| THE MIRROR CHRIST |
TO LOOK AT JESUS' DEATH, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION
IS TO SEE US. HE IS THE TRUE REPRESENTATION OF
WHO WE ARE
The statement above is an excellent summation of identification. When we try to reason out us
being in Christ on Calvary and with Him and in Him throughout the entire redemptive process it
goes beyond comprehension. Especially when we realize God was there too (2 Cor 5:19). The
image of God in man also serves as our understanding of the watermark. A watermark is used for
identification and for security purposes to prevent counterfeiting in that it certifies authentication.
The mark of God in man—bearing His image—is our watermark—our verification that we are are
His. This mark that all men possess is permanent forever certifying man's true origin is in God his
Creator. Recall the parable of the lost coin which did not lose the image it bore when out of the
hands of its owner—so too is the name of God engraved in every man in spite of and before the
fall of Adam. Just as the negative of photograph preserves the original moment in time of the
photograph, Jesus remains the blueprint of our origin in Father God outside of the constraints of
time. The wayward son could have crawled back, the lost sheep could only wander aimlessly
around, the lost coin could do nothing but all three had hope in their owner. Like the coin, the
one whose image and likeness is stamped upon your being—it is He who guarantees your worth.
The Seed
As we were in Christ in His death we were there also in His resurrection. God planted all of
humanity in the Christ being the firstborn of many brethren. When Paul stated He was the Last
Adam the significance of that phrase is awesome. He was saying that Jesus was the last of the
Adamic race and a new race of men—the new creation were to follow. The Last Adam was
planted in the earth and a new race of men—possessing the Kingdom of God within them were
born.
Isa 55:8-11 NKJV
8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD.
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And
My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But
water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And
bread to the eater,
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it
shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55 is not only a reference to explain why we do not understand the mind or ways of God
at times but it is an Old Testament reference to the power of the seed. The seed lies dormant in
the earth waiting for the water and in the soil—germination begins. You are the soil containing
the seed (image) of God. The power of the seed is seen in that it is a mirror or blueprint of what
the seed becomes.
Life is inherent in the seed which contains all genetic detail to produce life once germination
commences. The seed is in fact a mirror reflection of the fruit it produces. John 12:24 describes
the Bread of Life as a grain of wheat falling to the ground and dies (can a seed die?). Jesus was
never to be a doctrine or religion but to demonstrate life of the highest virtue and then to reveal
this life in every man. “ Unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.”
The purpose of any seed is to release its image, multiplying its own kind.
We must come to realize that the context of scripture is not its historic or even traditional
setting, but a reality of far greater relevance, our sonship—our belonging and being claimed by
God. Scripture finds its relevance only in the revelation of Christ as our true identity. We have
made our Christian journey about out faith when we should place our faith in God's faith and His
faith—realization of things desired and confidence they will be manifest is on display in the
Person, the life, death and resurrection of Christ. God believes in our inclusion—in Him. Jesus
Christ is the measure of the value God places on every person. God placed us in Christ before He
placed us in Adam. He associated us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4).
Made in His Image
Gene Edwards in his book, The Divine Romance, gives an interesting perception of the day we
were created. He envisions the heavenly host looking over God's shoulder and God begins to
form man. “With the last sculpting stroke, he stepped back from the moist sod, allowing the
angels to have a full view of his completed work. They gasped in amazement and cried together—
His Image! Visible!” The sacred moment, when for the first time in the history of the universe, the
invisible Creator reflected His image and likeness in a fragile vessel of flesh became the reference
of a presence and purpose in the earth that would dominate human history and destiny. The
progressive revelation of Gospel shows God preserving the blueprint of our design in Christ in
spite of mankind’s fall into sin. Our eternal association in Christ from before the foundation of the
earth was redeemed (Eph 1:4-5). God placed us in Christ while we were in the loins of Adam.
Religion seems to place a heavy weight on the fall of Adam forgetting our original placement in
the Christ. The message of the Gospel emphasizes the power of Reconciliation that God initiated
and reveals the final outcome of God's plan in the complete restoration of man to sonship in
righteousness (1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:18-19; Rom 1:16-17; Rom 5:12-20).
