5.3 Jesus as Image
© 2015 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
He that has seen Me has seen the Father.
We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.
We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.
When God appears inside His creation, when He shows Himself as He IS to both heaven and earth at the same time and in the same form, He IS totally, totally, totally different than everyone, angels or humans, ever expect. “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?” This course and this session are but brief and limited snapshots of the reality of God revealed forever through us. Our purpose is simply to turn our eyes, blind as we are, in the right direction.
Human Expectations
The Jews expected their coming Messiah to be a demigod, an angelic sort of being. Christians expect their coming Christ to be a demigod, an angelic sort of being. The Jews expected their coming Messiah to appear out of the heavens, in the sky, and to demonstrate “Godness.” Christians expect their coming Christ to appear out of the heavens, in the sky, and to demonstrate “Godness.” The Jews expected their coming Messiah to force His authority over mankind by outward demonstration of power. Christians expect their coming Christ to force His authority over mankind by outward demonstration of power.
No Beauty
When God did show up in their midst, the Jews were so angry at His appearance that they killed Him. When God does show up on this earth again, the Christians will – ? Is it possible that most people are looking in the wrong direction and seeing with the wrong eyes? What does God look like?
He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him (Isaiah 53:2). Yet here is what God says about “no beauty.” Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. . . (Hebrews 1:3).
Reality
Reality has two sides to it, always two, always together, always both. Reality has a substance side to it, and reality has an appearance side to it. God is real by substance, but God’s appearance is not appreciated by men or angels. When God shows up in creation, He is a man, just like you and me! Heaven calls that appearance of God “a Lamb.” We call that appearance of God, “Jesus.” But the substance is invisible Spirit – the Father.
Upside Down
The way of the wicked He turns upside down (Psalms 146:9b).
I am attempting to change our seeing, to turn it away from the seeing of the Jews, from the seeing of most Christians, from the seeing of heaven, and from the seeing of earth. Everyone sees everything upside down and backwards. In such a dizzying condition it is best to close our eyes, to be blind and to be ignorant, so that Jesus might show Himself to us as He IS. In God’s definition of Himself, humility IS greatness, “folly” IS wisdom, faith IS righteousness, and touching little children with hands of kindness IS the most glorious thing God wants to do.
The Brightness of His Glory
But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. Matthew 13:16-17
Consider the upside down meaning of Jesus’ words. Moses saw pillars of fire and mighty demonstrations of power by his outstretched rod. Moses looked upon God’s “backsides” upon the mountain of fire. Solomon saw the Shekinah glory filling the temple. Isaiah “saw” the Lord high and lifted up in His heavenly temple. Ezekiel saw all sorts of wondrous things. Jesus said that not one of them ever saw God, not as He IS.
A Man as God’s Appearance
When God shows up, He is a Man, born in a stable, growing up in a dusty country village, walking among us very much as a normal human being, just like the person sitting next to you. May I suggest that God does not and never will have any other visible appearance. All other appearances, including all heavenly appearances, are nothing more than the representations of God’s attributes and interests, the outer perimeters of what He does. Man is the image and likeness of God. Jesus did not show us what God “is like.” Jesus was the appearance of the Father, Person inside of Person.
One with the Father
The Father – substance; Jesus – appearance. Two sides of the same One. Yet also two distinct persons, one Person inside the other Person, merged together in union as One, yet sharing full communion together as two. To be like Jesus, to be of His same kind (firstborn among many brethren) is FIRST to share the exact same relationship with the Father.
- Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in me.
- KNOW that I am in the Father and you in me and I in you.
Figurative Appearance vs Plain Appearance
What does God look like?
These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father (John 16:25).
“Hey, everything I have said to you about the Father is all figurative, including everything you have ever heard about God, including everything you have read in the Old Testament. But now, I will tell you plainly, directly, visibly, about the Father.”
Then He shuts up and says nothing more.
The Father’s Appearance
Jesus meant what He had already made clear. If the disciples would just shut up about all the “knowing about” God filling their minds and turn and open their eyes to see, then, for the first time in the history of all creation, they would see what God looks like. They would see the only way the invisible Almighty actually, for real, appears.
Most people define the appearance of God by angelic attributes and by the substance of heaven. Most people will call the appearance of one of the mightiest of angels, “God.” Let’s turn with the disciples. Let’s see God as He IS.
Do You See God?
- Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them . . . And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them (Mark 10:13-16).
- Jesus wept (John 11:35).
- Jesus. . . rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded (John 13:3-5).
- And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground (Luke 22:44).
- There they crucified Him, and the criminals (Luke 23:33).
I want to break our minds away from the false “likeness of God” we inherited from Adam’s folly in the garden, an angelic being thrusting his own appearance into the human mind as if he, the epitome of heavenly glory, is “what God looks like,” so that we might begin to see the Father as He really is.
God gives us a number of precise snapshots of Himself as He really is. Some of the most important are implied only and not stated directly in the text. A God who loves to bless children, a God on His knees to serve, a God crying out in agony, a God stumbling and falling on His face under a cross He cannot carry, a God hanging naked, bloody, bruised, and unashamed upon a cross of wood.
A God who appears ONLY as a man, the Father.