God transforms us that we may have His divine image. To have His divine image is to be shaped in God’s organic salvation (Rom. 12:2a; 2 Cor. 3:18). God’s organic salvation is to produce something with a shape, something visible; hence, there is the shaping aspect in God’s salvation.
God’s transformation is for us to be shaped in the divine image. We not only have received God’s divine life at our regeneration, but we also are being renewed to become His divine, new creation. However, it is not enough to become the new creation; we still need to be sanctified that we may have His divine nature. Furthermore, we need to be transformed by God that we may be shaped in the divine image. Not only do we have God’s nature inwardly, but we also bear His image outwardly, which is something concrete and visible.
Transformation is not an outward correction or adjustment but the metabolic function of the life of God in us, by the addition of the element of the divine life of Christ into our entire being, that we may express the image of Christ outwardly. To express the image of Christ is to express the New Jerusalem.
Transformation is a very crucial item in God’s organic salvation. Paul used the word transformed in his Epistles at least twice. The first time was in Romans 12:2, which says that we should be transformed by the renewing of the mind. Another time was in 2 Corinthians 3:18, which says that we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image.
Unfortunately, most Christians do not pay attention to the word transformed, or we may say that they do not understand its true meaning even though they have read it. Neither can they tell the difference between transformation and what we commonly call change. Although what is manifested through transformation is seen in the outward, visible image, transformation is not an outward correction or adjustment but the metabolic function of God’s life in us. A certain kind of life produces a certain kind of function. Suppose a person is undernourished and appears thin and sickly. He cannot improve his condition by merely applying some powder to his face. That is an outward correction and adjustment which has no genuine effect. His real need is to receive some nourishment into him. This nourishment activates the function of metabolism in him. As a result, after a period of time, when you see him again, you notice that his facial appearance has become healthy. But this was not by applying powder outwardly; it is the effect of the metabolism of the life in him.
This metabolic function, on the one hand, adds the element of the divine life of Christ into our entire being, and on the other hand, discharges the old and negative things from within us. Consequently, we have a change not only in our inward nature but also in our outward image so that we express the image of Christ. What is this image of Christ? Consummately this image of Christ is the New Jerusalem. Transformation results in our becoming the New Jerusalem.