listen to the Blog - In Our Image, In His Image

43:56

Creation is the all-knowing, all-powerful expression of God’s sovereign

purpose for eternity. Creation is not a simple act of God’s decree; rather,

creation is a subject of consideration and discussion. God creates humanity

in response to all other things made after their kind, rather than as a mere

act of self-will. Even in the beginning there is already relation: there is no

absolute beginning, not even in the beginning. God has no

beginning...nothing caused God. When God reaches His crowning creative

act - the formation of human life - His wording changes from the measured

“let there be” to the deliberate and intimate expression, “Let us make man in

our image, after our likeness.” The plurality of majesty attests to the

deliberation of the counsel of determination. God consulting with God. God’s

plan for us was designed in the fullness of His divine creative power. Having

the “image” or “likeness” of God means, in the simplest terms, that we were

made to resemble God. The image of God refers to the immaterial part of

man. That implies that man’s spirituality was centered in the deepest values

of life and not upon materialism. The image of God embraces the idea of an

ultimate reality enabling the discovery of the essence of being a created

being of God. This is based in the qualities such as love, compassion,

patience, tolerance, forgiveness, contentment, responsibility, harmony, and

a concern for others. These are aspects of life and human experience which

go beyond a purely materialist view of the world. As in the image of God man

can center his thoughts and hopes upon something transcending self and

can find that certain peace without desiring to be ‘a god’. Man’s spiritual

experiences include being connected to a larger reality, yielding a more

comprehensive self; joining with other individuals of the human community;

with nature and the omniverse; and with the divine realm wherein dwells all

manner of God-created personalities. The image of God sets man apart from

the remainder of creation, it fits him for the dominion God intended him to

have over the earth and enables him to commune face to face with his

Maker. It is a likeness mentally, morally, and socially.

Mentally, man was created as a rational, volitional agent. In other words,

man can reason and man can choose. This is a reflection of God’s intellect

and freedom. Can the image of God primarily have to do with our spiritual

and intellectual awareness?

Morally, man was created in righteousness and perfect innocence, a

reflection of God’s holiness. God saw all He had made (mankind included)

and called it “very good”. Our conscience or “moral compass” is a vestige of

that original state.

Socially, man was created for fellowship. This reflects God's triune nature

and His love. In Eden, man’s primary relationship was with God, implying

fellowship with God, and God made the first woman because it is not good

for the man to be alone.

*“In the beginning”. What a powerful phrase. As we study the bible we can

look back at the very beginning, before ever there was time and before there

was anything existing with but one exception - God. “In the beginning God”.

We know that God was before the beginning. In fact, we know that He

thought up the beginning, and the beginning of all things were and are in

Him. And it was not good for God to be alone. “Let us make man in our

image”. God speaks and it is. But man was not spoken into being. Man

was made in a very unique way; he was made in the image of God, formed

with the hand of God and covered with the flesh capable to inhabit eternity,

and kissed by the Spirit of God. Made in the concept of eternity. God the

Father’s character, God the Son’s nature, God the Holy Ghost’s spirit. This

is an astounding fact, for because we were made in God’s image, we

understand that we were made to reflect God’s nature. Not His omni-allness.

But His love, spiritual enlightenment, His truth. God is righteous and we can

be righteous in a manner that is similar to how God is righteous and yet not

identical with it. Out of His own fullness, He makes His people

righteousness. We are to offer God a response of faith. The difference

between righteousness in God and the righteousness that He shares with

men and women exists in the infinitude of God and the finitude of man. God’s

righteousness is not derivative. Christ is our righteousness. It is God’s

satisfaction imputed to us. Adam was righteous before he sinned, but under

probation to the law. He abided in truth that spring out of the earth which is

the righteousness of heaven. And God’s righteousness is. An everlasting

righteousness, and God’s law is the truth. How is it that we are still imaged

in God? Our morality; our sense of right and wrong, our rationality; our ability

to reason, our spirituality; our ability to relate to God. The comparison

between Adam and Christ is that the guilt of Adam’s one act of disobedience

is imputed to the elect and that the righteousness of Christ’s one act of

obedience is imputed to the elect. We are created in the image of God, and

the fall of man into sin did not destroy it, but defaced it. Even as we bear the

image of God by nature, we do not do so perfectly. Sin distorts and disrupts

it, but it does not destroy it. Instead, it reminds us of our need for the only

one who perfectly represents God: Jesus, who is the image of the invisible

God, the only one who perfectly reflects all of God’s attributes, fulfills His will,

and enjoys a perfect relationship with the Father. We are being renewed in

knowledge as we are growing in faith.

