What Is The Image Of God? - Dr. Michael Heiser

email. Have you ever noticed there's

some strange things in this passage?

If you haven't, maybe you will now cuz I

changed the colors of some of the words.

Isn't that clever? Um,

let us

make humankind in our image. You have

plurals. And then in the next verse, it

switches back to singulars.

Is the writer confused?

Did he just flunk grammar?

Now, I would suggest to you there's a

point to doing that. We want to talk

about that.

There's lots of debate on the nature of

the image. There's lots of debate on the

plurals. The switch you you almost never

hear commented on, but we're going to go

through all of them. Most Christians are

taught that the us in the verse is the

trinity.

There are a number of reasons and I go

through all of them in unseen realm why

that is a flawed idea. I'll just give

you one.

The trinity in any standard formulation

or articulation of the doctrine. You

have three co-equal

co-eternal

co-omnicient persons. They don't need

information.

So when God says, "Hey, let's make human

the other person in the trinity stop.

I'm already there."

And and he can't say, "I thought of that

before you did because they're

co-eternal."

Okay. So why do we even need the

conversation?

Because we're not dealing with the

Trinity.

Okay. God

is speaking to his heavenly host, the

family that already exists. And he says,

"I got a great idea.

Let's create

beings who are like us

on the earth.

Let's like take, you know, we got this

neat family here and I love it. Love you

guys."

And I'd like to do it again on this

time. They're going to be a little weird

because they're gonna have bodies.

That's a little strange, you know,

little restricted. Some limitations

there. But but let's do that.

Now,

we know and I'll I'll probably click out

to a little bit later that because it

switches back to the singular, when God

does create humanity, he is the lone

creator.

>> There are no other creators. But the

plural is still there for a reason and

we'll talk about that.

I want to take a bit of a rabbit trail

though and talk about what the image is

because this is something that you know

Stovall and I have had a number of

conversations about. This is really

important

and it's something that if we get a

grasp of this, it will inform our

identity and not just our individual

identity, but our collective identity in

ways that might seem to the ear obvious,

but in our culture are anything but

obvious.

The image of God

has these characteristics in scripture.

Male and female possess it equally.

It makes us distinct from all other

earthly creatures. There's no hint in

the text that we get it in stages

incrementally or partially. You either

have it or you don't.

There's no like growth and development

into the image in a human sense here in

the creation. And it's passed on

generationally. When Adam and Eve have

children in Genesis 5,

their children are said to be in the

image, you know,

of their father, the image of of of

Adam, his own image. In Genesis 9, that

language is applied to every human

being. Whosoever sheds man's blood, by

man shall his blood be shed. For in the

image of God, he made man. He made

humanity. And that's long after Adam and

Eve. You've got lots and lots of people

on the earth by the time that that

statement is made. They are all images

of God. I said imagers.

What do you mean, Mike? That's kind of

an awkward term. It's actually

important.

Now,

I'm going to put that up. Little rabbit

trail here, a little story. I used to

teach Christian ethics at a uh I did it

at a Bible college and at a Christian

college which happened to be a Catholic

school in Wisconsin.

And I loved abortion day.

This gives you a little insight into my

personality.

Say, well, how in the world could you

love abortion day? because I knew I

would get to torment students on that

day like I don't get to torment them on

any other day.

So what I would do is I'd go in and I'd

say, "Hey, it's abortion day today.

We're going to talk about abortion,

Christian ethics.

How many of you," and again, these are

Christian schools. So I'd say, "How many

of you are pro-life?" Like, you know,

like every hand goes up, you know, which

of course is predictable. And I would

say, "Why?"

And they would, you know, they'd look at

you again like you got two heads.

You know, we're Christians. And, you

know, they'd go back and forth and

eventually somebody would say, "Well,

life is sacred." And I'd say, "Why?"

And then somebody would wind up in

Genesis 1:26 and they'd say, "Well,

because humanity is made in the image of

God." And I would say, "Well, what does

that mean?"

And then I would get the grocery list.

See, that's what I'm waiting for is the

grocery list. If you read a lot of your

theologians, what I'm what what I'm

going to tell you is my view is not a

new view. It's, you know, again, Mike

never had an original idea, but there

are good exeetical reasons for it. But

this is the grocery list. They would say

things like, well, consciousness,

self-awareness, sensience, the ability

to pray, the ability to commune with

God, emotions, having a soul or a

spirit. You know, theologians land

somewhere in here.

