Glory restored

God covered man with His glory at creation – “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Genesis 1:26 NKJV). It was as if God looked in a mirror and used that as His pattern for how to design and fashion man.

Psalm 8:3-6 (NASB)
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?
Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!
You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet…

The word “God” in verse 5 is the correct translation. The Hebrew word is Elohim, which is consistently translated as “God” – except in this verse! Saying “man was made to be a little lower than God” makes some people nervous. Translating it as “angels” (NKJV) or “heavenly beings” (NIV) started in Jewish traditions, was carried over into the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures) and even respected modern translations. For example, the NLT says “a god”.

In creation, God created man to be like Him, and covered man with glory. This is why they didn’t realize they were naked until after the fall – the glory acted as a robe for them (Genesis 3:7). Once they lost their glory, they felt they needed some other covering – their heavenly covering was gone.

That glory’s been restored to us! While Jesus was praying in John 17:22, he said: “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one…” (NKJV)

As we take time to learn more about Christ, to spend time in fellowship with him, we are transformed by that glory and image:

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV) But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

We have no idea what all God has given us, the extent of what Jesus has done for us, and how it affects us. We live so far below who He has made us to be, because we look at our own lives, failures, and circumstances, instead of looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2)

Doug