I AM THAT

TEXT:  Exodus 3:13-15: [Portrays Jesus Christ as our Passover Lamb]

·      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?

·       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.

·         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 for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. 

I bet everyone reading this message has some idea what your name means….or perhaps where it comes from….some thought was put into the thing that would identify you for your whole life.

In the Bible, names were very important and often God would change people’s names. “Jacob” the Deceiver became “Israel” which means “God rules.” (Pretty good trade, huh?).  

Jesus would look at Simon and said “Thou shalt be called Cephas – (which is by interpretation, Peter), which is the Greek word for Rock! So, Matthew 16:18 really reads as, “Thou art Petros, and upon this Petra,” I will build my church.  Petros is rock masculine and Petra is rock, feminine, a (mass of) rock.  Jesus was letting us know right then the character of man must therefore be masculine and feminine in one unit.

Now you can see another revelation in Genesis 1:27; So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 

Within each individual is the masculine and feminine aspect.  Masculine because whether you are male or female you have within you the ability to “give out the seed” which is the Word of God.  Feminine because whether you are male or female you have within you the ability to “receive the seed” (God’s Word) and reproduce and bring forth other sons of God in His image, after His likeness.

Galatians 3:28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female:  for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Then He/Jesus of Nazareth turned right around and demonstrated this in His spiritualized body.

We know that Peter was the faith-thinker. But we as sons must come to the realization that we are not only the faith-thinker, Peter, but we are Jesus' flesh and bones in the earth (Ephesians 5:30), “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones”.                                        

Peter is one of your twelve powers. Before this truth dawns on you, you are/were a carpenter, a builder in the realm of matter. Peter is a fisherman, one who draws his thoughts from the changeable, unstable sea of sense thinking.

When you realize that you are Mind, and that all things are originally generated in the laboratory of Mind, you leave your carpenter’s bench and go forth proclaiming the Truth that is revealed to you. You find that your tools in this new field of labor are your untrained faculties or powers that dwell within you. One of the first of these faculties to be brought under your dominion is Peter, the thinking power of faith.

See the religious system wants to get to heaven to meet Peter at the gate. But according to Revelation 21 in relation to the Holy City, New Jerusalem, the city John saw coming down from God out of heaven, Peter is not at the “gate”:

·         Vs 10: And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God:

·         Vs 11: Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

·         Vs 12: And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:  (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher). 

·         Vs 14: And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

In Matthew chapter 10:1: And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.  Vs 2: Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; the first, Simon, who is called Peter and Andrew his brother; James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother:  vs 3: Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alpheus, and Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus:  vs 4: Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

So, Peter was not and is not “at the gate”, he is a part of “the foundation”.  Foundation coming from the root word themel’ios (them-el’-ee-os), meaning something put down, as a substructure which is a part or structure that is a support or base of something, denoting to be placed or appointed for special service.

Remember 1^st Corinthians 3:11: For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus the Christ.  And He said to His disciples as well as to us now:  “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain:  that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you”           (John 15:16).

In relation to the Holy City, New Jerusalem it contained the “gates” (twelve sons of Israel) (entrance or portal) into the city and also the “foundations” (twelve apostles of Jesus Christ) (base or support) of the city that are all one in Christ which gives the “city” its structure:  12 +12 = 24 (the number of “eldership”) that has nothing to do with age, but it denotes “maturity” (full grown; ripe; fully developed; perfected in Christ Jesus). 

·         Ephesians 4:13: Till we all come (attain) in the unity (oneness) of the faith (assurance), and of the knowledge (full discernment) of the Son (hwee-os [wee-os]) of God (theh’-os), unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. 

When you multiply 12 x 12 it equals 144, which is “sons of God” multiplied by the thousands. This is God’s number of “uncertain affinity”, equivalent to the “hundred and forty-four thousand” John mentioned in Revelation. 

·         Revelation 14:1: And I looked and lo a Lamb (Jesus Christ) stood on the mount Sion (the Church triumphant), and with him a hundred forty and four thousand (sons of God) having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

Hebrews 12:22-24: But you are come (not going up to) unto mount Sion (see-own’) and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly, and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven (the higher realms of spiritual elevation – not beyond the blue), and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

When Jesus chose His disciples, this connotes characteristics that Jesus had to train and discipline in His own life to fulfill the purpose the Father had sent Him forth for. So, in relation to “Peter being at the gate” can only be seen as the “gate of faith” as the “portal or entrance by faith” (Jesus’ first choice of His disciples) as the “first step” in relation to one’s approach to God and not as religion speaks of him being at “the gate of heaven beyond the blue”!  No!

