Lest the Light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ (Who IS the Image of God) Should Shine In Them - Part 1388

"So God created man in His [own] image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." (Genesis 1:27) This scripture is consistent with "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)

And God said, "Let there be light and there was light," and God saw the light that it was good ..." (Genesis 1:3-4) And God called the light Day .... And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." (Genesis 1:5-6) And God made the firmament ... and God called the firmament Heaven ... and God said, "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together under one place ... and God called the dry [land] Earth ... and God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass." (Genesis 1:7-11)

And God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years." (Genesis 1:14) And God made two great lights ... and God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth ... and God said, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life ... and God created ... And God blessed them ... And God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so." (Genesis 1:12-24)

And God made ... (Genesis 1:25)

What did God make?

God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth on the earth after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good. (Genesis 1:25)

Indeed, "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands, neither is worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed any thing, seeing He gives to all life, and breath, and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if haply them might feel after Him and find Him though He be not far away from every one of us ...

For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, "For we are also His offspring." For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to thing that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men every where to repent." (Acts 17:24-30)

"In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie promised before the world began; but hath in due times manifested His Word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour." (Titus 1:2-3)

God -- "who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by [His] Son whom He appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of [His] glory, and the express image of His person and upholding all things by the Word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high -- being made so much better than the angels as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent NAME than they." (Hebrews 1:1-4)

The same God who was in the world and the world was made by Him and yet the world knew Him not. The same God who came unto His own and His own received Him not. (John 1:10-11)

The same God -- capital G God -- whom the small g god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ -- who is the image of God should shine unto them. "For we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord -- and ourselves, your servants for Jesus sake -- for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (II Corinthians 4:4-6)

The same God manifest in the flesh. (I Timothy 3:16) The same God who came forth as a mighty man. (Isaiah 42:13) The same "God with us" who willingly came to save His people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21-23)

The One and Only Lord God Almighty.  "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. One God and Father of all ..." (Ephesians 4:5-6) And His name in this current dispensation of grace is JESUS the Christ. Our Redeemer. God our Saviour. (Titus 3:4-7) The Prince of Peace and Great I AM. (Isaiah 9:6)

But sadly, in the midst of all these scriptures which clearly point to one God (who by the way loved us enough to shed His precious blood on the cross, taking on a sin prone flesh so that we might find salvation in Him -- Mark 12:28-29; Deuteronomy 6:4) -- what do we see being taught within the church walls? Believers believing that there must be more than one God -- an unknown God as described in Acts 17. This is why Paul said when he found an alter with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN  GOD whom therefore, ye ignorantly worship. (Acts 17:23)

We need to return to the principles of the doctrine of Christ, remaining steadfast in the apostles' doctrine. (Hebrews 6:1-2; Acts 2:36-47) Believers in Jesus by faith need a scriptural foundation so that they do not err in understanding the good news gospel of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus the Christ. And in the same way we need to remember that God Himself -- Almighty God made flesh -- made the earth and the heavens as the scripture repeatedly states, and it is the light of His glorious gospel -- the glorious gospel of Christ who is the visible image of an invisible God -- which allows His light to shine in them.

So -- note that the same so (that should have brought a quick resolution to the question of who Jesus really was when He told His disciples "I and My Father are ONE!" and "If ye have seen Me, ye have seen the Father") should stand on their own merit.  Without question! As Jesus said whilst being tempted in the wilderness, "It is written."

Therefore, the next time you hear someone preach or teach one particular scripture out of context as if the scriptures around these verses (or the accompanying school(s) of thought) can be achieved by doing so, remember that one verse in isolation from the others can never change the very essence of the Word delivered personally by our Lord God and Saviour.

And this includes separating Genesis 1:26 from the rest of the first and second chapter of Genesis when trying to prove that God can't possibly be ONE. Nevertheless, "In the beginning, God" (Genesis 1:1) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God ... and the Word made flesh, dwelling among us (and we beheld His glory; the glory of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-18)

"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father -- He hath declared [Him]." (John 1:18)

His name is Jesus! Stand in the offering plate.