Section 3
of Christ not only brought God down to man's level, but it also uplifted man to God's level. By creation man had both the image of God and the likeness of God, but he did not have in him the reality of God. The incarnation brought the real ity of God into man. The Lord Jesus had not only God's image and likeness; He also embodied the reality of God, for God was in Him. In principle, the same is true of everyone who has been regen erated. As regenerated persons, we not only bear the image of God and have the likeness of God, but we also have within us the reality of God.
A VESSEL TO CONTAIN GOD
The Bible reveals that man was created as a vessel to contain God. In Romans 9:21 Paul speaks of vessels to honor and in 9:23, of vessels of mercy prepared unto glory. God Himself is the real honor and glory. Therefore, the fact that we are vessels to honor prepared unto glory means that we have been designed to contain God as our honor and glory.
We may use a glove as an illustration of man as a vessel, a container, of God. Because the pur pose of a glove is to contain the hand, the glove is made in the likeness of the hand. The hand has a thumb and four fingers, and the glove also