If paradise has been lost – it can be regained. Man can be regenerated. The image that we had can be regained. 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. “…and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Colossians 3:10
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, who is the image of God is the only One that can restore the 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 live. (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 8 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 raised 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, yet God gives us a great name through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Genesis 11 they are wanting to make a name ‘for themselves,’ but in Genesis 12 where Abram is chosen we read, “I will make your name great.”
Later in life we read that God gave the name Abraham to Abram. “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.” Genesis 17:1
Most of the world, with the different religions, are like Nimrod leaving God and His Word out of the picture and trying to gain their own righteousness, but true 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.