(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

THE FORM OF GOD.

SPECIAL TEXT: "For it pleased the Father that in Him [the Christ] should all fulness dwell. * * * For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Colossians.

NOTES.

The notes of this Lesson are taken from two discourses by the author: one the "Mormon Doctrine of Deity"; the other "Jesus Christ, the Revelation of God," hence the personal character and direct address style that appears in the notes.

1. Need of Revelation for Definite Knowledge of God: We are dependent upon that which God has been pleased to reveal concerning Himself for what we know of Him; especially as to His form, nature and attributes. While it is true, in a certain sense, that the heavens declare God's glory; and "the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world," in a certain sense, "are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made"; and while the spirit in man may be intuitively conscious of the being of God; while the general consent of mankind may confirm man's own consciousness of the divine existence, yet nothing definitely is learned or can be learned concerning the form, nature, or attributes of God from these sources. Now, as of old, man by searching cannot find out God. He cannot "find out the Almighty unto perfection." (Job II, 7.) This can only be learned by revelation. It is the revealed law of the Lord that is perfect, "converting the soul;" it is the statutes of the Lord that are right, "rejoicing the heart;" it is the commandment of the Lord that is pure, "enlightening the eyes;" it is the judgments of the Lord that are "true and righteous altogether." "More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honey comb. Moreover, by them is My servant warned, and in the keeping of them there is great reward." (Psalms 19.)

2. The World's Need of a Revelation of God: In all the survey we have taken of men's conceptions of God in Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern times, in all their doctrines, outside of the revelations of God—nowhere have we found a knowledge of the true and living God. Nowhere a teacher who comes with definite knowledge of this subject of all subjects—a subject so closely related to eternal life, that to know God is said in the scriptures to be life eternal; and, of course, the corollary naturally follows, viz.: not to know God is not to possess eternal life. We can form no other conclusion from the survey we have taken of the world's ideas respecting the existence and nature of God, than that forced upon us—the world stood in sore need of a revelation of God. He whom the Egyptians and Hindoos sought for in their pantheism must be made known. God, whom Confucius would have men respect, but keep at a distance, must draw near. The "Alfader" of the Goths, undefined, incomprehensible to them, must be brought out of the northern darkness into glorious light. The God-idea that prevailed among the Greek philosophers must be brought from the mists of their speculations and made to stand before the world. He whom the Jews were seeking to deny and forsake must be revealed again to the children of men. And lo! when the veil falls from the revelation that God gives of Himself, what form is that which steps forth from the background of the world's ignorance and mystery? A Man, as God lives! Jesus of Nazareth—the great Peasant Teacher of Judea. He is God revealed henceforth to the world. They who thought God impersonal, without form, must know Him henceforth as a person in the form of man. They who have held Him to be without quality, must henceforth know Him as possessed of the qualities of Jesus of Nazareth. They who have regarded him as infinitely terrible, must henceforth know Him also as infinitely gentle. Those who would hold Him at a distance, will now permit Him to draw near. This is the world's mystery revealed. This is God manifested in the flesh. This is the Son of God, who comes to reveal the Father, for He is the express image and likeness of that Father's person, and the likeness of that Father's mind. Henceforth when men shall say, Show us the Father, He shall point to Himself as the complete revelation of the Father, and say, "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father also." Henceforth, when men shall dispute about the "being" and "nature" of God, it shall be a perfect answer to uphold Jesus Christ as the complete, perfect revelation and manifestation of God, and through all the ages it shall be so; there shall be no excuse for men saying they know not God, for all may know Him, from the least to the greatest, so tangible, so real a revelation has God given of Himself in the person and character of Jesus Christ. He lived His life on earth—a life of sorrow and of gentleness, its pathway strewn with actions fraught with mercy, kindness and love. A man He was, approved of God among men, by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by Him. Being delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God, men took, and by wicked hands crucified and slew him; but God raised him up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be holden of it; and exalted Him on high at the right hand of God, whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. (This synopsis of the Christ's life is in Acts, ch. ii.)