Conformed To The Image Of Christ
“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” (Rom 8:29)
LAMSA marked them with the likeness of the image of his Son.
MIRROR Rom 8:29 He pre-designed and engineered us from the start to be jointly fashioned in
the same mold and image of his son according to the exact blueprint of his thought. We see the
original and intended pattern of our lives preserved in his Son. He is the firstborn from the same
womb that reveals our genesis. He confirms that we are the invention of God. (We were born
anew when he was raised from the dead! 1 Pet 1:3. His resurrection co-reveals our common
genesis. No wonder then that he is not ashamed to call us his brethren! We indeed share the
same origin. Heb.2:11.)
Conform = summorphos = co-fashion with, to build alike.
God's ultimate purpose in our creation was that we should
finally be conformed (co-fashioned) to the image of Christ. Christ
was to be the firstborn among many brethren and His brethren
were to be like Him. All the discipline and training of our lives is
with this end in view and God has implanted in every human
heart a longing, however unformed and unexpressed, after the
best and highest it knows.
Our likeness to His image is an accomplished fact in the mind of
God but we are in the process of being manufactured into the
fullness of the image for we are told in 1 John 3:2 that it does not
yet appear what we shall be—or we are not yet in the perfected state of our being: but we know
that when he shall appear we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Parabolic Mirror
We have talked about the simple mirror and its reflection of the image before it but there is
another type of mirror that also portrays the fullness of our image in Christ. This type of mirror
was known in the ancient classical era in the areas of Greece
and Rome some 200 years before the birth of Jesus. The
mathematician Diocles called them the 'burning mirrors”.
It brings another dimension of the mirror analogy found in
the Bible and it is awesome to see how it parallels our looking
to the Christ and see the true image of God and ourselves.
The parabolic mirror is specifically constructed to concentrate
the image reflected and as it does this a physical change
occurs to what is “looking” into the mirror. Parabolic reflectors
are used to collect energy (light or sound) and bring it to a common focal point (satellite dishes,
reflecting telescopes, spotlights, and car headlights).
It uses its shape to focus light in different degrees of intensity in proportion to the increasing
nearness of the object being reflected. In other words as the objected reflected reaches the perfect
center of the parabolic mirror the intensity of the light is markedly more powerful rendering
change to the object reflected. This focusing in the perfect center of the mirror, where the light
meets in absolute oneness, causes things to be visible that are normally not seen when the light is
not as bright.
The mirror, as the object nears the perfect center, causes physical change from simple
reflection, to heat, to image permanence, and then to a strong magnetism. The simple reflection
occurs as the object stands face to face with the mirror. As the object is position closer to the
perfect center heat is generated; moving a little closer and the image of reflection is made
permanent on the object much like a photographic print, and finally, in the perfect center
magnetism is attained and the object is pulled into the mirror—becoming the mirror and now
reflecting what it once saw. All in All.
I want to say those processes in another way because when this became real to me I understood
the mirror analogy in the Bible.
First, as we behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we come to the light focus, We do not
see as Religion says—our sins, our misdeeds, our mess-ups, but we see the glory of the Lord—the
opinion of God of who we really are. Looking into the mirror is not a damaging process but a life
giving one. Jesus said “I am the light of the world...” (John 8:12). This is the revealing step of who
we really are.
Second, as we draw closer, we reach the heat focus. After we realize we are like Him then He
provides the means for our cleansing process to begin. This step is never the first one and nor is it
damaging but is a time of beginning intimacy—feeling the heat of His love—of His body.
Third, as we draw closer still, we come to the photographic focus where the image of Christ is
indelibly impressed within us and we are one in will and spirit. Here, we come to a realization that
we are made like Him because we see Him as He is. We are identified here as His as we reveal His
image to others.
Fourth and finally, as we come to the perfect center we reach magnetic focus and we
experience the magnetism of oneness where our character is so conformed to Christ there is now
perfect union resulting in “All in All” as we stand completely in Him and become the mirror—no
longer the reflected image—reflecting fully the image and likeness of God.
