WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:01.439 Genesis chapter one. 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:03.919 Genesis chapter one. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:13.199 When we read Genesis chapter one, it's easy to pick up a rhythm that runs through this chapter. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:18.160 God speaks, things are brought into existence. 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:26.879 And so God forms and fills, and then he blesses and he declares that it's good. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:32.000 There's that rhythm, that pattern that repeats as he goes through the days. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:38.159 And then when you get towards the end of chapter one, things start to slow down. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:42.960 There's something important about to be said. 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:48.479 The rhythm breaks in order to bring an emphasis to what's about to happen. 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:57.119 And when you look at verse 26, he says, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:00.960 And then in verse 27, a repetition. 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:03.600 So God created man in his own image. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:09.599 He created them male and female. 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:16.799 Now those words are not decorative words, but rather are the bedrock of our identity. 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:19.519 They tell us who we are and why we're here. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:45.280 We're here made by God in order to think his thoughts after him, in order to love the things that he loves, in order to walk in his ways, in order to fulfill all of his purposes that he's given us in sweet fellowship with him, in harmony with him, in harmony with one another, and in harmony with all things created. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:02:02.239 And this tells us something very important about who we are: that our dignity and our identity and our purpose are all rooted in God's creative activity of who we are, made in his image. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:06.400 We don't have to earn our dignity, it's granted to us. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:10.080 We don't have to sort of look for our identity. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:12.159 It's already stated here. 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:17.759 Our purpose is provided for us, rooted in the God who made us. 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:31.439 But it doesn't take us very long when we look at our world and even look at our own hearts that something's a lot different with us and the world than what we read in this chapter. 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:36.319 We feel the ache of something's gone wrong in this world. 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:51.680 And all we have to do is turn over a page or two to Genesis chapter three, and we discover that we who were made as image bearers have come into a place of disobedience and brokenness. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:03:08.080 In Genesis 3, those very image bearers are brought into a place of temptation and they sin against God, thinking that God's goodness and is not good enough, and that God's righteousness is not right enough. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:11.840 And so they question God's goodness and they question God's love. 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:18.879 And the consequences are immediate and they are lasting and reverberating into our day. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:33.280 When you read Genesis 3, you see shame enters in verse 7, fear in verse 10, blame in verse 12, division in verse 16, and death in verse 19. 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:36.560 Now those are words we're familiar with. 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:38.400 Sadly. 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:48.159 Fear, shame, blame, division, and death are all words we are all too familiar with. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:52.000 And we feel the fracture of this still. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:57.520 We feel the sense of both Genesis 1 and Genesis chapter 3. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:04.080 We still sense the brilliance and the beauty of God's design in humanity. 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:07.199 And yet we also feel the confusion. 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:14.639 We see the division, the violence, the pride, the fear, and the longings of our hearts. 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:22.639 We see people searching for their identity in places where it could never provide them an identity. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:31.680 Just as uh the prophets talk about broken cisterns that can hold no water, so those places they go to find identity can't give it to them. 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:33.839 There's no water in that well. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:49.120 Or we'll see culture telling us, you know, just make your own way, reinvent yourself, define yourself, curate yourself, but can never tell us what we really were meant to be. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:52.000 Because they don't have an answer to that question. 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:57.680 And if we're honest, we feel it still in ourselves. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:10.480 We feel the sense of Genesis 1 and Genesis 3 tugging within us, a gap between how God designed us, what we are, what we should be. 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:13.920 We feel the fracture in our desires. 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:20.639 We sadly see it in our deepest and closest and most precious relationships. 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:23.360 We see it in our work and our worship. 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:28.000 There's longings within us for clarity and for wholeness. 