“God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.”  Genesis 1:27

LET’S HAVE A LITTLE SOUL TALK—

God created humans “in His image”.  In His image God created them.  When we ponder this, we need to think less about our physical body and more about God’s spiritual image being created inside our souls, housed in a meticulously formed created body.  The body will wear out and be cast aside but believing, redeemed souls live on forever with God. Healthy souls contain the heartbeat of God.  To all who believe Him, love God back and walk in His ways, a relationship with God grows and flourishes, bearing the fruit of God’s labor of instilling His character in us. 

Our souls were created to hunger and thirst for God and only God can satisfy.  When we feel “something missing” from our lives, it is probably that we have not filled our souls with all of God—in his image of all that is good.  “Seek and you will find”, says Jesus.

John Piper writes,

“The imago Dei (image of God) is not a quality possessed by man; it is a condition in which man lives, a condition of confrontation established and maintained by the Creator.  The imago Dei is that in man which constitutes him as him-whom-God-loves.  Man’s fall into sin didn’t destroy or remove the image of God. It disfigured it. The New Testament confirms that God’s image isn’t lost by pointing out that all people, not just Christians, ‘are made in the likeness of God’” (James 3:9, ESV).

As theologian Wayne Grudem explains,

“Since man has sinned, he is certainly not as fully like God as he was before. His moral purity has been lost and his sinful character certainly does not reflect God’s holiness. His intellect is corrupted by falsehood and misunderstanding; his speech no longer continually glorifies God; his relationships are often governed by selfishness rather than love, and so forth.”

“Though man is still in the image of God, in every aspect of life some parts of that image have been distorted or lost (Systematic Theology, p. 444, emphasis added).  The image of God is what makes man human; man could not lose the image without ceasing to be what he is. Moreover, it’s only because man keeps his image of God — even in a broken or distorted form — that man is redeemable and worth redeeming. Without it, God would have had no reason to send His Son to die on our behalf.”

SOUL REST BEGAN WITH GOD

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” Genesis 2;1-3

After six full days of creating all, God rested on the seventh day. We understand that a “day” was measured by God.  We also understand that whatever the measure, there was rest involved after the work was done.

Our souls, created in the image of God, will find “blessed rest” in Him who love and follow Him.

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “and blessed rest from their hard, hard work. None of what they’ve done is wasted; God blesses them for it all in the end.”

I’m in, how about you?

REVELATION—JESUS IS COMING BACK!

Revelation 14, The Message

A Perfect Offering

^1-2 I saw—it took my breath away!—the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, 144,000 standing there with him, his Name and the Name of his Father inscribed on their foreheads. And I heard a voice out of Heaven, the sound like rapids, like the crash of thunder.

^2-5 And then I heard music, harp music and the harpists singing a new song before the Throne and the Four Animals and the Elders. Only the 144,000 could learn to sing the song. They were bought from earth, lived without compromise, virgin-fresh before God. Wherever the Lamb went, they followed. They were bought from humankind, firstfruits of the harvest for God and the Lamb. Not a false word in their mouths. A perfect offering.

Voices from Heaven

^6-7 I saw another Angel soaring in Middle-Heaven. He had an Eternal Message to preach to all who were still on earth, every nation and tribe, every tongue and people. He preached in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory! His hour of judgment has come! Worship the Maker of Heaven and earth, salt sea and fresh water!”

⁸ A second Angel followed, calling out, “Ruined, ruined, Great Babylon ruined! She made all the nations drunk on the wine of her whoring!”

^9-11 A third Angel followed, shouting, warning, “If anyone worships the Beast and its image and takes the mark on forehead or hand, that person will drink the wine of God’s wrath, prepared unmixed in his chalice of anger, and suffer torment from fire and brimstone in the presence of Holy Angels, in the presence of the Lamb. Smoke from their torment will rise age after age. No respite for those who worship the Beast and its image, who take the mark of its name.”

¹² Meanwhile, the saints stand passionately patient, keeping God’s commands, staying faithful to Jesus.

¹³ I heard a voice out of Heaven, “Write this: Blessed are those who die in the Master from now on; how blessed to die that way!”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “and blessed rest from their hard, hard work. None of what they’ve done is wasted; God blesses them for it all in the end.”

Harvest Time

^14-16 I looked up, I caught my breath!—a white cloud and one like the Son of Man sitting on it. He wore a gold crown and held a sharp sickle. Another Angel came out of the Temple, shouting to the Cloud-Enthroned, “Swing your sickle and reap. It’s harvest time. Earth’s harvest is ripe for reaping.” The Cloud-Enthroned gave a mighty sweep of his sickle, began harvesting earth in a stroke.

^17-18 Then another Angel came out of the Temple in Heaven. He also had a sharp sickle. Yet another Angel, the one in charge of tending the fire, came from the Altar. He thundered to the Angel who held the sharp sickle, “Swing your sharp sickle. Harvest earth’s vineyard. The grapes are bursting with ripeness.”

^19-20 The Angel swung his sickle, harvested earth’s vintage, and heaved it into the winepress, the giant winepress of God’s wrath. The winepress was outside the City. As the vintage was trodden, blood poured from the winepress as high as a horse’s bridle, a river of blood for two hundred miles.

Lord,

Thank you for your encouraging words of teaching that leads to our believing and growing in our relationship with You.  My soul finds rest in you alone on earth, so much more so in heaven!  Thank you for this “soul talk” through John’s vision of what will come.  Thank you for continually feeding my soul, making me whole and holy before you.  I cannot do that for myself, only by Jesus’ blood and righteousness am I redeemed and worthy.  No longer is the image of You in me distorted.  My soul has been made new. Thank you, Lord!

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

“Wherever the Lamb went, they followed.”