“The Form of God”!! (Part 2)

Text: Philippians 2:5-6:

  "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God".

Topic:  "The Form of God"!!  (Part 2)

In part 1 of the “form of God” we defined “form” out of Webster as shape; general structure; the figure of a person or animal; a mold; a particular mode, kind, type, etc.; arrangement; style; a way of doing something requiring skill; a customary or conventional way of acting; ceremony; ritual; condition of mind or body; fashion; to train; instruct; to develop (habits); make up; constitute.

“Form” out of the (Greek) in this verse is from the root word (morphe’), defined as [through the idea of adjustments of parts]; shape; nature / also from the base of the word (mer’os), meaning a part or portion of the whole.

Again our being in “the form of God” is not just because we are in a flesh body, making the invisible God visible, but we’re in God’s form “inwardly” as well, as “outwardly”, because “form” is from the root word morphe’, meaning “nature”, meaning the essential quality of a thing; essence; inherent tendencies of a person. Inherent is that which exists in someone or something as a natural and inseparable quality. So God works on us from the “inside out”. Paul wrote in Galatians:

• Galatians 4:19: My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.

Formed is from morpho’o, meaning to fashion. This word is referring to that which is inward which is where the change takes place within us so that we can be in compliance or uniformity with Jesus the Christ in character and power. 1 John 4:17: As he is, so are we, in this world.

Jesus Himself went through a metamorphosis to put His flesh in us so that we could be completely “formed” into the image of God”!

• Matthew 17:1-2: And after six days Jesus takes Peter, James, and John his brother, and brings them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

Transfigured is from metamorpho’o, meaning to transform: and also metamorphose, meaning to change. [Metamorpho’o as a verb means “to change into another form”].

That was what Jesus did, He came from Spirit to flesh (John 1:1, 14), then He went back to Spirit and He changed back to flesh and reappeared in flesh in other people after His resurrection, who are also a part of the Body of Christ.

• Matthew 27: 51-53: And the vail of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves AFTER HIS RESURRECTION, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

Luke 24: On the road to Emmaeus, He appeared to Cleophas and the other disciple, and they didn’t know who He was until He revealed Himself to them.

• Vs 30: And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them: 
• Vs 31: And their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight.

He appeared to Mary at the tomb and she didn’t know who He was until He called her by her name:

•   John 20:15: Jesus said unto her (Mary), “Woman, why weepest thou”? “Whom seekest thou”? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, “Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away”.
• Vs 16: Jesus said unto her, “Mary”. She turned herself, and said unto him, “Rabboni; which is to say, Master”.

At this point, Mary knew that it was JESUS HIMSELF she was seeing and talking to. So that which Jesus has deposited in us of Himself is that which does not decay or has to see corruption!

• Ephesians 5:30: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

In Luke 24:36-49, when Jesus appears to the ten: they were terrified when He appeared to them and supposed they had seen a spirit: but Jesus showed them His hands and His feet and told them to handle Him, because He said in verse 39, “It is I myself”, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have”.

That’s why Jesus is the “firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18). In reality or in truth, Him being the “firstborn from the dead” means that He is the “firstborn from the resurrection”. That is because the saints that were in the spirit realm couldn’t come from behind the vail until Jesus rent the vail, from the top to the bottom (Matthew 27:51-53), which was actually Jesus’ flesh:

• Hebrews 10:19-20: Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his flesh.

And from this point He (Jesus) stepped from behind the vail as “another body”, “CHRIST’S BODY”, which is composed of many members!!!

• Romans 12:4-5: As we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office; so we, being many, are one body in CHRIST, and every one members one of another.
• 1 Corinthians 12: 12: As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, is one body: SO ALSO IS CHRIST!!!

The Body of Jesus was not His Body that was the Body of the Father, the Body that God chose to suffer and die in that was composed of one Man, the Man Jesus. (Carefully read) John 14:1-11:

• Vs 5-7 (Jesus says to Thomas): If you had known me you should have known my Father also: and from henceforth you know him, and have seen him.
• Vs 8: Philip said unto him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us”.
• Vs 9: Jesus said unto him, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip”? “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, show us the Father”?
• Vs 10: Believe thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works.
• Vs 11: Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.

The Body of the Father that was composed of one Man, the Man Jesus was the body that He chose to suffer and die in! This is the “Father’s house” (Jesus’ Body) spoken of in John 14:1, that contains the many mansions (or dwelling places of God which we are). But it wasn’t until the vail of the temple was rent, which was Jesus’ flesh, that He could expose (reveal) who His Body (Jesus’ Body) was after His resurrection, which is a many membered Body, which is CHRIST’S BODY!!!