Simon (hearing): Peter (faith):

·         Romans 10:17: For faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

·         Hebrews 11:6: Without “faith” it is impossible to please him:  for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

When we have acknowledged Jesus the Christ this establishes our relationship with Him.  Romans 10:9: If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved.  Vs 10: For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

What religion doesn’t know is that “Peter standing at the gate (not the pearly gates) of heaven” is no mere figure of speech, but it’s the “foundation of your faith”, which is the “gate” (portal or entrance) where “Peter” (Faith) (the first in position) always must stand having the “keys of the kingdom of heaven.” The keys (badge of authority) are the thoughts that he forms and the words that he speaks by faith. He then stands porter at the door of thought and freely exercises that power which the Christ declares: “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (the place one sits in the higher realms of spiritual authority)!

·         Matthew 12:37: By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

·         Matthew 16:19: And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven:  and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.  You will find this also in (Matt 18:18).  

Whenever you use “I AM” make sure the words you’re attaching to it are positive and not negative!

This is all done in relation to Peter that typifies “faith” which is the power source of our relationship with “God” and the first disciple Jesus chose.

Look people, names become more than just words…they become associated with who we really are, our personality, our character.  Think about it…you don’t meet a lot of people named “Adolf” or “Jezebel,” or “Saddam.”

So, as Moses stands in the presence of God, shoe-less before His Holiness, He asks God His name.

“God, you’re sending me to the Israelites to tell them you’re going to deliver them from slavery…but suppose they ask me “Who sent you…What’s God’s name? What do I tell them? (Exodus 3:13)

And God says, “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14).  This is what you are to tell them, “I AM sent me to you”!

Hebrew word for “I" is aniy', meaning I; me.  "I" in Greek is eg-o' which is first-person,  meaning I; my; me.  "AM” in Hebrew is “hayah” (haw-yaw’), meaning to exist, be or become, come to pass.  Then it goes to the word hava’, meaning to breathe; to be; to be thou.  "AM" in Greek means I exist; I am; it is I; I was; I will be. With this, I'm reminded of what Jesus said in Revelation 1:8: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. We are Him (God) in the earth: (1^st John 4:17) “As he is, so are we, in this world”!

In Hebrew Lord is Yahweh (Yah-wey)!

·         Isaiah 42:8 says, “I AM the LORD (Yahweh; Yeh-ho-vaw’) that is my name. I will not give my glory to another, neither my praises to graven images.”

This name became so sacred to the Hebrews they refused to say it out of fear of mispronouncing it.  When they spelled it they would leave out the vowels spelling it Y.H.W.H just in case they misspelled it! It’s used 6,800 times in scripture three times more than “Elohim.”

Yahweh literally means “to be” or “to live.” He is the self-Existent One, always present and engaged. The only time the Hebrews would pronounce His name out loud was on the Day of Atonement which was once a year.

God is telling Moses… “There was nothing before me. There will be nothing after me. There is nothing beyond me. There is no greater power (Omnipotent). There is nowhere I can’t be (Omnipresent). There is nothing I can’t see (El-Roi). The I AM, IS ALL KNOWING (Omniscient).”

God was saying to Moses, I was everything to your forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…And I will be everything to you no matter what because “I AM THAT I AM.”

God hasn’t changed. No matter who you are, or where He might find you today, He is the all-knowing, all powerful, all present one who wants to deliver us from any situation.

I AM is here!!!

And since I AM is here and in us - we are…..

I. STANDING ON HOLY GROUND

It’s Holy because of God’s Presence. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I will be in your midst” (Matthew 18:20).

Have you ever been in the presence of someone famous, powerful and important? Someone you really thought was amazing.

Let me ask…“When was the last time your knees buckled, you had goose bumps, or your heart pounded in the Presence of God?”

God tells Moses in Exodus 3:5: “Don’t come any closer until you take off your sandals…for the place where you are standing is Holy Ground.”

