BOX: Series In his image to dominate (10 Books) - MOHAMMED SANOGO

THE REVOLT OF THE PLANET
"Cursed is the ground because of you. In toil you will eat from it all the days of your life, I Thorns and thistles it will produce for you, and you will eat the plants of the field." Genesis 3:17-18

One of the men of God whose story deeply moved me and changed my approach to God is Sadhu Sundar Singh. In one of his biographies, he describes how nature and animals, even wild ones, would react when they saw him. His face reflected Christ. There is no photograph of Jesus; Yet upon seeing the Sadhu, many people said they had seen Jesus. Some even called him "Jesus."

I have met such men, they radiated such peace, such love, that one could truly see God through them. Like Jesus, walking on the sea, silencing the storm, nature seemed to stand at attention in their presence.

The Spirit of the Lord made me understand that the influence these men had over animals, and/or over nature, came from the fact that they were in the image and likeness of Jesus. And Jesus Himself had this influence over nature because He was the image and likeness of the Father.

In Genesis 1:26, 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.”

This "and" is a conjunction that translates a consequence and not a complement. In other words, God created Man in His image and likeness so that he would rule over the earth and its creatures. Creation submitted to Man because it found its Creator in him.

Today, humanity is subjected to the insubordination of nature. Viruses, tsunamis, diseases, climate disruptions, and various calamities are in fact the works of a nature that is submitting less and less to human beings. Creation resists and rebels against the power of Man because it no longer sees in him the image of its Creator. By saying to Adam and Eve after their disobedience, "The ground will be cursed, it will produce thorns...", God announced the colors.

Thus, by losing, through sin, the image and likeness of God, man began to lose his vigor, his health, his power, his intelligence and his dominion over creation. Mortality, the reduction of life expectancy are also consequences of this dissimilarity with the Creator.

The unconscious aspiration of men is to regain that lost glory, which granted them the power to dominate circumstances.

Jesus appeared to restore us to our divinity. He was Himself the image and likeness and could say, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father…” (John 14:9). And, of course, nature was subject to Jesus…

“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.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

The apostle Paul says that we can be transformed into the image of Christ from glory to glory, that is, gradually. Conversion does not automatically result in the restoration of this image, but it begins the process.

“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared what we will be. But we know that, when he appears, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2

John says in this text that our status as children of God will evolve towards this resemblance to bring us into the dimension of the Bride of Christ. The whole of creation is waiting for the Sons of God, the Christians, to reflect this image and this resemblance (Romans 8:19-21).

The concept of the image of God refers to the character of God, while the likeness refers to the works of God. Through these twelve works to meditate on month after month, day after day, the Holy Spirit will transform you from glory to glory in His image and likeness.

Pastor Mohammed SANOGO