Page 16 - The Mark of the Beast

patriarchs could not say “He who has seen me has seen the father.” None have been able to
make this declaration other than Yahshua. Yahshua was the first man to fulfill the prophetic
words of Genesis chapter 1, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” He
was the first man of whom it could be truly stated that to see Him was to see the Father.
In Genesis then we see the beginning of God’s plan, the seed that is planted in the
ground, but it is much longer before we see the seed come forth to produce that which God
declared to be His intent. Yahshua refers to Himself as “the Son of Man.” More than any
other title, this is what He declares of Himself. Though He was man, He was the first of a
new order of man, for He was the first to have the Holy Spirit indwelling Him. To His
disciples He declared:

John 14:16-17
"And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with
you forever; that is the Spirit of truth..., you know Him because He abides with
you, and will be in you.”

Many men had known the abiding of the Spirit WITH them, and the disciples had even
been able to heal the sick and cast out demons by the power of the Spirit who dwelt WITH
them. But a much fuller relationship would be experienced on Pentecost when the Spirit
would be IN them. In this passage in John’s gospel we see that there was to be a change in
the way that man and the Spirit dwelt together.
Having established then that Yahshua the Messiah was the first Man to fulfill the
words of Genesis chapter one regarding man, being the first to truly bear the image and
likeness of God, we can understand that God planned from the beginning the ages and
stages that man must go through to reach the place of entering into His desire for man. The
six days of creation reveal much of the plan of God to bring us to the last day when Man
(True Man - the second Adam) would be revealed.
As the book of Genesis opens we find that the earth has already fallen into ruin. It has
experienced a judgment that has resulted in chaos and formlessness and darkness. So
quickly does the transition come that many miss it.

Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. But the earth became
formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep...

[For a fuller treatment of the correct rendering of the words of these two verses, and a
deeper exposition of the judgment of the earth that is spoken of here, see the book “God’s
Plan of the Ages.”]

The words had only just been penned that God created the heavens and the earth,
when we read that the earth became formless and void. This description of the earth
corresponds to the first Adam, for we already have read Paul’s words where he declared
“The first Adam was of the earth, earthy,” showing that the first Adam is closely related to
the earth. We also read in Genesis chapter one where God formed man of the dust of the
earth. So the earth and its stages are a picture of man and his stages as God brings him to
the place where he will fully bear the image of God.
Even as the words of Genesis 1:1-2 so quickly progress from the earth being created,