God’s image will be restored.
A brief remark by Dr. Tozer in one of his Daily Devotionals fired up my mind and started the ball rolling and drove me to explore the subject of power. He said, “When the Morning Star lifted himself up against The Most High God, he had only the abilities he had received from God.”
God has all power and He is the only Source of every power, and of all power. Even the power to sin comes from God because there is no power anywhere else. Lucifer had only the holy power (Isaiah 14:13-14) of his incredible God-given gifts to use to rebel against the Lord. He exploited holy power for wrong-doing - - the same holy power he had used to lead the worship in heaven. This is a very interesting subject and calls for deep thought and consideration. God the creator is totally and always totally good and everything He creates or has created is totally (Genesis 1:25) good. Satan can create absolutely nothing. He cannot create, he can only pervert.
Why is pride an abomination? Because, pride is the perversion of worship. Satan himself is a perversion of Lucifer the Morning Star. Lucifer was the light bringer but perverted Satan spreads only darkness. Sin is unique because it exists all over the world, but it was never created. Sin is the perversion of the holy. Lies and deception and exaggeration are the perversion of truth. Wrong is the perversion of right. Bad is the perversion of good. Self-righteousness is the perversion of godliness. Anything that is flawed is a perversion of perfection. The devil is a perversion of (2 Corinthians 11:14) an angel of light and demons are (Revelation 16:14) a perversion of the holy angels they once were. Everything created was good and holy in the beginning. I’m sure you get the picture! You can be completely lost and come to a bad end on the right road if you are travelling in the wrong direction. We need to grasp that sin is a very serious matter and deadly dangerous. All Power is holy because all power is God’s power. Sin is not only wrong done against God but also because we must use God’s own holy power in order to sin against Him. That terrifying fact should set off piercing alarm bells. There is nothing casual about sin. It is the vile perversion of everything intended to make us increasingly like Jesus by His incarnate Deity within us. As I was praying for the Persecuted Church this morning, I was stunned to realize that even the power to persecute and torture Christians can only come from God Who is the only Source of Power. The horror of Satan’s perverting should make us increasingly people of prayer. No matter what – Everything begins with God’s power and will end in God’s glory.
We were born physically alive but spiritually dead. With Adam’s Fall, we lost the life of God and inherited a strong inborn tendency to perversity, a powerful desire to rebel against God and be in control. Why would God allow this perverse tendency of rebellion – which He DID NOT create – to exist in us! Because God created us (Genesis 1:27-28) in His own image it is essential for us to have at least some of God’s characteristics. These include authority over created things and a free will. Adam chose to pervert God’s holy will by the perverted introduction of his own will and we are Adam’s beneficiaries. He bequeathed per-version to us and we were sinners from birth. That is why (Romans 8:23) all creation groans. Because we have perverted our God-given authority into self-indulgent selfish greed. Instead of nurturing our beautiful earth we have abused and exploited it for personal gain. We human earth dwellers are responsible for the increasing lawlessness, brutality, disasters, pandemics, famines and wars which are devasting our world.
God does not judge us for being sinners, this heredity we inherited from Adam. But, He will condemn us for refusing His remedy, which is salvation. He offers to all through the precious, priceless shed Blood of Jesus in His atoning death. Eternal Death is the rejection of Eternal Life and both are endless.
Jesus is made unto us (1 Corinthians 1:30) wisdom, righteousness and power. Only Jesus can redeem, restore and make new all that was damaged by being perverted. The consideration of these and all related facts causes me to see more clearly and appreciate more deeply the
WORTHINESS OF THE LAMB OF GOD
The reason the Son of God came and was made visible (1 John 3:8) was to undo, dissolve and destroy the works the devil had done.
God’s image was defaced but not erased and will be restored. That is God’s building project during our lifelong process of sanctification. Our personal power is our love for Jesus, which is implanted in us by the Holy Spirit, so that nothing is more important than obeying Him at all times and in all circumstances. Are we constrained (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) gripped by the worthiness of the Lamb and our own love for Him, He Who loved us so much that he died for us? There should be no limit to our love for Jesus and no limit to the ways we spend out love on Him.
We look forward with confident assurance to the time when the glory of our GREAT GOD and SAVIOUR will cover and flood all the earth. Never forget that God is always Sovereign and He never relinquishes control or changes His holy purpose.
The suffering of Jesus in Gethsemane and on the Cross was for the glory of God in His Redemption purpose. All suffering for Christians (apart from sin) is for the glory of God in every case.