• 1 Corinthians 12: 12: As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, is one body: SO ALSO IS CHRIST!!!

God is a Spirit (John 4:24), but He has always had “a body” of people to manifest Himself through!

This is "the mystery of God"!  God without "man" is Spirit without form or Spirit without a body!  If God leaves man out of the equation, God is Spirit without form!

God has always been Spirit throughout the endless eons of time even before He made man, but He chose not to be by Himself, therefore He makes man and he makes him (male & female) in his own image, after his likeness (Genesis 1:26).

• Psalm 8:4: What is man (enowsh [a mortal]) that thou are mindful (zarkar' [to mark so as to recognize or remember]) of him?  And the son of man (aw-dawm - Adam [to show blood in the face; immortal]) that thou visitest (paqad' [oversee; care for; enjoin]) him?

Man was the "crown" of God's creation.  God knew what "man" was when He said in (Genesis 1:24) "Let the earth bring forth the living creature": and God knew what man would become when "He made him (male & female) in his image, after his likeness (Genesis 1:26).

God knew that the time would come when He (God Himself) would "visit" man and His "visitation" would be to take on the very nature of man upon Himself by becoming man so as to bring man back into oneness with Him.

• Philippians 2:5: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,
• Vs 6: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
• Vs 7: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
• V8: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

In order for God to help man, He had to become what man is and that's flesh, yet He (God) retained and maintained His identity as the Spirit God!  It's God becoming what you and I are and you and I becoming what God is!  As he is, so are we, in this world (1 John 4:17)!

•  Genesis 2:7: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils, the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

This “forming” process of man took place in man’s “mind”! How do I know that? I’m glad you asked.

• Isaiah 26:3: Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusts in thee.

Perfect is from the root word tamam', meaning complete; finished; whole; accomplished, perfect, sound, to have integrity.

Peace is from the word shalowm’, meaning, to be safe; well, happy; friendly; health; prosperity; favor; rest. It goes to another root word shalam’ and that means to be safe (in mind, body or estate); to be (make) completed; to be friendly; restore; that is perfect; (make) prosper (ous).

Mind is from the root word yetser, meaning a form; conception (purpose); frame; imagination; mind; work.

But this word “MIND” in Isaiah 26:3, is from the same root word that “FORMED” in Genesis 2:7 is from which is yatsar’, defined as the idea of squeezing into shape; to mold into a form; especially as a potter; to determine (form a resolution [the act or result of resolving something]): fashion, frame, make, earthen, purposed; to press, be narrow; be in distress; be straitened.

• Genesis 2:7: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils, the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

"Formed" like the word “mind” in Isaiah 26:3, is the root word yatsar’, which is a squeezing into shape; to mold into a form; especially as a potter; to determine (form a resolution[the act or result of resolving something]): fashion, frame, make, earthen, purposed; to press, be narrow; be in distress; be straitened (in straits); be vexed.

Remember as Romans 12:2 states: “Be ye transformed (changed) by the renewing (renovating; refreshing) of your mind”: [nous] (intellect [not just the ability to understand knowledge but also to accept it]; mind (divine or human; in thought, feeling, or will, understanding).

What the LORD God was doing to “man” (male & female), was, putting them through a pressurized process to bring them from the state of mortality to immortality; corruption to incorruption; darkness to light; death to life!

So the LORD God breathed into man’s “nostrils”: which was his aph, (face; countenance; forehead), his cerebrum which contains five lobes: frontal; parietal; temporal; occipital; insula]. This is from the Concepts of Human Anatomy and Physiology, by Kent M. Van De Graaff and Stuart Ira Fox. But I’m only going to touch on the “frontal lobe”. The frontal lobe is responsible for voluntary motor control of skeletal muscles; personality; higher intellectual processes (concentration; planning; and decision making); verbal communication!

The breath of life or the (chay – khah’ee), is that which made man (male & female) alive; strong. The LORD God caused them to come alive and live! These people were already in existence and breathing, but not “living”! But the “breath” of the LORD God revived them; made them alive; gave them eternal life; nourished them; preserved them alive; quickened; recovered; repaired; restored eternal life into them, and caused them to be made whole in God.

These Adam people (body of people) came to know who God was to them and who they were to God, which were His ambassadors or representatives in the earth by possessing God’s mind becoming "the form of God" in the earth!

What the LORD God breathed into them was naphach’, meaning He puffed, inflated, kindled [to set on fire], ignited their interest, feelings, etc, in God that caused them to catch fire, become aroused or excited in relation to the things of God and functioned in the knowledge and power of the Living God in and over the earth! The LORD God’s breath, which was the “breath of life” was His neshamah’ [which was a puff, wind, vital breath, His Spirit, divine inspiration (mental or emotional excitement; any stimulus to creative thought or action), and intellect (ability to not only understand knowledge but also to accept it)] that He breathed into the “male and female Adam”.