Holiness belongs to God alone! It is His presence that makes it Holy and a place of worship.

I wonder do we take off our spiritual sandals when we come to worship God.

Taking one’s sandals off is a sign of reverence and respect. Taking off your sandals was like the old custom of a man taking off his hat when entering a building or greeting a lady.  It was a token of respect. The ground was holy because of God’s Presence. People were to approach God with solemnity (suh-lem-ni-tee) and humility. Taking off their sandals expressed an inward reverence through an outward behavior in their worship.

When man approaches God in worship he must take off or remove from his understanding all limited thoughts of the Absolute…..”Put off thy shoes from thy feet.”

So, my challenge and your challenge is to prepare ourselves for real worship daily as we walk in His Presence or whenever we assemble as His people.

Another thing about the “I AM”:

II. SOME ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD WILL HAPPEN WHEN WE LEAST EXPECT THEM.

Exodus 3:1 tells us, “Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Median, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert.”

Moses is at work when he encounters the Presence of God and he’s not just at work, but on the far side of the desert called Horeb.

Horeb means solitude.  That is, we must go into the solitude within ourselves and lead our flock of thoughts to the back side of the wilderness, where dwells the Exalted One, the divine I AM, whose kingdom is good or righteous in judgment.

There we are in training for forty years, or until we arrive at a four-sided or balanced state of mind. It is in this recognition of the power and presence of God that all our strength and ability lie.

God does not live in houses made by human hands (Acts 7:48).  His Presence in our lives isn’t limited to Sundays either, but it’s daily and continual!

Church is awesome because we’re coming together to worship, remember, and celebrate our God which is so essential. God’s Word says, “Don’t forsake the assembling of the saints as some are in the habit of doing…but encourage one another; and all the more as you see the day approaching.” (Hebrew 10:25)

Church is the huddle that prepares us for the game. It’s where we love and encourage others for the week to come. God is certainly present as we meet at His table and hear His Word and sing His praise. He’s the audience for our action.

But God is “I AM.” He’s present in our lives every day, even when we are in the far side of the desert.

Let’s look at some close encounters with God!!!

David met God on the battlefield before Goliath (1^st Samuel 17); Jacob wrestled with God on a camp-out (Genesis 32:22-32); Abraham, encountered God’s Presence during a sacrifice (Genesis 22); Elijah met God in fire on a mountaintop (1^st Kings 18) and in a still small voice when he was depressed (1^st Kings 19)].

I’m sure some of you can go back down memory lane and just think of some situations that you have been in and felt the Presence of God and you knew He was with you.

I’m glad God is Omnipresent. If you don’t believe God is with you even on the far side of the desert, or aware daily of your struggles, then don’t be surprised if you don’t experience His powerful Presence.

But I believe!!!             

You see, no matter where we are or what we’re going through we can ask, “God are you near?”  And His answer is “I AM.”

God are you with me at work or school?  “I AM.”

God are you with me in the greatest times of joy? “I AM.”

God are you with me when I walk through the valley filled with shadows and death?  “I Am.”

I like this reminder from Romans 8

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come:  

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Let me share one final truth today with you about the Great I AM.

III. GOD EXPECTS US TO SPEAK UP FOR HIM.

Moses was afraid people would not listen to him or believe him.  Standing before the Holy burning Presence of God…Moses says, “Please send someone else.”

Here’s what God says, EXODUS 4:10-13:

·         10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

·         11 And the LORD said unto him, “Who hath made man's mouth? Or who makes the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the LORD?”

·         12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.

·         13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.

God was angry for Moses making excuses.

·         14 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, “Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he comes forth to meet thee: and when he sees thee, he will be glad in his heart.”

We all feel like that at times, don’t we? I’m scared, I’m not that eloquent, I’ll say something wrong, or they don’t want to hear what I have to say.  “God send someone else.”

God doesn’t call the eloquent, He calls the willing.                                                                  

God doesn’t call the able, but He enables the one He calls.

If God can use an ass in the Old Testament (Numbers 22) to deliver His message to Balaam, He can certainly use you and me.

Moses walked back into his past life so he could rescue those in slavery. He brought a message of freedom from the Most High God.  Moses brought the message and God provided the power.

Romans 10:14 tells us, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, but how can they call on the One they have not believed in? How can they believe in the One of whom they’ve not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”  Vs 15: “And how shall they preach, except they be sent?” “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good tidings.”

