The Image Imitated
Last time we talked discovered that humans are still “made in the likeness of God”. So this is a reality, even after humans fell into sin.
However, the Fall still brought drastic change.
Adam was created from the dust of the earth, and because of the Fall he became dust again. In 1 Corinthians, Paul calls him “the man of dust”.
By the sweat of your face
Genesis 3:19
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.
Man’s marvellous vocation and purpose were twisted, and death was the result.
No, in the Fall the imago dei (the image of God) is not lost, but our view of life became twisted, and our lives were doomed to end in death.
The early pagan kings had some idea of the imago dei, and they attempted to imitate it. In ancient times, they would sometimes build statues in the cities that they governed, statues that represented the kings themselves.
This is another way in which we cannot imitate God. It was a disaster.
You see, God made a sinless image, living and thinking, to govern creation under God’s authority. But humans constructed dead idols to represent themselves, and to represent false gods to worship.
And so when do we next come across the word “image” in the Bible?
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
Exodus 20:4-5
Why should we not make an image? For example, why not make an image that represents the true God?
Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
Deuteronomy 4:15-19
Why not make an image to represent Yahweh? First, because God is invisible. He is Spirit. “. . . you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb . . .”
But secondly, God is not a part of creation. He is the Creator. For example, “. . . the sun and the moon and the stars . . . [are] things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.”
Yes, God can create a living representative. But we don’t worship the human race. And we should certainly not create our own images to worship.
But, of course, we did exactly that.
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Romans 1:21-23
Futile in their thinking. Because we thought that God was like an animal. Like us. Like an idol.
You can almost hear Isaiah laugh as he writes Isaiah 44. Let me paraphrase.
A man plants a tree, and leaves it to grow. He cuts it down and makes firewood. He warms himself by the fire. He cooks a bowl of bacon and beans, and eats it. Then he takes the leftover wood and makes an image. He bows down and cries out, “Oh save me! You are my god!”
The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
Psalm 135:15-18
the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak;
they have eyes, but do not see;
they have ears, but do not hear,
nor is there any breath in their mouths.
Those who make them become like them,
so do all who trust in them.
Futile in their thinking. Because we make false gods, or images that represent a god, and so we become like them. We think that if we can see and touch our god, we can control it. But in fact, the idol enslaves us.
We forgot what the imago dei really was. And so God came to the rescue. And what happens next is the most amazing thing of all. Next time!