FROM VEGETATION TO AN IMAGE OF GOD
(or)
REPLACING DARKNESS WITH LIGHT

May 28, 2006 pm
Mike Blume

  Scripture Text:

 
Genesis 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Look what we read now.

Romans 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:


  Message:



God originally made man in HIS LIKENESS.
  • But mankind fell from that place, and Jesus had to later come to earth IN OUR LIKENESS.
  • The likeness of sinful flesh.
  • HE BECAME LIKE US, SO WE COULD ONCE AGAIN BECOME LIKE HIM.
  • Adam was like Him.
  • But God must restore this image of God in the earth.
  • And it had to occur with Jesus Christ, the LAST ADAM.

Let us start at the beginning.


Genesis 1:1-13  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  (2)  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.  (3)  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.  (4)  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.  (5)  And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.  (6)  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.  (7)  And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.  (8)  And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.  (9)  And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.  (10)  And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.  (11)  And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. (12) And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.  (13)  And the evening and the morning were the third day.


HEAVEN and EARTH are the first two things mentioned in the entire Bible, apart from God.
  • God wanted to make a MIRROR of HEAVEN in the form of the physical EARTH.
  • And God wanted an IMAGE OF HIMSELF in the form of Man to rule that earth, as He rules Heaven.
  • Look at the pattern God uses to make the earth.
The world is totally dark.
  • In a world where there is only darkness at first, God's Spirit moves in on the scene and on the earth's FACE He shines light.
  • This is precisely how salvation occurs.
John 3:5 KJV  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

WATER and SPIRIT are involved in salvation of new birth, so we enter the KINGDOM OF GOD.

The interesting thing about this is that God is light.

And we also read that He is IN LIGHT.

1 John 1:5-7  This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  (6)  If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:  (7)  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

He is light and He is in light.

Our Father is in Heaven.

  • Heaven is not a physical place.
  • It is a spiritual realm.
  • It's not up.
  • Up to us would be down to those on the other side of the planet.
  • Is our heaven their hell?
  • Of course not.
  • Its a spiritual realm.

It's not the city we read of Revelation with pearl gates, because Jesus builds that city.  So if it was heaven, and he had to build it, then there was no heaven before Jesus came.

It already was created in Genesis.

AND HEAVEN MUST BE ALL LIGHT.

  • He is in light and he is in heaven.
  • Heaven, then, is all light.

And he is moving upon a world full of darkness to make it an image of heaven.
  • To introduce LIGHT TO IT.

He actually speaks forth light upon the face of the world and sort of reproduces Himself there.

  • He made Heaven and earth in the beginning.
  • One is a mirror of the other.
  • One is spiritual and one is physical.

He takes something from the spiritual, LIGHT, and puts it into the physical.

He makes a world where there is both the physical and the spiritual there.

Light only comes when His Spirit performs a special action of moving upon the earth's face.

He speaks the light also.

If there are two things we need, its the WORD of God and the SPIRIT of God.

By the way, the Word will never say anything the Spirit will not say, and vice versa.

And the FIRST FORM OF LIFE was created on the THIRD DAY.
  • VEGETATION.
  • No intelligence.
  • Just biological life alone.
Notice the pattern.
  • The first day is when light is given to a dark world, and a separation occurs.
  • Light must then be separated and distinguished from darkness.
  • God never meant the two to be mingled.
By the time you get to the end of the Bible you read there will be nothing but LIGHT left, with NO darkness, the direct opposite of the condition of the earth in Gen 1:2.