• Genesis 1:26: And 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”.
• Vs 27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

This verse lets us know that Adam was not just “one man” as we were told and some are still preaching, but Adam was a body of people composed of both “male and female”!

• Genesis 5:1-2: This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

  When the LORD God breathed into Adam, He was literally breathing God’s blood into Him.

• Leviticus 17:11: The life of the flesh is in the blood.

Blood is from the root word “dawm”. All God did was "Ad" (add) His blood to “aw-dawm” or “Ad-am” which is the root word for man in Hebrew! (I hope you caught that revelation). I can also state, that all God had to do was “Ad” (add) - “AM”, to man and he (male & female) became the “I AM GOD” in the earth.

Now you can better understand Exodus 3 when God sent Moses into Egypt to deliver His people:

• Vs 13: And Moses said unto God, “Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, what is his name”? "What shall I say unto them"?
• Vs 14: And God said unto Moses, “I AM THAT I AM: and he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you”. What Moses was saying in other words was this: “I AM the God that has come in flesh form to deliver you”!

If you don’t believe that Moses was God, look at what God said in Exodus 7:1: And the LORD said unto Moses. “See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet”!

In reality we are “gods” as well: or as Jesus was – God in flesh form: John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: Vs 2: And the same (we [you and I]) was in the beginning with God: Vs 14: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us: 1 John 4:17: As he is, so are we, in this world. 

John 10: (the Jews try to arrest Jesus and wanted to stone Him because He said that God was His Father):

• Vs 32: Jesus answered them, "Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me"?
•  Vs 33: The Jews answered him, saying, “For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God”.
• Vs 34: Jesus answered them “Is it not written in your law, I said, you are gods”?
• Psalm 82:1: God stands in the congregation of the mighty; he judges among the gods.
• Vs 6: I have said, “You are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High”.

That “name” “I AM” is even today applied to “US”, God’s people, the “Body of Christ”!

• Exodus 3:15: And God said moreover unto Moses, “thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: THIS IS MY NAME FOREVER, AND THIS IS MY MEMORIAL UNTO ALL GENERATIONS”!

In relation to us “being in the form of God”, now you can better understand Genesis 1:2: And the earth was “without form” and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

God has never made anything without form, because everything He created and spoke into existence had form, but when chaos set into the creation, things became without form.

The “earth” that became without form was not the dirt, but people that had lost “the form” of God (God mindedness; His wisdom; His knowledge, spirit fellow-ship with Him, immortality, etc): and void (empty of God’s dominion, authority, and power, His very life), and fell from immortality to mortality. These people the “morning stars, and sons of God” spoken of in Job 38:7, lost their divinity (that which was eternal life) and drifted back into their humanity (that which pertained to destruction and death).

There were “worlds” here before the one we’re in was manifested:

Hebrews 11:3: Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

So with Christ being “formed” in us is the metamorphosis we go through or the pressurized processes God puts us through as He did with the Adam race of people when God Himself replenished the earth. It is not to break us but make us and bring us from a caterpillar stage to the stage of a beautiful butterfly, as He did with Adam.  And what He’s now doing is making us (the church) CHRIST in the earth, so that we can do what He did when He walked the earth in the Body He had as a man!

• John 14:12: He that believes on me, the works that I do, shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do: because I go to my Father.

Jesus’ going to the Father was not Him sailing off up somewhere beyond the blue, but it was Him transitioning from the “flesh man Jesus” back to Spirit out of which He had come and being redeposited into another flesh body, the Church, which we are, which is CHRIST'S BODY in the earth, the dwelling place of the Father now, present in us!

We are all a part of the whole:

• 1 Corinthians 12:12: For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, is one body: so also is CHRIST.
• Colossians 2:17: [speaking of the law]: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of CHRIST!

Our being in “the form of God” as Jesus was is us the sons of God (male and female)  manifesting God’s fruit:

• Galatians 5:22:-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
• Revelation 22:2: In the midst of the street of it, and of either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 
• {The twelve manner of fruit: (wisdom; understanding; counsel; might; knowledge; fear (reverence of God); divine health; perfect peace; dominion; authority; power; eternal life).

And we the sons of God walking in obedience to our Heavenly Father:

• Mark 15:15: And he said unto them, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature”.
• Vs 16: He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned.
• Vs 17: And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
• Vs 18: They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

So allow Philippians 2:5-6 to be manifested in your life: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal (not above but like) with God".

We are the “FORM OFGOD” in the earth! "As he is, so are we, in this world" (1 John 4:17).

Pastor Gracie Perry