And I would say,

well, thank you for making a biblical

pro-choice argument for me. And then

they'd really look at you

and they're like, what? What? What do

you mean? They'd be like my pug. Like

what? Okay. Why do these things fail?

Because they cannot be said to be

present equally among all human beings.

You go back to the list. Is everybody

does everybody have the same level of

intelligence,

emotional aptitude?

Is is everybody's conscious conscious

conscience the same? What about people

in a coma? Do they lose the image?

They're no longer conscience.

I mean, you can just go down. You you

can pick off every one of these. If we

even expand it to the animal kingdom,

there's a whole field in psychology

called animal cognition,

which is actually fun to read. It's it's

something I'm interested in. Not because

I have pugs

there. I don't know where pugs rank on

this, but I I remember reading a study

one time where chickens scored better

than toddlers on an intelligence test

because and we have a we have a chicken

at home. Why do we have a chicken? I

don't know. Okay. But if you let the

chicken out,

it it it it knows at night to go roost

somewhere, you know, where it's safe.

Like it'll it'll go back home. You want

to do that with your toddler?

Okay, that was the test. So animal

intelligent, I mean, you you none of

these work. They're not possessed

equally among all humans. They're not

they can't be said to be actually

present among all humans at different

stages of human development. And some

aren't even unique to to mankind. All

these are connected to brain function

except for soul and spirit. We'll get to

that in a moment. But you see what I

mean? The little, you know, four

sixselled zygote, the thing that

attaches itself to the wall of the

uterus, that ain't praying to God.

That's not having a single thought. It

doesn't have a brain.

It's not communing with the the with the

supernatural, with the almighty. And

then they somebody in the audience in my

ethics class would say, "Well, it will."

I said, "Thank you. Now we have

potential persons."

That's a pro-choice argument.

And then you'd get, "I'm going to tell

my pastor.

I'm gonna I'm gonna after this class,

I'm going to call my mom. I'm going to

go to the dean." And I'm just like,

look, they they know what day it is.

They're expecting you, you know, just

okay, just go ahead.

This is every semester,

okay? They get it. And I would tell

them, look, I'm doing this to you

because I don't want someone who is

hostile to your faith to do it to you

>> because they will destroy you.

Okay? It it would take it would take

five minutes

to destroy you

and some would enjoy it.

I mean, these ideas make you vulnerable.

What about soul and spirit? Well, the

Hebrew word for soul is nephesh. Guess

what? Animals have that in Genesis 2:7.

So, that's not unique to humans.

Genesis 1:21, another verse. Animals

have that. Every living creature,

nephesha,

living creature. See, it's obscured in

your English translations. You don't

know that's the word for soul, but it

is.

They also have a ruach, the word for

spirit. Ecclesiastes 3:21, it just

refers to animate life. There's animate

life and then there's like plant life.

Okay,

man. What about the nishmatim, the

breath of life? Well, that's nice.

Genesis 7:22 and 23 attributes that all

land animals as well.

Again, it would take five minutes.

So, what is Okay, you know, inevitably

I'd get, okay, smart guy, what is it?

You know, they get they'd get angry

and I'd say, I'm glad you asked the

question

because it's important.

So God created man in his own image is

how most translations

have this. I'm going to suggest that we

need to think of the image as a function

or role rather than a quality or

attribute

inside a person because those qualities

and attributes are not unique. Humans

don't possess them equally and in some

cases they can be perceived as being

even lost again like the coma situation.

The image is something

that's a function. Let me let me

illustrate in English.

If I say

in, believe it or not, this this is

really about a single that little

preposition in in Hebrew, it's b the

letter betm

in the image. Okay? If I say put the

dishes in the sink, the word in denotes

what?

Location. It's in the sink.

If I say I wrote the letter in pencil.

Now, I'm not talking about location. I'm

not using that little preposition to

denote location. I'm talking about the

instrument I used to do some writing.

the tool has a totally different

semantic, totally different meaning. If

I say I broke the vase in pieces,

I'm not talking about instrument now or

location. I'm talking about some result

of some action that I did.

