In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. We have this account in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. When all these were done and God saw that it was good, He declared, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness “(Genesis 1: 26). Never has there been a being, a creation like this, after the image and the likeness of God. Man from creation is a unique being. King David the Psalmist by the Spirit declared concerning this awesome creation in Psalm chapter 139 verse 14: “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made ; Marvellous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well”. He also in Psalm 82 verse 6 says: “I said, “You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High “.
So every man, like David, knows well that he or she is fearfully and wonderfully made. Similarly, every man also knows that he or she is god and children of the Most High. The first man created came from God and Luke gospel traced the genealogy of the first man back to God in Luke chapter 3 verse 38: .. and Adam, the son of God”.
Why then is it that man over the years and across generations have strayed away from the knowledge of who he is and away from his purpose. The answer is sin, which brought death to man. The bible says in Romans 3 verse 23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. So there was glory that covered man at creation before the fall. Genesis chapter 2 verse 25 said: “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed”. There was no shame because they were covered with glory. Now, concerning this glory. The book of Exodus chapter 34 verse 29 says that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been with the Lord when he went to collect the ten commandment. If Moses’ face shone just after forty days of being in God’s presence, imagine how radiant the body of Adam will be, being covered with glory. Man was a radiant being in his uniqueness, for there was no other created being that was superior to man. So in order of creation it was Man, Angelic beings and all other creation. The glory departed when man sinned.
God, however, did not abandon His unique creation at the fall, God made an atonement for man. He covered them with the skin of an animal in place of the glory that departed. Which means there was a shedding of blood to atone for the sin of man at his fall. But the blood of an animal cannot truly atone for man, it was only a palliative measure to give man a future hope of eternal redemption. That hope was Christ, the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world ( Revelation 13: 8). Jesus Christ our Lord came to shed His blood for the remission of sin, for without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9: 22). By the shedding of His blood, we were redeemed from sin and the wages of sin which was death and reconciled back to God. He not only reconciled man back to God, He restored to man the glory lost. In John chapter 17 verse 22 we read the prayers and declaration of our Lord Jesus: “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one”. So by Christ’s death, we were forgiven, redeemed, reconciled, glory restored as well as our sonship.
However, being children, we are to be in God’s image and likeness as He conceived and created man in the beginning. This then defines man’s unique purpose on earth. Psychologists opined that man’s purpose, ultimate goal is self-actualization (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs). But man’s true purpose is to become like Him who created him. The book of Psalms in chapter 17 verse 15 declares:”: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness “So our real realisation, our real satisfaction is to be in His likeness. This is the unique purpose of every man.
To appreciate man’s fall from glory, let’s recall the story of King Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel. He was a king with dominion over an expansive kingdom. A dream by him concerning his impending judgment was interpreted by Daniel in chapter 4 verse 24 and following: “This is the interpretation, Your Majesty, and this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord the king: that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules”. King Nebuchadnezzar unfortunately did not obey the admonition by Daniel to renounce his sin and do what is right. He fell from glory and was driven away from men to eat grass like a beast for seven years. While this is incomparable to the glory that man lost, it gives us an idea of what a fall man had. But thank God that Christ came to restore man and has given us the ability to fulfil this unique purpose of man. However, it is now left to our choice. Since man by his own choice fell from glory, man by his own choice also through faith in Christ will take back the glory. The door has been opened, it is left for every man to walk in and begin to build up themselves, “till we all come …unto a perfect man (full actualisation), unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”. ( Eph 4: 13). The bible admonishes us in Philippians 2: 12 …”work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”.
So, how do we as men fulfil our unique purpose of transformation: from man to god. Our Lord Jesus said in John chapter 15 verse 5 says “…apart from Me, ye can do nothing”. Our Lord Jesus came in the flesh and in His reincarnated form, He had the fulness of God in Him bodily. He came to show to us who and what we are to be, that is, to have the fulness of God in us bodily. And as many as received Him, even to them that believe in His name, He gave power to be children of God.
So, how do we fulfil our unique purpose: (transformation from man to god)
- 1. We must believe in Christ as God’s propitiation for men (For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son).
- We must learn of Him. He invited us to learn of Him in Matthew chapter 11 verse 29, because He is meek and lowly in heart. And what keeps our hearts humble and meek?, prayers and fasting.
- We must walk as He walked. And how did He walk?, He walked in the power of the Spirit for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God (Romans 8: 14).
The template for our unique purpose here on earth is Christ and to be like Him as it is written in epistle of John in 1John 4: 17: “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world “.
We not only exercise ourselves by faith to become like Him, we also provoke others to love Him and to grow up into His likeness, for this is our unique purpose as children of God.