Mark you, in all this there is not a word about the mysterious, ineffable generation of the Son of God from the Father, together with all the mysteries that men have gathered together in their learned disquisitions about God. No question is raised as to whether Jesus was made out of nothing or begotten by ineffable generation from the substance of the Father. Whether He is consubstantial, that is, of the same substance with the Father, or only of a similar substance. Nor is there any question raised as to whether Jesus was "begotten before or after time began." All these and a hundred other questions arose after the Christian doctrine of Deity began to come in contact with the Greek and other philosophies. Jesus accepted the existence of God as a settled fact, and proclaimed Himself to be the Son of God: offending the Jews by so doing, for they saw that He made Himself equal with God, (John v, 18) and being a man, held forth Himself to be God (John v: 30-33.) Slow, indeed, were they to learn the great truth plainly revealed in Jesus Christ, that God is a perfect man. Such was Jesus Christ, and He was God manifested in the flesh. "Was," did I say? Nay, "is," I should have said; and such will He remain forever; a spirit He is, clothed with an immortal body, a resurrected body of tangible flesh and bones made eternal, and now dwelling in heaven with His Father, of whom He is the express image and likeness, as well now as when He was on earth; and hence the Father also must be a personage of flesh and bones, as tangible as the exalted man, Christ Jesus the Lord.

3. Jesus Is Called God In the Scriptures: "The first proof I offer for this statement, is from the writings of Isaiah. You remember, perhaps, my former quotation from Isaiah, wherein that prophet says, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel," (Isaiah vii: 14) the interpretation of which name is, according to Matthew "God with us." (Matt. i: 23.) So that this man-child, born of a woman, and called "Immanuel," is God; and, moreover, is "God with us"—that is, with men. The same prophet also says: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." (Isaiah ix: 6.)

All concede that this is in plain allusion to Jesus Christ, and the scriptures here directly call Him "The Mighty God." He is also called God in the testimony of John. Mark this language, for it is a passage around which many ideas center, and to which we shall have occasion to refer several times. In the preface to his Gospel, John says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. * * * And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth."

There can be no question but direct reference is here made to the Lord Jesus Christ, as being the "Word;" and the "Word," or Jesus being with the Father in the beginning, and the "Word," or Jesus Christ, also being God. The "Word," then, as used here by John, is one of the titles of Jesus in his pre-existent estate. Why called the "Word" I do not know, unless it is that by a "word" we make an expression; and since Jesus Christ was to be the expression of God, the revelation of God to the children of men, he was for that reason called the "Word."

4. Jesus Declares Himself to be God—the Son of God: Jesus was crucified on the charge that He was an imposter—that he, being a man, said that "God was His Father, making Himself equal with God." (John v:18.)

And again: "For a good work we stone Thee not, but for blasphemy, and because that Thou being a man, makest thyself God." (John x:33.)

Again: when accused before Pilate, who declared he could "find no fault in Him," the Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God." Moreover, the high priest, in the course of the trial before the Sanhedrim of the Jews, directly said to Jesus, "I adjure Thee by the living God, that Thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless, I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." (Matt. xxvii: 63, 64.)

And finally, when Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples after His resurrection, He said unto them, "All power is given unto Me, in heaven and in earth, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Matt. xxviii: 18, 19.) A clearer proclamation of his divinity could not be made than in the statement, "all power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth," especially when it is followed by placing Himself on equal footing with the Father and the Holy Ghost, which He does when he commands His disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Nothing can be added to this, except it be the words of God the Father directly addressed to Jesus, when he says, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." (Heb. i:8.)

5. Jesus Christ to be Worshipped, Hence God: Jesus Christ is to be worshipped by men and angels; and worship is an honor to be paid only to true Deity. The angels of heaven refuse the adoration we call worship. You remember when the Apostle John was on the Isle of Patmos, and God sent a heavenly messenger to him, how the Apostle, over-awed by the brightness of the angel's glory, fell upon his face to worship him, and the angel said: "See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: Worship God." (Rev. xix:10.) So you see the angels refuse divine honors. But the scriptures prove that Jesus was especially to be worshipped; hence He must be Deity:

"For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou are My son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to me a Son. And again, when He bringeth in the First Begotten into the world, He saith, let all the angels of God worship him." (Heb. i: 5, 6.)