Okay, try this one. If I say I work in

medicine,

I work in ministry. I work in

accounting. I work in education. What do

I mean?

Means I work as

a doctor, a PA, a nurse. I work as a

pastor,

you know, somebody, you know, a staff

person, some ministerial function of any

kind, any type. I work as an accountant.

I work as a principal, a teacher, an

administrator, whatever. It describes

function

or role.

That is what Genesis 1:26 is getting at.

Now I can take you into the Hebrew

grammar and talk about the bet of you

predication, the bet essentia and all

that fancy Latin grammar stuff.

This is a known category for the meaning

of in function. How does it work out

practically? Try to think of it as a

verb rather than a noun.

Every human being is an imager of God.

God's original intent was to create

creatures like him to essentially be him

as if he were there. They are his proxy.

They are his representative, his agent

to do things.

Every human being is an imager of God.

Another way to illustrate this is to go

to one of the ten commandments.

This is a familiar one. You shall not

take the name of the Lord your God in

vain. For the Lord will not hold him

guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Now we are sort of taught to think that

this commandment is about swearing. You

know the the the verbal

utterance of God's name in some

defamatory or you know useless way.

I want you to see something again that's

obscured in English.

take

is the Hebrew verb nasa. And I'm going

to do

just bear with me here. I'm going to run

a quick search just to show you a point.

This is often the term you'll look at

the options over here that is translated

to bear, to carry, to support, to lift.

Okay? It's a verb that means all those

things. Lift, carry, take, take up, pick

up, that sort of thing. to bear.

Thou shalt not bear the name of the Lord

thy God in vain. What does it mean to

bear a name?

It means to be associated with it.

I bear the name Christian. I bear the

name, you know, like Logos employee.

I am an extension

of that name.

I'm responsible for its reputation.

>> Okay? To bear the name means to be a

representative of that name. Then the

New Testament expresses this really

nicely when Paul tells Peter, "Let

everyone who names the name of Christ

depart from iniquity."

Imaging

God

and bearing the name are two related

concepts. It's really two ways of saying

the same thing. Humanity was the

representative of God, was the agent of

God on on earth. To be human is to be

the image of God. It doesn't matter if

you're a few cells in a woman's womb. It

doesn't matter if you're old and you've

lost your memory. It doesn't matter if

you're in a coma. You if you are human,

you are God's imager.

End of story. It doesn't matter what

race,

what income level. I mean, look at all

the ways our our culture divides people

up into groups. I mean, we live we live

in a day when the best word for it is

tribalism.

It's like we all want to be in in these

little tribes and then they fight with

each other constantly.

You know that is that is so chaotically

contrary to God's vision for humanity

and the fact that God actually tells you

how he looks at people.

Every person God looks at as his

representation.

They are they are him as it were on

earth. Now that gets ruined by the fall.

We enter into rebellion.

We have the problem of sin.

We are all in rebellion and we need to

be brought back into the family of God

where we can actually function like God

wants us to do. When we can actually

represent him well, the way he wants

things done. But every person you bump

into

is a potential candidate. Not not

candid. It's not a really a good word,

but every person you bump into is an

aranged family member

who was created for a specific reason

and that is to image God, to participate

with God, to complete the tasks God

wants, to give the earth the kind of

life God wants people to have.

It all goes back to Genesis 1 to this

concept of imaging

bearing the name representation. Again,

in a fallen world, the redeemed are the

ones who can do this as intended and

we're all estranged from God.

Thankfully, we have a template. It's no

coincidence that imaging language is

used of Jesus.

Again, it's not like a lucky a lucky

correlation.

Oh, Paul got lucky. He used the word

image a few times. You know, I bet he

wasn't thinking about Genesis 1. I bet

he was.

I bet he was thinking about

representation of God. The God of this

world has blinded the minds of the

unbelievers to keep them from seeing the

light of the gospel, the glory of

Christ, who is the image of God. He's

the perfect image. He is the perfect

representative.

If you've seen me, Jesus said, you have

seen the father.

God has predestinated that all who

believe will ultimately be conformed to

the image of his son. Does that mean we

all look like Jesus? Be kind of sad if

you're a woman. You know, it's just

like, you know, I like the way I look.