Rev 21:25 KJV  And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

The introduction of light to the world represents REPENTANCE.
  • TRUTH is light given to a dark soul.
  • And good and evil  (Light and darkness) must be separated.
  • God never meant us to mingle good and evil.
  • We cannot commit sins and also expect to be righteous at the same time.
The second day was dividing of waters.
  • After Peter said, "Repent", he told every one of them to be baptized in water in Jesus Name (Acts 2:38).
And the third day the DRY LAND APPEARS.
  • Resurrection.
  • He had to gather the waters below to one place in order for the land to appear.
  • That means the land was beneath the waters.
  • For the first time in Gen 1, dry earth appears.
  • And vegetation is the first form of life.
When someone is initially saved by obeying Acts 2:38, there is NEW LIFE in them.
  • BUT IT IS LIKE VEGETATION.
  • THERE IS NO UNDERSTANDING OF THE THINGS OF GOD.
  • They call a person with a complete physical body, who is alive, but has no intelligence whatsoever a VEGETABLE.
  • Infants are also quite alive and yet have absolutely no intelligence.
  • And we are "BORN AGAIN", by the way, as Christians, indicating there is no  intelligence yet, BUT VERY MUCH POTENTIAL!
God started with vegetation life, and ended up with MAN IN THE IMAGE OF GOD!
  • You could say something wonderful begins when God first sheds light on a soul and they repent.
  • Some people think there is nothing that happens until ACTS 2:38 is fully obeyed.
  • That is not true.
  • There definitely is a work of God  in the lives of people who repent.
  • BUT THERE IS NO RESURRECTION UNTIL THE THIRD DAY.
  • Even Jesus resurrected the THIRD DAY.
  • Even Jesus was Baptized in Jordan, and even Jesus had the SPIRIT DESCEND upon Him in the form of a dove.
The fifth day saw more life, but it was fish and fowl life.
  • A LITTLE BIT OF INTELLIGENCE.
  • Vegetation has no intelligence.
  • But fish and fowl certainly do!
But the sixth day is when intelligence really come into being.
  • Cattle and beasts were created then.
  • And then, of course, MANKIND WAS CREATED.
So if this is a pattern of salvation and God's COMPLETE WORK, you are only like a vegetable, spiritually speaking, when you are first saved.
  • And if you remain at Acts 2:38, you remain infantile and never come to GROW IN THE KNOWLEDGE AND GRACE OF JESUS.
2Pe 3:18 KJV  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

To make man, God takes dust of earth and breath of His Spirit, like the air of heaven, and makes man out of the combination.
  • And man is made in His image.
  • His likeness.

Genesis 1:26-28  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  (27)  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.  (28)  And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

REPLENISH EARTH.

FILL IT

I think I know what it should be filled with.

While earth is a mirror of heaven, man is a mirror of God.

Like God in the heaven, man is to rule in the earth.

But just like the world, man becomes darkness.

  • The bible refers to wickedness and evil as darkness.
  • And man, God's image is darkened and requires redemption.

Man is in the place the world was in Genesis 1:2.

  • He is damaged by sin.

Man is cast from the earth's Garden of life and God shuts it up.

Meanwhile, earth is part light and part dark.

Heaven IS FULL OF LIGHT.
  • So what is going to have to happen to the world if it is a going to be a mirror of HEAVEN?

Look what we read the Lord wanted to fill earth with:

Isaiah 6:3  And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

Numbers 14:21  But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.

Psalm 72:19  And blessed be his glorious name forever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.

Habakkuk 2:14  For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

In Habakkuk, we see introduced the thought of the glory being associated with KNOWLEDGE.
  • In sinful man, where there is no righteousness, there is only darkness.
  • TO KNOW GOD and the things of God, is to have KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY.
  • LIGHT!
  • Like Heaven!
God refers to man's heart as a dark place where his light shines into, and directly relates that thought to Genesis where GOD SPOKE LIGHT.

2 Corinthians 4:6  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.

And he even calls this as being in an earthen vessel, like the EARTH.

2 Corinthians 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

This salvation is so similar to the manner of dealing with earth.

Now I am convinced the Lord wanted to make the world into a place where there was total light.

  • But He stopped at this point.
Now, know also that the devil loves darkness.

  • And now we have people who love darkness.

John 3:19-21  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  (20)  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.  (21)  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

People scurry into the darkness who love evil.

  • And the men who love truth come to the light.

Darkness in your life is where the devil can gain an advantage.

1 John 1:5  This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

How would you like to be so much in the likeness of God, that THERE IS NO DARKNESS IN YOU AT ALL?
  • This is God's goal for your life.

John 12:31-36  Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.  (32)  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.  (33)  This he said, signifying what death he should die.  (34)  The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?  (35)  Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.  (36)  While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

The cross was coming when Jesus said those words above..

  • He would cast the prince of this world out.

1 John 2:11  But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

Colossians 1:12-13  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:  (13)  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

The devil had nothing in Jesus, because Jesus refused to let darkness into his life.

He moves His Spirit upon the face of your heart to reproduce Himself in you.

  • Face to face - just like God moving upon the FACE of the deep in Genesis 1:2.
  • Glory to glory.
  • Your face beholds his and His glory is moved on into your face and you now have glory.
And the way it happens, is that it is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.

