We are called to imitate Christ. We are being made in His likeness. He was the fullness of the Godhead bodily. I am sure it is our desire to be conformed to His image, to become who He is. For as Christ is, so we are in this world.
We must be the Messiah to the world. Everyone of us belongs to the Messiah. We are His called-out ones, His servants. We, the body of called-out ones, are His body. Therefore we are His. We are the body of the Messiah, we represent and present Him to the world and to His people. We accomplish the work which He commands us to do, the will of the Father.
We are the sheep. Messiah is the shepherd.
The fullness of His nature, His character, and His perfection is attributed to us, meaning, imputed to us. And they are being imparted to us daily. Who is the Messiah? It is He upon whom the hopes of Israel rests.
The character of the Messiah is one which we must become. The Character of the Messiah, then, is the Holy Spirit-imputed impulse, motivation, and ability to do what is right (righteousness; the will of God) according to His highest standard of perfection, Christ (The Messiah).
The Nature of God is what is natural to God; and that is what must be natural for us to do. The Nature of the Messiah must become our nature. We are not a naturally righteous, holy, and sanctified people; the Messiah is holy and righteous. Character is the person that we are. The Character of Christ is who we are being made to be.
Adam was created in the image of haShem (the LORD). Seth was born in Adam’s image. We are born in the image of our parents. However the Messiah is the image of the invisible God. You saw no form nor image, haShem told Israel. But haShem appeared to Israel or was manifested to Israel in His Word, the Torah, in His tabernacle, and by mighty signs and wonders. Yeshua is the Torah, Yeshua is the tabernacle, and Yeshua was the mighty sign and wonder Himself.
The nature of the Messiah is as incomprehensible as the nature of God. Yet we know that God is the creator; that He cannot lie; that He is not an idol made with human hands; He is holy (set-apart, wholly other); that He cannot do anything wrong; that He is powerful, etc. We know that the Messiah was perfectly obedient, perfectly humble, perfectly perfect, etc.
Why do we learn character and character qualities? Because these are the qualities of the Messiah Yeshua.
1) Love
Love is the foundation of all Christ-like character, yet it is the pinnacle of Christ-like character. It is simply this. He was love. His execution-stake (cross) was love. He was the manifestation of the love of God. And as He loved us, so we must love God; we must love our brethren; we must love each other; we must love our neighbor; and we must love our enemies. We must love as God loves because He loved us. God’s nature is one of love. Love is perfection. In perfect love, all our actions would correspond and therefore align to the standards of HaShem.
Only a circumcised heart can love God totally, withholding nothing. In the Messiah we are circumcised with the circumcision not made with human hands; we are circumcised off the body of sins of the flesh (carnal nature), buried and immersed with the Messiah, where we also are raised with Him through faith in the working of HaShem.
He was our great teacher. We have become His disciples. “teach us, master, how to pray.” As a student imitates his beloved Rav so we must imitate Yeshua the Messiah. As a student follows his teacher wherever he goes, so we must follow Yeshua. As a student aspires to be like his teacher, we must aspire to be like Him. As a student longs to be chosen by the Teacher, and be taught by Him, so must we. Only, we must walk the path with He walked, live the life He lived, drink the cup that He drank, and that walk must necessitate the execution stake which He bore. As He was executed for righteousness and for the salvation of the world, so must we be, daily. To the world we might as well be dead; to us the world might as well be dead. Is it so difficult?
How long more must be we longing for the leeks and garlic of Egypt? How long shall we temper with the deceitfulness of sin, lest HaShem destroy us in the wilderness. No, the words of this world cannot save us; the life of the living Torah, the milk and honey of the promised land, awaits those called out of Egypt who would indeed go through dry land and let the waters of the Red Sea shut Egypt behind us forever, never to look back, never again to chisel with our own hands the image of a man.
