“I am God.” This is possibly one of the most arrogant
claims that any one person can ever make. It is so blasphemous that religious
groups have the most horrible punishments for it. Stoning, burning, torture,
crucifixion, all these things are what await those who make the most
blasphemous claim available to humanity. What is it then that compels so many
to make such claims on divinity? Could it possibly be because divinity is what
we were actually made for? Perhaps those blasphemers aren't all wrong, perhaps
God likeness should be our goal. Let me explain.
First lets talk about this from a purely logical point of
view. As has been drilled in to the foundation of pretty much every single blog
post I have written, it is clear that God is not like us. God is not created,
God does not exist, He is something else entirely. My pastor reminded me a few
weeks ago, in His sermon, how the Israelites understood this concept. The name
of God uses the Hebrew letters Yod, Hay, Vaw, Hay. They are all vowels, and
written as they are they are the root letters for the word "To Be."
That isn't the most amazing part about it however, the letters were not meant
to be sounded out but rather breathed. Try it with me, breathe in Yo, breathe
out Hay, breathe in Vaw, breathe out Hay. The name of God is the sound of
breath, the sound of life itself.
The Jews understood a very important concept that much of
the religious world has since lost. The Jews recognized that God is not a
being. In fact, all of creation spells the name of the God we believe exists.
He cannot be named because no name accurately describes what "He" is.
The only way we can understand God is through creation, and yes that includes
each other. Why do you suppose the Bible states in Genesis 1:26 "So
God created man in his own image..."? It isn't because God literally
exists within a body just like us, such a concept is absurd. It is because God
created us to demonstrate something about His character. All creation is a
demonstration of the character of God. Jesus is a revelation of God in a way we
can understand, Michael, the arch angel, was a revelation of God in a way that
other beings, that we call Angels, could relate to. And it is the same with
every creation God has saw fit to create. It is all a revelation of the
character of God.
Why do you think humanity has such a concept as beauty?
Why do you think every society from the beginning has had an infatuation with
beauty? It is because we were meant for something more. We are here to reveal
something of the character of God, and we know it. We desire that perfect
beauty that we were intended for. It is not an evil desire to want to be
beautiful. It is not an evil tendency to desire to cover up our blemishes.
Makeup is not an invention of the devil, jewelry is not Satan's master plan to
damn people to hell. No these things were invented by humanity in an attempt to
bring ourselves back to the ideal. Albeit we do a poor job of it because we
cannot of ourselves achieve what God has in store.
"You will be like the most high." The amazing
thing about that first lie is that it actually wasn't a lie at all. It was the
truth. God did indeed intend for Adam and Eve to become like Him, just not in
the way Satan led them to attempt. The fact of the matter is that the Bible
talks a great deal about humanities destiny to be equal with God. You might
want to stop me here and say that I am completely off my rocker, after all, the
Bible does not teach heresy. Well, let's just look at a handful of texts that
will seem to say otherwise.
"He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up
the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them
inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and
he has set the world upon them." (1 Samuel 2:8)
So what's so incredible about this verse? Here it shows
God setting mankind in a place it does not seem he deserves. God wants us to sit on the thrown of glory?
Who alone is able to sit in the place that only God has the right to occupy?
I'll share with you a little insight purely from my own observations. There are
many stories in history and the Bible when people sat on thrones that they were
not entirely entitled to. Joseph sat on a throne in Egypt, not as Pharaoh but
as one who represented Pharaoh to all the people. Daniel sat on a throne in
Babylon, not as the king but as someone who represented the Kings interests to
all the nations around Babylon. Both of these men did not deserve the throne,
it was not their right to take, both were captive slaves from other lands, yet
both ruled as kings. Could it be that God has something similar in mind for
humanity? Let's look at a few more verses.
"But as many as received him, to them He gave power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. (John 1:12)
John here is saying that we are the sons and daughters of God! He doesn't just
say that God will make us rulers in heaven, what John is really claiming here
is that we will have a place in heaven equal to that of Jesus! I'm not making
this up! Are you still doubtful? Check out these other verses.
"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they
are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to
fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs
with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
together." (Romans 8:14-17) What! Can you believe what this is
saying? The author of Romans is stating that we will be joint heirs with
Christ! Can you even comprehend what that means? Jesus is God and we are going
to be joint heirs to the throne of God! What does this even mean?
