January 2

Genesis 1:26‑27
 
“And 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. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.”―Gen. 1:26, 2726And 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. (Genesis 1:26‑27)
APART from revelation, God must ever remain the Unknowable. It is true that in nature we see marvelous evidences of His power and wisdom, but it is only in the Son that He is told out in all His fullness (John 1:1818No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18)). Jesus came to reveal the Father, for He alone knew Him in the reality of His Being (Matt. 11:2727All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. (Matthew 11:27); Luke 10:2222All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. (Luke 10:22)), He and the Father are one in nature though distinct in person (John 14:99Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? (John 14:9)). In the Old Testament God is revealed as Creator. As such He is the Father of spirits (Heb. 12:99Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? (Hebrews 12:9)) because He is the God of the spirits of all flesh (Num. 16:2222And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation? (Numbers 16:22)). So man, as created originally in the image and likeness of God, was a son of God (Luke 3:3838Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God. (Luke 3:38)). But that image was marred and the likeness lost through sin, so that now it is by regeneration, a new creation, or new birth, that man becomes a member of the family of God and can look up into His face and call Him Father (Gal. 3:26; 4:626For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)
6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6)
).
“Rivers to the ocean run,
Nor stop in all their course;
Fire ascending seeks the sun,
Both speed them to their source;
So my soul, derived from God,
Pants to view His glorious face;
Forward tends to His abode,
To rest in His embrace.”