Hi Keypurr,
You wrote:
I think his image could die and did.
YES - again in this way. The super-natural image described in the OT was not mortal flesh ... and could not die. It was a
"heavenly body" ... and sometimes referred to as "
the angel of God" as well as other terms used to describe IT.
In Colossians 1:15 IT was was called the
"image of the invisible God."
The image of the invisible God could not die ... until the time came for God to manifest IT out of mortal flesh... then YES!
John 1:18 tells us that no one had ever seen God, the begotten son (of flesh) until the days of John the Baptist ... and that it was John the B that revealed his arrival to the world.
quote:
No man at any time hath seen
God, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he (John the Baptist) hath declared
him (as arrived.)
You also mentioned:
Yes. but Christ was with God before the creation, All was made through Christ.
Well, this sort of takes us away from the topic of God's image ... but I do have thoughts from my studies.
First of all:
The term Elohiym is used to identify the Creator in Genesis 1. This word "Elohiym" is a collective noun, which means that if one wants to write correctly then they will use it in a sentence like a singular noun with a matching singular verb.
Example: Elohiym
is instead of Elohiym
are ... or Elohiym
creates instead of Elohiym
create.
Other examples of collective nouns found in the English language are:
committee, choir, squadron... IOW, these words appear to used like singular nouns ... but they represent a collection or a plurality of people.
So, when the collective noun Elohiym was used ... IT was denoting that God's invisible nature was
a plurality of essence.
So what is God full of?
Well, we are told that
He is LIFE itself... so we know that whatever is part of his fullness of essence ... then
all is ALIVE.
If we begin to call out the fullness of his nature then I believe that we have to say that each and every part of him is alive/living. If God calls out that He is LIGHT or He is his WORD or He is WISDOM or He is GOODNESS and MERCY ... etc. , then we must realize that each and every is just alive as the other listed nature.
Is it any wonder that we hear the term the
"living WORD of God?"
The Son of God was the "living WORD of God." The WORD of God existed in God... was with God ... and was God.
Think upon this:
In Genesis 1:3,4 God spoke by
his WORD:
"Let there be light: and there was light
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Here is what I learn from these short statements:
a.) The WORD that was spoken that brought forth the LIGHT was there already ... before the creation of anything else listed in Gen. 1.
b.) It was the power of God own WORD that separated the LIGHT from the darkness.
c.) I figure that the LIGHT was already part of God's living essence ... but it was invisible ... hidden with in the darkness.
The closest scientists have come to explaining such a phenomenon with the natural mind is to tell us about the
"back hole", which they say has such power that it even consumes rays of light so that they cannot escape its grasp ... and light becomes hidden within its grasp... existing but invisible to humans.
When I ponder these things in the information above and couple it with other things taught in scripture ... then I come up with some pretty good conclusions.
1.) The WORD of God existed inclusively and invisibly as God's own living essence. All things were created by God's living WORD. John 1:1,2 tells us how the WORD was God and was with God.
2.) God chose to call LIGHT out of the darkness and separate them from each other by his laws or commands ... and for me this meant that God was about to make things begin to APPEAR.
3.) I've read that God's own image lives within unapproachable LIGHT... and this glorious LIGHT can be harmful to the eyes and lives of mortal men of flesh ... and OT and NT examples bear out the true possibility of this fact.
4.) So, when God tells me that he he already had an image to share the likeness of with mankind, then I ponder that that image was of the essence of LIGHT. That would make it a more "spiritual-type/ super natural- type / heavenly- type presence than what was comprehend that was formed for mankind out of the elements of the "ground."
4.) John 1:9,10 tells us that
the living invisible WORD of God had come within the world and
appeared on earth while being THAT TRUE LIGHT ... that OT super-natural image of God composed of God's own living LIGHT had finally come into the world and
appeared as "natural mortal flesh" at the time of our Lord and Savior Jesus.
This made the Savior both:
* the invisible Living WORD of God, who was God and was with God
* and the living LIGHT of God - aka God's image or presence.
Which is exactly what John 1 tells us. And then we are told that until the time of the arrival of the Savior:
"No man at any time hath seen God, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he (John the B) hath declared him."
This verse does not say that no one had ever seen
super-natural image of God the Father ... but says that no man had ever before seen
God the Son manifested of flesh.