I honestly have a hard time wrapping my mind around this
one. The same God that does not exist, does not have a body, does not have such
thing as a brain or any such human understanding of existence, this same God
has destined us to inherit the entire universe and to sit on his throne and
rule with Him! This isn't just an isolated text; this theme is repeated over
and over again. Check out Galatians 4:3-7, Revelation 3:21, or
Revelation 21:6. These verses make some massive claims. We will be sons, we
will be heirs, we will be sitting on the throne of God, etc. these are the
things that the Bible promises. The Bible makes claims that only a fool would
believe! The Bible is full of some of the most diabolical blasphemy ever
written!
See, the truth is that Satan did not lie. Satan merely
told the truth and led Adam and Eve to seek to obtain the promise by their own
power. What was the original purpose of humanity? I'll tell you a theory I
have, it may be a little far fetched and you may not like it, but hear me out
and tell me if it makes sense. Humanity was created to reveal something of the
character of God. Our purpose was to reveal God to everything around us. Our
very first assignment was to reveal God to this earth, to the animals and all
things living. We were meant to guide this creation in an understanding of
absolute love. That was our job, to teach animals the knowledge of the kingdom
of God, the kingdom of love.
Here is the real kicker of the story. Guess what Satan's
job was? He was created to reveal the glory of God and His absolute love to the
universe and the Angels. Satan was created to teach others of God's ultimate
character of love. What did Satan do instead? I think we all know the story.
Does this change your understanding of the depth of meaning in Satan's fall?
Rather than revealing the love and character of God to the universe, Satan
turned from his purpose, possibly after billions of years of following the
perfect law of love. So what did God do? God sent Jesus.
Jesus' purpose was to reveal the ultimate character of
God. Jesus took the job that was originally intended for Satan! That was
supposed to be Satan's job! Satan was supposed to be the Christ to this world;
He was supposed to be the one to reveal the true character of God. Instead, he
led humanity away from believing.
So what does this have to do with everything else we have
looked at? According to the Bible, humanity is now destined to be Christ to the
rest of the universe. Our job for all eternity will be to reveal God to the
inhabitants of this universe. We will have the authority of God himself. Dale
Leamon once asked me to imagine the following scenario: imagine you are in
heaven. Let's say you are sitting on the back patio of your home right next to
the sea of glass. The sun is shinning bright, it is a perfect 80 degrees and
the smells of blooming flowers and the fruit of the tree of life is filling the
air. Birds by the dozens fly through the air singing their songs of cheer. You
close your eyes taking in all the wonders God has prepared for you, and then
suddenly you hear a voice in your mind. It says, "Timothy, I have a job I
need for you to do. Planet X is ready to have the complete revelation of my
character revealed to them. Will you go and share with them who I am?" You
jump in your spacecraft, wormhole or however we travel in the future, and in
several hours or maybe days, you arrive on Planet X.
The people of Planet X
have been prophesying of your coming for centuries. They have developed
culture, religious beliefs and governments. When you arrive they come before
you and bow down to worship you as the one sent from God to reveal the
everlasting gospel. You tell them, as did the Angels in the Bible, do not
worship me, but let me point you toward the creator of heaven and Planet X, and
allow me to teach you of his character.
What a sobering thought that is that we will be the
Christ to the universe. We will take the place of Satan and we will do the work
that Jesus was sent to do on this earth. We were meant for something more. We
were meant to ascend into heaven, we were destined to have our throne exalted
above the stars of God: We were supposed to sit also upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north: We were meant to be exalted above the
stars of God, and we were meant to be like the most high.
John sums this up very poetically, "Behold, what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall
be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall
see him as he is." (1 John 3:1-2) We do not yet know what our future will
be. We do not yet know just exactly what God has prepared, but we do know, that
when His character is fully revealed, we will be changed to be as He is. It is
not the physical image of Christ that changes us; it is the full and complete
revelation of the character of God himself that changes us. We will be like the
most high. We will be able to say to the other inhabitants of the universe,
"Follow me, because I follow Christ." We will be able to say,
"My prayer for you is that you will be one like I and my father are
one." This change starts now. Will you allow your understanding of God to change?
Why not allow the revelation of God's ultimate character to mold you in to a
perfect representation of Love?
