THE IMAGE OF GOD – Part 3 – The Aestheic Nature of God GENESIS 1:27 26And 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 creepeth upon the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. What is the image of God? Well we established in the previous parts of this series, that the ‘Image and Likeness’ of God are essentially one and the same thing, which can be explained as Man ‘resembling’ God in ways that - the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air; the cattle all over the earth and every other thing that creepeth upon the earth – do not. One of the ways in which Man resembles God, is that we possess an Aesthetic Nature. By this I mean the ability to appreciate – BEAUTY (Genesis 2:9). Genesis 2:9a states ... ‘And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is PLEASANT TO THE SIGHT, and good for food ... ’ King James Version. Here, we can see that God, in the book of Genesis, marking the very beginning of all that He would say to us, informs us in explicit terms, that when creating the very many things that he created, He actually created certain things with the intent that they be ‘PLEASANT TO THE SIGHT’. This nature, the ability to appreciate beauty, is inherent in Man due to us being made in the Image and Likeness of God and one of the ways in which this is depicted in scripture can be seen in ... Genesis 13: 10 which states that ... ‘10 Lot took a long look at the fertile plains of the Jordan River, well watered everywhere (this was before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah); the whole section was like the Garden of Eden,[c] or like the BEAUTIFUL COUNTRYSIDE around Zoar in Egypt’ – The Living Bible Version. Here, we can see that Lot, who was asked to choose a place for himself and his household to live, chose the ‘fertile plains of the Jordan River which in addition to being well watered, was also described as resembling the BEAUTIFUL COUNTRYSIDE around Zoar in Egypt. This shows that Lot, made in the Image and Likeness of God, was able to recognise the plain as being ‘pleasant’ to his sight, as it was what we in today’s terminology would call, a very ‘picturesque’ environment. The ability of Man to recognise or judge whether or not an object of their focus is indeed ‘pleasant to the sight’ or not, is also demonstrated in scriptures such as: Genesis 12:11; Genesis 24:16 and Judges 15:2 in relation to a maiden(s) being described as ‘FAIR’ (meaning Beautiful in today’s language) or not. In relation to animals however, whilst it is true that from observation, pet owners can note that the animal may prefer one type of environment to another, one person over another or even from amidst their own kind, a given animal over another (i.e: it is common knowledge that some cats fight etc), I have yet to stumble across any much more concrete evidence that would suggest that any animals attraction to one environment over another, one person over another or even their attraction to another animal of their own kind for the purpose of mating, stems from the appreciation of Beauty. The fact that there is evidence in the Word of God of Man being able to look upon another member of the human race and recognise Beauty, coupled with the word of God in Genesis 1:31 ...’ And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good...’ has caused me to conclude that even though some people may initially appear to be much more Aesthetically pleasing than others, there is both natural and spiritual Beauty locked up in every person that God has created in His Image and Likeness and the best thing that we can do for our spouses, children and those in our circle of influence is encourage and assist them in Manifesting this, as well as every other aspect of God’s nature. In the natural, we can assist them in their personal presentation. This may seem altogether so simple, but the fact that Joseph found it necessary to shave and change his clothing (Genesis 41:14) before he presented himself to Pharoah and Esther found it necessary to present herself a certain way (Esther 5:1-3) before entering into the presence of the King, provides scriptural evidence that this is vitally important if we are to step into certain blessings that the Lord has lined up for us. However, the most valuable Beauty of all time, is emitted out of a clean heart, saved soul and renewed spirit and as such, amidst the struggles, challenges and disappointments in life, when there is just cause to be angry and the temptation to revenge, the most valuable thing that we can do for our spouses, children and those in our circle of influence, is to be the voice that God can use to bring them back in line with the Beautiful nature of God, thereby also helping them to worship God in the Beauty of His Holiness (Psalm 29:2) Psalm 90:17a ‘Let the Beauty of the Lord our God be upon us’
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 11:37:15 +0000
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