Adam and Eve were in the image of God in an elementary way. The Lord Jesus Christ is perfectly in the image of God, although His Divine Glory was concealed in a flesh and blood body.

The glorified Christ who appeared to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos is what God has in mind by pronouncing man in the image of God.

When the Lord appears with His saints they will be glorious to behold. They will shine as the stars of heaven. If they did not conceal their glory the peoples of the earth could not gaze on them. This is just the beginning.

After billions of eons have transpired we shall have developed further in the image of our Father. Then we shall be mountains of Divine fire—galaxies of power and glory. The eternities following will witness our coming to maturity in the image of God.

What is man that You are mindful of him?

Man is to be male and female. Male and female signifies more than biological differences. God has made man like Himself in that man is capable of entering the fiery love of God that requires union for its satisfaction—union that is oneness to the point of the loss of individuality (not loss of identity). Human marriage is but the faintest outline and shadow of what God means by our becoming one with Him.

Man has been made in half (male or female). No human being is complete in himself or herself. Man has the potential for exercising supreme authority, and yet is fragile in the area of relationships. Man is helpless and destroyed if his relationships are impaired.

Man has the capability of loving and entering into union with God and other people. The capacity for union, for oneness, is the essence of man.

Fiery love that can be satisfied only with absolute union is the central motive of the Kingdom of God. The reason the churches often miss the core of Christ's intent is that their motives are not of Divine love.

Christ was met at the hour of His supreme triumph, not by His Apostles but by Mary. The Apostles would have begun to discuss the business of the Kingdom: "Are you going to restore the Kingdom now?"

Mary clung to Him and would not let Him go. The churches always seek to work the works of God, and this is good. However, those who are close to God's heart always seek to cling to Jesus, and that is infinitely better.

The central power of the Kingdom of God is Divine love—love so intense, so fiery, its name is Jealous. It can be satisfied only with total union—the perfect oneness of the lover and the loved.

The Divine love is portrayed in the Song of Solomon:

Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. (Song of Solomon 8:6)

To be continued.