The Image of Unity

There is unity in God that is stated in these excerpts from Genesis 1:26 and 27 that we must be careful not to miss: "….And God said Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
 The unity is shown by the use of the words "us" and "our" as well as by the use of the words "male and female". This unity is a special characteristic that is important for us to consider when pondering the ways in which man was made in the "image" of God.

Firstly, the terms "us" and "our" reflect a unique unity that is GOD. These words give a hint or foreshadowing of what would be later confirmed and revealed by Jesus Himself, and the disciples after him: and that is that God is "triune" or three in one – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This unity is also displayed in the creation of male and female: two individual and different creations, yet formed to become one…a "oneness" that was never meant to be divided by other men or other women…for it is a "oneness" designed by God Himself, meant for the joining of one man to one woman, displaying even in this thing called marriage the perfect unity of God; through which God's command to "be fruitful and multiply" is designed to happen. In all of this, we see that God intended that He also be a distinct part of that relationship between man and woman, as their Creator and the One who continues His acts of creation through them, and as the one and only God that they worship.

No wonder then that the world at large, the world that does not know God, is working so hard to distort and pervert that which God ordained. It is merely confirmation of the prophetic words that Jesus spoke when the disciples asked Him to tell them about the signs of the end of the world in which He told them that one sign (of many signs) would be that "iniquity [sin or rebellion towards God] will abound" (read the entire account in the 24^th and 25^th chapter of Matthew). How deep that iniquity goes when it seeks to destroy the unity of God in His creation:

"Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female. And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain [two] shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain [two] but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." (The words of Jesus Christ as recorded in Matthew 19:4-6)

 But it is not only the unity of male and female that God ordained for mankind, but unity with God Himself – Who Himself is united: three Persons in One. The four Gospels speak so much of the unity of God and His desire to be one with man – redeemed man, that is:

John 1:1-14: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made….and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory), the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (The "beloved" disciple John speaking of Jesus Christ who is the Word of God made flesh and by whom ALL things were created….showing that Jesus in pre-incarnate form was present with God in creation as told in Genesis 1. How do you reconcile the fact that "God spoke" and it happened, with the fact that Jesus is the WORD of God, who was WITH God and WAS God, and through whom all things were made at the time of creation?)

Mark 1:9-11: "And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in the Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he [John] saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him [Jesus]: and there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."

John 14:6-7: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him and have seen Him."

 John 14:15-21: "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever: Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me; because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."

 John 15:23: "He that hateth me hateth my Father also."

 John 16:27-28: "For the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father."

 John 17:20-21: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one: as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."

 Oneness or unity between God and man is what Jesus came to restore. Returning to our scripture from yesterday's posting:

"God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:24)

We see then from all of these scriptures that Jesus is the WORD of GOD, therefore He is the TRUTH, for nothing God ever speaks is a lie. We see that the Holy Spirit of GOD is the Comforter. And we see that Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, both come from (or are in unity with or a part of) GOD.

Finally, we see that we MUST worship God in Spirit [through the Holy Spirit who comes to live in us] and in TRUTH [through Jesus Christ who is the TRUTH whom we believe in and love because of the love He first displayed for us when He went willingly to the cross to take the punishment for OUR sin]. This is the FULLNESS of God without which it is impossible to worship God in the way which HE, the Sovereign God, has chosen that He be worshiped by His creation.

I believe this blessed UNITY is central to understanding the image of God in which we were created.