Who Are We? Part 1 — Rebel or Priest?
Who are we? We are both at once the person God intended (intends) for us to be and the person we have become, either by choice or circumstances. We are most fulfilled when these two personas converge. The distance between these two persons is a measure of our despair and loneliness or our joy and peace. These two people, the one He intended us to be and the one we actually are, can never completely coincide in this life, but they can come close.
At one end of this spectrum is the person God created us to be – a holy man or woman, submitted to Jesus. At the other end of the spectrum is who we have become apart from God – an ungodly man or woman worshiping idols, serving self, but quite possibly doing ‘good’ as society defines good. The way back to holiness is to repent and believe; to deny ourselves, pick up our crosses, and follow Jesus. This is the way of the Christian life. As Isaiah writes: “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice right behind you saying “This is the way, walk in it”. Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them “away with you”” (Isaiah 30: 21, 22 NIV). We will hear a voice — the indwelling Holy Spirit, which as I have said many times, is a gift given by God to the Kingdom man or woman. We can never be good enough to enter the Kingdom of God based on our own work — we can only hope to enter the Kingdom based on the work of the cross. Entry is nothing short of grace. But can we reject the Kingdom? And if we can reject the Kingdom of God, does that mean we must choose it, or at least receive it when it is offered?
In a previous post I wrote “We have a warped mindset that is, by its nature, anti-God, hostile to the rule of God in our lives, and unwilling to acknowledge the supremacy of God and His Son Jesus over our self”. Sadly, this sentence is the truth for human beings. But that is not the full story or exactly who we are – His image is still within all of us. Yes, apart from Christ, our minds are warped, but we have hope—tremendous hope. A.W. Tozer says it this way:
“You and I are in little (our sins excepted) what God is in large. Being made in His image we have within us the capacity to know Him. In our sins we only lack the power” (The Pursuit of God, pg. 14).
When the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus, they asked Him about paying taxes to Caesar. Jesus said to them:
“Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show me the tax money. So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, whose image and inscription is this? They said to Him Caesar’s. And He said to them, Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22: 17 – 21 NKJV).
Jesus is telling them that the image of Caesar is stamped on the coin, so Caesar has a claim on their worldly life. But God’s image is stamped on their hearts, so God has a call on their spiritual life. We are made in the image of God, and although that image is corrupted and obscured by sin, we are still God’s creation, carrying His image and inscription on our hearts.
The Psalmist affirms this:
“What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For you made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor” (Psalm 8: 4, 5 NKJV).
Who are we? Are we totally depraved or, in spite of our idolatrous hearts, is there still something valuable buried deep within us? I want to look into who we really are and why many of us have been so deceived, in order to better understand the wrath of God.
We are valuable to God. He has not given up on us. We contain His image, and even though we have a warped mindset today, we still in some way carry that crown of glory and honor that God, in Jesus, will one day restore for all who repent and believe. While that image has been tarnished and corrupted by sin, I believe Scripture affirms it is still a part of every human being.
The Psalmist reminds us that God loves us. John tells us that God loves the world. Paul tells us that “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5: 8 NIV). His death is the ultimate expression of His love for us. We should never underestimate the power of God’s love to break through the hardest hearts or the most formidable strongholds.
Not only do human beings carry God’s image, but God desires that all human beings be saved; that is, enter into and live in the Kingdom of God with Jesus, although many will not choose His Kingdom and, therefore, will not be saved.
“This is good, and pleases God our savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all men” (1 Timothy 2: 3 – 6 NIV).
“This is trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the savior of all men, and especially of those who believe” (1 Timothy 4: 9, 10 NIV).
“He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 9 NIV).
Almost all human beings love life. An essential element of life is feeling valued, accepted, connected, and belonging. We were made to live in relationship, in community – that is part of what it means to be made in God’s image. God is a God of relationships – living every day in fellowship with the Son, the Holy Spirit, and hopefully with each of us. We find real life in relationships where we are valued. When we feel devalued, rejected, and alone life can seem bitter and hopeless. To be wholehearted means, in part, to be valued and accepted, to be connected – first to Jesus and then to others. It is in this place that we can live life to the fullest.
Scripture tells us that God intends for humans to not only bear His image, but to rule the earth in partnership with Him – junior partners, but still partners. Here are some verses that speak to this audacious idea:
“They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His glory”(Isaiah 61: 3 NIV). They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations . . . and you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God” (Isaiah 61: 3 – 6 NIV).
“you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood . . . But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Peter 2: 5, 9 NIV).
“And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5: 19 – 21 NIV).
In Ephesians 1 Paul tells us that Jesus was seated at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule, authority, power, and dominion for all time. All things were placed under Christ’s feet and God appointed Him head over everything for the church, “the fullness of Him who fills everything in everyway”. And then Paul wrote these amazing words in Ephesians 2: “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms”.
This is the translation of that last verse from the Amplified Bible:
“And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together – giving us joint seating with Him – in the heavenly sphere – by virtue of our being in Christ Jesus, the Messiah, the Anointed One (Ephesians 2: 6 AMP).
We are seated with Jesus when we live with Him in the Kingdom of God. This is not just a picture of heaven, but of our spiritual authority and power on earth now for those who repent and believe. All things were placed beneath the feet of Jesus, signifying His rule and reign over everything. If we are seated with Him – having joint seating – everything is placed below our feet as well.
“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on earth” (Revelation 5: 9, 10 NIV).
Who are we really? Even in our fallen state we contain the image of God in our hearts. I picture it as a precious seed carried in this cracked, earthen vessel, which if it finds the right soil – a willing and submissive Kingdom heart – will sprout into something magnificent beyond anything we can imagine. It is a Kingdom seed, much like the seed representing the knowlege of the Kingdom of God in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. But it will not sprout apart from the indwelling Holy Spirit and life in the Kingdom of God. We carry this seed, this image, but we cannot cause it to germinate in our power. Our role? Repent and believe – confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him up from the dead. Apart from Jesus we are dead in our transgressions and sins; and we cannot resurrect ourselves! Resurrection is God’s work alone. But, I believe, we must receive the resurrected life. We can reject Life!
God’s plan for humanity described in Genesis 1 and 2, and attested to by Scripture, was for man to be a little lower than the angels, fulfilling the dual roles of ruler and priest on earth. He intended that we would rule over everything, visible and invisible, tapping into His power and with authority given to us by Jesus. What a high calling! And one satan does not want us to exercise. The fall in the Garden of Eden introduces sin into the hearts of mankind, in part to try to prevent us from fulfilling these roles. And it has worked, up to a point. Satan’s plot has not caught God by surprise. Instead it gave God an opportunity to redeem His rulers and priests and in the process demonstrate, in a way they could not overlook, His great love for them and His power over everything.
But still we cannot deny that man’s heart is rebellious and sinful. Let’s look more deeply into the heart of man as we ask ourselves the questions: can sinful man choose good, and can sinful man ultimately choose God and the Kingdom? Coming up.
Grace and peace,
John