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:33.439 The very things that the scriptures say even creation itself longs for. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:37.519 Those longings are not accidental. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:42.240 And so tonight, as we return to this series, we're going to come to the center of it all. 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:44.800 This is really the hinge point of it all. 00:05:44.959 --> 00:05:54.639 Everything that we've talked about up to this point, and everything flowing out of tonight all really finds its hinge right here. 00:05:55.439 --> 00:06:05.120 And as we go into this evening, the question we want to ask ourselves is this where do we look to see the image restored? 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:10.240 Where do we look to see what humanity was really meant to be? 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:15.120 And we're going to see that tonight because scripture gives us an answer. 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:23.040 And the answer is not in some philosophy, it's not in some religious system or practices of devotion. 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:25.199 It's found in a person. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:30.639 Tonight we're going to lift our eyes to Jesus, who is the perfect image of God. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:35.759 And like I said, everything flows toward this and out of this. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:45.920 And as we behold him, we'll not only see who God is, but we'll also understand who we were meant to be, what we were created to be. 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:50.959 And also, as believers in Christ, what we will become. 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:54.079 And that's something to be very encouraged about. 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:55.920 So let's work through this. 00:06:56.079 --> 00:07:00.319 First of all, I want us to see Christ as the perfect image of God. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:04.079 Let's go to Colossians chapter 1. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:14.480 And there in Colossians chapter 1, we're going to see the language that Paul uses because it's really foundational to what we're going to be looking at this evening. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:23.279 In Colossians chapter 1, as you may can find your way there, I'd like you to look at verse 15. 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:37.199 Colossians 1:15 talks about Jesus Christ, and he says, He is the image of the invisible God. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:40.399 Now that's not metaphorical language. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:47.040 It's not saying that Jesus represents God like a prophet might represent God. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:08:04.160 He is saying that the God that no one could see, the God that passed by Moses, and Moses had to hide himself and only capture just the glimpses of his glory. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:18.240 The God who descended in fire and Mount Sinai in Exodus 19, in which the people quaked with fear as the mountain shook, is visible in Jesus Christ. 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:25.120 And when you read the Gospels with that in your mind, you feel the weight of what Paul is saying here. 00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:27.360 Just think about it for a moment. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:38.159 When Jesus touches a leper in Mark chapter 1, what you're watching is the embodiment of the compassion of God. 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:48.159 When he calms a storm in Mark chapter 4, you're seeing in human form the authority of God speaking. 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:56.080 When he forgives the paralytic in Mark II, you're watching the mercy of God in human form. 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:04.879 When he welcomes children in Matthew 19, you're seeing God's gentleness in full view. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:14.720 And when he weeps at Lazarus' tomb in John 11, the heart of God is visible with tears, just like ours. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:18.159 Paul strengthens this as we go forward. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:20.320 Look a little further in this verse. 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:24.960 He says, He is the firstborn of all creation. 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:35.519 Now, that word comes with a modern understanding, which, if we hold to it, will not lead us into the fullness of what this is saying here. 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:46.080 I happen to be the first one born from my mother and father, and I have two sisters and my brother who passed away a few years back. 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:48.240 So there's a sequence to that. 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:49.840 Who's the first in your family? 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:50.720 Doug is. 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:53.039 Who's the greatest in your family? 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:54.720 Doug is. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:55.600 Right? 00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:59.120 You know, that's what I would tell them, but they never listened. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:00.799 Especially my sister Sandy. 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:03.120 She's, of course, knows she's the best. 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:07.600 And we think of sequence as firstborn. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:09.759 That's not what this is saying here. 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:11.679 This is not talking about sequence. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:16.080 It's talking about status and rank and inheritance. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:18.399 It's that kind of idea. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:25.440 The firstborn in the in this world would have been the one who stands in the place of highest honor. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:28.240 It would have been the one who receives the inheritance. 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:33.679 It would have been the one who represents the family, the one who exercises the authority. 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:35.600 That's the firstborn. 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:39.679 And so you see this pattern even in the Old Testament. 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:42.960 And I won't bring you there, but you can look at it later. 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:47.519 In Psalm 89, the psalmist speaks about David the king. 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:57.519 And in verse 27 says this I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings on the earth. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:04.320 Now David wasn't the first king of the people of Israel, was he? 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:09.840 He wasn't even the first son born of his father. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:13.120 He was the last son born of his father. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:28.399 He was such a lowly young shepherd that when Samuel came to anoint one of Jesse's sons as king, he didn't even bring David out to put him on display. 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:34.159 So firstborn really wasn't even an idea there. 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:43.279 But here the psalmist says, I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:45.279 So what is that? 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:52.960 God sets him in the highest place of rank and of authority and of inheritance. 00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:55.360 That's the firstborn. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:12:04.320 God gave David the throne, God gave David the covenant, God gave David the promise that his lineage would endure. 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:09.759 He's the firstborn, not sequence, supremacy. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:14.320 So go back to Colossians 1:15 and just look at that again. 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:21.519 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:32.000 So what he's saying here is not that Jesus is the first thing created, but rather he is supreme over all creation. 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:37.519 And Paul makes that perfectly clear in the next phrase in verse 16. 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:54.000 For everything was created by him in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, supremacy, not sequence. 00:13:02.559 --> 00:13:08.080 And so Jesus here is identity and his authority are marked out for us. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:10.559 He's the rightful heir of all things. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:16.320 He's the one to whom all things have been made. 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:23.440 He is the sovereign Lord over it all. 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:28.480 We see glimpses of that authority in Jesus. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:33.519 In John 6, when he multiplies bread, what are we seeing there? 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:43.759 We're seeing his creating abundance out of nothing, turning water into wine in John 2, exercising the same power as creation. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:52.080 When he restores sight to the blind in John 9, he is bringing light and life where there was none. 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:56.080 And if you know anything about eyes and medicine, speak to a doctor. 00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:57.519 It's a fascinating thing. 00:13:57.679 --> 00:14:09.120 It's not just about saying there's light, there's a reordering into the brain in order for the brain to even perceive and to catalog and understand the things that are coming through the optical nerve. 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:12.559 It's a complete rewiring of that whole person. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:16.080 This is Jesus. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:19.200 And take a look at verse 17 as it continues. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:27.360 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:50.879 The Jesus who sat at a table, and the Jesus who walked down dusty roads, is the same Jesus that holds the galaxies in their place, and in whose hand all history lies. 00:14:53.120 --> 00:15:01.440 The one who healed the sick and welcomed the weary is the one who upholds the whole universe. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:05.039 That is amazing. 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:10.720 And Hebrews 1 adds to it this in one three. 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:29.519 Radiance is a remarkable word. 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:35.919 And I think the best way to understand radiance is to think about something like seeing the sun. 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:38.960 None of us actually see the sun. 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:44.000 What we see is the radiance of the sun's intensity there. 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:47.360 And this is Jesus. 00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:58.000 He is the exact image of God, and the radiance of God is seen by him in human form. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:08.879 We get a little glimpse of that in like the trans transfiguration of Matthew 17, when his face shines like the sun. 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:13.120 But that's not like a spotlight from heaven. 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:17.039 You're just sort of kind of beaming down on him. 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:21.600 That's glory bursting forth from him. 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:25.759 And just think about that. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:39.679 This God who sustains all things by his powerful word, heals the sick, welcomes the weary, weeps with the grieving. 