  • Its in Jesus' face.
  • So as you turn your HEART'S face to Jesus' face, you receive LIGHT OF KNOWLEDGE.
  • Jesus is always speaking about shining knowledge of God upon people.

Jesus is the light.

John 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

John 1:9  That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

John 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

John 12:35-36  Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.  (36)  While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

John 12:46  I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

Jesus is the light entering the world just as God's glory came to reproduce light.

The world experienced a birthing of sorts to be light.

  • He changed the world.
  • Like a child of light in a way.

And now He comes and says He is the light of the world.

  • He is that Spirit that shone upon the world.
  • And He is speaking "let there be light."
  • And He is saying they will be children of the light.
  • They will turn into light themselves.

Man was in God's image and lost that image.

Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

We have to be conformed to his image because we lost it since it was marred..

And after we read he made us into his image, as follows...

Genesis 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

...Look what we read now.

Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

He has to come in our likeness.

He was the image of God.

Colossians 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

But something would happen to that IMAGE OF GOD, to identify with us, so he might rescue us from that state of sin.

Because we fell from the image of God, and God's image in us was distorted, we read of the cross in this prophecy:

Isaiah 52:14  As many were astonished at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:

Jesus came in God's image.

  • But he identified or became like us when he was crucified.
  • This describes his crucifixion.
  • HIS IMAGE was marred.
  • Why?
  • Because we were like Him and in God's image and were marred.
  • And then He died on the cross.

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

We connect to Him when we get baptized INTO HIS DEATH where HIS VISAGE, or IMAGE, was marred more than any man.

  • When he became marred, at that point, we connect to Him.
  • And then He carries us into the grave with him when he is buried.
  • Then he carries us out when he is resurrected.
  • And he lifts us up to sit on a throne when he ascends.
  • He is returning us back to where we fell from.

The world became an image of heaven.

  • People become an image of God.

And when you become a Christian, its as though there are two parts to you.

  • Part dark and part light.
  • Part of you wants to pray, but another part does not.
  • We battle the fleshly part, that tends to darkness.
  • That is the dual aspect that we see in the physical world as well.

He wants this world to be filled with the glory of God.

  • And He wants us to be filled with light as well.
  • He wants us to receive HIM, LIGHT.
  • His face is filled with the light of God's glory.
  • Its in the form of knowledge.
  • And if we turn our faces to his face, we will be changed into his image.

Face-to-face is a term implying intimacy.

  • No man has seen God at any time, but we read Moses saw Him face-to-face.
  • So it speaks of intimacy.
  • Heart to heart.
  • Eye to eye.

Your heart is said to have a face.

  • Jesus spoke of having eyes to see and seeing not.
  • Ears to hear and hearing not.
  • This is the heart's eyes of understanding and ears of hearing.
  • And when God has your heart in His full attention, your heart is open to receive His LIGHT!
  • You are face to face!

And one day we will be out of this flesh that has the propensity to want darkness.

  • That pull is in your flesh.
  • Paul said he keeps the body under for that reason.
What people struggle with between DAY THREE and DAY SIX of their personal spiritual GENESIS, is the PULL TO THE DARKNESS, once they have the light.
  • God wants less and less darkness, until there is NO NIGHT!
  • He wants MORE AND MORE LIGHT!
Proverbs 4:18 KJV  But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

THE FLESH is where we fee the pull to darkness.

So Paul said...

1 Corinthians 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

He would feel like not doing the work of God such as preaching, if he allowed his flesh to have its way.
  • Just like you can stop praying and attending church faithfully to hear the word, and receive the light of the knowledge of God's glory.
But this world is going to be full of light with no darkness one day.

Rev 21:23  And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

The glory of God is here filling.

  • Notice that we read of the glory of God and the Lamb is the light.
  • That is 2 Corinthians 4:6.
  • Light is in Jesus; face,
  • And its light of the knowledge of the glory of God.
  • Like the sun is the glory and the beams of light reaching us is Jesus.
We will one day be totally LIGHT!

You need to rid yourself of all darkness.
  • Yes, there is pleasure in sin, but any darkness is not going to be left one day.
  • It will be totally removed.
  • All that will be left is LIGHT.
  • And if you have any darkness at all, you will be removed with the rest of the darkness, because if you are left, there will be some darkness left in you.
  • God is bringing everything to NO NIGHT!
  • Let us allow God to fill us more and more with LIGHT!