The same doctrine is taught in the epistle to the Philippians: "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. ii: 9, 10.)

There are other passages to the same effect, but it is perhaps unnecessary for me to turn to each of these, since the ones here quoted will be sufficient to establish in your minds the fact contended for.

6. Jesus Christ is the Creator Hence God: Jesus Christ is the Creator. Evidence of this is found in the testimony of John from which I have already quoted: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." (John i: 1-4.)

Again in the epistle to the Colossians: "The Father * * * hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. * * * Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him." (Col. i: 12-17.)

Again in Hebrews: "God, Who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds." (Heb. i: 1.)

Now we begin to see the relation of the Father and the Son; for though the "Word" be God, though "Immanuel" is God, that is, "God with us," He does not displace God the Father, but stands in the relationship of a son to Him. Under the direction of the Father, He created worlds, and in this manner is the Creator of our earth, and the heavens connected with the earth. And everywhere the scriptures command that men should worship the Creator. In fact, the burden of the cry of that angel who is to restore the gospel in the hour of God's judgment is: "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven and earth and the seas and the fountains of waters." (Rev. xiv: 7.)

7. Jesus Christ Equal with God the Father, Hence God: After the resurrection, Jesus appeared unto His disciples, and said to them, as recorded in the closing chapter of Matthew: "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." (Matt. xxviii: 18, 19.)

Observe that the Lord Jesus Christ is placed upon a footing of equal dignity with God the Father, and with the Holy Ghost. This brings to mind the scripture of Paul, where he says, speaking of Jesus: "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." (Phil. ii: 6.)

So also is Christ given equal station with the Father and with the Holy Ghost in the apostolic benediction over and over again. "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all."

In these several passages we have Jesus Christ, after His resurrection, asserting that all power had been given unto Him, both in heaven and in earth; He is placed upon a footing of equal dignity with God the Father in the holy Trinity—in the Grand Triumvirate which constitutes the Presiding Council or Godhead reigning over our heavens and our earth—hence God.

I now wish to give you the proof that Jesus Christ is the express image of the Father; the express image of His person, as well as the revelation of the attributes of God.

Following that language in Hebrews where Jesus is spoken of as having created worlds under the direction of the Father, it is said: "Who being the brightness of His [the Father's] glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." (Heb. iii: 3.)

So Paul to the Corinthians: "The God of this world hath blinded the minds of those which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." (II Cor. iv: 4.)

So also, in his letter to the Colossians, when speaking of Christ, Paul says: "Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature." (Col. i: 5.)

Being "the express image of His person," then the "image of the invisible God," Jesus becomes a revelation of the person of God to the children of men, as well as a revelation of His character and attributes. Again, you have the scriptures saying: "For it pleased the Father that in Him [Christ Jesus] should all fulness dwell. * * * For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." (Col. i: 19; ii: 9.)

All there is, then, in God, there is in Jesus Christ. All that Jesus Christ is, God is. And Jesus Christ is an immortal man of flesh and bone and spirit, and with His Father and the Holy Spirit will reign eternally in the heavens, verily the Godhead.

8. God Created Man in His Own Image: Let us now consider the form of God. In those scriptures which take us back to the days of creation, when God created the earth and all things therein—God is represented as saying to someone: "Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. * * * So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him, male and female created He them." (Gen. i: 26, 27.)

Now, if that were untouched by "philosophy," I think it would not be difficult to understand. Man was created in the image and likeness of God. What idea does this language convey to the mind of man, except that man, when his creation was completed, stood forth the counterpart of God in form? But neither philosophers nor theologians have been willing to let it stand so. They will not have God limited to any form. They will not have Him prescribed by the extensions of His person to some line or other of limitation. No: He must needs be in His person, as well as in mind or spirit, all-pervading, filling the universe with His "being," with a center nowhere, with a circumference everywhere. We must expand the person of God out until it fills the universe. And so they tell us that this plain, simple, straightforward language of Moses, which says that man was created in the image of God—and which everybody can understand—means, not the "full length" image of God, but God's "moral image!" Man was created in the "moral image" of God, they say.

