God's Purpose For Man

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(Genesis 1:26-28).</div> <bR> <div> <B>To Have Himself Expressed Through Man</B></div> <bR> <div> God created man in His image and in His likeness.  This means that His desire is for man to express Him according to who He is.  God is love, God is righteous, God is holy, God is light, God is many divine attributes.  He created man with human virtues that correspond to His divine attributes.  Therefore, inherent in all men are the human virtues such as love, joy, the propensity to excel, to be righteous and to be in the light.</div> <bR> <div> Basically, we can say that God made man as a vessel to contain Him (Romans 9:22-23):</div> <bR> <div> And what if God, wishing to demonstrate His wrath and make His power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted for destruction,  23  In order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>vessels of mercy</B></FONT>, which He had before prepared unto glory. </div> <bR> <div> <B>To Redeem Fallen Man</B></div> <bR> <div> Since man became fallen, God also planned to redeem man and bring man back to Himself.  This redemption has already been accomplished in Christ on the cross.</div> <bR> <div> <B>To Annul Man</B></div> <bR> <div> God also intends to annul man, to bring man to nothing through death.  what is God's way to do this?  God's way to annul us is to crucify us in Christ and with Christ (Romans 6:6).</div> <bR> <div> Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slave.  (Romans 6:6)</div> <bR> <div> <B>To Have Man Fulfill His Requirements by Being One with Christ</B></div> <bR> <div> God has planned that man should do everything God requires of him.  However, God does not want man to do this by himself; He wants man to do this by Christ, in Christ, with Christ, through Christ and by being one with Christ.  This means that we need to have a spiritual union, an organic union, with Christ.  In order that we may enter into such a union with Christ, God wants us not only to believe in Christ but to <U>believe into</U> Christ (John 3:15, 16, 18).  To believe into Christ is to have an organic union with Christ, becoming one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17).  In this union we are joined to Christ, we are one with Him, and we are in Him.  Now as those who are one with Him and in Him, we need to do all that God requires by Christ and through Christ.  No longer should we live by ourselves and do things by ourselves, but we should live by Christ and do everything by Christ.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Return to <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="verdana" ><A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Special Topics"><U>Previous Page</U></A></FONT></div> </td> </tr></table></body>