In my previous post I began looking at (and for) the evidences of the true Christian’s love for the unseen Christ as presented in the book of the same title by Puritan author, Thomas Vincent. In today’s post I will look at the evidence of our love for Christ being displayed in our passionate pursuit of becoming like Him, in the glory of His human nature. Vincent notes that our love for Christ is evidenced in our laboring after his likeness, that we may be like him in our inward disposition and outer conversation/behavior. I would also note, most importantly, that this is God’s ultimate objective for the life of those who love Him and are living their lives according to His purpose, such that all things that we do and experience are working toward that end (Romans 8:28-30).
The Bible reveals that we were created by God, body and soul, male and female, in the image and likeness of God, for the glory of God; that the infinite perfections of God’s being (His glory) would be displayed in man, and known, loved, proclaimed and enjoyed by man. Adam and Eve were endowed with all that was necessary for intimacy with God – to bring glory and honor to God –to receive glory and honor from God – to love, enjoy and be enjoyed by God and one another as the beloved children of God, ruling over God’s good creation while being subject to His fatherly authority (Genesis 1:26-28) (Isaiah 43:7) (Psalm 8:3-9).
However, all mankind, beginning with Adam and Eve, have rejected, rebelled against God’s purpose for and rule over our lives, what the Bible refers to as sin (Romans 3:23). As sinners, we live under the curse of sin, corrupted in every aspect of our being, cut off from the glorious life with God for which we were created, objects of His just judgement and wrath, destined for death and consignment to Hell, where we will remain forever in our sin-corrupted condition (Genesis 3:23-24) (Romans 1:18-32) (Matthew 10:28).
Thankfully, God, in the ultimate expression of His love, purposed before the foundation of the world, that He would redeem for Himself out of this sin-cursed world a people for His glory. They would be a people through whom He would magnify the glory of His mercy and grace; a people who would again live in relationship with God as He intended in the beginning, holy and blameless before Him in love as His beloved children, enjoying all the blessings that an infinitely good, infinitely wise, and infinitely powerful heavenly Father can bestow upon those who love Him and who have trusted in His love, beginning in this world and continuing into the ages to come (Ephesians 1:3-12) (Ephesians 2:1-9) (1 John 4:19).
God’s love would be displayed, and His purpose accomplished in and through the person and work of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, the second person of the divine trinity (Matthew 3:16-17) (2 Corinthians 13:14).
Jesus humbly, graciously leaves the glories of Heaven and comes into this sin-cursed world as the true image bearer of God, that through His perfect obedience to the Father as a man, even unto death, He would accomplish everything necessary for man’s redemption, for restoration to the glorious life with God for which we were created, as well as to the glorious image and likeness of God in which we were made (Philippians 2:6-8) (Colossians 1:25-28).
All who repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus as their all-sufficient savior, identifying their lives with Him in His sinless life, sacrificial death and miraculous resurrection, are forgiven of their sins, and declared righteous before God; no longer the sin-corrupted children of Adam, destined for death and Hell, but now the beloved children of God, destined to be conformed both body and soul to the glory of God in union with Christ, living with Him forever in a restored creation where we will know only fulness of joy and pleasures forever more (Acts 17:30-31) (Galatians 2:20) (2 Corinthians 5:21) (Galatians 4:4-7) (Romans 8:18-23) (Psalm 16:11).
We are, in Jesus Christ, a new creation, restored to spiritual life by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. granted a new heart and renewed mind with new affections, desires and longings that are now centered on knowing, loving and being loved by God, pleasing Him and doing His will (2 Corinthians 5:17-18) (Titus 3:4-7).
And the Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, that this is the will of God for you, your sanctification, meaning our conformity to the glorious image of His Son. As I noted earlier, God is working all things in the lives of those who love Him toward that end (1 Corinthians 15:48-49).
And to that end, God opens our spiritual eyes, that had been blinded by sin and Satan, so that through the scriptures, we are able to see by faith, the glory, the beauty, the excellence and magnificence of Christ; His infinite worthiness to be known intimately, worshiped exclusively and pursued passionately as the object of our deepest love and the source of our greatest joy (2 Corinthians 4:4-6).
The Bible reveals that as we submit to Jesus as our Lord, behold His glory in our time with Him in His word (the Bible) as well as time with Him in prayer, we are being changed more and more to image His glory in our nature, character and behavior (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Even though our bodies continue in their corrupted condition, our inner man is being renewed day by day, as our thoughts become increasingly conformed to Christ’s thoughts, our will increasingly conformed to His will, our ways increasingly conformed to His ways, and our affections increasingly conformed to His affections, as we are transformed by the renewing of our minds through our time with Him in His word (2 Corinthians 4:16-18) (I John 2:3-6) (Romans 12:1-2).
As such, we long for the day when both our inner and outer man will be perfectly conformed to Christ’s; when we no longer see Him only through the clouded window of faith, but then clearly, face to face, and are changed forever into His image and likeness (1 John 3:1-3). Until then, while in this present evil world, we are called to live soberly, godly and righteously in the midst of this perverse and crooked generation, looking forward to the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works (1 Corinthians 13:12) (Philippians 3:20-21) (Titus 2:11-14) (1 Corinthians 15:49-52).
Thus, we diligently pray with the Apostle John; Even so, Come Lord Jesus!!
Grace and Peace ×