Episode 2673 - Lesson 8 - Sunday Feb. 15: Image of the Invisible God

Image of the Invisible GodWhen we look in the mirror or at a photograph, we see an image of ourselves, but it is a flat, two-dimensional portrayal. In some respects, a sculpture gives a clearer idea yet still falls far short of the living, breathing, animated reality. The biblical concept of image, while sometimes referring to these lesser representations, suggests something broader still.Read Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 5:3; 1 Corinthians 15:49; 2 Corinthians 3:18; and Hebrews 10:1. Summarize the various meanings of "image" in these passages. How might they differ from the description of Jesus as the image of God?Human beings were created to be as much like God as possible--physically, spiritually, relationally, and functionally. Still, they reflect God's image in certain aspects only, and sin has damaged even that. But Jesus enables us to "see" the invisible God. "He who has seen Me," Jesus said, "has seen the Father" (John 14:9, NKJV). He is "the exact imprint" of God's nature (Heb. 1:3, ESV). He is God's thought made audible and God's character made visible.Read Matthew 11:27 and John 1:1-2, 14, 18. Why is Jesus uniquely able to reveal the Father?Note other ways in which Jesus described His relation to God the Father:"My Father has been working until now, and I have been working" (John 5:17, NKJV)."I and My Father are one" (John 10:30, NKJV)."No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6, NKJV).Jesus also repeatedly described Himself in an absolute sense in terms of God's name: "I AM" (see Exod. 3:14); "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35); "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12); "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11, 14); "I am the resurrection, and the life" (John 11:25); "I am in the Father, and the Father in me" (John 14:11); and "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58).If Jesus were anyone other than God Himself, what would it mean except that the Father sent some created being to die for us? Why is that so radically, and crucially, different from God Himself, in the Person of Christ dying for us?