In His Image

Man is such a complex creature.  And there should be no doubt - at least in the mind of the believer - that he was intentionally formed in this manner by his Maker.  The Almighty Himself is more complex than we will ever know.  Eternity, though it be unbound, will fail to reveal it.  If it were revealed, so that eventually we would see into all the complexities of the Triune God, then what would become of the Mystery?  But mystery must belong to Him for- ever.  It is in fact at the very essence of who He is.  If the day ever arrived when He became as an open book to all, nothing left to be known of Him any longer, then this would be the effect: Gone would be His Holiness.  Gone would be His Glory.  Gone would be the Greatness of the Triune God.  No longer would we worship Him.  No longer would we bow to Him.  No longer would we love Him as we once did - not if we had captured the only Holy God.  But the magnificent mane of the Mighty Lion shall be His crown forever.  For what man is there that can search out His trails?  Do they not all lead to where we cannot go, whether we be men or angels?

No doubt, there is more to the One who the heavens cannot contain than what we will ever understand.  In that wonderful world to come, some will walk more near to Him, and therefore come to know Him more than others, even as it is presently on earth.  But who will ever know Him as He truly is?  Always will He be beyond knowledge.  Yet there is something astounding concerning this matter.  It revolves around the fact that all who have come from the seed of Adam have been created in His image - in the image of the Maker of the heavens and the earth.  No doubt, this is why man is so complex. 

I’m sure that from the beginning men have tried to understand themselves. Yet up to the present day we are still baffled when it comes to the intricate makeup of the human being.  Have we not been made likened unto our Creator?  Whether it be in body, soul or spirit - He also being these three, yet one - the human being is greatly complex, and will we ever know ourselves outside of a union with Him?  I’m sure we will not.  The unbelieving man can study and study the people of the earth; he can study them for a lifetime; he will never reach the satisfaction he seeks for from his findings.  But it is as we walk with Him that we will learn of ourselves, since He knows us through and through.  And truth alone is what He will disclose to the one who abides always with Him.  He sees our duality and desires to reveal the spirit man as well as the earthly, Adam as well as Christ, the first man of the earth, as well as the second from heaven.  If we have an ear to hear, then He has the words to teach us of who we are and what we’re all about - and it will be His delight.

In the first epistle of John we read, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!  Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 

One day we will be caught up from this tired old earth.  Then upon a transcendent vision of the glorified Son of God , we ourselves will be translated into the very image that we stand beholding.  We will be made likened unto Him, even as the beloved apostle has written us.  Now there will be no more questions, whether they be who we are and what our purpose will be as a new race, or our makeup as individual members of the King of Kings  and Lord of Lords.  And according to the words of John, our union with the Father, through the Son, will be something even greater than the ties that exist between a parent and their child in the world we know today.  Why doesn’t he further describe this relationship for us?  He couldn’t.  For even as he himself wrote, it has not yet been revealed.  But in that Day, I’m sure we will see how the word oneness will take on a new meaning.  And because of this, all that we will ever desire to have knowledge of will be shown us.  Yet as we embark upon that new age, we will surely know better than to wish to see within the cloak of the King of all the universe, since apart from His creation He must always remain; for He alone is Holy; He alone is Great; and to Him alone is there nothing hidden.  And mystery - it will belong to Him forever. 

J. Pecoraro