God created us in his image so that we would display or reflect or

communicate who he is, how great he is, and what he is like. We are to

recognize that to be God’s image is to be embodied and to thereby represent

the presence of God in the world. We are impressed with God’s authority.

What a truly awesome purpose – to represent God’s presence in the human

body. This purpose is not defined by our intellect, or ability to reason, or our

emotions. Those encompass human capabilities. We are a spiritual people

by nature. Created in God’s image and likeness in that we are persons,

possessing wisdom and will, capable of knowing and worshiping God, and

gifted with creative powers. Our kinship to God is implied in His command

to cultivate creation. This gives us a unique privilege but also a serious

responsibility in our relationship with God, with other people, and with the

rest of creation. In our likeness with God we have a reasoning mind, our free

will, and our capacity to relate. With our understanding we are able to think

in spiritual ways and acquire knowledge and wisdom; we have the ability to

ponder the true essence of our existence in the world and to distinguish right

from wrong, making intelligent choices without allowing selfish motives to

consume us. Because of sin, the image of God is no longer a pure quality

possessed by man; it is a condition in which we live, it is a condition of

confrontation established and maintained by the Creator. The image of God

is that in man which constitutes us as “him-whom-God-loves”. Therefore we

love God in an intentional way. Expressed and developed through virtue,

whereby we perform good deeds, grow in love, and become ever-greater

participants in the divine life of God. We must be prayerful with these

distinctions. On the level of likeness we are called to surpass the angels,

since it is given to humans alone to “become partakers of the divine nature”.

Unlike every other creature, the image of God is what makes man human;

man could not lose the image without ceasing to be what he is. Moreover,

it’s only because man keeps his image of God - even in a broken or distorted

form - that man is redeemable and worth redeeming. Without it, God would

have had no reason to send His Son to die on our behalf. Every single

human being, no matter how much the image of God is marred by sin still

has the status of being in God’s image and therefore must be treated with

the dignity and respect that is due to God’s image-bearer. This has profound

implications for our conduct toward others. It means that people of every race

deserve equal dignity and rights and honor as human beings.

Being in the image of God brings man not to define himself too significant or

to lessen his significance. Either action would be a matter of depreciating

God’s glory and distorting His relation to creation. The truth is, we gain our

identity, and it is a satisfying one when we relate our very essence to the

source of all things. We acknowledge God as Creator, as the origin not only

of the universe but of ourselves as well. And in this acknowledgment, we are

to understand our purpose and function as we come to further understand

the image of God. We must learn of the form, content, and function of the

image and how and why we bear this image. In God’s likeness means man

will continually grow.

Being born again is that act of God redeeming an individual. He begins to

restore the original image of Himself, creating a new self in man, created to

be like God in true righteousness and holiness through reconciliation. That

redemption and reconciliation is only available by God’s grace through faith

in Jesus Christ as our Savior from the sin that separates us from God.

Through Christ, we are made new creations again in the likeness of God.

What is the ‘form’ of God’s image? God is spirit; both formless and

uncreated. To call God a spirit is to state the most decisive and determinative

thing we can say about God. The fact that God is uncreated makes Him

qualitatively different from any and all created reality, both spirit and material.

Isaiah 45:5 tells us that God is prime reality. And “spirit” is His form. How is

this? God’s personhood is His chief characteristic and function. All of creation

was made through the personhood of the Godhead: God commanded, the

Word, Jesus, was the agent through whom all things were created, and the

Spirit was the energizing work which breathed life into creation. In fact, God’s

image is both based and explained on the ground of His personhood.

Both His form and His act of creation made through His personhood gives

us knowledge that His is an infinite, transcendent, sovereign and good moral

being. To be uncreated, is to purely “be”. God represents Himself by the term

“I AM,” which alludes to how He is both a self-conscience and infinite being.

