“Let us make man IN OUR IMAGE, AFTER OUR LIKENESS. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26).
To be in the image of God means to reflect Him and representing Him. REFLECTING GOD IS THE MEANING OF BEING IN HIS IMAGE. And reflecting God IS GLORIFYING GOD. To glorify something means to make it look great! So, for God to say that He made us in his image is the same as to say that He made us TO DISPLAY HIS GLORY.
Further, when God gives dominion to humankind “over all the earth,” it shows that His purpose in creation was TO FILL THE WHOLE EARTH WITH HIS GLORY. That’s why God created humans — to fill the earth with His glory. This includes fellowship with Him and one another, REFLECTING BACK TO HIM THE RADIANCE OF HIS WORTH IN OUR CHARACTER, ACTIONS, AND DELIGHT IN HIM.
Then the fall happened, and man sinned! Theologians distinguish between the NATURAL IMAGE OF GOD and THE MORAL IMAGE OF GOD. We didn’t lose the natural image of God in the fall — for example, God reaffirms, after the fall, that man is in his image “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for GOD MADE MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE.” (Genesis 9:6). This is why people still deserve to be treated with respect.
But, we did lose the moral image of God? This means we stopped reflecting God’s moral attributes; we became corrupted and sinful, reflecting the opposite of what God is like. This is why Paul can say: “…since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge IN THE IMAGE OF ITS CREATOR.” (Colossians 3:9-10).
Here’s what this means: The mere expansion of the human race over the whole earth no longer fulfills God’s purpose in creation. It fills the earth with people in His natural image — possessing intellect, emotion, and will — but who are out of fellowship with God and ultimately against him, “The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” (Genesis 6:5) Yet, God prophesied that “…the earth will be filled with THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY OF THE LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14).
In other words, God’s original purpose to fill the earth with His glory — His glory reflected through human beings — will be fulfilled. “For God so loved the world that HE GAVE His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but TO SAVE THE WORLD THROUGH HIM.” (John 3:16-17)
DID I NOT TELL YOU THAT IF YOU BELIEVE, YOU WILL SEE THE GLORY OF GOD?(John 11:40)
-Bill Stockham