Salvation From Satan's Image to Christ's Image

In addition to forgiveness, eternal life, spiritual freedom, and obedience, is the issue of God's image. God has created man in God's image. Man is to be in the image of God, in the image of Christ who is the image of God.

An individual is not in the image of God until all that is found in the individual is found in God.

When considering God's image we must include at least seven elements: being, character, substance, function, organization of parts, abilities, and appearance.

Let us think for a moment about each of these seven aspects.

God's Being includes spirit, soul, and body.

Satan is a fallen cherub consisting only of a spirit, as far as we know.

God's Character is what God is and God does. God is love and acts in love. God is joy and acts in joy. God is peace and acts in peace. God is patience and demonstrates patience. God is gentleness and acts gently. God is goodness and demonstrates goodness in His behavior. God is meekness and shows forth meekness. God is self-control and acts temperately. God is courage and acts bravely. God is righteousness and acts lawfully. God is holy and acts in purity. God is the King and rules over all. God is compassion and acts compassionately.

Satan is hatred and acts in hate. Satan is wretchedness and acts in wretchedness. Satan is unrest, torment, and anxiety. Satan is lust, violence, cruelty, abomination, treachery, implacability, abandonment, perversity, and lawlessness. This is what Satan is and how he behaves.

God's Substance is Divine, incorruptible eternal Life.

Satan's substance is putrefaction and death.

God sees, hears, speaks, thinks, feels, touches, smells, tastes, and functions in every other manner to which humans are accustomed.

All of Satan's functions and senses are perverted and inflamed and result in perversion and torment in those in whom Satan dwells.

All of the "parts" of God, such as His eyes, hands, feet, face, are perfectly organized and operate in harmony and peace.

The parts of Satan are in disorder producing disease and abnormalities in those in whom Satan dwells.

God has unnumbered abilities. God creates. In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom, knowledge, science, music, art, architecture, technologies, poetry, and agriculture.

Satan operates with the limited authority and power allocated to him by Christ, corrupting and perverting the talents of those whom he indwells and guides.

The appearance of God is that of radiant, fiery Man (Ezekiel 1:26-28).

The appearance of Satan is so hideous that to see him as he is would be the most devastating of all experiences.

Man is born in sin with a bent toward lawlessness. Man has the potential for continuing in sin and lawlessness until he is in Satan's image, or for following Christ until he is in the image of the God of Heaven.

How are we delivered from Satan's image and brought into Christ's image in each of the seven aspects?

By deliverance.

By being born again.

By being nourished by the Life of Christ.

By beholding the Glory of the Lord.

By education and training.

To be continued.