WHOSE LIKENESS DO WE BEAR?

September 16, 2001 pm

MF Blume


Isaiah 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;




Lucifer's name means "day star".
God made man in His image according to Genesis 1:26-27.
Man was intended to be endowed with God's very Life, itself, as supplied from the fruit of the Tree of Life.
As much as the serpent was best suited to Satan's needs of possessing a physical entity in order to work and tempt the people, being the most subtle beast of the field (Gen. 3:1), man's creation in God's image best formed man to be God's vessel.

You would not make a glove with 8 finger holes in order to fit your hand, since a glove is best suited for your hand with four finger holes and a thumb hole.

Man was made from t he dust of the ground.
Jesus did explicitly note that he saw Satan fall from Heaven like lighntining (Luke10:18).
To understand this, please note that the Garden was to be a Heaven on earth. It all hinged upon the fruit Adam would choose to eat.

Man would not imitate God, but rather be the vehicle through which God would work in the physical realm what He did in the spiritual realm.

But the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil stood in the Garden as well as the Tree of Life.
We see the same traits years later in their descendants' lives.

Moses was on Mount Sinai ready to descend and grant the Ten Commandments on stone to the people.
Exodus 32:1  And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
Aaron commanded the people to supply the earrings.
When confronted by Moses as to what happened, Aaron manifested the same traits as did Adam and Eve after they ate the forbidden fruit.

Exodus 32:22  And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.  For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.  And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf .
I did not read earlier where the people forced Aaron to make the calf.
King Saul was distinctly told to wait for Samuel to come and sacrifice to the Lord.

1 Samuel 10:8  And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings: seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come to thee, and shew thee what thou shalt do.
But Saul disobeyed.

1 Samuel 13:8-9  And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel [had appointed]: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering.
Samuel rebuked Saul and Saul argued with Samuel.

1 Samuel 13:10-12  And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him. And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash; Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.
Saul said he forced himself.
Saul later was told to kill all living survivors of the heathens they defeated in battle.

1 Samuel 15:3  Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
Saul again disobeyed.
1 Samuel 15:9  But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
Samuel rebuked him.
1 Samuel 15:18-19  And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.  Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
Saul argued once again with Samuel, and blamed the people.
1 Samuel 15:20-21  And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
Man indeed continued on in this manifestation of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Let me declare that man manifests one of two natures.
Man does not have his own nature, so to speak.
Whose likeness do we bear?

Let us search our lives and determine what nature is coming forth from us all more than the other.
Whose likeness do we bear?

Instead of repeating what God did in Heaven, man repeated Satan's experience in heaven.
Satan must have caught a glimpse of man's destiny in the plan of God before Satan even fell.
Isaiah 14:13-14  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
  1. I will ascend into heaven, 
  2. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: 
  3. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 
  4. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; 
  5. I will be like the most High.
Paul informed us that Jesus is seated in heavenly places far above all principalities or angels (stars).
Ephesians 1:20-22  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Satan hates you and I with everything in him, because we have the things he wanted.
Ephesians 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
We ascended into heavenly places in Christ

We also are in the sides of the North!
Psalm 48:1-2 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.
We are come to Mount Zion!
Hebrews 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
We're seated with Christ on the sides of the North!
We will ascend above the heights of the clouds.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
We will be like the Most High!
1John 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Satan saw all of this in our destiny.
But These are prophecies that are true, and some of which have already been fulfilled and some will be fulfilled.
Phil 3:21  Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
And here is what His glorious body was like:
Luke 24:39  Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
Jesus appeared before the 12 in His glorious body in a most supernatural manner.
John 20:19  Then the same day at evening, being the first [day] of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace [be] unto you .
The doors had been shut but Jesus appeared!

He even changed form.
Mark 16:12  After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.
The universe is limitless and physical infinite in size.

Someone said that if they find fossilized bacteria on a meteorite from Mars then the Bible will be proven to be false.
Its not playing harps on clouds in some secluded little sky.
But Satan sought these things and will not get them.
Jesus told the unbelievers that they did not even manifest their own natures.
John 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

They had all the traits of the devil.
Jesus was everything but "me-first".
Matthew 11:29-30  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Jesus was meek and lowly of heart.
Whose likeness do we bear?

Alleged Christians harbour feelings and grudges in their lives against those who've wronged them.
Jesus said NOT MY WILL, BUT THINE BE DONE.
Romans 15:1-3  We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
Whose likeness do we bear?
1 Corinthians 13:4-7  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Love is not touchy.
Look at what Peter describes as the nature of people who have been born again of incorruptible seed.
1 Peter 1:22-23  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
Someone who loves with a pure heart is someone who is born of incorruptible seed.
Whose likeness do we bear?