You know, we again, look at how we think

of this stuff. I'll be at my ideal

weight. I'll have more hair. You know,

can can we like not literalize

everything so often? I mean, there's

just bigger stuff going on. You know, in

1 John 3, 1 John 3, it says, "Behold

what manner of love the father has

bestowed upon us that we should be

called and we should be the children of

God." And then John has this little, you

look it up. He has this little

parenthetical thought where he says,

"And that's what we are." And then he

goes on and says, you know, someday we

will be like him.

We will be conformed to his image.

believers have put on the new self which

is being renewed in knowledge after the

image of its creator.

What a coincidence.

We all with unveiled face beholding the

glory of the Lord are being transformed

into the same image from one degree of

glory to another. To image God is to

become more like him. To use Jesus as

your example.

You follow Jesus. You imitate Jesus.

Folks, this is disciplehip, which is

something that's basically lost in the

modern church. Okay? This is

disciplehip. You be you you follow

Jesus. You mimic him. You know, his

behavior, his attitudes, what you know

what he would do. And he he gives us

plenty of examples. And when you do

that, you are being conformed to his

image. And he is the perfect image of

God. You are fulfilling your role. This

is what you were intended to be. It's

what every person was intended to be.

All in the same family again, all

participating with God in making the

world the way God wanted it to be in the

first place.

That's the task. And we've quoted 2

Timothy 2:19 already. So, what about the

plurals? Again, I don't think this is a

conundrum. Let's start with what's

clear. God is the lone creator of all

things in heaven and earth, visible and

invisible, earthly world, spiritual

world. Colossians 1 tells us that we

image God our creator. That is we serve,

we partner with him as his agents, his

representatives, his proxies in our

sphere which is this world. They do the

same thing in their world. They have the

same father, the same creator.

The reason it's plural is because it

loops them into the conversation. His

supernatural children, the members of

his host, the council, whatever again

metaphor you you want. They image God,

their creator in the spiritual realm. We

are to be mirror images. Pardon the pun.

It's deliberate in this case. We are

mirror images of each other. As in

heaven,

so on earth.

Okay,

it's, you know, our father who art in

heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy

kingdom come, thy will be done on earth

as it is in heaven.

God has two families in Eden because

heaven came to earth. You realize again

that's what Eden is. This is where

heaven comes to earth. God dwells among

men. He creates a human family to

coexist

and co-partner with the supernatural

family that already exists where God is

his family. His entourage is with them.

He has a conversation with them. It's

not the only time when he says, "Hey,

let us do this or that." God has

conversations with the members of the

host in other places in Genesis

in Eden.

They're there. We're there. God's

original plan was to have these two

families together. You realize what that

means? It means humanity was created to

be fit

for God's presence.

That's the original plan.

They're not barred from entry.

They belong there. The most normal thing

in God's mind is for humans to be with

him

>> because his other children are with him.

He didn't create them to be separate. He

created them to be one. This is why at

the end of the road in sanctification,

get a long, you know, fancy theological

term for when we're glorified after

death or after the Lord comes,

we become like him, like Jesus. We don't

we don't merely become like angels. And

we learn why in Hebrews 2. Because the

second person of the Godhead became a

man to redeem man. So we are actually

made like him. A little little bit above

them. A little bit above the angels, you

know.

>> But we are we are there together

in the new earth. You realize the Bible

ends in Revelation the way it began in

Genesis. It's just a new Eden and now

it's global. But everybody who's there

belongs there.

It's the most normal thing to think in

God's mind.

The most abnormal thing for God to think

is that his family is estranged from

him. Both his supernatural family

members rebel and his human family

members rebel.

They turn their backs on the things God

wants them to have because they want

autonomy.

They want control.

They want self-ruule.

They want it so badly that they're

willing to throw away all that they have

to think they're in control of their own

lives, their own situations.

They make their own autonomous

decisions.

That's abnormal for, you know, in God's

mind. That's what he doesn't want.

Again, the plurals co-representation is

the key idea. Let's talk a little bit

about rebellion and evil.

Now, when whenever I jump into this, the

question naturally comes up. Well,

didn't God know what that was going to

happen?

Of course, God knew that was going to

happen.

He's an omnisient being.

