We were made according to Christ. One day, Christ came in the likeness of this form of ours. We received Him and He came into us. This Christ is now within us doing the work of transformation, not only transforming us into His image, but also conforming us unto His very form. Eventually, He will come to transfigure our outward body into the likeness of His glorious body (Phil. 3:21). Then we will be fully, completely, and ultimately the same as He is (1 John 3:2b). When He looks at Himself, He will say, "All you people are like Me." When we look at ourselves, we will say to the Lord Jesus, "We are all like You, and You are like us." There will be no difference. We will all be like Christ, and Christ will be fully like us. Christ and we, we and Christ—we all will be in the same image and in the same likeness. This was God's purpose in creating man to express God Himself. In a sense, the creation of man has been completed, but the process of transformation continues. We are now under the process of transformation, waiting for His coming back.
Man was created not only in the image of God inwardly, but also after the likeness of God outwardly. All the other items in creation are after "their kind." Man, however, is not after man's kind, but after God's likeness. As image indicates the inward being of God, so likeness must indicate the outward form of God.
The relationship between God and man is a mystery. On the one hand, the Bible says that God is invisible. On the other hand, it says that even before the Lord Jesus was incarnated to be a man, He appeared to people several times in the Old Testament as a man. Several times Christ appeared in the form of a man's body. While Abraham was sitting at the door of his tent, he saw three men coming (Gen. 18:2a). The Lord and two angels appeared to him. Abraham invited the three men into his tent and served them a good meal. They all ate with him. God ate with Abraham and they had a thorough talk. That was why Abraham was called the friend of God (James 2:23). If we read Genesis 18, we will find that it is a record of a friend-fellowship. God was a friend to Abraham. After awhile, the two angels were sent away by the Lord, and the Lord remained with Abraham. Abraham stood before the Lord, just like a friend (Gen. 18:16a, 22). That was Christ before His incarnation.
The second time Christ appeared in the form of man was in the case of Jacob at Peniel. A man came to subdue this strong Jacob (Gen. 32:24). Yet, Jacob was wrestling with God! God in the form of man was wrestling with Jacob. Jacob was really strong and God could not subdue him until He touched his thigh and Jacob became lame. Jacob asked, "Please tell me—what is Your name?" God said, "Don't ask My name. Just let Me give you My blessing." Eventually, Jacob realized that he had met God face to face (Gen. 32:28-30). Peniel means the face of God. God appeared there as a man, a real man. If He had not been a real man, how could He have wrestled with Jacob?
Another occasion when God appeared in the form of a human body was in Joshua 5. At that time, Joshua bore the great burden of defeating Jericho. Perhaps it was the next day that the army of God was going out to fight against Jericho, and Joshua, as their leader, bore the burden for that battle. I believe that he was considering the situation in the evening time when suddenly he saw a man. Joshua asked him, "Art thou for us or for our adversaries?" That man said, "Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come" (Josh. 5:13-14). The man also told Joshua, "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy" (Josh. 5:15). That was the place where God was.
By all of these instances, we can see that the Lord Jesus, before His incarnation, appeared several times in the bodyform of a man. This is really mysterious.
The grass has no face, neither do the herbs nor the trees. Starting from the animal life, we have seen that the fish has a face, but not very close to man's face. Next came the birds, the cattle, and the beasts. Then came man whose face is very much like God. This is a mystery. At any rate, we have been told clearly that we were made in God's image. This is why we have wisdom, will, and emotion, just as God does, but without the reality. What we have are simply the expressions. We need the content.
We also have a form, a form of the image, just like a photograph. However, the photograph doesn't have the reality. When man was created in the form, in the image of God, he didn't have the reality of God. After he was created, man still needed to take God in. Regardless of how much man had the form and the image of God, he did not have the reality of God or the life of God. Man failed. Then the Lord came in the form of man. He died in this form and was resurrected to uplift this form. By His death and resurrection, it is now so easy for us to take Him in. We have received and obtained this divine life, and by this divine life we all can have the reality of God. This divine life is now working in us to transform our empty life into the divine form in reality. This is transformation. Eventually, we will be conformed unto His image. The Bible is a revelation of such a mystery. It is so important, so central and crucial that we all see the image of God and the form of God in which and after which we were created. We must all see how Christ was this image and how Christ was made in the form of man that we may take Him in as our life and reality. Eventually, He and we will be mingled together and made as one. We will be His appearance and expression; He will be our reality and content. He and we will be one. He will be like us and we will be like Him. Then, we will express God to the whole universe.
Now we can see why God created the heavens and the earth and why God created the human life. This is the meaning and center of the universe. If we don't see this, we don't know what is the meaning of the universe and we don't know where we are going. Today, we do know the meaning of the universe and we know where we are and where we are going. We are here to express Him and we are going to meet Him, to be one with Him.
When we were saved, the divine life within us was like the grass. It grew into the herb and into the trees. Then, it grew into a higher plane of life—the fish, the bird, the cattle, and the beast. Not until we reach the top of the created life can we ever express God. We need the human life. According to Ezekiel 1:5, 10 and Revelation 4:6-7, of the nine items of life recorded in Genesis 1, only four are represented in the presence of God—the eagle, the ox, the lion, and the man. These four are in the presence of God, representing all the creatures before God. In Ezekiel and Revelation, there is no mention of the grass, the herb, the trees, the fish, or the creeping things. For eternity and in eternity there will be no sea. Therefore, there will be no fish. Certainly, there will be no creeping things. What will be represented in the presence of God will be the man with the cattle, the lion, and the eagle. We all must grow until we reach the higher plane of life, that is the plane of the cattle, the lion, and the eagle. We must go on until we reach the maturity of life signified by the human life. Only this life can express God. Only this life can have dominion for God. This is our goal. We must grow and grow and grow from the plant life to the animal life and from the animal life to the human life.