Who is Man? Part 5
If paradise has been lost it can be regained. Man can be regenerated. The image that we had can be renewed. This is one of the great truths in the Word of God. Instead of the devil’s image of pride, malice and envy – the righteousness and goodness of God’s image can be recovered.
Colossians 3:10 “…and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
This image repair can be accomplished only by God. In Hebrews 1:3 it says: “…who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.” He is the only One that can restore His image in us. How did He do this? This is what the Cross of Jesus is all about. This is why reformation is so important. It brings us back to the cross and what it means. In Adam we die, but in Christ we are made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)
Truly God does all things well. In the future there will not only be the blessings of the resurrection, eternal life, immortality and all being manifested with Christ, but also a restoration of the dominion that we lost through sin.
When Christ returns He will exercise all the power over His creation that was lost through sin. (Hebrews 2:6-8) “But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet.” Psalms 8:4-8
It is through His grace that those who are ‘in Christ’ will share in His glorious reign. When God raises us up in Christ we possess a dominion that Adam would never have known had he remained innocent all his days.
We will be given a new name. It is interesting to see that what Nimrod and the people of his days wanted was to make a name for themselves, but God gives us a new name through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Genesis 11 we learn that they wanted to make a name for themselves, but in Genesis 12, where Abram is chosen, we read “I will make your name great.”
Later in his life we read that God gave to Abram the name Abraham. Genesis 17:1 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.”
Most of the world, with the different religions, are like Nimrod leaving God out of the picture and trying to gain their own righteousness, but His righteousness is being offered to us by grace through the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Needless to say that reformation brings us back to this truth: IT IS ALL GRACE AND NOTHING OF WORKS.