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To All,

The Word of God says, Man was created in the image of God.

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. (Gen. 1:27).

In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. (Gen. 5:1,2).

But after the fall man, mankind was created in the image of man.

Verse 3 says Adam "begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth." (Gen. 5:3)

So therefore, who are we born in the image and likeness of? Answer is in the above verse 3. In the likeness and image of Adam.

The consequences of being born in man's likeness and image is death. And the consequences of being born in God's likeness and image is life. And whether you are created in the image of God or born in the image of man, God requires that you be obedient to His commands in order to maintain life rather than death.

The Word of God says: "IF ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." (Col. 3:1). What is the right hand of God? Answer can be found in Psalms. The right hand of the Lord (1) saves, (2) searches the heart (3) and is righteousness.

Pss.17
[7] Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.

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[6] Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.

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[8] Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.

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[10] According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.

The Word of God continues to say: "Set your affection (mind) on things above, not on things on the earth." (Col. 3:2). "For ye are dead (died), and your life (zoe=life in all its manifestations) is (has been) hid (laid up in store) with Christ in God. (See Matt. 13:44). When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear (be manifested, visible, open to sight), then shall ye also appear (be manifested) with Him in glory." (Col. 3:3,4).

The next verse tells us exactly what we need to do. God told Adam not to eat "of the tree of knowledge of good and evil" and God tells us: "Mortify (put to death) therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection (passion or lust), evil (bad in nature) concupiscence (desire), and covetousness, which is idolatry: (Col. 3:5). "For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." (Eph. 5:5).

And if we do not do these things, the Word of God says: "For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience; (Col. 3:6). In other words the above things CAUSE the wrath of God on the children of disobedience. In the gospel not only is God's salvation revealed but His wrath also. (Romans 1:16-18). And children means those who have a relationship to the Father. For we are told that the above nature "is according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit (satan) that now worketh in the children of disobedience:" (Eph. 2:2), the age of this world. The above DEEDS (Col. 3:9) will cause the wrath of God. So we are told to put OFF "anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man (nature) with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him That created him:" (Col. 8-10).

We are told to "put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Eph. 4:22-24). When you put on the new man implies your course of life now flows in a different direction. Why is that? Because we were baptised in Christ Jesus death. "Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life. For we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed (annulled), that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin." (Rom. 6:4-7). The old nature is a slave to sin the new nature is not. The Word of God says: "yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." (Rom. 6:13).

To get a better idea of what is going on today let us replace the words "Garden of Eden" with "God's Grace". We find the newly created beings in both, now don't we. Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden and the new creature in Christ is in God's Grace. Guess what is found lerking in both places? Yes, satan is found in both places according to the Word of God. And if we listen to satan's voice rather than the Voice of the Spirit, we are going to stir the wrath of God. We are to yield ourselves unto God. The Word of God is most clear, It says: "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." (Rom. 8:13). Doesn't this sound familiar as what Adam heard in the garden? "thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17). The Word of God says: "ye are to whom ye obey" (Rom. 6:16). Yes, just like in the Garden of Eden: your choice is "of sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness" (Rom. 6:16). And the choice is made from the heart, your inward being... like Eve was the inward being of Adam.
Paul wrote to the Philippians that he knew of their obedience even when he was not there and even then states: "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil. 2:12). Paul writes to the Thessalonians:

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[8] But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

[9] For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Peter addresses the elect sojourners of the dispersion, calling them "obedient children"... "ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversations received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by Him do believe in God, That raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." (1 Peter 1:18-23).

I would like to close asking this question... do we have something else to look forward to other than life or death? Paul writes to the Philippeans: "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:" (Phil. 1:23). Let us look again at what Paul writes. He says I am being pressed out of two (living and dying), having a desire to depart. Clearly it is not death. What is Paul telling us here? Could it be the calling on high (Phil. 3.14) or the resurrection from the dead, or being caught up alive of 1 Thess. 4:16,17? Let us like Paul, "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

God Bless,

Eve

12/15/99