The meaning of this language from the 26th and 27th verses of the first chapter of Genesis, is made perfectly clear when compared with the third verse of the fifth chapter of Genesis, where it is written: "And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth." What do these words imply, but that Seth was like his father in features, and also, doubtless, in intellectual and moral qualities? And if, when it is said Adam begat a son in his "own likeness, after his image," it simply means that Seth, in form and features, and intellectual and moral qualities, was like his father—then there can be no other conclusion formed upon the passage that says God created man in his own image and likeness, than that man, in a general way, in form and feature, and intellectual and moral qualities, was like God.

9. Bodily Form May Not be Excluded from Being "In God's Image": It is rather refreshing, in the midst of so much nonsense that is uttered upon this subject, in order to hide the truth and perpetuate the false notions of a paganized Christianity, to find now and then a Christian scholar who rises out of the vagaries of modern Christianity and proclaims the straightforward truth. Let me read to you the words of such an one—the Rev. Dr. Charles A. Briggs. It may be said, of course, by Presbyterians that Dr. Briggs is a heretic; that he has been cast out of their church. Grant it; but with open arms he has been received by the Episcopal church, and ordained into its priesthood; and has an influence that is considerable in the Christian world. But however heretical Dr. Briggs' opinions may be considered by his former Presbyterian brethren, his scholarship at least cannot be challenged. Speaking of man being formed in the image and likeness of God, he says:

"Some theologians refer the form to the higher nature of man [that is, to that 'moral image' in likeness of which it is supposed man was created]; but there is nothing in the text or context to suggest such an interpretation. The context urges us to think of the entire man as distinguished from the lower forms of creation—that which is essential to man, and may be communicated by descent to his seed.—The bodily form cannot be excluded from the representation." (Messianic Prophecy, p. 70.)

I say it is rather refreshing to hear one speak like that, whose scholarship, at least, is above all question. And yet still another voice; and this time from one who stands high in scientific circles, one who has written a work on the "Harmony of the Bible and Science," which is a most valuable contribution to that branch of literature. The gentleman I speak of is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and principal of the College at Highbury New Park, England. On this subject of man being created in the image of God, he says: "I think the statement that man was made in the Divine image is intended to be more literal than we generally suppose; for judging from what we read throughout the scriptures, it seems very clear that our Lord, as well as the angels, had a bodily form similar to that of man, only far more spiritual and far more glorious; but which, however, is invisible to man, unless special capabilities of sight are given him, like that experienced by Elisha's servant when, in answer to the prophet's prayer, he saw the heavenly hosts surrounding the city of Dothan."

After discussing this question at some length, and bringing to bear upon it numerous Biblical illustrations, this celebrated man—Dr. Samuel Kinns—whose scientific and scholarly standing I have already referred to, speaks of the effect of this belief upon man, and thus concludes his statement on that head: "I am sure if a man would only consider a little more the divinity of His human form, and would remember that God has indeed created him in His own image, the thought would so elevate and refine him that he would feel it his duty to glorify God in His body as well as in His spirit."

10. Captain of the Lord's Host—A Deity: But we have higher and better authority to which we can appeal—the scriptures. And here I pass by that marvelous appearance of God unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre, when three "men" came into his tent, one of whom was the Lord, who conversed with him, and partook of his hospitality, and disclosed to him His intention with reference to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Gen. xviii.)

I come now to that marvelous revelation of God to Joshua, when Joshua drew near to Jericho and saw a person in the form of a man standing with sword in hand. Joshua approached him and said: "Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?" "Nay," replied the person, "but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come." And Joshua bowed himself to the very earth in reverence, and worshipped that august warrior. (Joshua v: 13, 14.) Do not tell me that it was an "angel"; for had it been an angel, the divine homage paid by Israel's grand old warrior would have been forbidden. Do you not remember the time when John, the beloved disciple, stood in the presence of an angel and, awed by the glory of his presence, he bowed down to worship him, and how the angel quickly caught him up and said: "See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God!" (Rev. xvii: 8, 9. Also Rev. xix: 10.) The fact that this personage, before whom Joshua bowed to the earth, received without protest divine worship from him, proclaims trumpet-tongued that He indeed was God. Furthermore, that personage bade Joshua to remove the shoes from his feet for even the ground on which he stood was holy.

