Please turn to the book of Romans.
Romans 8, beginning with verse 28.
And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to His purpose.
For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren:
and whom He foreordained, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.
The Gospel according to John, chapter 1, verse 18.
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.
Let us have a little prayer.
Dear Lord, as we continue in Thy presence, we want to express our gratitude to Thee. Thou hast been so good to us, allowing us, even at this hour, to meet together before Thee.
We do realize that we are standing on holy ground. We want to remove our shoes, acknowledging Thee as our Lord, our Master.
What hast Thou to say to us this morning? Please speak; Thy servants hear.
May Thy name be hallowed. May Thy kingdom come, and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
We do want to thank our Lord for gathering us together. I always feel that it is very special, because we are living in the last days. And yet our Lord is so merciful to us, allowing us once again to gather together before Him.
I do pray that we will treasure this time, that we will really open ourselves totally to Him, allowing Him to speak and to work freely among us.
Now, this time, as we gather together, we have a special theme: being conformed to the image of God’s beloved Son.
We know that in the past few years we have been considering together the eternal purpose of God. Our God has a purpose, and that purpose was purposed even before the foundation of the world.
He purposed that purpose according to His good pleasure, and everything He does, He does according to that purpose.
That purpose is so wonderful, so glorious, because it is His good pleasure that all things should be summed up in Christ Jesus.
It is His good pleasure to give His beloved Son a bride. And thank God that we are all being called and involved.
In the past, we have already had fellowship together on the way to this purpose. How can this purpose be fulfilled?
We find that God’s way of accomplishing His purpose is by the way of the cross. It is by the cross of our Lord Jesus.
On the basis of His cross, we who are called should deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. These things we have had fellowship together on in the past.
So this time, we are going to fellowship on one of the consequences—the result—of the eternal purpose of God being fulfilled. That is, we who are the Lord’s are to be conformed to the image of His beloved Son, that His Son may be the firstborn among many brethren.
In God’s sovereign arrangement, I was given the responsibility of speaking about the image of the invisible God.
This is taken from Colossians 1:15:
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Now, brothers and sisters, I think at the very outset there is something we need to understand: what is meant by “image”?
I think probably we have a very large misunderstanding of what “image” in the Scripture means. Let me put it this way: image is a derived likeness.
Let me explain. When we think of an image, probably we will think of a statue. When you look at the statue, you think you see an image of the original.
I remember many years ago, when I was in London, I went to visit Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. When I went into that museum, I saw that by the stairway there was a man standing there. I thought he must be an usher, so I began to talk to him. I wanted to ask him where I should go.
But to my surprise, it was a wax image. I was told by people who visited that place that you might find someone sitting by your side and try to strike up a conversation with him, only to discover that it was a wax image.
There is no life in it. Also in that museum, you can even see a person lying there, apparently breathing. You see his chest going up and down, like breathing, but it is a wax person. There is no life in it.
Brothers and sisters, is this what we call an image? It is very much alike, but there is no life in it. It is not a derived likeness; it is a likeness that is made.
Let me put it another way. When you take a photograph, if the artist is very skillful, he can not only get your likeness, but he can even show your special characteristics in the picture.
That is a very lively picture. It is a picture, an image, and it may be so lively. But unfortunately, there is no life in it.
So this you cannot consider as an image, because image is a derived likeness. It is something that comes from within, not from without.
When we talk about image in the Word of God, we are talking about something more than just an outward appearance. You may appear in every way almost alike, but if it is not out of His life, if it does not come from within, that is not an image.
Brothers and sisters, image includes two basic ideas. On the one hand, image means representation; on the other hand, it is manifestation.
If it is an image, on the one hand it is a representation of the reality. All that is real within is being represented.
On the other hand, all that is real within has been fully manifested. So image includes these two basic ideas.
When we read Genesis 1, we find that God created man in His image, according to His likeness.
What does it mean? We say image is a derived likeness; it is born from within. But when God created man, He created man in His image, according to His likeness.
When man was created, he was created in such a way that all the potentials were there. He was supposed to represent God. He was supposed to manifest God. God created him in such a way that all the capacities and possibilities were there.
But there was something missing. What was missing was the life of God. That is why God put man before the tree of life.
If man did not have the life of God in him, then all the potentials would not be developed. Man would not be able to represent God and to manifest God.
But unfortunately, our forefathers sinned against God. Because he sinned against God, that image in which he was created was marred.
When you come to Genesis 5, you find in the first verse that Adam was created in the likeness of God. But when you come to the third verse, when Adam begot his son Seth, Seth was born according to the likeness of Adam.
It is no longer the image of God, after the likeness of God. It becomes the likeness of Adam.
So all we who came from Adam bear the likeness and the image of Adam. We have inherited, as it were, from Adam his nature and his character.
But thank God, our Lord Jesus came to redeem us. He has not only forgiven all our sins; He has also given to us His own life.
And with that life, gradually we are being conformed to His image. What we receive in Christ is much more than what Adam had when he was first created.
With Adam, he was created; but with us, we are being born from above. Because we are born from above, we can be conformed to the image of God’s beloved Son.