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:53.600 He's the full, full likeness, the exact imprint, the undiminished, perfect revelation of God. 00:16:57.440 --> 00:17:01.840 Now, this is more than just telling us something about God. 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:08.240 This is also telling us something about what humanity was meant to be. 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:10.240 And we'll get there. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:18.000 But before we do, I want us to make a contrast and comparison between Christ and Adam. 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:21.359 And so we need to go to Romans chapter 5 for just a moment. 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:40.720 As we go to Romans chapter 5, we see Paul making a contrast comparison between two men, one Adam and one Jesus Christ. 00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:43.200 And he puts them side by side. 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:07.359 We'll have a few questions to answer, see how your personalities might come out. 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:12.079 It's not just grabbing two people out of the crowd and saying, let's just compare and contrast these two. 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:28.720 What we're talking about is a comparison and contrast between two heads of humanity, between two representatives of humanity, between two people who split the human race into two different directions. 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:33.440 Let's begin with Adam here, just a little descriptor of him. 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:34.319 We know him. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:37.359 He was created in God's image, Genesis 1. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:41.440 He was placed in the garden that was overflowing with God's generosity. 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:48.000 And when he was there, he was entrusted with a calling that was both royal and relational. 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:50.480 He was to reflect God's character. 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:54.000 He was to rule and exercise dominion under God's authority. 00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:57.680 He was to relate and walk with God in unbroken fellowship. 00:18:57.839 --> 00:19:04.720 And he was to do so acting like God in righteousness, in godliness. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:16.799 But when the serpent whispered a different story, a story of autonomy and self-rule, a story that really did question the goodness of God, Adam listened. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:22.160 And in chapter 5 and verse 12, we get this word about it. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:27.359 Just as sin entered the world through one man, that's Adam. 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:30.160 And death through sin. 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:34.160 In this way, death spread to all people. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:39.200 That one act wasn't an isolated act, it was a representative act. 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:47.440 It shapes every heart that came after him, and it introduced a fracture that runs all the way into our day. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:51.279 Like we said, Adam hid from God. 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:53.200 He blamed Eve. 00:19:53.519 --> 00:19:57.039 His son Cain murdered his brother Abel. 00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:12.960 And by the time we get to Genesis chapter 6, this statement, indictment, tragic lament of human humanity, the every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:17.680 You can't get any deeper into the problem than that. 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:20.960 The image wasn't erased, it was distorted. 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:24.000 The mirror remained, but it was fractured and cracked. 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:27.440 We couldn't reflect the God who made us. 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:34.079 Now keep your eye on the text because we're going to see this contrast comparison in verses 15 to 19. 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:47.279 Paul holds up these two portraits before us, and he tells us essentially this just for time, I won't read it, but he says, through Adam, trespass. 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:51.920 By way condemnation came. 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:58.400 Through Christ, obedience, through whom justification came. 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:02.799 In Adam, many were made sinners. 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:06.960 In Christ, many are made righteous. 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:11.440 In Adam, the image is fractured. 00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:17.680 In Christ, obedience brings, Christ's obedience brings restoration. 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:25.680 And so when we turn to First Corinthians fifteen, Paul makes a comment about Jesus. 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:29.920 And he isn't just another Adam. 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:38.400 He is, as he says in First Corinthians 15, 45, the last Adam. 00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:53.519 So Adam stands as the father of humanity, and the last Adam stands as a father of a new humanity, of which there will never be another of another kind. 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:56.720 He is the last Adam. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:03.359 One fell, one succeeds. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:12.160 One brings the fall of humanity, and one brings the restoration of a new humanity. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:21.119 And you see that very well in Matthew chapter four at the very beginning of Jesus' public ministry. 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:26.160 Just like Adam, he comes face to face with the tempter. 