Of course, he knows what's going to

happen.

Well,

you know, then why did he do it? Why did

why did he make us? It's it's it's a

related question is why is there evil?

Can't God just get rid of evil? If he

doesn't get rid of evil, he can't be

good. You know why God doesn't get rid

of evil?

How many of you are XFiles fans? This is

going to date me a little bit. Okay.

There's this wonderful episode in the

XFiles

where Moulder and Scully find a genie,

you know, rolled up in the carpet. Okay.

And Moulder figures out this is a genie

like like an Aladdin.

And so the genie says, "Well,

congratulations, Num Skull. You get

three wishes." Okay. And so his first

wish, it's it's the it's the, you know,

caricature wish. I want world peace.

And then Moulder goes outside of the

room that they're in and everybody's

gone.

And he and he's he's running down the

street. Scully, Scully, surely Scully's

here. You know, it's like, nope.

Got any more wishes?

You know, so it's a good illustration.

Yes, God could wipe out evil like that,

but to do it, he has to wipe out all the

beings he has made who are like him.

Because when we're created as God's

images and when they were created as

God's images, you know, they're co-ers

just in different realms,

they are his representatives. Well, to

do the job of sort of being God, being a

partner with God, to do that job, God

shared his attributes with us. In

theology, they're called communicable

attributes. That's your impressive

theological term for the day. Okay?

There are attributes God shares.

Creativity, intelligence, rationality,

emotions, and freedom.

Free will. You can't eliminate that one

and keep the rest of them because then

you wouldn't really be like God, would

you?

>> Free will is actually essential to

imaging to the whole concept.

Now, God knew that. You know what?

I still think this is a really good idea

because it's what I want. I see the end

goal. I want a a human family, an

earthly family with my supernatural

family.

I want them together. I want to enjoy

them part partnering with me in their

realm like I enjoy you partnering with

me in the supernatural realm. I want a

family. It's it's the natural impulse of

God to want a family

and to want partners.

But I know

that when I make them as my images

and I share my attributes,

I also am aware of one other thing.

They're not me.

They're like me, but they're not me.

That means they lack my perfect nature.

That means at some point

they're going to abuse the good gifts

that I've given them.

And God's right. Rebellion happens in

the supernatural realm and it happens in

the earthly realm. Now, what does it

tell you about God, though? You say,

"Well, that's not very satisfying

because because look at all the misery.

Look at all the the violence. Look at

all the bad stuff in the earth, you

know, and we look at all the suffering.

Since we know that wasn't what God

intended, God hates it, too.

But here's the here's the key point.

In God's mind, and you can blame God for

this decision if you like.

In God's mind,

the terrible things that would result

from his initial decision to make us

was better than not having us at all.

>> You know, at the end of the day, God

makes that call. Now, you can sit there

and be the proud atheist and say, "Well,

I would rather not exist."

Yeah.

Well, then why don't you just go out

and, you know, jump off a bridge then?

You know, show us the the commitment to

your own statement. You know, here's a

truck coming by. Let's have it. Okay.

They're lying to you.

>> They're just trying to win a debate.

>> Okay. We And we have to have, you know,

we want life. Life is a is is a

wonderful thing. And even with

suffering, I mean, some of the people

who suffer the most will tell you that

life is a wonderful thing because they

they kind of know, you know, from one

end to the other.

And you know, we have to come to grips

with suffering. That's why we were

created to be family, to be community,

to alleviate the suffering of family

members, to alleviate the suffering of

other images of God. If you looked at

people this way,

you might actually, you know, get off

your butt and do something. Okay? You

know, let's be honest. I I often compare

or and you all know the difference here.

And again, I'm I'm going to I'm going to

be critical of just church in general.

Uh again, not every not every place I've

been in church, you know, it hasn't been

this experience, but I've seen it. A lot

of churches tend to treat people and

even a lot of small groups, a lot of

Christians tend to treat the collective

like it's a business

instead of a family.

>> You know, you would think differently if

you had some person in church come up to

you and say, you know, I can't pay my

rent this month. I don't know what I'm

going to do.

If that was your brother, you'd know

what to do.

>> Okay? If that was your sister, you

wouldn't even have to think twice about

it.

It's it's it's a whole different mental

dynamic.

