Man Created In The Image of God

The cultural war in America is ultimately an attack on the Image of God in man. This war is as real in the conservative ranks as it is in the liberal ranks. I agree that the conservatives do not go as far toward the raw destruction of our likeness to God as liberals, but the seeds of doubt are present. Sin is a word almost forbidden in todayÂ’s language but the real issue is the image of God in man. Sin is anything and everything that distorts GodÂ’s image. There is not one definition of sin in the Bible that does not include this idea. The Creator seeks to keep nothing from His creation except that which destroys our likeness to Him. Simply speaking, the essence of sin is whatever mars His beauty in you and me.

Genesis, the first of sixty-six books in Scripture, is the building block of the entire Bible. Every theological truth flows from the beginning book. The centerpiece of both Genesis and the Holy Bible is the creation of man. This was His grand act and was the only part of creation that included His breath of life as part of the event. Everything of the created universe revolved around man. Man and woman were to extend God’s personal family and to give Him daily joy as they conversed together and enjoyed the indescribable atmosphere of unmasked pleasure. Moses recorded these words, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:27-28)

The three chief areas of attack by liberals is a direct confrontation of what this great truth of GodÂ’s image in man represents. The Biblical home must be destroyed or liberalism and humanism cannot succeed. Any society that loses the concept and reality of strong families with bedrock values will collapse. Children are desperate in their formative years for the sense of their father and mother. Remove either and the other parent must be a genius to keep the children from becoming wrecks. At best, they suffer loss that functional families can never begin to grasp. Animals and earth creatures know nothing of this Divine instinct within the family. They may herd together, but the family lines are unknown. This is a great distinction of our God-like qualities.

Children and their innocence are the second wave of attacks by mindless liberals and humanists. Little children are naturally pure and endowed with a divine longing for the spiritual. Give any child whose innocence has not been compromised the right opportunity and they will almost leap toward faith and God. After fifty years of Gospel living and preaching, I never tire of seeing children respond to faith. They naturally believe and have a natural hunger for anything religious. The very reason that millions of altar boys have been molested by priests is the simple trust children have toward anyone representing the church. Children are extremely vulnerable to be abused by the unscrupulous within religious institutions. I believe sexual abuse of children should be a capitol punishment.

Jesus Christ’s life and ministry on earth was spotlighted by the beauty of children aglow in His presence. The Jewish leaders were incensed by the excitement of children worshiping Him and crying out for the joy of His love. “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Matthew 21:15-16)

The similarity of the innocence of a child to the spiritual joy of being converted to Jesus Christ is already revealed in this beautiful statement of Scripture. Another incident amplifies this truth. A question was posed to the Lord, “…Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1b) Our Lord’s answer is a revelation of eternal value. “And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.” (Matthew 18:2-5) The arrogance of unconverted human flesh will never enter the Kingdom of God. The intellectualism of our present religious world is revealed for its folly as we behold our Lord in His ministry of humility.

Our present culture with its “cross-pollination of the sexes” is utterly destructive to everything beautiful. This is the third wave of attack against the image of God in the human race. We were created male and female and every distinction of the sexes is His Divine handiwork. The word “female” does not exist in the angelic world because this created beauty was reserved for His chosen families. It was the completion of His human design so that this special creation could multiply and fill His universe.

When a culture distorts this beautiful union of man and woman, it is the last step to hell. Homosexuality and lesbianism is a Satanic intrusion into the most perfect expression of human design planned and executed by our Great Heavenly Father. The perfect companion of all immorality is pornography. It is the most dehumanizing and spiritually destructive propaganda of history. Pornography is the literature of rapists, committers of incest, serial killers and every other form of the fornicators. It feeds the worst of SatanÂ’s imagination in human hearts. ItÂ’s the breeding ground of demons and dark spirits out of the bottomless pit.

But oh the joy of the man and woman that will allow Jesus Christ to renew the human soul and spirit to the beauty He designed. The “converted” man or woman that willingly becomes as a “little child” is still the joy of our Creator as was Adam and Even in their pristine state. Jesus said, “…Ye must be born again….” (St. John 3:7) It is the one pathway back to the plan of God that we “we were created to fulfill.” The new birth is a “re-creation” of the created. It is supernatural work by His blood, and all He requires is total surrender and total faith in Him. We were His handiwork in creation, and we are His handiwork in redemption.

Joseph R. Chambers