So, people of God, let go of the little self and take hold of the big Self: “Not my will, but thine, be done.”  (Luke 22:42). 

The I AM of each individual, is the will in its highest aspect. 

I AM is God’s name in man!

I will close with:

·         Exodus 3:15: And God said moreover unto Moses, “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel (we today are God’s Israel [those that rule and have power with God] – not the one in the Middle East), 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 (covenant name) unto all generations”!  [Now and forever]!

 I AM is Jehovah, the indwelling Christ, the true spiritual man whom God made in His image and likeness. The outer, manifested man is the offspring of I AM, or inner spiritual man.

By use of I AM we link ourselves with the outer—or we make conscious union with the Father, with Spirit, with abiding life, wisdom, love, peace, substance, strength, power, Truth, the kingdom of the heavens within US.

Let Us Give God The Highest Praise!!!

Evangelist Jackie Burton

MAN, GOD’S IMAGE!! (Part 1)

Text: Colossians [Shows “Christ our very Life”].

·        Colossians 3:9-10: “Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds”:  vs 10: “And have put on the new man that is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him”.

Colossae is a city of Phrygia in Asia Minor.  It was destroyed by an earthquake about 65 A.D., during the reign of Nero, and was rebuilt.

Colossians was written from Rome about 64 A.D and sent with Ephesians and Philemon by Tychicus.  He was a Christian, faithful minister, and fellow worker of Paul (Ephesians 6:21). 

Colossians is about freedom from the law, all outward forms of religion, rituals, human philosophies, and false mysticism, and complete and real union with Christ in life and conduct.  Paul contends that we died with Christ, and that ordinances, rituals, dead forms of religion, observance of Sabbaths, holy days, and mystical rites are of no use to dead persons. 

·        Ephesians 2:1: And you hath he quickened (made alive), who were dead (past tense) in trespasses and sins; vs 6: And hath (present tense), raised us up together, and made us sit together (already) in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Practical holiness is shown to spring from truth and faith, and walking in the light (Colossians 1:23; 2:6-7; 3:11-17), by coming to know our Creator!

So, our theme scripture says:  Colossians 3:9-10: “Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new (ne’os) [regenerate] (reformed; reborn; converted; made over; revived) man, which is renewed (anakaino’o) [renovated] in knowledge,  (epig’nosis) [recognition, full discernment, acknowledgement] after the image of him that created him”.

The “old man”, is the pala’ios (antique; former; ancient) man.  This is the natural (psuchikos’) [sensitive; irrational] man.  He’s driven by his senses, what he sees, hears, feels, tastes, and smells, or by outside sources.  This natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned, as spoken of in 1^st Corinthians 2:14. 

Man is yet able, to put off this “old man” by “renewing” (renovating [redeveloping; reconstructing] his mind (nous) [intellect; thoughts; feelings or will; understanding]. 

·        Romans 12:2: Be ye transformed (changed) by the renewing of your mind. 

When this happens the man is made new (ne’os), because he is now regenerated [reformed; reborn; converted; made over; revived].  He now is renewed in knowledge (epig’nosis), because he/she has come to know, discern clearly, and acknowledge the God that created them, as to who He is in them, and who they are in Him.

·        2^nd Corinthians 5:17: If any man be in Christ, he is a NEW (kainos’) [freshness] (unused; healthy; vigorous; rested; unfatigued; brisk; keen; revived; restored) creature (creation); old things are passed away, behold, all things are become NEW (fresh; revived; restored).

Ephesians 2:15: Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one NEW man.

The NEW MAN in 2^nd Corinthians 5:17 and Ephesians 2:15, is the kainos’ man, the man that is fresh (unused; healthy; vigorous; rested; unfatigued; brisk; keen; restored).  But the NEW MAN in Colossians 3:10 is the ne’os man, the regenerate (reformed; reborn; converted; made over] man.  This new birth has made him a proceeding (continuous; progressive; advancing; ongoing) man.  If he’s ongoing that makes him/her immortal and incorruptible!

·        1^st John 3:9: He that is born (genna’o) [regenerated] of God doth not commit sin, because his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he is born (regened) of God!

