And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:20,21)

The five preceding days will continue to develop during the sixth day, the day of image and union. The wonderful concept emerging from this is that the coming Kingdom Age not only will bring fresh blessing from the Throne of God but also will incorporate all the worthy features of the history of mankind on the earth.

Only what is hurtful will be removed. There still will be lions and lambs and small children, but during the day of image and union they will be able to play together in peace. There indeed will be tigers and calves, but a little child will lead them.

The day of image and union will see the restoration of all that is worth saving; and all things will be centered and find their meaning in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 3:21; Ephesians 1:10).

On the sixth day of creation, as recorded in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, God made man in His image. He made him male and female. He gave man the power to be fruitful and replenish the earth. God then announced that man will govern the works of God's hands.

Every human being who is born into the world is included in the Divine declaration. He possesses a spirit, soul, and body, he is male or female, he has the power to be fruitful, and he has the capacity to rule the works of God.

But until a person is born again he or she is capable only of a flesh and blood fulfillment of the four aspects of the Divine declaration, and flesh and blood cannot possibly enter the Kingdom of God. Indeed, even the flesh and blood fulfillment is impossible apart from the continual help of the Lord.

There is a spiritual counterpart of each of the four aspects. The spiritual counterparts can be brought into being only through our relationship with Christ.

The individual without Christ is dead spiritually. The Kingdom of God is not in him. But when he receives the Lord Jesus, the Kingdom of God begins to enter him and he into it. Then the true, the material-spiritual, fulfillment of the four aspects (image; male-female; fruitfulness; dominion) is made possible.

A person without Christ is a child of God, and in the image of God in that he is spirit, soul, and body. He or she has the capacity for union with God, which is not true even of the angels of Heaven. But these God-like potentials can be realized only on a human level until the individual is born again, receiving the Lord Jesus into his or her personality.

No individual is a son of God in the full, Kingdom sense of the word until he is born of woman, born of the Spirit, and born of the resurrection from the dead. When a person is baptized by the Spirit into the Body of Christ he is starting out on a path that leads to his becoming a part of the revelation of God to mankind.

To be continued.