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:32.640 And the tempter speaks to him with the same kind of whispers that Adam heard. 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:39.759 Whispers of doubt, whispers of autonomy, whispers of a shortcut to glory. 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:44.480 All the exact temptations are given to Christ. 00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:53.440 Not in a garden, not in the fullness of fellowship, not in the midst of harmony, but in a desert. 00:22:54.559 --> 00:23:00.400 After being fasting for 40 days and 40 nights alone. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:19.279 So take away all the possible benefits that Adam had in the garden, in the fellowship with his wife, in this glorious place where sin had never been, and strip all that away and put Jesus there and give him the same temptations. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:23.359 What happens? 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:28.960 Adam says, Not your will, but mine. 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:35.759 And Jesus says, Not my will, but yours. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:41.359 In the middle of it all, Jesus obeys. 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:46.559 And so Adam's disobedience brings death to us. 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:55.440 And Jesus' obedience leads him to the cross where he dies, so that we might live. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:04.000 And where Adam's failure spreads death to all, Christ's triumph brings life to all who believe on him. 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:19.359 And this is why Paul says in Romans 5.19, and this one we'll look at, for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:25.599 Jesus is not just making a small correction to humanity. 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:35.279 Jesus isn't there just to simply give a little boost or a help of his mercy to get us back on the way that we were trying to get on anyway. 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:45.680 No. 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:49.359 This is a brand new beginning. 00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:53.440 So brand new, you could call him the last Adam. 00:24:54.400 --> 00:24:57.599 It's a new creation in him. 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:02.720 And this is where the passage settles. 00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:10.960 Adam shows us what we lost, but Jesus shows us what will be restored in us. 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:18.000 The more clearly we see that contrast, the more deeply we will feel our hope. 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:24.160 Our story doesn't end with fracture, it doesn't end with longing. 00:25:24.319 --> 00:25:26.160 It doesn't end with brokenness. 00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:29.599 It ends in Christ with restoration. 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:37.039 And that brings us to our last point: Christ as the true human. 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:42.240 And this will be important for us next week and the week following as we come to understand it. 00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:44.799 So let's go over to John chapter 1. 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:47.359 John chapter 1. 00:25:55.599 --> 00:26:01.359 There in John chapter 1, we see how the apostle begins the gospel. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:10.720 And he doesn't start with Bethlehem, he doesn't start with the shepherds, he doesn't start with the angels, he doesn't start with Mary, he doesn't start with Joseph. 00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:13.039 He starts with in the beginning. 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:14.000 Huh? 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:17.440 Sounds like Genesis, doesn't it? 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:18.960 The last Adam. 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:25.119 In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:38.799 And John reaches all the way back to Genesis chapter one, not just to echo the language of creation, but to show us the one who steps in the world who made creation, Jesus. 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:41.920 And in verse 14, we see this. 00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:49.279 He brings the eternal glory of God right into our world. 00:26:50.400 --> 00:26:58.319 The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. 00:27:02.720 --> 00:27:06.240 This is not just a statement, though, about God coming near. 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:11.200 It's a statement about humanity being revealed. 00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:20.319 Because when the eternal Son took on flesh, he didn't simply put on a human body like we put on a sweater or a jacket or whatever. 00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:27.839 He took on human nature, fully God and fully man. 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:38.319 He entered into the full experience of human life, not with the brokenness of sin like we have, but the fullness of what humanity is meant to be. 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:42.960 And in Hebrews, I love this verse in 2.17. 00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:47.200 He was made like his brothers in every respect. 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:49.279 He was human. 00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:53.200 You know that carol we sing, no crying did he make? 00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:55.200 That's just baloney. 00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:57.279 That's just poetic nonsense. 00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:03.039 I love singing Christmas carols, but sometimes their theology is a little suspect. 00:28:03.200 --> 00:28:06.079 And that one just got it wrong. 00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:08.319 Jesus cried. 00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:13.200 He wasn't partially human, not symbolically human. 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:15.920 He was fully human. 