Okay, that that is how God looks at us.

That's the kind of thing God has as an

expectation if we will get it into our

heads again. If we would if we would

think of ourselves the way God thinks of

us, okay, as as humans and especially

within the church because we're no

longer estranged, we are redeemed. We

were brought back into the family. We

have the Holy Spirit to assist us. We

have other people who are like-minded.

This should be the most normal thing in

the world. And you know, if it actually

happened and when it happens, because it

does happen, if it actually happened

with frequency, do you think people

would notice?

>> Of course they notice because it's

abnormal.

Okay. It's not the norm.

It gives you a little taste of what life

should be like

again in in God's world. It all goes

back to this imaging concept. And yes,

there's evil and there's suffering. But

again, God was willing to be grieved

himself.

You think you're you're you're grieved

about suffering because of the stuff you

see in the world. God sees everything.

Okay? You don't have anything up on God.

You don't have a greater awareness of

the of the misery and the suffering of

the world than than God does. He is

fully aware.

This is why scripture God hates evil. It

grieves him.

Now, did he know it was going to happen?

Yeah, he did. But that was preferable

than never having us at all.

Yeah. It's that that is is just God's

nature. Now God is actively

trying working with people through

people to be his agents again and and

it's the redeem that can function in

this way the way that that it was all

intended to work. God is actively

engaged with people

to bring estranged imagers back into the

family. We call that evangelism. Okay?

giving them the gospel and then building

a community where suffering is

alleviated. It's never going to be

totally removed because that's the age

to come. But in this age, we have to try

to address it.

Again, this is what God wants.

Now, the the question that goes with

this is, you know, you inevitably wind

up in this predestination, you know,

conversation. Let me just click out to a

verse because I think this one's really

important, too. Yeah, God knew what was

going to happen. Well, well, then if he

forneew it, he then he this is what God

wants. He predestinated it. He wants

suffering. He's corrupt. He's evil. You

know, he's this, that, and the other

thing. Well, really, I think you're

making some assumptions there.

And I love to go to this passage. It's

not the only one of its kind, but I

think it's the clearest.

This is David at Kyla. And you say,

"Good grief, I know who David is, but

you know, Kylo, I'm probably gonna

forget that name." It's okay. Just

remember the story.

David is fleeing from Saul like he does

most of the time, okay? Until he becomes

king. Just read through the passage. Now

they told David, you know, somebody

tells David, "Behold,

the Philistines, who I like to

characterize as the Klingons of the Old

Testament,

the Philistines are fighting against

Kyla

and are robbing the the threshing

floors. That's where they store food.

That's that's bad because people like to

eat. At least I do." Therefore, David

inquired of the Lord, "Should I go up

and attack these Philistines?"

And the Lord said to David, "Go and

attack the Philistines and save Kila."

But David's men said to him, "Behold,

we're afraid here in Judah." I mean, how

much more than if we go to Kila against

the armies of the Philistines. So,

they're safe in Judah. They're holed up.

You know, that's they're they're away

from Saul's gang. You know, they're a

small group. Saul has a whole army. If

they leave this the relative safety of

where they're at and they go up to the

Philistines and they're kind of exposed.

Plus, it's the Philistines. They're just

nasty.

So David says, 'Well, let me go ask God

again.' David inquired of the Lord

again. And the Lord answered him,"Get

up.

Arise, go down to Kila, for I will give

the Philistines into your hand."

Translation, "Just tell your men not to

worry." Okay. David and his men went to

Kyla and fought with the Philistines and

brought away their livestock and struck

them with a great blow. So David saved

the inhabitants of Kyla. David's the

hero. He saves the city. When Abiar the

son of Aimilec had fled to David to

Kila. So this is another character in

the bigger story of David. He hears that

David's, you know, going to Kyla. So he

wants to go down and talk, you know,

talk there. He had come down with an

ephod in his hand. This is probably part

of the breastplate of the high priest.

Again, this is after the Mosaic era,

but it's it's the thing one of the

things that God had told them to use to

ask questions of God, to inquire of God.

So, the the priest comes down. It was

told Saul that David had come to Kila.

So, not only does Aimilec hear, but Saul

hears that David is in Kila. We don't

know how he heard, but he gets wind of

this. And Saul's like, "Oh, this is

awesome."

