How wonderful and encouraging it is to know that our Heavenly Father has made it crystal clear in His Word exactly what His purpose is for each one of us. Now is the time, right in these next few moments to make sure, in the eternal Word, as to His purpose for our personal life.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.
The first Adam, the head of the human race, was made in the image and in the realm of personality, intellect, emotions, will, etc.; so that there could be communication, fellowship and cooperation between them. All this with the God of the universe and man being subject to His will. This is what I call perfect freedom. But we know that Adam was deceived into choosing his own way {Adamic nature} versus God’s way and God’s nature, relying upon himself only, loving just himself.
As a result, he immediately became self-centered instead of God-centered; dead to God who is our source of all life, dead in trespasses and sin. In this condition Adam begat a son. Genesis 5:3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: Thus he brought forth a sinful, ungodly, self-centered race. Ephesians 2:1 And you has he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Here is the image of God back to earth this time in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ-God’s last Adam 1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. Our natural birth made us members of the fallen, sinful first Adam race. Our transition from the old sinful race to the new Godly race is known as the “new birth”. When we were born or created anew through repentance toward God. Acts 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. Romans 11: 24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? Romans 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Our Heavenly Father is still carrying out His purpose for mankind making them in His image. Although His original purpose is the same, He is not using the original man to bring it about. All is now centered in the Last Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ. Being born into Him through faith, we became partakers of the divine nature, notice 2 Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And as the Lord Jesus is allowed to express Himself through our personality, this poor sick-sin filled world will see Christ in us. Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Paul gives us the heartening promise; 1 Corinthians 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Romans 8:.28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Here is the good for which all things come together–His original purpose of making us in his image, which is centered and expressed in His Son Christ, who is our life. Paul’s determination for each of his converts was. Galatians 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you
The open secret of healthy spiritual growth is to know and settle upon the fact as set forth in Romans 8:28-29. When we see that all things are working together to make us more and more like the Lord Jesus, we will not be frustrated and upset when some of these things are hard, or difficult to understand, and often contain an element of death. THE OLD MAN MUST DIE! We will be able to rest in our Lord Jesus and say to our Father, “Thy will be done.” Then our contrasting attitude of faith will be. Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. This is our process to spiritual maturity.
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
It is one thing to know what God’s purpose is for our lives, yet it is another to know something of the “how” as to entering into all, right here and now. One of God’s most effective means in this process is that of failure. So many believers are simply frantic over the fact of failure in their lives that they will go to great lengths trying to hide it, or to rationalize about it. This they will do without realizing all the time they are resisting the main instrument in the Father’s hand for conforming us to the image of His Son.
Failure where self is concerned in our Christian life and service is allowed and often engineered by God in order to turn us completely from ourselves unto His source–Christ Jesus–who never fails. He is to be our life.
Remember at the beginning of this article we quoted Genesis 1:26. We focus on the physical so much I think we miss out on the ultimate likeness that we are being formed in the Spiritual realm and Image of the God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Your brother in Christ,
Ron
In His Image – Ron Volk
October 16, 2025 by Shirley Gohner • Uncategorized • 0 Comments
How wonderful and encouraging it is to know that our Heavenly Father has made it crystal clear in His Word exactly what His purpose is for each one of us. Now is the time, right in these next few moments to make sure, in the eternal Word, as to His purpose for our personal life.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.
The first Adam, the head of the human race, was made in the image and in the realm of personality, intellect, emotions, will, etc.; so that there could be communication, fellowship and cooperation between them. All this with the God of the universe and man being subject to His will. This is what I call perfect freedom. But we know that Adam was deceived into choosing his own way {Adamic nature} versus God’s way and God’s nature, relying upon himself only, loving just himself.
As a result, he immediately became self-centered instead of God-centered; dead to God who is our source of all life, dead in trespasses and sin. In this condition Adam begat a son. Genesis 5:3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: Thus he brought forth a sinful, ungodly, self-centered race. Ephesians 2:1 And you has he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Here is the image of God back to earth this time in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ-God’s last Adam 1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. Our natural birth made us members of the fallen, sinful first Adam race. Our transition from the old sinful race to the new Godly race is known as the “new birth”. When we were born or created anew through repentance toward God. Acts 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. Romans 11: 24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? Romans 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Our Heavenly Father is still carrying out His purpose for mankind making them in His image. Although His original purpose is the same, He is not using the original man to bring it about. All is now centered in the Last Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ. Being born into Him through faith, we became partakers of the divine nature, notice 2 Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And as the Lord Jesus is allowed to express Himself through our personality, this poor sick-sin filled world will see Christ in us. Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Paul gives us the heartening promise; 1 Corinthians 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Romans 8:.28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Here is the good for which all things come together–His original purpose of making us in his image, which is centered and expressed in His Son Christ, who is our life. Paul’s determination for each of his converts was. Galatians 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you
The open secret of healthy spiritual growth is to know and settle upon the fact as set forth in Romans 8:28-29. When we see that all things are working together to make us more and more like the Lord Jesus, we will not be frustrated and upset when some of these things are hard, or difficult to understand, and often contain an element of death. THE OLD MAN MUST DIE! We will be able to rest in our Lord Jesus and say to our Father, “Thy will be done.” Then our contrasting attitude of faith will be. Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. This is our process to spiritual maturity.
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
It is one thing to know what God’s purpose is for our lives, yet it is another to know something of the “how” as to entering into all, right here and now. One of God’s most effective means in this process is that of failure. So many believers are simply frantic over the fact of failure in their lives that they will go to great lengths trying to hide it, or to rationalize about it. This they will do without realizing all the time they are resisting the main instrument in the Father’s hand for conforming us to the image of His Son.
Failure where self is concerned in our Christian life and service is allowed and often engineered by God in order to turn us completely from ourselves unto His source–Christ Jesus–who never fails. He is to be our life.
Remember at the beginning of this article we quoted Genesis 1:26. We focus on the physical so much I think we miss out on the ultimate likeness that we are being formed in the Spiritual realm and Image of the God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Your brother in Christ,
Ron