I call attention to that marvelous vision given of the Son of God to the pagan king of Babylon. This king had cast the three Hebrew children into the fiery furnace, and lo! before his startled vision were "four men" walking about in the furnace, "and," said he, "the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." (Dan. iii: 25.)

The great Apostle to the Gentiles, writing to the Colossian saints, speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, "in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins," as being in the "image of the invisible God." (Col. i, 15.) Again, writing to the Hebrew saints, and speaking of Jesus, he says: "Who, being the brightness of his [the Father's] glory, and the express image of his [the Father's] person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." (Heb. i: 1, 2.)

In the face of these scriptures, will anyone who believes in the Bible say that it is blasphemy to speak of God as being possessed of a bodily form? We find that the Son of God Himself stood among His fellows a man, with all the limitations, as to His body, which pertain to man's body; with head, trunk, and limbs; with eyes, mouth and ears; with affections, with passions; for He exhibited anger as well as love in the course of His ministry; He was a man susceptible to all that man could suffer, called by way of pre-eminence, the "man of sorrows," and one "acquainted with grief"; for in addition to His own, He bore the world's sins, and suffered that men might not suffer if they would but obey His gospel.

11. "What Think Ye of Christ?" What think ye of Christ? Is he God? Yes. Is he man? Yes—there is no doubting it. His resurrection, and the immortality of His body, as well as of His spirit that succeeds His resurrection, is a reality. He Himself attested it in various ways. He appeared to a number of the apostles, who, when they saw him, were seized with fright, supposing they had seen a spirit; but He said unto them, "Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have." (Luke xxiv: 36-39.) Then, in further attestation of the reality of His existence, as if to put away all doubt, He said, "Have ye here any meat?" And they brought Him some broiled fish and honeycomb, and "He did eat before them." (Luke xxiv: 41-43.) Think of it! A resurrected, immortal person actually eating of material food! I wonder that our spiritually-minded friends, both philosophers and theologians, do not arraign Him for such a material act as that after His resurrection!

But not only did the risen Messiah eat in the presence of His disciples, but with His resurrected hands He prepared a meal on the seashore for His own disciples, and invited them to partake of the food which He, with His resurrected hands, had provided. (John xxi: 9-13, and Acts x: 41.) Moreover, for forty days He continued ministering to His disciples after His resurrection, eating and drinking with them (Acts x: 41, and Acts i: 2, 3); and then, as they gathered together on one occasion, lo! He ascended from their midst, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. Presently two personages in white apparel stood beside them and said. "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." (Acts I:11.) What! With His body of flesh and bones, with the marks in His hands and in His feet? Shall He come again in that form? The old Jewish prophet, Zechariah, foresaw that He would. He describes the time of His glorious coming, when His blessed, nail-pierced feet shall touch the Mount of Olives again, and it shall cleave in twain, and open a great valley for the escape of the distressed house of Judah, sore oppressed in the siege of their great city, Jerusalem. We are told that "They shall look upon Him Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son," and one shall look upon Him in that day and shall say, "What are these wounds in Thy hands and in Thy feet?" and He shall answer, "These are the wounds that I received in the house of my friends." (Zech. the 12th, 13th and 14th chapters).

What think ye of Christ? Will that resurrected, immortal, glorified man ever be distilled into some bodiless, formless essence, to be diffused as the perfume of a rose is diffused throughout the circumambient air? Will He become an impersonal, incorporeal, immaterial God, without body, without parts, without passions? Will it be? Can it be? What think ye of Christ? Is He God? Is He an exalted man? Yes; in the name of all the Gods He is. And one wonders why Christian ministers arraign the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because they believe and affirm that God is an exalted man, and that He has a body, tangible, immortal, indestructible, and will so remain embodied throughout the countless ages of eternity?—And since the Son is in the form and likeness of the Father, being, as Paul tells us, "in the express image of His [the Father's] person"—so, too, the Father, God must be a man of immortal tabernacle, glorified and exalted: for as the Son is, so also is the Father, a personage of tabernacle, of flesh and of bone as tangible as man's, as tangible as Christ's most glorious, resurrected body (See article in Improvement Era for March, 1910, for further treatment of this theme).