Designed to Reflect the Designer

My wife and I try every day to instill biblical truths in the minds of our two small children. We never know when a teaching opportunity will present itself, and these moments are often more beneficial for us than they are for our children. I remember very clearly sitting on the couch one weekend afternoon as the day was winding down and the warm sun was streaming in through our westward facing windows. My wife was with my son in his room, probably choosing what pajamas he would wear to bed that night. I listened as one of those teaching moments presented itself. 

"Where is God?" he asked her. 

"He's all around us," she answered. "But He's invisible." 

"I cannot see Him?" he asked, trying to wrap his mind around the concept. 

"When we get to heaven, then we will see Him," was my wife's answer. 

Sometimes God uses those simple truths to break through our sleepy minds and wake us up to immense spiritual realities. "When we get to heaven, then we will see Him" echoed in my mind as the meaning washed over me. 

The idea seemed simultaneously wonderful and terrible, exciting and dreadful. I was suddenly aware that I was hurtling through time towards this great encounter, where I would be face to face with the One Who Knows All, the Father of Lights, the holy, righteous, all-powerful Being Who is so far beyond my ability to comprehend that even the passing glance of His eyes would cause me to fall in heart-stopping, mind-melting, soul-crushing fear. 

When John the Apostle was given the visions in the Book of Revelation, twice he became so overcome by the presence of angels that he tried to worship them. 

Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.” And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:9-10). 

Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God” (Revelation 22:8-9). 

If John, who had a close personal relationship with Jesus Christ, was moved to worship simply by the sight of mere messenger angels, how much more will the experience of the immediate presence of God Almighty affect us when we come face-to-face with Him? 

It is good to feel the respect and even the fear that comes from meditating on this, but we do not need to stay there. Christians will not approach the throne of God on the same terms as the spirits of heaven, because there is a great difference between angels and humanity. We were made in the likeness of the God who we so reverently approach. When we stand before His presence, there will be a kind of resemblance between us. The work of His hands will be unmistakable in our bodies, minds, and spirits. More than any other angel, star, animal, or planet in the cosmos of creation, we stand out as specially marked by His signature. 

This was the great proclamation that God spoke just before our race came into existence:

Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:26-27). 

What does it mean to be created in the image of God? Some have said that the image is our ability to create, design, and build. Some have said it is the form and function of our bodies and minds. Others have said it is our capacity to have a relationship with God. And while these indeed are important and related to the image of God in us, they are not its definition. 

A beaver builds dams and a spider weaves beautiful webs, and yet their creativity does not mark the image of God in them. 

Angels in the spiritual realms sing praises to God, but their ability to create beauty does not mean they bear God’s image. 

Apes and monkeys often resemble humans to one extent or another, and chimpanzees are some of the most intelligent animals in the world, but this does not mean they are closer to the image of God than a worm. 

We understand from many passages in the Bible that the spirits of heaven can relate to God to some degree, in that they understand when He communicates to them, carry out their duties, and, in the case of Satan and the fallen angels, can disobey and break the relationship. But despite this, angels are not created in the image of God. 

It may seem that the Bible does not give a clear definition of what the image of God in man is. However, if we look closely at the passage in Genesis 1, the answer presents itself. 

"Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness"…So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him” (Genesis 1:26-27). 

You cannot have a human without the image of God. This is how we were made, in body, mind, and spirit. Every facet of being human is marked by God’s image. To be human is to be an image-bearer. It is what defines us as unique from the rest of creation. 

Pastor John Piper presents a helpful analogy in an interview from August 2013. 

“In what sense are we in the Image of God? … The plainest thing, and, in fact, for me the most practical thing, and the way it has an actual effect on my life, is to say images are created to image. If you create an image, if you make a sculpture of someone, you do it to display something about that someone. … Now what would it mean if you created seven billion statues of yourself and put them all over the world? It would mean you would want people to notice you. 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.” 

Bearing the image of God comes with great responsibility. Imagine finding the staff of Moses, the robe of Elijah, or the harp of David. How precious would these things be to you? You would treasure them above all your belongings, and nothing would convince you to part with them. But you already possess something even more meaningful and precious than those. All of humanity, whether Christian or not, has been entrusted with the image of God, the most precious possession imaginable. How have you been bearing His image before a world that needs Him? 

"When we get to Heaven, then we will see Him." 

When you come face-to-face with the God who created the swirling galaxies and blazing seraphim with the tips of His fingers, you come bearing His likeness. He will recognize you, easily picking you out from among the innumerable hosts of spirits that attend His court. In your sin, you should tremble, hide behind the living creatures, or beg a worshipping seraph to fly you away from the gaze of a God who sees all and knows all. But Christian, you have a Brother before the throne of God Who is there to represent you, to plead your case perfectly: the Image of the Invisible God, Jesus Christ Himself.