In the beginning, God created humanity in His own image. We were lovingly fashioned to bear His likeness and reflect His glory on the earth. Our purpose was clear: to rule over creation by making God's presence known and His ways evident to the world. We were meant to live, think, feel, and speak in a way that would draw attention to the brilliance of God's glory. In this way His presence and blessings would spread throughout the earth. We were blessed to be a blessing!

Bible Texts

• "When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God." - Genesis 5:1 NIV

• . "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." - Genesis 1:27 NIV

• "Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end." - Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT

• "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." - John 17:3 NIV

However, our image-bearing has become distorted by sin. Tragically, we turned away from God and towards false idols of our own making. Our sinful rebellion to God and His ways separated us from Him. This separation meant that we could not refresh ourselves with His glory. As we did so, the image of God within us became tarnished and distorted. Sin disrupted the very essence of our image-bearing, and as a result, both humans and creation itself suffered a deficit of God’s glory. 

Bible Texts

• "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." - Romans 3:23a NIV

• "As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God'." - Romans 3:10-11 NIV

• "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people because all sinned." - Romans 5:12 NIV

• "Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.  You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger [lit: children of wrath], just like everyone else." - Ephesians 2:1-3 NLT

• "You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God." - James 4:4 NLT

To restore the degraded image of God within humanity, a divine encounter with the original image of God was necessary. The Son of God took on human flesh to accomplish this restoration. When Jesus, the perfect image of God, assumed human form, it was a pivotal moment in God's rescue plan for the entire universe. Not only was Jesus the exact representation of God, living the perfectly sinless life we could not live, but he also paid the penalty for our sins on a criminal’s cross, a price we could not pay. In this way King Jesus offers us salvation, the opportunity to be restored back into the loving and life-giving relationship with God, and a place in God's family as His sons and daughters. 

Now, as we willingly fix our gaze upon Jesus, the King, beholding His glory, we begin to undergo transformation (2 Corinthians 3:18). Our capacity to radiate God's glory is rekindled, and the intensity of His glory reflected through us to others increases. Through the Spirit-led process of image restoration, God not only transforms us but also empowers us to bring the benefits of His new creation gospel to all of creation.

Bible Texts

• "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:14 NIV

• "The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven." - Hebrews 1:3 NLT

• "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6 NIV

• "For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” - Luke 19:10 NLT

•  "[Peter said of Jesus] Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” - Acts 4:12 NIV

• "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." - John 3:16-17 NIV

• "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation." - Romans 5:8-9 NLT

• "For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” - John 6:40 NIV

• "He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them." - 2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT

• "Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit." - 1 Peter 3:18 NLT

• "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." - 1 John 4:10 NIV

• "Jesus replied, 'Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." - John 8:34-36 NIV

• "Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed... But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave. But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels." - Isaiah 53:4-5,8b-12 NLT

• "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." - Romans 8:20-21  NIV

One day, when we see the returned King in His full splendor, the image-bearing of the Church will finally be perfected. Until that glorious day, our mission is clear: as disciples of Jesus, we are to function as image-bearers, testifying in word, character, and deed that Jesus is the victorious King. This is the only way for God's plan of salvation to reach non-Christians and his Kingdom to spread throughout the earth. When the Church reflects the image of the King perfectly, our image-bearing will be complete, and God's glory will shine forth for all eternity. In this way, we participate in God's grand plan to restore His image in us and throughout creation, ultimately fulfilling the purpose for which we were created.

Bible Texts

• "He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.  But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God." - John 1:10-13 NLT

• "See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know Him." - 1 John 3:1 NLT

• "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life." - John 5:21 NIV

• "He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them." - 2 Corinthians 5:15 NLT

• "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 6:23 NIV

• "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." - John 17:3 NIV

• "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." - 1 John 5:11-13 NIV

• "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them." - John 3:36 NIV

• "Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. But when God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life." - Titus 3:3-7 NLT

• "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure." - 1 John 3:2-3 NIV)

• "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." - 1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV

• "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." - 2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV

• "When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." - Colossians 3:4 NIV

• "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." - 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NIV