How could the Jews crucify their own Messiah? Why did they despise the Lord Jesus Christ? Why does the world continue to hate Jesus today? How can humanity hate the God who grants them their very next breath? The world hates Him because He exposes their evil deeds (John 7:6-7). Just as people hated Jesus in the past, they hate Him now, to the extent that they crucified Him.
God created man in His own image and with His own likeness and set the first man, Adam, in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. But Adam sinned by disobeying God, and because we are all his children, we have all inherited his sinful nature. Sin is the violation of God’s Law, and the “wages” of sin is death, and so death entered the world and spread to all mankind because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Thus, we are all justly deserving of everlasting punishment—the destruction of body and soul in hell. But even so, in His love, God already had a plan to save and redeem us.
Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart in rebellion. Whoever conceals his sins will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy and forgiveness. If you repent and believe in the gospel, putting your faith in Jesus Christ, you will inherit salvation, which leads to everlasting life. With this salvation comes a necessary spiritual rebirth; God will give you a new heart and His Holy Spirit, which will give you wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, put His Laws on your heart and mind, guide you into all the truth, help you, and comfort you. By the blood of Jesus, sanctifying you and cleansing you of all unrighteousness—conforming you to His image.
If you want to see what this hatred looks like today, consider the numerous experiences of this evangelist who boldly proclaims the truth of Jesus Christ: https://youtu.be/T-FPs3CcEtQ?si=WVcnXuj_A9U6rN9p.
The word used for 'image' in scripture was toar, meaning 'alike in kind, which is to say ideation, not in material form, which is a separate word and considered blasphemy by the learned. The gate is narrow indeed, and downvoters of this abhor he who speaks the truth.
This is an interesting take. To'ar H8389 has a meaning of "shape" or "shapeliness" but, in the traditional understanding, is closely related to material form. Meanwhile the word for "image" in Gen. 1:26 is zhelem H6754 with a meaning of "likeness" or "imagination" and transcends material form. The root of to'ar is drawing (lining), but the root of zhelem is shading (shadowing). So it sounds to me like you're talking about zhelem. Is there some reason you brought in to'ar that isn't obvious on the surface level of the text?
I apologize if I interpolated the two words by mistake (?) I can't view it now. Explanation to follow.
The shadow of ideation is form.
Ideation not form, is the original word/meaning.
This is discussed in detail by Moses Maimonides in 'The Guide for the Perplexed'.
Misspellings are from the site provider to oppose cut-and-paste.
"Some have been of opinion that by the Hebrew z.elem, the shape and figure of a thing is to be understood, and this explanation led men to believe in the corporeality [of the Divine Being] : for they thought that the words " Let us make man in our zelem " (Gen.i. 26), implied that God had the form of a human being, i.e., that He had figure and shape, and that, consequently, He was corporeal. They adhered faithfully to this view, and thought that if they were to relinquish it they would eo ipso reject the truth of the Bible : and further, if they did not conceive God as having a body possessed of face and limbs, similar to their own in appearance, they would have to deny even the existence of God. The sole difference which they admitted, was that He excelled in greatness and splendour, and that His substance was not flesh and blood. Thus far went their conception of the greatness and glory of God. The incorporeality of the Divine Being, and His unity, in the true sense of the word — for there is no real unity without incorporeality — will be fully proved in the course of the present treatise. (Part n.,ch.i.) In this chapter it is our sole intention to explain the meaning of the words zelem and demut. I hold that the Hebrew equivalent of " form " in the ordinary acceptation of the word, viz., the figure and shape of a thing, is toar. Thus we find" [And Joseph was] beautiful in toar ('form'), and beautiful in appearance" (Gen. xxxix. 6): "What form {toar) is he of?" (i Sam. xxviii. 14) : " As the form {toar of the children of a king " (Judges viii. 18). It is also applied to form produced by human labour, as " He marketh its form {toar) with a line," " and he marketh its form {toar) with the compass " (Isa. xliv. 13). This term is not at all applicable to God. The term zelem, on the other hand, signifies the specific form, viz., that which constitutes t-x essence of a thing, whereby the thing is what it is ; the reality of a thing in so far as it is that particular being. In man the " form " is that constituent which gives him human perception : and on account of this intellectual perception the term z,elem is employed in the sentences " In the zelem of God he created him " (Gen. i. 27). It is therefore rightly said, " Thou despisest their zelem " (Ps. Ixiii. 20) ; the " contempt " can only concern the soul — the specific form of man, not the properties and shape of his body. I am also of opinion that the reason why this term is used for " idols " may be found in the circumstance that they are worshipped on account of some idea represented by them, not on account of their figure and shape. For the same reason the term is used in the expression, " the forms {zalem) of your emerods " (i Sam. vi. 5), for the chief object was the removal of the injury caused by the emerods, not a change of their shape. As, however, it must be admitted that the term z^lem is employed in these two cases, viz. " the images of the emerods " and " the idols " on account of the external shape, the term z:.elgm is either a homonym or a hybrid term, and would denote both the specific form and the outward shape, and similar properties relating to the dimensions and the shape of material bodies ; and in the phrase " Let us make man in our zeUm " (Gen. i. 26), the term signifies " the specific form " of man, viz., his intellectual perception, and does not refer to his " figure " or " shape." Thus we have shown the difference between zeUm and toar, and explained the meaning of zelem.
Demut is derived from the verb damah, " he is like." This term likewise denotes agreement with regard to some abstract relation : comp. " I am like a pelican of the wilderness " (Ps. cii. 7) ; the author does not compare himself to the pelican in point of wings and feathers, but in point of sadness. " Nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in beauty" (Ezek. xxxi. 8) ; the comparison refers to the idea of beauty. " Their poison is like the poison of a serpent " (Ps. Iviii. 5) ; " He is like unto a lion " (Ps. xvii. 1 2) ; the resemblance indicated in these passages does not refer to the figure and shape, but to some abstract idea. In the same manner is used " the likeness of the throne " (Ezek. i. 26); the comparison is made with regard to greatness and glory, not, as many believe, with regard to its square form, its breadth, or the length of its legs : this explanation applies also to the phrase " the likeness of the hayyot (" living creatures," Ezek. i. 13).
As man's distinction consists in a property which no other creature on earth possesses, viz., intellectual perception, in the exercise of which he does not employ his senses, nor move his hand or his foot, this perception has been compared — though only apparently, not in truth — to the Divine perception, which requires no corporeal organ. On this account, i.e., on account of the Divine intellect with which man has been endowed, he is said to have been made in the form and likeness of the Almighty, but far from it be the notion that the Supreme Being is corporeal, having a material form."
Correct, thanks!
Man, Adam, Jesus are God's image; man is also man's image. As we have borne Adam's image we can bear Jesus's image.
Most welcome. Didn't mean to preach to the choir. :)