Now, this is by way of introduction. Hopefully, brothers and sisters, we will remember this as we go on in these few days.
To be conformed to the image of God’s beloved Son does not mean something outward. Of course, when there is something real within, it will be expressed even outwardly. But we have to remember that it is something of life; it is not something of creation only.
God willing, during these three sessions that I have been assigned, this morning we would like to consider together this matter of how the unknown and invisible God is made known.
In the second session, God willing, we will deal with the matter of Christ as the exact image of God. In the last session, we will come to the matter of being conformed to the image of God’s beloved Son.
Brothers and sisters, our God is invisible because He is Spirit. In John 4, we find that God is Spirit. Because He is Spirit, He is invisible so far as our naked eyes are concerned.
In 1 Timothy 6, we find that He is the only One Who hath immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable, Whom no man hath seen, nor can see.
You remember Moses in Exodus 33. He asked God, “Show me Thy glory.” God told Moses that no one can see Him and live. No one has ever seen His face, because it is so glorious that, if you see it, you will die. God only showed Moses His back and declared His name to him.
So, brothers and sisters, our God is invisible. Because of this, people think that God is unknowable.
When the apostle Paul first went to Athens, he found that the Athenians were very pious. They had all kinds of altars for all kinds of gods. He found there an altar inscribed, “To an unknown god.”
Paul used this opportunity: “You know all kinds of gods, but there is one God unknown to you. This is the God whom I am going to declare to you.”
To human thought, God is unknown. He is the greatest mystery in the universe, and that is very true, because God is so far above us. He is so transcendent. He is far beyond what our human mind can apprehend.
God is the greatest unknown. If our Creator were to remain unknown, He would become the greatest mystery in the whole universe. No one could penetrate into that mystery, because He is far beyond us.
But thank God. Even though He is Spirit, and even though He is so transcendent, it is His heart’s desire to reveal Himself to man. Our God is the God Who reveals Himself.
Now, brothers and sisters, one thing we have to remember is that unless God reveals Himself, there is absolutely no way for anyone to know Him really. You may know about God, but you cannot know Him. It all depends upon His revelation.
If He does not want to reveal Himself, then to us He is the unknown God, and there will be no relationship between us and God—no living relationship.
But thank God, because He is love, He wants relationship. It is His good pleasure to reveal Himself to us.
You remember what Paul says in Galatians 1: that God was pleased to reveal His Son in me. So our God is the God Who reveals Himself.
When you read the Bible, you find how God tries in many different ways to make Himself known to man.
First, God uses creation to reveal Himself to man. I think we all know Romans 1:19-20.
Because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them.
For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.
Here you find that in creation God has revealed Himself to a certain extent. He has not fully manifested Himself, but He has revealed to man especially two things: His eternal power and His divinity.
When you see the things He created, you have to acknowledge that this is far beyond human ability. There is a power greater than man, a power that is superior to man. It is an eternal power.
Then you also see in the creation of God the divinity of God. You see that He is altogether different. His beauty is far beyond our understanding.
These are the things that God tries to reveal to man by creation.
I think probably a few among you know a certain person. I am thinking of our sister Ruth Lee.
Our dear sister Ruth Lee was a co-worker with Watchman Nee. When our brother started his ministry in Shanghai, Sister Lee was there.
She was a highly educated woman, and she was an avowed atheist. She was so confident of her atheism that she felt she would never change.
She came down from North China and became something like a dean in a high school. There were some students who believed in the Lord Jesus under the influence of a music teacher, a Christian teacher, who had influenced a few students there.
When Sister Lee arrived at the school, she confiscated all the Bibles that these students had. She would not even listen to the gospel.
But once there was a war, and because of this the school was closed. She was to send some of the students by boat from Nanking to Shanghai.
While she was sailing over the Yangtze River and looking at the surroundings, she saw the things around her and was so impressed. She realized that there must be a Creator.
By the creation of God, she realized the eternal power and divinity of God. When she arrived in Shanghai, she asked her friends to give her a Bible.
She came to the Lord, and she became a sister greatly used by God. When I first began to learn to serve the Lord, she was like a spiritual mother to me.
Now, brothers and sisters, this is just one illustration to show that if you really look at the creation of God, and if you are intelligent enough, your mind will agree that there must be One greater than man.
That is one way that God tries to make Himself known to man.
Then you find that human history also is a way that God tries to reveal Himself. When Paul came to Athens and began to preach to them, in Acts 17 he said:
And He made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation;
that they should seek God, if haply they might feel after Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.
God created man out of one blood, and then He scattered man over the whole earth. He determined their days, and He determined the boundaries of their dwelling.
So you find that God is behind human history. History is not determined by man; history is determined by God. He will raise up one and put down another. He will arrange the whole world according to His plan.
It is really not wrong to say that history is His story. At least, it is very, very true.
If you are really watchful, why does one nation rise up while another nation goes down? Why is it that certain nations occupy certain areas? Who is the One Who arranges all these things behind the scenes? It is none but our God.