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:23.680 And so when you watch Jesus moving through the Gospels, you're seeing something remarkable. 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:27.279 You're seeing human life as it was meant to be lived. 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:30.799 That's what we were to be. 00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:34.799 And by the grace of God, that's what we're going to be. 00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:49.279 You see a man in perfect fellowship with the Father, whose life is not distant from God, not distracted by the world, not divided by all the animosity in the world. 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:57.759 You see him in Mark 1:35, rising up early, and in communion with God, the Father. 00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:04.799 You see him in John 5.19 saying, I do nothing apart from the Father. 00:29:05.680 --> 00:29:11.759 You see him in Luke 10, rejoicing in the Spirit with unclouded joy. 00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:17.680 He's in perfect harmony with the Father as a human. 00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:35.119 You see him loving everyone, even the unlovely, stopping for a blind man in Luke 18, touching a leper in Mark 1, eating with tax collectors in Luke 5. 00:29:36.079 --> 00:29:41.279 You see a man who tells the truth, and he does it without being cruel. 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:50.240 He speaks to a rich young ruler in Mark 10, who turns away from him, but he speaks to him with honesty and love. 00:29:50.559 --> 00:29:54.079 In fact, it even says, Jesus loved him. 00:29:56.240 --> 00:30:07.200 You see him confronting the Pharisees, yeah, sharp, clear words, but not with the bitter malice that often taints our tongue. 00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:23.039 You see a man who serves without seeking applause, taking a basin and a towel to wash the disciples' feet without trumpeting anything to let everybody know just how wonderful he is to be a servant. 00:30:24.640 --> 00:30:31.599 You see a man who obeys without hesitation, resisting Satan with the word of the Father. 00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:43.759 You see a man who prays with dependence, with drawing in times of deep decision before he acts, seeking the Father's will. 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:57.440 You see a man who walks with purpose in Luke 9, setting his face toward Jerusalem like a flint, knowing it meant his death, but he was going to do the will of the Father. 00:30:57.920 --> 00:31:08.880 You see a man who suffers without sin, silent before his accusers, absorbing injustice without retaliation or bitterness. 00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:16.400 You see a man who entrusts himself to his father even when he's dying unjustly. 00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:20.799 Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:31.200 That is not just the perfect image of God, it's the perfect revelation of humanity. 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:35.359 This is what Adam was meant to be. 00:31:35.599 --> 00:31:38.480 This is what Israel was called to be. 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:41.920 And this is what we were created to be. 00:31:42.559 --> 00:31:49.039 And as we'll see next week, this is what God is restoring us to become. 00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:51.119 To become. 00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:11.200 But it's a doctrine to affirm, to see it as a window into the life that we were created for. 00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:19.759 To see Jesus move to the broken with compassion and seeing what kind of compassion we should have. 00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:28.000 To see him resist temptation in the wilderness and see the kind of strength humanity is meant to walk in. 00:32:29.680 --> 00:32:36.160 To see him kneel with a towel and wash his feet, is to see the kind of humility that we're meant to embody. 00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:46.319 And when you see him pray in Gethsemane, not my will but yours be done, you see the kind of trust that we're meant to live by. 00:32:48.880 --> 00:33:03.519 What's wonderful is this Lord loves us, and he is doing a great work to redeem and to regenerate and to restore in us that very image. 00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:06.240 And we'll see that next week. 00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:25.359 He knows our frailty, he knows our limitations, he knows the weight of living in this world in which we groan, but he stands with us, and by his grace and mercy, he is going to make sure that his very image is stamped on us. 00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:32.240 Because Romans chapter 8 says, and we all know verse 28, right? 00:33:32.720 --> 00:33:34.720 But what does verse 29 say? 00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:40.400 That we might be conformed to the image of his son. 00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:49.759 This is what salvation is headed toward, so that everything you see Jesus to be is everything you will be. 00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:51.759 Let's pray. 00:33:54.880 --> 00:34:07.680 Father, we thank you that what we've seen tonight is Christ, the perfect image of God, the last Adam, and the true humanity. 00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:17.679 And we thank you with great anticipation for that day in which we will be conformed to the image of Christ Himself. 00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:44.320 To know that this restoration of the image is not something that was a good idea once, but never to return to human history, but that it is the very, very purpose of your deliverance, to bring us to the place where you made us to be, to be in the likeness of Christ, who is the image of God. 00:34:46.159 --> 00:34:51.039 Father, we pray that our hearts might be comforted by this tonight. 00:34:51.760 --> 00:35:01.519 And we pray that our hearts might grow with an anticipation to understand how that's going to happen within us as we discover more from your word next week. 00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:03.840 And we pray this in Christ's name. 00:35:04.159 --> 00:35:04.800 Amen.