1 Cor 13:12 MIRROR “For, you see, at the present moment we continue seeing and observing
through means of a metal mirror, within the midst of an enigma (the result of something
obscurely expressed and intimated, giving an indistinct image), but then [it will be] face to face.
Right now I am progressively coming to intimately and experientially know from out of a part (a
piece; a portion of the whole), but then I shall fully and accurately know and recognize, from
intimate experience, correspondingly as I am also fully and accurately known, by intimate
experience.”
God Logic
Paul expresses the idea that Jesus us the 'eikon' of God, a representation or picture of God's
essence and being. Hebrews 1:3 says He is the “express image” with the Greek word 'charakter'
which carries the meaning to impress upon or stamp denoting an engraving tool. Jesus is the
image produced when pressure is applied exacting his imprint on us.
John uses the 'Logos' following Hebrew thought and not Greek in which the word or wisdom of
God is applied to God Himself – as if they were God. Therefore, the reasoning of God—conceived
in the mind of God then demonstrated in action or brought to life. The word became flesh –not
the incarnate son but the incarnate word or mind of God. The purpose of God became alive—
carried out in the flesh.
We realize our being in Christ confirms our association with the Creator of Heaven and Earth
assuring we are God's offspring. Jesus is simply introducing man to himself again because we
failed to understand our identity in Christ trading it for a seemingly more acceptable identity in
Adam (James 1:24, Deut 32:18, Psalm 22:27).
When looking at Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection we must see us. He is our true
representation of us and of God to us. He is not an example for me but an example of me. He is
our guide who accurately declares and interprets the invisible God within us. Our real identity is in
the knowledge of the Christ, in the prefect man—not in religious rites. Our belief about God does
not define Him nor define us but it does label us—most often wrongly. The one who persistently
peers into the Gospel—into the freedom of God—into the Gravity of God—sees himself complete
in the Christ. We cannot grow in that completeness but only in the knowledge of our
completeness—His image so magnetized in us that we become as He is. The image now becomes
a reflector—a mirror.
The Shattered Mirror Restored-Conclusion
All of mankind was represented in Adam who was the
first reflection of God as God made, fashioned, and formed
man in His own image. But the mirror, says Andre Rabe, was
“shattered during the fall of man while in Adam.” The
millions of pieces no longer represented a single entity
but began to reflect their own image in conflict with each
other (Gen 5:3).
Now, in Christ, God has gathered all humanity again into one single person—the Last Adam. In
Him the pieces are restored and as originally intended they reflect accurately and completely the
One who made them. In Him all the broken and disconnected pieces of mankind and all of the
universe were gathered—then redemption, then reconciliation, then restoration and now every
thing is fitted together properly resonating the vibrant harmony of God (Col 1:20 MSG).
In looking at the Christ we see God and we see ourselves.
* The value God places on us is demonstrated in the cost of our redemption.
* All men are watermarked and for ever identified as belonging to the Creator of
heaven and earth.
* As we stand before the mirror we see our transformation and it is not of ourselves.
* The identifying mark of the Gospel is imaged by our inclusion in the Divine Intent of
God.
* To call on the God of the universe we simply breathe in and out. He is that close to
everyone of us.
Many phrases and quotes are from Facebook postings of the author of the Mirror Translation which is Francois Du Toit. His
Mirror Translation can be found at www.mirrorword.net. Francois has amazing insight into the intent of God to be seen in
mankind.
Scripture References:
EATON - Eaton Translation – Mark Eaton. ReCovering All Ministries Dallas, TX
LAMSA – Holy Bible from the Ancient Eastern Texts. George M. Lamsa. 1933
MIRROR – The Mirror Translation. Francois Du Toit. www.mirrorword.net
MITCHELL – Johnathan Mitchell Translation. www.greater-emmanuel.org/jmt
MSG – The Message Bible. Eugene Peterson. Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993,
1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group
NKJV- New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982
by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
ROTH- Rotherham's Emphasized Bible. Joseph B. Rotherham
By Mike Clegg
ABSOLUTE RECONCILIATION MINISTRIES
1714 WEDGEWOOD DR HEBER SPRINGS, AR 72543
www.absolute-reconciliation.org
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HE IS US & WE ARE HIM