Saul said, 'God has given him into my

hand, for he has shut himself in by

entering a town that has gates and bars.

That David is a

Okay, why is that a big deal? Because

David's inside the city. It has gates

and bars. You know what Saul's going to

do? This is siege warfare.

You just take your men down there and

you surround the city. And then you

wait.

You cut off food going in. You cut off

water going in. and you just wait and

you say, "The people in your city will

get to eat and drink

when we get David.

Hand him over and we're out of here.

Life goes back to normal."

So Saul's like, "This idiot has entered

into a walled city."

Saul summoned all the people to war to

go down to Kyla to besiege David.

Let's go back up here a little bit.

Okay. Saul summoned all the people to go

to war to go down to David or to go down

to Kyla to besiege David and his men.

David knew. So now David somehow hears

that Saul has found out and he's

plotting harm against him.

And he said to Abiatha the priest, "Hey,

better bring the ephod over here.

I have some questions for God." So then

David said, "Oh Lord, the God of Israel,

your servant has surely heard that Saul

seeks to come to Kila to destroy the

city on my account.

Will the men of Kyla surrender me into

his hand?"

Will Saul come down as your servant has

heard? So he asked two questions. Is

Saul going to come down here? And when

he does, will the men of the city turn

me over to Saul?

Oh Lord, the God of Israel, please tell

your servant.

There.

Okay, I'm getting lost here. There we

go.

Come on.

Right here.

Okay. Please tell your servant. And the

Lord said he will come down.

Then David said, 'Will the men of Kyla,

I mean, he asked it again. Will the men

of Kila surrender me and my men into the

hand of Saul? And the Lord said, 'Yep,

they will surrender you. They're going

to hand you over. Now, what if you were

David, what would you do?

You would do what David does. Uh, let's

get out of here.

David leaves. And if we read the rest of

the chapter, we've realized Saul hears

that, too, and he turns around and goes

home. Now, do you get the point? God

forneew things that never happened.

Saul does not get to the city and the

men do not hand David over because David

ain't there.

Fore

does not necessitate predestination.

>> Okay? God fornows two things that never

happen. If they were predestinated,

they'd have to happen.

>> So don't go blaming God

>> for wanting evil.

>> You can blame God for giving you life

>> and making you like him, which included

the attribute of freedom,

but you can only blame yourself for

abusing the good gift of God.

Okay, that's the point.

So, if you if you take this back to

Genesis, what does God want?

He wants a family.

God knows, again, pardon the pun, the

fallout of the decision. He knows that

evil's going to arise up because we're

not him. We like him, but we're not him.

But God would rather have us

and have that circumstance develop and

be grieved by it even more than we are

than never have us at all.

The the problem, you know, the

disconnect for us is we don't not only

don't we look at we don't look at other

people this way, we don't even look at

ourselves that way.

You know it it

Stovall I know talks a lot about and and

you know I talk a lot about

identity and mission.

It all goes back to this. God wants

humans in his family. He wants humans

sharing space with his presence. That is

the most normal condition

for God when he thinks of humans because

that is what he originally planned.

God's work. And we're going to talk

about in the next session that we're

going to talk about the rebellions and

the meta narrative and how rebellions

just especially supernatural rebellion

just sort of change the landscape and

how that leads up to the mission of

Jesus and our mission as as images of

Jesus. But that whole, you know, set of

circumstances,

what God wants never changes.

There was never a plan B.

There is only plan A. Because the meta

narrative of scripture is going to be

now that we've had rebellion, now that

we've had the fall and we've had there's

going to be more than one fall, more

than one supernatural rebellion, more

than one human rebellion. Now that we

have essentially the world, you know,

going to hell in the hand basket as the

idiom, you know, we we use to express

it, just this total chaos.

God doesn't say,

"I must have had a bad day.

Maybe I can fix this with some other

plan."

There is no other plan.

So the story of the Bible is God trying

to return humanity back to recover its

identity

>> to bring people back into the family and

then partner with him to repeat the

process.

That's what it's all about. And we are

constantly thwarted by supernatural

enemies and the humans that are deceived

by those supernatural enemies and the

effects that supernatural rebellion has

on us to impede

God getting his way.