In the image of God

June 5, 2019

Muslims have just ended Ramadan 2019 by celebrating Eid Al-Fitr. In Egypt, festive tables would have been covered with tablecloths, such as the one shown in the photo, with colourful geometric designs and loaded with food. Islamic art is replete with geometric and calligraphic design because Muhammad prohibited Muslims from creating images of people or animals. He taught them angels won’t enter houses with such images in them, and that on the Day of Resurrection, Allah will challenge artists to breathe life into the pictures they painted (The Simple Truth: The Quran and the Bible Side-by-Side, Samya Johnson, p 5).

Although Christians may not create images to worship, we are encouraged to use our artistic gifts to glorify God. A friend tells Bible stories to Muslims using high-quality flannel graph images. Although it may sound old fashioned in the digital age, it is effective. Recently, a student told her several times, “At last we get to see what happened. We were never allowed to see.”

Very early in the story of God’s purposeful interactions with Abraham’s family, Hagar named God, “The God of Seeing”: “Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You are God Who Sees’; for she said, ‘Have I not even here [in the wilderness] remained alive after seeing Him [who sees me with understanding and compassion]?’” (Ge 16:13 AMP). In fact, Yahweh wanted to be seen so much that He sent His Son to us to make Himself known: “Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father’” (Jn 14:8-9a).

Jesus “is the exact living image [the essential manifestation] of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible], the firstborn [the preeminent one, the sovereign, and the originator] of all creation” (Col 1:15 AMP). When we know this Jesus, the mystery of Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col 1:27), is all the more profound. “Then God said, ‘Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness)…’ So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Ge 1:26-27 AMP). We were created to bear God’s image!

This is a profound revelation that none of us can claim to have figured out through human reasoning. It comes only by the Spirit. This coming Sunday, we celebrate the birth of the Church at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples 50 days after Passover. Since March 6, we have been praying for God to work powerfully to reveal Jesus among Muslims during Passover/Ramadan/Pentecost.

Let’s pray…

  • that the colourful and compelling distractions of Ramadan – fasting, feasting, fellowship, rituals and works with no power to save – will give way before the majesty of King Jesus, the risen Lord of Glory, revealed by God’s outpoured Spirit and
  • for the word of God, which is the Spirit’s living and active sword (Eph 6:17, Heb 4:12), to be boldly proclaimed among Muslims in our actual andvirtual streets as it was to the crowds in the streets of Jerusalem after the first outpouring.

About Leslie

Leslie knows by faith and experience that our heavenly Father puts His prayers in our hearts and then listens to our hearts’ cry as we pray them back to Him. We hear God, and God hears us.

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No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion.

Nelson Mandela

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind. And your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus