The Imago Dei Revealed Through Genesis, Part 4 – Effects of the Fall

 

by Dr. Andrew Corbett, 22 February 2026, from Melbourne, Australia

The imago Dei is much more than an ancient Hebrew concept of what constitutes the essence of a human being. It has been embraced by many, if not most, western governments to become the grounding for how western civilisation regards human rights. Examples of this include the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights – “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world” and, the The 1776 United States Declaration of Independence – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (sic) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The imago Dei concept has been described by Prof. Ellen Davis (Duke University Divinity School) as “potent yet cryptic” (Davis 2019, 9). This is part of the reason why systematic theology is insufficient in adequately understanding this literary figure. Much of the scholarship about the Genesis 1:26-27 introduction of the imago Dei has primarily focused on the man (A’dam). Yet, this introduction describes God creating the imago Dei as male (Heb. zakhar) and female (Heb. neqevah) — that is, not just as an individual, but in the plural. Rather than regarding Genesis 2 as an alternative account of creation, it should be seen as providing the detail of Genesis 1:26-27 introduces. Before we can consider the effects, if any, of the Fall of humankind from innocence, we must reflect on how this detailed account influences our understanding of the effect of the Fall.

 

The Genesis 2 Creation Account of the Imagines

18) ¶ Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” (19) Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. (20) The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. (21) So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. (22) And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. (23) Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”

(24) ¶ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (25) And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
Genesis 2:18-25

Because the imago Dei is introduced in Genesis 1 and then detailed in Genesis 2 in the plural, I am adopting Brent Strawn’s terminology of imagines to refer to the plurality of the imago Dei; and, from this point I will use the imago for imago Dei. As we consider the possible impact of the Fall on humankind’s standing as imago as plural will be seen as critically important. I have already alluded to the reasons for this in the previous chapter on fallacies. It is important to appreciate that the account of the creation of the first man and the first woman is not an alternate creation story — it is the detail of what is introduced in summary in Genesis 1. And this point is profoundly important because it reinforces something essential to our proper understanding of the imago. 

I generally do not refer to the created woman in Genesis 2 as ‘Eve’. Rather I refer to her with the designation that Genesis 2 assigns to her: ’Ishah. (In Genesis 3:20, which is after the Fall, Adam renames her as ‘Eve’.) I feel this is an important point – especially in our quest to understand the imago. When God took something out of Adam, which the text refers to as a rib, GOD used that substance to create ’Ishah. That is, the woman was created of the same substance, that had been God-breathed, as Adam was. This divine breath is unique to humankind. The Hebrew expression (Hebrew, neshmat chayim) occurs nowhere else in the Bible. Many commentators have recognised that this surely is an indication and a marked of humankind’s unique status among God’s creatures. David Clines states, “There is perhaps in the concept of the ‘image’ a slight hint of the limitation of the status of humankind, in that the image is not itself the thing it represents and that the copy must in some respects be unlike its original” (Clines 1998,  447-97). John Swann similarly states, “The image of God, on the other hand, is clearly given as a unique status and suggests a separation from and superiority to the animal kingdom” (Swann 2017, 21). This means that there is a link between how the first man and the first woman were substantively created that gives them a unique status. Their fall from innocence had no bearing on their substance and therefore also had no bearing on their unique status.

The creation of the woman described in Genesis 2 was the completion of the man and the means by which he could fulfil his consequences of being an imagine. Naturally, the preceding creation of the man also meant that the woman could fulfil her consequences of being an imagine. As we have noted in the third part of this series, it is a fallacy to claim that because the woman was created subsequent to the man, or that because she was first to yield to the serpentine temptation, that she was either never really created as an imagine or that her imagine status was lost or diminished when she sinned.

What is also overlooked about the creation of the woman is that her creation was the trigger for a heavenly creature’s pride and rebellion who then orchestrated to manipulate a nachash (serpent) to be able to speak and carry out the the temptation of the ’Ishah (Gen. 3:1). Perhaps there was a recognition that Yahweh had now created a being who was uniquely powerful. While other creatures could create after their own kind, Yahweh had now created a being who could also create imagines. This is something that no heavenly creature could do, and it seems that one of these heavenly creatures was filled with envy and desired to sabotage what Yahweh had created to image Him. 

 

The Nascent Creation of the Imagines

When the first man and the first woman were created as imagines there were not yet what they were created to be. They were created as nascent. ‘Nascent’ refers to something that is, but is not all that it is yet meant to be. John Kilner writes that there are two categories of persons who are referred to as “image of God.” The first category are the imagines, that is, humankind. The second category is Jesus Christ Himself. Kilner remarks about the identification of humans and Christ with the imago: “Humanity and Christ both have a special connection with God. They also presently (Christ) or ultimately (humanity) are a reflection of God” (2015, 59). But he highlights some clear distinctions about how the imago designation refers to humankind and Christ. “God intends people ultimately to become the ‘likeness’ of God, where the special connection with God and the reflection involved entail similarity rather than identity. Christ, however, is an ‘exact imprint’ of God (‘charakter,’ Heb. 1:3). So whereas God intends people ultimately to be a ‘likeness-image,’ Christ is an ‘imprint-image’.” This, Kilner continues, “means that Christ constitutes a complete picture of what God intends for people in God’s image to be and to do” (Kilner, 60). Thus, humankind were created to become the imagines of God, whereas Christ is the imago. This is further highlighted by the bible’s use of prepositions whenever it speaks of humankind as imagines (Gen. 1:27 “So God created man in his own image”); yet, in contrast to this, the bible uses the definite article when speaking of Christ as the imago of God (Second Corinthians 4:4, “Christ, who is the image of God.”).

What effect did the Fall have on humankind’s status as imagines? Initially, Augustine was quite emphatic that it was catstrophic: “by his sin Adam lost the image of God in which he was made,” (Augustine, De Genesi ad literam, written in the early years of the fifth century. vi.27f). But toward the end of his life he seems to have changed his mind and retracted his earlier statement: “should not be taken to mean that none [of the image] remained in him, but that it was so deformed that it was in need of reformation” (Retractations ii.24. Augustine died in 430 before this retrospective survey was completed). However, his initial comments about the effect of the Fall on humanity’s standing as imagines was profoundly influential on later theologians.

Kilner criticises Augustine’s view of the effect of the Fall humankind’s standing as imagines – both Augustine’s earlier and later views, because:

“This view understands being in God’s image in terms of attributes that people have now, most commonly people’s ability to reason, rule over (manage) creation, be righteous, or be in relationship. In this view, sin can damage such attributes and thus damage God’s image.”
John F. Kilner, Dignity and Destiny: Humanity in the Image of God. 2015, 3.

The imago status of humankind was conditional or the result of fulfilling certain consequences, therefore, when our progenitors committed the original sin, they remained in their imago status. “[A]ll that is true about humanity is not necessarily true about God’s image. For instance, just because sin has damaged humanity does not logically require that it has damaged God’s image. Everything that is true of one is not necessarily true of the other” (Kilner 2015, 45). Yet, because their ontological destiny was always intended to be fulfilled as they were ultimately conformed into the true imago of Christ, their Fall into a sinful nature has hampered their destiny. This is why the New Testament continues to regard humanity as being in the imago yet needing to be redeemed, justified, and glorified into the likeness of Christ to reach our ultimate purpose.

For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers…. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 8:29; 12:2

References

Clines, David J. A. ‘Humanity as the Image of God’, On the Way to the Postmodern: Old Testament Essays, 1967–1998, vol. 2, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series, 293; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998

Davis, Ellen F.  Opening Israel’s Scriptures. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.

Kilner, John F. Dignity and Destiny: Humanity in the Image of God. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015.

Swann,.John Thomas. The Imago Dei: A Priestly Calling for Humankind. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2017.

Next Chapter: Part 5, When the Imagines No Longer Image God

DUMB PRAYERS THAT I HAVE PRAYED AND GOD HAS ANSWERED OVER THE YEARS

Over the past nearly 29-years of pastoring Legana I have occasionally mentioned that one day I would write about “the dumb prayers that I’ve prayed.” It’s not really that they are all ‘dumb’ prayers, it’s that they are the kind of prayers that are guaranteed to be answered by God (because they are “surrendered” prayers) but have not been fully considered what God’s answer might entail. I do not consider the more well-known and obvious “dumb” prayers – such as praying for revival to bring in hundreds of lost/lonely/broken souls into the kingdom and then being surprised by God’s answer resulting in exhaustion, burn-out, over-stretched resources, spiritual attacks, and the inevitable pride. Neither do I consider the even more obvious “dumb” prayer for patience and humility and the resultant means (difficult people and obvious trials!) by which such a prayer can only be answered. Instead, I begin with a prayer I prayed as a teenager then others that I prayed down through the years which have led me to this unexpected point. What I hope, and pray, you might discover after you have read this is something which will might benefit you in your knowledge of God and how He often answers prayers.

.

WHAT’S THE POINT OF PRAYING THEN?

There a different ways to pray. Some prayers can be verbalised. Some prayers can be silent. Some prayers are spontaneous. Some prayers are prepared. Some prayers are prayed in private and are clumsy. Some prayers are prayed in public and are clever. Some prayers are long. Some prayers are short – even just one word. Whatever way you pray, there are three things you need to keep in mind.

¶ “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ¶ “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
JESUS THE CHRIST, Matthew 6:5-7

Firstly, when we pray, we are talking to God. When praying at a public occasion we are still praying to God and we are praying on behalf of those present. Out of respect for those who are present these public-occasion prayers should be well considered. This is why I recommend writing such prayers out and reading them with passion when prayed in public. Otherwise, the pray-er often sounds confuddled with mindless phrases such as this prayer I have heard many times:

“Father God, oh Father God, Father God Lord, I [pause] I come to You to pray Father God, Father God Lord. Yeah [pause] Amen.”

(Perhaps this should go in the obvious dumb prayer category because I have no idea what is being prayed for.)

Secondly, when we pray, particularly in private, our words don’t particularly matter. There are not ‘right’ words to use in prayer. Prayer is not magic. Prayer is not like a Harry Potter spell. Prayer is coming from your spirit to God’s Spirit (Rom. 8:26; 1Cor. 2:11). God hears your heart when you pray.

Thirdly, God always hears our prayer but does not always answer our prayer/s they way we want. Prayer should be an expression of worship for God and trust in Him. When we pray we should also trust God with the timing of His answer not just the ‘how’ of His answer. One of the most inspirational books on prayer that I ever read — which had an enormous influence on my life — wasn’t even a book on prayer! It was the story of Dawson Trotman. As a young man he came to Christ and together with a few other guys they began praying for people, then nations, to come to Christ. Before his tragic drowning death as he rescued a young drowning girl, he had remarked that nearly everything he had prayed for some twenty-years earlier had been answered positively by God. “I now have” he said, “one regret – not that I didn’t pray enough, but that I didn’t pray for enough!” Dawson Trotman became one of Billy Graham’s intercessors and the founder coordinator of evangelism follow-up ministry called the Navigators. 

The point of praying is that we are invited by our heavenly Father to extend the reign of His Son over the earth through the ordinance of prayer. When we pray “Thy kingdom come!” we may not fully grasp either importance or the impact of our praying. 

 

WHAT’S ‘PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT’ THEN?

Christianity is the only ‘religion’ that regards prayer as a God-focused and God-empowered conversation. Jesus taught that after He had ascended back to the Father that it was imperative for His disciples to wait for the outpouring of the promised gift of the Holy Spirit who had been with the disciples up until that point, but when He would be poured out into the earth He would be in the disciples (Jn. 14:17). Other religions regard prayer quite differently. Some religions teach adherents that prayer is like meditation and needs to be mindless, while other religions teach their adherents that prayer involves the recitation of certain words sometimes in a language unknown to the pray-er such as Latin or Arabic. But Christianity teaches worshipers of the Creator and LORD to pray “in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:18; Jude 20). This can be (i) praying a Spirit-gifted language that involves the Spirit-baptised believer speaking in tongues to God in prayer (1Cor. 14:2); or, (ii) praying in your heart-language in a way that the Spirit leads you to pray (1Cor. 14:15).

¶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Romans 8:26

 

WHAT’S GOD DOING IN ME WHEN I PRAY THEN?

When C.S. Lewis’s wife, Joy, was dying of bone cancer, Jack (C.S.) was seen praying everyday in the nearby Anglican chapel. The Rector asked him if he was praying to change God about Joy’s prognosis? Jack replied, “No, I’m praying for God to change me!” Since prayer is a worshipful conversation with God, there is a high likelihood that when we pray throughout our day as our spirit communes with God that our spirit is also ‘hearing’ unconsciously from God. This perhaps is even more pronounced when we pray in tongues to God. Therefore, what may surprise praying worshipers is just how much they positively change as they wait on God in prayer seeking His face rather than His attention (Jn. 15:7). 

 

MY DUMB PRAYERS

I consider a ‘dumb’ prayer to be one that the pray-er had not fully considered the implications of how God might answer that prayer. The unconsidered implications are especially its cost, discomfort, inconvenience, and potential suffering. At one point I was prayerfully begging God to redeem and rescue the hurting, lost, lonely and broken people of my community. Those who have experienced my pastoring will be aware how God answered that prayer and how at times it was overwhelming. Then I developed a deep concern for the unwell. Again, those who are aware of my pastoral journey will know that I began a season some time ago, when for every significant health issue that someone came to me for prayer, was actually put on me. On several occasions this resulted in me being hospitalised. The list of ‘dumb prayers’ below are only the first half of these answered prayers. I am leaving the second-half — the implications — to your imagination. These are some of my ‘dumb’ prayers over the years that God has answered and as a result I have been transformed and become more responsive to God’s will:

🥺 Father, send me wherever You want – but please don’t make it an easy place. Make it a really hard place spiritually. Make it a place where few of Your servants are prepared to go! [Prayed before Kim and I moved to Tasmania.]

🥺 Lord God, fill me with Your love. Give me Your compassion for the hard-to-love. Help me oh God to truly see people and to truly hear them! [Prayed after Kim and I moved to Tasmania.]

🥺 Jesus, help me to understand Your Word. Show me what Your Word really says and to see past what I have been taught and told Your Word says to see what Your Word truly says! [Prayed regularly while in Tasmania.]

🥺 Holy Spirit, please rescue the lost, the lonely, the broken, the hurting, the confused, and the unloved! Holy Spirit, please bring them into the Kingdom of Christ through Your church! Help me to love them, heal them, and care for them. In the meantime, please fill Your people with Your love and power to be the hands and the feet to offer the love, the care, and the Father’s adoption to these needy people. [Prayed very recently while in Tasmania.]

🥺 Lord GOD, give me the time I need to complete this PhD with Monash and help me to navigate each of the challenges that will arise in doing so! [Prayed very regularly in Tasmania at the moment.]

🥺 Father, help me to hear Your voice and to heed Your Word! In fact, help me to make a difference both now and for the next four centuries by what I will leave behind [Prayed presently while preparing to depart Tasmania for wherever God will lead us.]

🥺 God, have Your way in my life! Make me, shape me, and break me, to be conformed to Your will! [Prayed presently while preparing to depart Tasmania for wherever God will lead us.]

 

PRAYING FOR GOD’S WILL TO BE DONE IS NEVER DUMB

I am a Pentecostal, but I do not hold to the Word-of-faith / Prosperity-gospel. As a Pentecostal I believe that the gifts of the Spirit are still available and will be so until the eschaton (“the Last Day” referred to in John 6:39-44, 54; 11:24; 12:48).Thus, I believe that the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit still performs miracles – including transforming lost souls into saved saints. But I also believe – not because I am a Pentecostal, but because I am a Bible-believing Christian – that God is good and always does good. This means that God has a good will and that I need to pray according to His will — even when I do not like His will! My ultimate example to pray according to God’s will is the record of Jesus in Gethsemane just before He went to the cross. And therefore, so should we.

Again, for the second time, He went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”  And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, He went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.
Matthew 26:42-44

Thus, praying for God’s will to be done in your life is never dumb!

Your Pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST, Chapter 6 - The deGLORIFIED NEWBORN The reGLORIFIED LAMB OF GOD

 THE CONCEALED IDENTITY

There are cases of “mistaken” identity but there are cases of concealed identity. Novelists, including Mark Twain who has given us such examples of powerful people who disguised themselves to fit in with “common” people unnoticed in his The Prince and the Pauper. In more recent times, Peter Lenkov and Eric Guggenheim gave the world the story of a world-famous and now very wealthy novelist, Robin Masters, who had never been seen in public. He had apparently hired a butler, named Higgins, to look after his luxury Hawaiian holiday house and estate, “Robin’s Nest”. Masters struck a deal with a former Navy Seal, turned Private Detective, Thomas Magnum, to be his unpaid security consultant. Magnum was given accommodation and use of Masters’ Ferrari in exchange for anecdotes from his time as a ’Seal for the author to draw on his upcoming novels. (This was why Magnum had to continue working as a Private Detective). Higgins was personally acquainted with the mysterious novelist, but Magnum had never met or even seen him. Higgins and Magnum struck up a friendship as they went about solving crimes. After years of friendship it was revealed that Robin Masters was none other than Higgins himself.

 One of my favourite stories of concealed identity hiding in plain sight is from Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel, Les Miserables, where the escaped convict, Jean Valjean, is pursued for years by now retired Inspector Javert. As it turns out Jean Valjean, who had changed his name to M. Madeleine has now become a successful business man and the Mayor of Toulon. Javert arrives in Toulon and is immediately recognised by Valjean. But Javert does not recognise the now clean-shaven, genteel aristocratic Mayor of Toulon as his nemesis. But when he observes the compassion of M. Madeleine he recalls the time in prison when Jean Valjean had also displayed a similar extraordinary compassion for unfortunate fellow prisoners. The more he observed such acts of kindness and generosity from M. Madeleine the more Javert became convinced of the true identity of Madeleine. There is something about this idea of concealed identity that comes from the story of Christ. The prophet Isaiah foretold that when the Servant of the LORD would appear He would be largely unrecognised – there would be no form, no beauty, that we would desire Him (Isa. 53:2). But how on earth was this possible? How in God’s Name  could those who were created by Him in His image not recognise Him for who He was? The answer to this great puzzle lies in one word: the kenosis.

 

CHRIST’S CONCEALED HIS IDENTITY BECAUSE HE EMPTIED HIMSELF – BUT EMPTIED HIMSELF OF WHAT?

Theologians refer to this profound mystery about Christ as the kenosis. This is from the original Greek word, translated from Philippians 2:7, which describes Christ emptying Himself. But ‘emptied Himself’ of what? Did He empty Himself of His deity? Did He empty Himself of His divine attributes (omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence)? Did He empty Himself of His divine prerogatives (to receive worship, to forgive sins, to exercise judgment)? Whatever it was, the apostle Paul tells us the result of this mysterious emptying: it resulted in Christ humbling Himself as a result; and, although it would appear to be the case that He was humiliated, Paul is careful to state that this was not the case. The apostle wants his readers to consider that the eternal Son of GOD humbled Himself in order to accomplish our salvation. Then he is equally emphatic that this was only a temporary emptying. As a result of Christ’s kenosis (emptying) GOD the Father then “exalted Him”:

Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:9-11

 

GOD IS THE HUMBLEST BEING IN THE UNIVERSE!

In a moment I am going to make a bold claim about what it was that Christ emptied Himself of. If you, like me, are on a quest to know Jesus, then you must understand this about our Lord. The inevitable result of this new knowledge that I am about share with you is that it will lead to a change in our attitude. In fact, the very reason that Paul raised this insight in the first place was because there was an attitude that needed to be addressed. There had been a growing friction within the Philippian church which was caused by someone’s hurt pride. Paul introduces this profound revelation about Christ with:

Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love,
being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,
but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:2-5

A part of Paul’s argument about Christ emptying Himself is that even though Jesus was God in the flesh, with all of the rights, privileges, and powers of the Almighty GOD, He humbled Himself and became as a servant of others. Jesus embraced an attitude of overlooking offence, forgiving those who wronged Him, and even though He had the right to condemn whomever He chose – He chose not to. As we read on in Paul’s epistle to the Philippians we discover who it was that Paul was specifically appealing to (Phil. 4:2) but the principle that he shared still applies to us today.

In making his case infinitely stronger Paul spent time shedding light on who this Christ was and how He so dramatically humbled Himself. In doing this, Paul also revealed what it was that Christ had emptied Himself of. By becoming a human being, Christ laid aside – not His deity – but His visible glory. 

 

JESUS, THE ORIGINAL LORD OF GLORY!

Even though John 1:1 commences with the words, In the beginning, it actually begins before there was time, or to put it another way: John 1:1 begins before Genesis 1:1. And before there was even “time” (which began with the words uttered in Genesis 1:3) there was the triune GOD in all His glory including the Second Person of the Trinity (See Jude 25; Christ’s inference from John17:5; and Peter’s statement about God’s “eternal glory” in 1Pet. 5:10). That is, before Christ created the universe into which He would one day enter as a divine human being, He was the Lord of Glory. In writing to the Corinthians some time before He wrote to the Philippians, the apostle Paul described the incarnate (“in the flesh”) Jesus as “the Lord of glory” :  

None of the rulers of this age understood this,
for if they had,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
First Corinthians 2:8

But how was it possible for those who saw the Christ that they did not recognise the most glorious Person in the universe? It is as though the One they had been longing millennia for was actually ‘hiding in plain sight’ but not just plain sight – very, very, public sight! Yet no-one, except for demons and devils, could recognise Him (Luke 4:34)! Again, it seems that what Jesus emptied Himself of was the visibility of His glory!

To be clear, I am not suggesting that the apostle Paul was suggesting that the incarnate Christ ceased to be glorious. As C.S. Lewis wrote in his fictitious Letter To Malcolm it’s not that God possesses glory, it’s that He is glory! Thus, when the Heavenly Father declared that all people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23) He had actually stated that all people had not lived up to the standard set by His Son. When Christ became a human, He veiled His glory so that it was not usually visible to human eyes. In this sense, the Son of God was deglorified by becoming a human being. This was captured by one of my favourite musical theologians, Charles Wesley, who wrote these profound lyrics: 

Charles Wesley, who often felt like a failure because he couldn’t preach like his more successful brother, John. “All I can do is write hymns.”

1. Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new-born King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild;
God and sinners reconciled.”
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With angelic hosts proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem.”

2. Christ, by highest heav’n adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord:
Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail th’ incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus our Immanuel.

 

WHEN THE LORD OF GLORY WAS deGLORIFIED

We have now seen that when the eternal Son of God became a human, His flesh veiled His glorious identity. This veiling was made easier because of the all-pervasive stain of sin on every human soul which naturally prevented people from truly seeing who Jesus really was. Today, of course, even though Christ is now unveiled because of His victory over death which restored the capacity of the redeemed to behold His glory – somethings which He prayed for to His Father (John 17:5) – unredeemed people today are still “blinded” from seeing Christ in His glory because the false god of this world attempts to keep them veiled! When the former slave-trade ship’s captain, John Newton cried out to God for forgiveness and salvation, he later wrote a song in which he testified, “Once I was blind but now I see!”

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,
to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God.
Second Corinthians 4:3-4

But the good news for those who have not yet seen the glory of Christ is that Jesus both invites and offers people to have their veil removed (2Cor. 3:14). And the challenge for us who have seen the glory of Christ is for us to pray that Christ will remove this obscuring veil from those whom we deeply care about – such as those who live in our city, our neighbourhood, our street, and in our homes!

 

WHEN THE LORD OF GLORY WAS reGLORIFIED

Just before Christ was taken away by the Temple guards to appear before the High Priests where He was tried for blasphemy (because He declared that He was GOD), He went up the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. What He prayed was profound:

A couple of weeks prior to this Jesus had taken His disciples to the northern most town in Israel, Caesarea Philippi (Mark 8:27). Six days later He took Peter, James, and John, up Mount Hermon where the Jewish “legends” said that the most powerful of the fallen Watcher angels had been imprisoned (Mark 9:1). When they reached the beginning of the snow-line where nothing grows, and the boulders and rocks make the rest of the ascent most uninviting, they stopped. The locals called those large boulders “the gates of hell”. As the uncertain disciples stood there somewhat bewildered, the rocky ground on which they stood began tremble as before their very eyes the black of the night sky was transformed into daylight brighter than full-sun daylight. Then they realised the light was not shining on Christ but out of Him (Mark 9:3)! Then Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ in the midst of the Shekinah (glory) light (Mark 9:4). They then realised that it was not the mountain trembling causing the ground under their feet to become unsteady—it was Christ speaking that was causing the mountain to tremble—and as He spoke with Moses it was as if Moses expected it to (see Exo. 19:18)! Then the Voice of the Father was heard and the mountain trembled yet again (as mountains always do whenever GOD appears on them)! In this moment of the veil being momentarily removed from the apostles’ eyes to see what was always there – the glory of the eternal Son of God – would be etched into Peter’s mind so that even three decades later he recalled it as if it happened yesterday!

¶ For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain.
Second Peter 1:16-18

When Christ conquered sin, death, and devil, He did so as the Lamb of GOD. His victory led to Him being reGlorified and declared as the Lord of all!

A REVELATION OF THE LORD OF GLORY LEADS TO WORSHIP

My pastoral prayer for you is that you will begin to have a growing revelation of glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the Scripture teaches us that as we worshipfully behold the glory of the Lord, it will “transform” us into the image of the One in whose image we were created. This is why I have gone to such great pains to discuss the Lordship of Christ in this series, and I hope – I pray – that indeed the eyes of your understanding about Who Christ is will be opened (Eph. 1:16-18) so that you will experience a new passion to worship our Lord and Glorious Saviour.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Second Corinthians 3:18

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Your Pastor,

Andrew

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