Deliberate Image

(Lecture, Reading, and Thoughts)

There is nothing God does without purpose.

We’ve been studying the “Jordanesque” way to pull a passage of Scripture apart by examining the details, following the footnote trails, and thus gain a broader view of God’s working continuity throughout history. The concept I’ve been wrestling most with as of late is the idea that everything man does is tied to some root ideology or belief.

In the eulogy written for his father, Andrew (?) Postman told of his dad’s deep love for his fellow man, his acknowledged need for community, and his selfless heart. Postman illustrated this by telling the story of family road trips and the fun they’d have at toll booths when his father would pay for the car behind them. The joy and humor it brought to the Postman family when down the road that car would pull up beside them and the occupants would either have an inquisitive look of confusion or an eagerly smiling wave of gratitude, that incident left an impression on a young boy who later saw it as a revealing of his father’s character.

Why did God choose the plagues He did to send upon the Egyptians? Why did He use the imagery of bondservant in context with the hope gospel? Why did He require blood from a particular sacrifice to be put on the right earlobe, right thumb, and right big toe of the priests? Why are there seven days of creation and seven bowl judgments?

If God, Who is above all, in all, and works through all, if God, who created all things but man specifically in His own image, if God works all things out deliberately, is it not right to assume that man too—as image bearer—has a deeper meaning and purpose for all things acted out. Granted, because the image has been distorted by man’s fall from grace, the deliberateness on man’s part is both perverted and often unconscious. But nevertheless, there is nothing man does without purpose. It is only under the grace of our Creator that such purpose can be redeemed to mirror, however dimly, the greater purposes of a deliberate God.