God is not limited by anything outside Himself. He is, therefore, both eternal

and transcendent. God is not simply the Creator of the heavens and the earth

and all that is, He is also the one who summons, orders, sustains, and

governs all of reality. God’s creation act not only signifies His creativeness,

infiniteness, and his freedom of will, but also His sovereignty. Creation is an

expression of His sovereignty as He both commanded and established the

purpose, direction and goal of creation. In likeness, so is God’s nature which

is love and goodness. God always acts in the most important evidence of

Himself…the law of love. So God acted freely and in love to make beings in

His own image and to give them free will. The creation of man was an act of

love, as God sought a non-compulsory fellowship with man which bears His

image. Man being in the image of God gives man his identity as a special

creature, as he shares, in part, in God’s nature. Man has been made in both

God’s image and likeness. This likeness means something that man must

continually grow into and this likeness alludes to the spiritual attribute. And

so in Christ man is built for a spiritual function though not of the same

essence as is God, but in a real sense of His spirit. As God is aware of

Himself, so man is a self-conscious being; aware of his existence. A solitary

human being cannot reflect the image of God, because God is community;

Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Man was created for community and God placed

the vitality for life within us. The first element of man’s consciousness is that

by his intellect he is capable of knowing God. And by this consciousness

man can be spoken to by God. In all creation what is spoken of as being

God’s pleasure is the creation of man. The work of creation was not finished

until man was placed in it and even the sabbath was made for man.

Everything that God created was preparatory for man. Dominion is an image

of God. Man and woman as one is an active creator. Understanding of image

proposes that mankind reflects God’s image in the union of relationship. As

mankind becomes aware of relational identity between male and female, an

awareness of the concept of relationship with God becomes reality. The

image of God then is essentially a relational identity - our ability to relate to

God and one another. This shows that male and female are gender

distinctions within a sub-category of mankind created in God’s image and

likeness. Relational union between men and women is not a definition of

what it means to be made in the image of God but is a result of bearing the

image of God. We have the wisdom to understand the reasoning of God in

His design. “In our image” is a profound determination of the Godhead. It

depicts the standard or pattern in which God created: God created

man in the pattern of His image. Everything that follows this statement

including the distinctive male/female relationship, is a secondary element to

the fact that man and woman each already bear the image of God and reflect

the nature of God. When God said “Let us make,” the declaration of mankind

in God’s image was made before the man and the woman were alive to

experience relationships as image bearers. God created mankind - both

male and female - in His image and then described the things that mankind

is to do. God first declared mankind in His image and then in sequence gave

us instructions for living. The first pair were already in God’s image and

likeness before they were given instructions for dominion, replenishing, and

multiplying. These instructions seem to be a result of being an image-bearer

and not a statement of actual being. We are not God, but we are of God.

We are able to stand back from ourselves. We can place ourselves ‘above’

the here and now. We can reflect on ourselves and scrutinize ourselves as

living persons. The spiritual view of the image of God impacts how one

understands sin and salvation in our restoration to what was “in the

beginning”. The atoning sacrifice of Christ suggests that Jesus’ purpose in

becoming human was not only his sacrificial death but to be the ultimate

example of human life. While as the very image of God, Jesus shows us

how to live, the bible explicitly teaches that He came to die in order that we

might be transformed in our very beings as He substituted His righteousness

for our sinfulness. The new man and old man give us great insight into what

it means to be created in the image and likeness of God. It is an image that

bears the righteousness and holiness of God. Scripture describes the

attributes of God that are revealed to us in our finiteness. It is in the context

of God being the perfection of such attributes. God is love, and God’s love

is perfect. We share many of God’s attributes, and we were originally

created to reflect God’s perfect character in righteousness and holiness.

While God has character traits that He does not share with humanity, we can

still see His shared attributes in humanity today, even though they are

distorted by sin. Love, self-awareness, justice, grace, and mercy are distinct

attributes. They are part of the very being of humanity. Today, we see a

great difference between the holiness of God’s character and human

character. We have distorted the very nature of God’s character in humanity

because of our rejection of God’s holiness and rule in our lives. Being the

bearer of the image of God also shows man to be self-determined. This

means that man has free-will in which God allows man to accomplish what

he has chosen to do. God has called to purpose His election. This is a

unifying truth. The bible teaches that even after sin, mankind is still created

in God’s image. Sin has devastatingly affected the image of God in man. And

it is only through Jesus Christ’s substitutionary atonement and resurrection

that mankind can be forgiven, transformed, and conformed to the image of

Christ. Because we possessed the characteristic capacities for dominion

and relationship that make us function as God’s image-bearers, our greatest

need is to continue evolving such capacity that is ultimately seen in the

pattern of Jesus Christ. This expresses God’s sovereignty which is not in

conflict with man in his sinless condition. God’s intent was for each man to

be found in the image of God and is therefore also found responsible to

reciprocate God’s divine love by actively obeying him and becoming His

likeness in the form of His morality; ye shall be holy for I the Lord your God

am holy. We are uniquely made in the image of God as part of His original

“very good” created order, then our sin problem is a reality that is only solved

by the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ who is the very express

image of God. Through Christ alone we can be made right before God and

conform to the image of His Son that we were originally created to be.