You remember the first great empire, the Babylonian Empire. God showed Nebuchadnezzar that he was not the one who created great Babylon. Daniel reminded him that it is God; the heavens rule over the earth.
Until Nebuchadnezzar was humbled and recognized that God is above all, he did not understand. History will really reveal the greatness of God.
Not only in history does God try to reveal Himself. We find in the Bible that God appeared to our forefathers. He appeared to Adam when Adam was in the garden of Eden, and He talked to our forefathers.
The God of glory appeared to Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees. Again and again in the Old Testament, you find that God appeared, sometimes in the form of an angel and sometimes in the form of a man.
Why did God do these things? Because He tried to make men know Him. That is another way in which people can come to know the invisible God.
You find that God gave the law to the children of Israel. It is a great revelation of God Himself.
By reading the Ten Commandments, you find they can be divided into four and six. The first tablet reveals the holiness of God.
What is holy? Holy means that He is separate, He is alone, and He is altogether different.
In the first four commandments, God reveals Himself as holy. Beside Him there should be no other god, because He is altogether alone. In the first four commandments, God shows forth something of His nature.
When you come to the last six commandments, even though they seem to regulate our relationship with man, actually they reveal the righteousness of God. God is righteous. He is right in all relationships.
Because He is holy, we must be holy. Because He is righteous, we must be righteous. So by the law, God tries to reveal something of Himself to man.
As you go on in the Word of God, you find that God raised up the prophets. In Hebrews 1, it says that in former days God spoke to man through the prophets, in many portions and in many ways.
There are all different kinds of prophets, and each prophet seems to reveal something of God’s thought.
If you read the book of Isaiah, you begin to see how God reveals His thought about the Redeemer and redemption. If you look into Jeremiah, God begins to reveal to us His new covenant. If you read Ezekiel, you find God revealing to us about inheritance. If you read Daniel, you find God revealing His kingdom.
Through the prophets, God began to reveal something more of Himself.
Apart from direct revelation, you find that sometimes God uses other ways. He uses types; He uses symbols to reveal His mind.
All these figures are figures of the real. We read about the tabernacle.
Before I was saved, I was seeking to be saved. I attended a conference, and I went there with the purpose of getting saved.
Unfortunately, at that conference there was a speaker who came from North China, and I could not understand his dialect. First of all, he was talking about the tabernacle, so I could not understand anything.
But thank God, I was saved during that conference. As time went by, more and more I was attracted to the tabernacle, because I found that in the tabernacle there is such a full representation of the real.
God reveals His whole plan, as it were, through the tabernacle: how it is in the innermost of His heart to dwell among men, and how the only way He could dwell with man is in Christ Jesus.
The tabernacle is something that we should meditate upon, because it is such a picture of the reality of the truth.
Then you find something even further than that. God tried to have some representation and manifestation in the holy men of God in the past.
He not only tried to reveal His mind, but He tried to show us some of His character through these holy men of God. He worked in the lives of these men, and these men responded to Him.
Somehow, you find His inner character being built in them. When you see these men, it is as if you see God.
You know, Abraham was a sojourner, a stranger in the land of Canaan. Yet during his sojourn there, God worked so much in his life.
When Sarah died and Abraham tried to get a piece of land for burial, the sons of Heth said, “Thou art a prince of God among us. Whatever thou wantest, we are willing to give.”
In other words, there was such a representation and manifestation there.
Moses is another one. You find how he responded to God, and he became a friend of God. When the children of Israel looked at him, it seemed as though they had seen God.
In other words, Moses became a representation of God in the eyes of the children of Israel. This is a most glorious thing, and yet this is also a high responsibility.
You know why Moses could not enter into the promised land. When the children of Israel cried for water, God told Moses to take the rod from the tabernacle—that is, Aaron’s rod—go to the rock, and speak to the rock, and water would flow.
But Moses was so stirred up by the children of Israel. We say it was not his fault; it was the fault of the children of Israel. But he lost his temper. He struck the rock twice with the rod.
Because of this, he could not enter into the promised land, because he sinned against the representation of God.
It is very, very interesting. On the one hand, what he did was wrong. But on the other hand, we have to recognize that Moses was so close to God that he could even represent God in the eyes of His people.
Dear brothers and sisters, you find all these many different ways. We may say that in the past, God tried and tried in many different ways. Yet there were limitations, and He could not reveal Himself fully all at once.
Through time, He tried one way after another to make Himself known to man. It is because God is love.
And yet, brothers and sisters, we have to recognize that even with all the ways that God tried to make Himself known, so that the invisible God might be known, there was no full representation and full manifestation.
Not until His beloved Son came into this world.
So in John 1:18, it says:
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.
When our Lord Jesus came to this earth, the invisible God had His exact image upon this earth.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee that Thou hast not only created us, but Thou wantest to make Thyself known to us.
We thank Thee for Thy love. We thank Thee for Thy long patience, for trying always, in all different ways, to make us know Thee.
And yet, Lord, Thou knowest how foolish we are. We thank and praise Thee that Thou hast given us Thy only begotten Son.
In Thy Son we see Thee, and we worship Thee. We thank Thee in the name of our Lord Jesus.