The Image Of God
“God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him…” (Genesis 1:27).
Before Sin, we had Original Joy. We knew the Face Of God, his smile, the crinkles around his eyes. We recognized his voice and delighted in the sound of our name on his lips. God was present to us. His Presence made the cool of the morning, the warmth of the day, and the quiet of the night, all indistinguishably glorious. Our existence was defined by our relationship with our Creator. His friendship gave meaning to every moment, to everything. Everywhere, every experience evoked thanksgiving to our God.
Sin changed all this. Sin stole our intimacy with God. Satan slithered onto the Tree Of Life, disguising Evil as Good, Death as Life. Seducing us with self glory, he took our gaze off of God. The Forbidden Fruit became the apple of our eye. We bit into it. We tasted the bitterness of banishment –we found loneliness.
After Sin, after losing our friendship with God, our existence was defined by want, by suffering, separation, selfishness and fear. Defaced by Sin, our Divine Image was now disfigured. Our eyes were blinded to his Presence. Unable to see his Face, or be comforted by his Voice, we filled our Emptiness with rotten fruit, with Disobedience, with Sickness and Death. Blessedness was discarded for Curse. Friendship with our Father was exchanged for the Fetters of Sin.
Never again, would the Tree’s Forbidden Fruit be experienced with such horrible clarity, with such terrible loneliness, until the Spurned-God-Who-Became-Man, would take on Sin and surrender into Death, on that Tree Of Life, replanted in His Blood on the altar of Calvary.
We were abandoned to Sin, but not to God’s Mercy, for he left us a Promise. He veiled our Sickness and Death with a prophecy of Hope, that one day, the Offspring of a New Eve, would crush the head of Satan. Oh, the power of that Tree!
Now freed from that lecherous grip of the Serpent, we are free to find again our true face. Our Divine Image has been restored. This Savior has wrapped us in his Father’s cloak. He has re-given us the Father’s ring, the very one we threw away. He has washed our dirty feet, and has given us new shoes to dance. He has prepared for us a feast, with Bread and Wine that eternally removes hunger and thirst. He has become this Bread of Life, which we not only consume, but which, in turns consumes our guilt; which we not only possess, but which possesses us, which not only nourishes our body and soul, but resurrects our sin-sick nature into New Life, where we are Born Again into immortality.
Because our Savior lives, because he has poured his Holy Spirit into our hearts, our eyes are opened anew to see the Face Of God, to walk again in his Presence, to hear the sound of our name on his lips, to know that we Belong to the Face that is smiling upon us. And, for those how dare, who allow in their spirit, to be drawn into his Gaze, if we look deeply into the eyes of our Father, if we peer into his very pupil, we will see reflected, our Divine Image, the one he calls “Beloved Child” -the Apple Of His Eye.