Biologically, the gene is a unit of heredity which is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring.  We are God’s offspring.  Acts 17:28: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, “For we are also his offspring” (gen’os) [kin; stock; kind (red); generation (ratio of genes)].

He that is free from sin is free from death, because Jesus conquered sin and death! 

·        Romans 8:2: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.  Vs 3: For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:  Vs 4: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

MAN, GOD’S IMAGE!  

What is an image?  In our text Colossians 3:10, image is from the root word ei’kon (ikone’), which is a likeness [the same]; form; copy (duplicate; replica); portrait; statue (figure as of a person); profile, or representation (likeness; picture).

·        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. 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.  Vs 8: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

For Jesus to deliver man, He had to become what man was, and that was flesh!  St. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God:  vs 14: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Matthew 8: 16-17: When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils:  and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:  vs 17: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses”.

Hebrews 4:15: We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Form, in both verses in Philippians 2:5, 7, is the Greek root word, morphe’, meaning the idea of adjustment of parts; shape; nature. 

Jesus being in the form of God was Him showing forth His humanity being in the form of a servant as a man, even though in His DEITY, He was still God!!  But His being in the form of God was also because He had the mind of His Father.  He had to have the Father’s mind to do what He was sent to do. 

Jesus said: John 10:30: I and my Father are one.  Then in John 14:7-11 [Philip is questioning Jesus about His Father]: 

·        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 say 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 doeth 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.

So Jesus being in the form of God showed forth both aspects:  He was God in flesh form, and He had His Father’s mind working through Him with the ability to walk in the dominion, power, authority, wisdom, and knowledge of God!!

Back to “man, God’s image”:

·        Genesis 1:26: And God (Elohiym) 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.

When God created, He called that which wasn’t, into what it became.  That which is “made” is made from that which was created.  When He made man He already had something in place that He could work with. 

·        Genesis 1:24, And God (Elohiym) said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind”, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind”:  and it was so.

Man was amongst the living creatures, and the vision Prophet Ezekiel was given, supports this.

·        Ezekiel 1:4: And I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire.  Vs 5: Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures.  And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.  Vs 10: As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side:  and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

These four faces Ezekiel saw, was in the man, which are the manifestations of the personality of man.  The face of a man (heart/spirit):   the face of a lion (soul/emotions):  the face of an ox (body strength):   the face of an eagle (mind).

This is also what John saw in Revelation 4:7, in relation to the four living creatures.

Man in Ezekiel 1:5, 10, is from the root word adam (aw-dawm’), meaning to be ruddy; a human being (an individual or the species, mankind):  Adam; hypocrite; common sort; low; man, men, person(s).  But, it goes to another root word adam (aw-dam’), meaning, to show blood (in the face); flush or turn rosy:  dyed red; ruddy. 

This is the same definition of man in Genesis 1:26, the man (male/female) that God made in his image after his likeness, who also was a living creature.

Living is the Hebrew root word chay (khah’ee) meaning, to be alive; raw (flesh); living thing; company; multitude; congregation.  Then it goes to another word chayah’, meaning, to live; revive; make alive; give life; nourish up; preserve (live); quicken; recover; repair; restore (to life); save (alive); be whole.   

Creature is the root word ne’phesh, meaning a breathing creature, animal of vitality; (fig) sense (bodily or mentally):  soul; life; person; mind; heart; body; man; dead; desire; appetite; beast; greedy; lust; breath; mortally.  It’s also from the root word naphash’, meaning, to breathe; to be breathed upon; refreshed.

This company, multitude, or congregation of living creatures (ne’phesh), were people with a body that contained a heart, soul, and mind, but they were dead, because their desires, appetites, and lusts were of a beastly nature, that was geared toward mortality.  They were of low degree or of a common sort, with no status (standing; rank) in the earth.  But these creatures needed the naphash’, to be breathed upon and refreshed by the ru’wach, the Spirit, wind, or breath of God the Creator that would revive, give life, nourish up, preserve (alive), quicken, recover, repair; restore their souls (to life), so they could be made whole.

In Genesis 1:26-27, this was a people out of a people, composed of both male and female that God made in His own image, and after His likeness, that were called Adam.

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

This lets me know that these people, that God created in His own image and after His likeness were already in existence.  They were governed by raw flesh, of a natural state, without yet going through any process of change.

