What’s In An Image?

Genesis 1:26-28

Jim Davis

The Buccaneers football team was sold a few years ago. Changing the image of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was one of the first steps taken to breathe new life into the team. Everyone knew they need new life as they rarely won a football game. The first thing the new owners did was to design a new insignia for the team. The old insignia was the face of a swashbuckling Buccaneer’s head wearing a Buccaneer hat. The new image is of a red flag with two skulls and crossed swords. They kept the name Buccaneer, but they sought to give the name a new image. They wanted to give the team a new image to live up to.

Moses sought to give the Israelites a new image to live up to. Moses wrote the book of Genesis as God was leading the children of Israel through the Sinai desert. The first thing Moses did was to remind them that God created them in his own image (Genesis 1:26-28). You can only imagine the image they had of themselves prior to this. They had been enslaved for hundreds of years. Their children were fed to the crocodiles to curb over population. It is little wonder that they made an idol in the image of a bull to lead them as Moses was on the mountain receiving the commandments of God. Try to imagine being made in the image of the One who performed the miracles of the exodus. What a powerful image to live up to. 

Moses reminds the Israelites how God changed Abram’s name to “Abraham,” which means “A father of nations.” God gave Abraham a name to live up to before the promised son was born. God wanted him to believe that he was a father of nations before the event transpired. The new name gave Abram a new identity and a new hope. God was projecting an image for Abram to live up to. How inspiring it must have been for those Egyptian slaves to realize that they were the nation God promised Abraham. 

God changed Jacob’s name to “Israel,” which means, “He will rule as God.” The name “Jacob” meant supplanter or deceiver. Jacob spent his prior years trying to rule his life by his own ingenuity and deception. God gave him a new name to live up to. He would no longer trust in his own ingenuity, but he would rule as God. Of course, he had to start trusting God. What an image to live up to. As the Israelites followed God in the desert of Sinai they should have realized that the “Israel” gave them something to inspire them for their journey. It gave something to live up to as they embraced the idea that they would rule as God. 

When you see the letters “el” in a name in the Old Testament it means the “Almighty One.” When you see the letters “el” in the name Israel it means the “Almighty ones rule.” Daniel’s name has the “el” suffix. “Daniel” mean, “judge of the Almighty” or “judge of God.” As you read the book of Daniel you realize that it was a named he lived up to as he lived out his life as a captive in Babylon. The kings were always seeking wisdom from Daniel because they knew that his wisdom came from God. God gave Daniel an image to live up to that far exceeded Nebuchadnezzar’s image of gold. 

The Bible constantly seeks to remind us of who we are. The psalmist wrote, “God presides in the great assembly; he gives judgment among the "gods": "How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked?” (Psalms 82:1-2 NIV) The psalmist reminded them that God stood in the congregation giving judgment among the “gods.” The congregation was failing to judge the wicked without partiality, so God reminds them that their positions as judges of evil was the position of “gods.” He had placed them as “gods” in his congregation to judge his people. He sought to remind them whom they were in hopes of giving them a new image to live up too.   

Jesus gives us the knowledge we need to live up to the image our Creator. John tells us that the Word, which is Christ, became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Jesus came in the image of the invisible God; the fullness of God dwelt in Jesus (Colossians 1:15-20). He came to remind us of the likeness of the image in which we were created. When you see Jesus you see our Father (John 14:9) in whose image we are made. Paul says, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:9-11 NIV). 

The name “Christian” is a name to remind us of who we are. The word “Christ” meant “the anointed one.” The name “Christian” reminds us that we have an anointing from God. The name gives us a new identity. It reminds us that we are made in God’s image. It gives us a new hope. It gives us something to live up to.

What’s in an image? Everything, especially when the image we have of ourselves is an image given to us by God. “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” What an image to inspire! What an image to instill new hope! It is little wonder that we are called the children of God.