God’s called purpose is for those of us who have been born again by the

seed of Christ and have been re-made in the image of God. We are regaining

all that was lost in the fall of Adam and Eve. Everything they gave up is being

restored to us. While we know that we are not divine, we are a reflection of

who God is, we are His offspring just as a child is a reflection of his parents.

Following God may sound like a difficult task, but it’s not because every

commandment comes with a divine provision which makes it possible for us

to fulfill it. God gave us the power to fulfill every promise and every

commandment in the bible as He transforms us in our born again lives. We

are not called to live in this world as those who depend on their own ability,

but we are called to live in God’s image, just as it was in the very beginning.

And as such we must rediscover who we are in Christ. Having been renewed

in the spirit of our mind we have been reborn in His image. God expects us

to act like He would in every situation. We have His attributes and

characteristics inside of us. We have everything we need, so we are to reflect

the One who made us. Reflections have no choice about what they are. Our

essense is now to be motivated by divinity rather than humanity. In God’s

image we have something greater than our own strength to depend on. This

is that wherein our faith is as that faith of Jesus. We can love...we can

forgive...we can suffer...we can sacrifice...and whether we live or die we can

be saved. His faith is a faith which was forged out of experience. His faith is

tried and true. His faith took Him to the cross, and then it raised Him up to

God. We must use our faith. We must have faith that sees what we say.

And what we must say is truth. There is only one thing we can say that will

carry the power of God as if God spoke it Himself, and that is God’s Word.

The Word of God is the most powerful thing on earth. God’s Word is also His

will. If we will simply believe we have been made in God’s image, and begin

to act like we see Him act in every situation, we will begin to get the same

results that He gets. We are made in His image. We are His reflections.

We have His attributes and abilities, and we have God’s Word on it. That is

the very depth of His covenant promise. A covenant where God says, “I will

do all My word at the cost of My own account.” That is His sworn oath. God’s

covenant is His creation continued. It is His spoken word seen. It is His

image in us. How so? A covenant is an agreement in which two become

one. The weaknesses of the weaker are swallowed up by the strengths of

the greater. Here’s how His image is our image. The word covenant means

“to cut”, so every time God entered into a covenant of any kind, it was ratified

by the shedding of blood. Whose blood is represented here? When blood

was shed an exchange was made. Remember the cross? God is saying,

“Everything I have is yours, and everything you have is mine. My strengths

will swallow up your weaknesses, and your life will be infused with My

power.” Blood was shed to ratify an agreement, and two became one in

thought, action, provision, and strength.

God made us in His image and placed us here to carry out a divine decree.

He gave us the scriptures as an authoritative guide and He gave us His Son

to reveal the Father, to redeem us from sin and to furnish in His life and

teachings an inspiring example by the following of which, we may grow in

grace and in the knowledge of God. Let us make man in our image. This

gives us the full explanation of our presence on earth. Without revelation we

would not understand how we came to be. We know we came into being

without our own volition. We had no choice in the race, the gender, the family

we were born into. Without the revelation of truth, we would think all was by

chance. And yet, by revelation we know that God created us in His image

supremely above all other things brought forth. In His image renders the

truth of what an inestimable worth we are to God. We know we are part of

God’s plan and purpose. To do God’s will becomes our highest duty as well

as His greatest pleasure. We learn that obedience links happiness to virtue.

God made us for a purpose, placed before us infinite possibilities and

revealed to us responsibilities commensurate with the possibilities. God

beckons us upward and the bible points the way. We can obey and travel

toward perfection by the path that Christ revealed. Looking heavenward we

can find inspiration in our lineage; looking about us we are impelled to

kindness by a sense of kinship which binds us to our brothers.

