The Image of His Son

What impression do people have about Jesus after they have been with you?  Can they see his image in you.  Jesus said to Philip, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father”, Jn 14:9.  They could certainly see the Father in Jesus if they believed.  The unbelieving Pharisees and scribes thought he was a devil.

We know that, ultimately, we are going to be like Jesus when we receive our glorified body.  1 Jn 3:2-3 says, “when he shall appear, we shall be like him”.  Phil 3:21 says about the Lord, “Who shall change our vile body, that it might be fashioned like unto his glorious body…”. We will be in a body incorruptible and immortal, like he is, 1 Cor 15:50-55.

But in the meantime, God desires to transform us into the image of his Son.  This is our predestination.  Rom 8:29 says, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…”.

How does the Lord accomplish this change in our image?

By the Spirit of God.  2 Cor 3:7-18, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord”.

When Moses spent time with the Lord in the mount, he came down and his face shone.  He had to put a vail on his face when he was with the children of Israel.  And he took it off when he was before the Lord.

Likewise, when we open our face to the word of God, the Spirit of God changes us into the same image, the image of his Son.  We must yield to the Spirit’s liberty to accomplish what he desires with the word, Jas 1:21-25.

By a godly preacher.  Gal 4:13-19, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you”.  He said, “I tell you the truth”.

When Paul was with the Galatians he appeared as an angel of God, as Christ himself.  They could “see” Jesus in him.  So, they had him for an example.  He knew what Christ had done for him.  And in his attempt to help them, he travailed in birth for them.

God used Paul’s preaching and teaching to form Christ in the Galatians.  Likewise, when a preacher, who believes this book, and in whom Christ is being formed, preaches and teaches the truth, the Lord changes you into the image of his Son if you believe the truth.

By Christ himself.  1 Pet 3:1-4 “Let it be the hidden man of the heart”.  When a wife is married to a disobedient husband, the Lord can “win” him by her chaste conversation.  He sees the Lord in her and he’s the one who gets his attention.

When we are first saved, the Lord is hidden by the old man.  But as we grow, the new man becomes more visible and the hidden man becomes more apparent.

In Eph 4:22-32, the Lord changes liars into square shooters, hot heads into cool heads, thieves into contributors, cussers into edifiers, and so forth.  When people see how much you’ve changed, they marvel at what God has done.  And, often, they see in you the image of his Son.