Let’s go back to the definition of man in Genesis 1:26.  He was a hypocrite, of common sort, or of low degree.  This means that he had no status (standing; rank; position) in the earth, until God got hold of him and made him in His image, after His likeness!!  And God did this by His Spirit! 

·        Genesis 1:1: In the beginning God created, the heaven and the earth.  Vs 2c: And the Spirit of God moved upon the face (countenance; fore-front; within; person) of the waters.

These waters were not the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean, nor the Mediterranean, but they were people.  Revelation 17:15: And he said unto me, “The waters which thou saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues”.

Spirit in Hebrew is ru’wach, meaning, wind; breath; a sensible exhalation; life; a rational being; mind; spiritual; to blow; breathe; to smell or perceive (to anticipate; enjoy):  accept; smell (to discern); touch; make of quick understanding.

In Genesis 1:24, the earth brought forth “man” as a living creature with a body containing a soul, a spirit and mind in it.  This man the living creature that the earth brought forth, in 1^st Corinthians is called “earthy”.

·        1^st Corinthians 15:47: The first man is of the earth, earthy:  the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Earth in this verse means soil; a region or the solid part or the whole of the terrene globe (incl the occupants); earth as arable (suitable for plowing).  God brought man from death to life and from darkness to light!   God knew that once He plowed into “man’s earth” (his body), and plant His seed (His Word) in that earth man, it would reproduce and bring forth a God-man with His life, wisdom, knowledge, immortality, dominion and power in it!!

EARTHY is the root word choikos’) meaning dusty or dirty (soil-like).  It also means cho’os, which is a heap (as poured out); rubbish; dust. 

Dust in Genesis 2:7 is aphar’, meaning dust (as powdered or gray); clay, earth, rubbish.

That’s what this “living creature” (man) was, being “of the earth, earthy”.  He was a heap as poured out, dust (gray – the color of death), rubbish, sensitive and of a frail state, of low degree, until God (Elohiym) made (asah’) [prepared; dressed; advanced; appointed; brought him forth; furnished; fashioned]  him (male and female) in His own image after His likeness with God mindedness in them and gave them a command to subdue (bring under their control) and have dominion (rule; reign) over the earth.

·        Genesis 1:28: And God blessed them and God said unto them, “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it:  and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth”.

So God created and made (prepared; dressed; appointed; furnished) man (male and female) in His image, after His own likeness by reviving “the man” (Adam/male & female), nourishing them up; preserving, repairing, making them whole (complete and entire) in every area, of their being (heart, soul, mind, and body), with God’s own vitality or life source in them and advanced them into a place of dominion, power and authority, in and over the earth. 

This dominion over the earth is not just God’s people having supremacy, rule, lordship, authority and power in creation over the physical earth that we walk on, but He has also given us dominion, authority and power over the earth (flesh body) we live in, this sensitive, frail, and mortal man, the first man we came to know.  The “first man or old man” that fear, poverty, misery, ignorance, sickness, disease and death wants to control.  Whatever tries to creep up on our earth (body) in any form of negativity that’s opposite of God, our Heavenly Father has given us authority and power over the works of it!!!  Therefore we must allow the second man, the Lord from heaven to reign over that first man (Adam nature) and bring him under subjection to the CHRIST man that we now are become!! 

·        1^st Corinthians 15:22: For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive).

·        Luke 10:19: Behold, I give unto you power (exousi’a) ability [privilege; force; capacity; competency; freedom; mastery; token of control; delegated influence; potentate; superhuman; jurisdiction; right; liberty; strength] to tread (pate’o) [trample under foot] on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy:  and nothing shall by any means hurt (adike’o) [to be unjust; do wrong (morally; socially; physically) you.

These serpents do not crawl on their belly, nor do these scorpions have many legs, but they walk around on two feet, which is a type of sly malicious people, preaching death in their messages.   Matthew 23:1-39 [Jesus pronounces woes upon the Scribes and Pharisees and said]:  vs 33: You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell?

I choose to believe Jesus’ report, and He said, John 8:31: “If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed”:  vs 32: “And you shall know the truth and the truth would make you free”.

Let us believe, accept, walk and live with the understanding, that we are the image of God now, in the earth!  1^st John 4:17: As he is, so are we, in this world!

Pastor Gracie Perry