“In Our image” expresses God’s confidence that we are prepared for the

work of His calling in Christ through the indwelling of His Spirit. His is a high

purpose that is a necessary part of our preparation. It is for us to approach

more and more unto perfection. Our faith in God, therefore, to strengthen us

in our hours of trial. And we need both faith and trial to give us courage to

do the work of life. How can one fight for a principle unless he believes in

the triumph of right? How can we believe in the triumph of the right if we do

not believe that God stands back of the truth and that God is able to bring

victory to His side? We know not whether we are to live for the truth or to

die for it, but if we have the faith we ought to have, we are as ready to die for

it as to live for it. We are to image the very faith of Jesus. Faith will not only

give us strength when we fight for righteousness, but our faith will bring

dismay to our enemies. There is power in the presence of a faithful man who

does right because it is right and dares to do the right in the face of all

opposition. We are made in the image of God. Called, purposed, and

prepared to proclaim the Word of God by voice as well as with pen. We have

a mighty message for a waiting world - a message worthy of all our powers

of heart and mind and tongue.

Referenced testimony…

Genesis 1:26, 27

SOP - When Adam came from the Creator’s hand, he bore, in his physical,

mental, and spiritual nature, a likeness to his Maker. “God created man in

His own image” (Genesis 1:27), and it was His purpose that the longer man

lived the more fully he should reveal this image—the more fully reflect the

glory of the Creator. All his faculties were capable of development; their

capacity and vigor were continually to increase. Vast was the scope offered

for their exercise, glorious the field opened to their research. The mysteries

of the visible universe—the “wondrous works of Him which is perfect in

knowledge” (Job 37:16)—invited man’s study. Face-to-face, heart-to-heart

communion with his Maker was his high privilege. Had he remained loyal to

God, all this would have been his forever. Throughout eternal ages he would

have continued to gain new treasures of knowledge, to discover fresh springs

of happiness, and to obtain clearer and yet clearer conceptions of the

wisdom, the power, and the love of God. More and more fully would he have

fulfilled the object of his creation, more and more fully have reflected the

Creator’s glory. {Ed 15.1}

SOP - Man was created upright. Ecclesiastes 7:29. He was possessed of

rational capacities, of moral powers; but he must yet have an opportunity to

develop a moral character. Powers and capacities may be conferred, but

character can be formed only by the free action of moral agents.

Unfortunately for Adam and for his race, he did not stand the trial; he fell from

the gracious position in which he was placed by his Creator, and lost his

dominion, for he lost his life. {FEE 15.3}

Had Adam not sinned he would have the ability to move among all heaven.

He would have been positioned to learn with and from those who had

observed the works of God. Adam learned about but had not seen God’s

works for he was created on day six and God gave him dominion and Adam

was in perfect compliance with God’s will. The loyalty of the angels and the

unfallen had been tested, now must Adam’s and Eve’s.

Job 1:6, 7; Job 38:4-7

SOP - The First Students.—The holy pair [Adam and Eve] were not only

children under the fatherly care of God, but students receiving instruction

from the all-wise Creator. They were visited by angels, and were granted

communion with their Maker, with no obscuring veil between. They were full

of the vigor imparted by the tree of life, and their intellectual power was but

little less than that of the angels. The mysteries of the visible universe—“the

wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge” [Job 37:16.] afforded

them an exhaustless source of instruction and delight. The laws and

operations of nature, which have engaged men’s study for six thousand

years, were opened to their minds by the infinite Framer and Upholder of all.

They held converse with leaf and flower and tree, gathering from each the

secrets of its life. With every living creature, from the mighty leviathan that

playeth among the waters, to the insect mote that floats in the sunbeam,

Adam was familiar. He had given to each its name, and he was acquainted

with the nature and habits of all. God’s glory in the heavens, the innumerable

worlds in their orderly revolutions, “the balancings of the clouds,” the

mysteries of light and sound, of day and night,—all were open to the study

of our first parents. On every leaf of the forest, or stone of the mountains, in

every shining star, in earth and air and sky, God’s name was written. The

order and harmony of creation spoke to them of infinite wisdom and power.

