Page 15 - Laying Down the Law

The Father’s Plan

hat is the Father’s ultimate thought in regard to mankind? We must answer this
Wquestion if we are to perceive the Law’s role in the greater scheme of things. We
can find the Father’s mind concerning man in the first chapter of the Bible.

Genesis 1:26-28
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over
the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the
earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created
him; male and female He created them.

It was Yahweh’s vision to create a being that was His own image and likeness.
This creature would be so conformed to His own character and being that He would
call him “son,” and the creature would call Yahweh “Father.” Man was to be the exact
likeness of the God who created him. We find this truth declared in the following
passages of Scripture.

Hebrews 1:1-3
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions
and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He
appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He
is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His
nature...

Romans 8:29-30
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become
conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the
firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He
also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He
justified, He also glorified.

Combining the testimony of the above two passages of Scripture we receive the
following revelation. Yahshua, the firstborn Son of God, is the exact representation
of Yahweh’s nature. Yahshua declared this openly when He told Thomas, “How is it
that you can say, ‘Show me the Father’? If you have seen Me, you have seen the
Father.” Furthermore, the Son of God stated, “I and the Father are One.”
The next passage of Scripture reveals that it is the Father’s plan that mankind
be conformed to the image of His Son. When this is accomplished, Yahshua will then
stand as the firstborn among many brethren. This is the purpose of man’s creation
and the whole thought of Yahweh regarding man. He desired sons in His own image
and likeness. These sons are predestined to be perfect in their resemblance to His