Apostolic Letters Revelations

Who are you; a man, a father or a man and a father? You were created a Man first before being a Father.

I planned to speak to you about great men in the Bible; Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joseph, Joshua, Isaac, Jeremiah, David, Daniel. Which one is not great?

What does it take to be a great Christian Spiritual man and a father? It takes one who consistently does not live with or within his conscious self alone; a person who lives outside himself.

Genesis 1:26-29

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

In this passage the Lord reminds us that he created us “in his own image”, He said “in our likeness”. The word “Image” in the scripture seem to refer to something one can see, like a picture, statue etc. We know who God is. He is not anything like that. He is not physical and He is no man. God is a Spirit. Then God used another word “Likeness” which seem to suggest to something similar but not exactly the same, something qualitative and quantitative, something like a character, and something you can feel with your human senses. Again, we know that God is not physical. He is Spiritual and yet He has a likeness to which man was created. If you have a child by his or her image, looks, actions, behaviors and you can look at him or her and say, he or she is like me or like his or her father.

Did you understand that God used two distinct and descriptive adjective to qualify you. “Our image” and “Our likeness”. That means that by His use of the word image, He is referring to resemblance in nature, just like your child resembles you and by likeness, He is referring to His intrinsic values and attributes, your internal state.  God is referring to His character which we learn and understood often through Christ and God’s words according to the scriptures; when we search for them. As was revealed in the gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind,” John 1:1-4, we have the image and likeness of God; like whom we were created to be. 

If you do not represent by your life, that image and likeness of God of which you are created, the question the Lord have for you today is this! Who are you? Are you the son of God? Do you look like Him? God is asking you, who am I? Who am I, son of man and God? Our Lord Jesus Christ asked Peter, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”… “Who do you say I am?” Matthew 16:13-20.

Before you answer that, please think also about who God is? Who is God? He is not a flesh and has no form like you, yet He said He created you in His Image and likeness. Why?  Because God is a Spirit and He created your spirit first. You can see that in Genesis 1:26, your flesh (physical form) had not been created. God was making plan for your creation. With who? He said let “US make mankind… Who are us? Who was God referring to as “US”? God was referring to the Holy Trinity. The father was telling His other parts, the Son and the Holy Ghost what He wants them to do; what He wants the Union to do.

God was doing what we call consensus building. One of the tool conflict managers and dispute resolution professional use in conflict resolution is consensus building. God showing us how conflict free He is in His three persons, demonstrates to us a secret tool for building peace and unity persons. In His creation of man, he demonstrates the significance of consensus building as a vital element of peace and unity among men, right from the beginning, from the creation of man. God being consistent, reiterated through Christ in his sermon in the mountain, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9. If you are son of God, those Jesus called children of God, those who are created in image and likeness, seeks peace and unity with each other, as God made us to understand in verse 27,  the reading for today, that He created them man and woman. Husband and wife he created them.

Nevertheless, God being all knowing and can do whatever pleases Him seeks consensus with His other equals and persons to create man and woman. His question to you today is this: “Do you even know that you are created a spirit like me first before the flesh? Some people believe that they were created man with the flesh and body form they have. They lack the enlightenment to understand that they were created a spirit and was placed in the flesh/body. The body is not what God created first. He created their spirit first. Just as you live in a house, so did God created the spirit man and placed him in a house called the flesh/body. That why God reminded us that we are the temple of God, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and 1 Corinthians 3:16.  I will get back there later.

Let us go back to who you are at the time you were formed in the womb; at your creation.  God just wants you to know that everything is settled first in the spirit, in God’s form and that is the man God created first. But why? God said right from His planning and consensus building with His other parts in Genesis 1:26, “so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock etc. …. This plan was executed in the spirit nature as you can see that man was created immediately after His plan was hatched and verse 27 confirms that God’s plan manifested physically after he was created in spirit. To the physical man, God repeated His instructions in details in verses 27-30. Take a minute of silence to meditate on the words we read today in Genesis 1:26-30 and try to connect with your creator, allow His Holy Spirit to connect with you spirit and minister to your spirit.

You can see that in verse 28, God instructed them to be fruitful… It was after creating the spiritual man, then, the flesh man, that He gave him the ability, authority, and power to become a father through the bearing of the fruit—becoming of a father does not come before becoming a man that God created in His image and likeness; the holy man. God created them man and woman, through divine union first. What do we have today? We have a lifestyle of becoming a father or a mother first before becoming a man or a woman and before becoming husband and wife. (NIV used)