They were ever discovering some attraction that filled their hearts with

deeper love, and called forth fresh expressions of gratitude. {CE 207.1}

SOP - The creation was now complete. “The heavens and the earth were

finished, and all the host of them.” “And God saw everything that he had

made, and, behold, it was very good.” Eden bloomed on earth. Adam and

Eve had free access to the tree of life. No taint of sin or shadow of death

marred the fair creation. “The morning stars sang together, and all the sons

of God shouted for joy.” Job 38:7. {DG 23.1}

Our first parents, though created innocent and holy, were not placed beyond

the possibility of wrongdoing. God made them free moral agents, capable of

appreciating the wisdom and benevolence of His character and the justice of

His requirements, and with full liberty to yield or to withhold obedience. They

were to enjoy communion with God and with holy angels; but before they

could be rendered eternally secure, their loyalty must be tested.... {DG 23.2}

Man became sin…in the flesh…and in the spirit.

Genesis 3:6, 7

Adam was created perfectly, and had no inward tendency to sin, as we now

have. God created Adam as a moral being (capacity to choose good or evil)and this is called “FREE WILL.” And God had given man even something

greater; He gave man conscience. In the Garden of Eden, man had a perfect

relationship with God. Man chose God and goodness.

The entire nature of man; mentally, morally, spiritually, physically, is affected

by sin. The understanding is darkened.

Ephesians 4:18; I Corinthians 2:14

The heart is deceitful and wicked.

Jeremiah 17:9-10

The mind and conscience are defiled.

Genesis 6:5; Titus 1:15

SOP - Think of Christ’s humiliation. He took upon Himself fallen, suffering

human nature, degraded and defiled by sin. He took our sorrows, bearing

our grief and shame. He endured all the temptations wherewith man is beset.

He united humanity with divinity: a divine spirit dwelt in a temple of flesh. He

united Himself with the temple. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among

us,” because by so doing He could associate with the sinful, sorrowing sons

and daughters of Adam (The Youth’s Instructor, December 20, 1900). {4BC

1147.4}

Jesus came in sinful flesh…

Romans 8:3

SOP - Jesus is the perfect pattern, and it is the duty and privilege of every

child and youth to copy the pattern. Let children bear in mind that the child

Jesus had taken upon Himself human nature, and was in the likeness of

sinful flesh, and was tempted of Satan as all children are tempted. He was

able to resist the temptation of Satan through His dependence upon the

divine power of His heavenly Father, as He was subject to His will, and

obedient to all His commands. He kept His Father’s statutes, precepts, and

laws. He was continually seeking counsel of God, and was obedient to His

will. {SD 128.2}

Jesus rose with incorruptibility because there was no sin in him…

Acts 13:33-35

Job 17: 13, 14

Lazarus came forth from the grave still attired in grave clothing indicating that

he would again have to return to the grave. But Jesus having no more

occasion for them, left them behind.

John 11:43, 44

John 20:1-9 Man, changed, no sin will be in him (the 144000)…

SOP - Unless there is genuine conversion of the soul to God; unless the vital

breath of God quickens the soul to spiritual life; unless the professors of truth

are actuated by heaven-born principle, they are not born of the incorruptible

seed which liveth and abideth forever. Unless they trust in the righteousness

of Christ as their only security; unless they copy His character, labor in His

spirit, they are naked, they have not on the robe of His righteousness. The

dead are often made to pass for the living; for those who are working out

what they term salvation after their own ideas, have not God working in them

to will and to do of His good pleasure. {4BC 1166.2}

SOP - The parable of the wheat and the tares shows the mystery of the divine

and the satanic agencies working in direct opposition, in vital conflict. The

conflict continues till the close of this earth’s history. The incorruptible seed

is the living Word of God, which works in the personal sanctification of the

receivers, elevating them by bringing them into the participation of the divine

nature. {CTr 236.3}

God is spirit…Jesus is God in the flesh eternally…

John 4:24

John 20:24-28

Luke 24:36-45

Man change in the twinkling of an eye is the completion of the imaging of

God. Jesus in the flesh can enter at will through solid objects…ascend,

descend. Can the completion of the plan of redemption be man obtaining

spiritual glorified flesh as that of Jesus?

I Corinthians 15:33-58

Revelation 14:4

Our coming together, in company with Christ. A mind endowed with the

mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual growing always into the

personality, the nature, the disposition, the constitution, the makeup, the

mold, the spirit ethos of Christ.

A flesh and bone body; incorruptible, immortal, celestially spiritual.

Speculatively, having no need of organs; no digestion for all is life and

assimilation is complete; no need for breath for God’s spirit is the life; a

heart…we will be filled with glory always entreating one another with

meekness, gentleness, and tenderness in communion with Christ.