In the Image of God

So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. -Exodus 34:30

The Picture of Dorian Gray

After spending time in the presence of God, the face of Moses shone so brightly that he was forced to wear a veil. Have you ever met a person and concluded his face radiated goodness, or met another and thought his radiated malice? Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), an Irish writer of plays, poetry, short stories, and witticisms, was well known as an advocate of aestheticism – the worship of beauty with little regard for ethics or depth of meaning. Most would agree that he not only advocated for aestheticism but largely lived it out in a mostly public pursuit of pleasure. Wilde, a deathbed convert to Roman Catholicism, wrote only one novel: The Picture of Dorian Gray. Not unlike young Wilde himself, the fictional Dorian is an uncommonly handsome man who has his portrait painted at the height of his innocence, youth, and beauty. Dorian becomes displeased with the painting, for he fears it will be a constant reminder as he ages of what he has lost, and he thus makes a Faustian bargain that the painting, rather than his actual face, bear the upcoming marks of age, bitterness, and a progressively more wicked life. The Picture of Dorian Gray is an insightful look at how a man’s lifestyle can be reflected in his countenance.

God as Trinity

The Trinity is “the central mystery of Christian faith and life.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) #234) God is the Father and Creator, the Son and the Word made Flesh, and the Spirit, the Indwelling Presence of the Father and the Son. God the Father is the Lover, God the Son is the Beloved, and God the Spirit is the Life’s Breath of the Lover and the Beloved. And so, “by sending His only Son and the Spirit of love in the fullness of time… [God] has destined us to share in that exchange of love” (CCC #221)

The Tabernacle and Imago Dei

Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. -Exodus 25:8

The Tabernacle, a word which means “dwelling place” or “sanctuary,” was the portable structure in which God came to dwell among His chosen people while they wandered in the wilderness. In an echo of the Trinity, the Tabernacle was divided into three parts: The Outer Court, The Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place. The Most Holy Place contained the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat, and otherwise remained empty until the Presence of God came down to fill it.

 The God said, “Let Us make Man in Our image, according to Our likeness.”…So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. –Genesis 1:26

Being made in the image and likeness of God makes us distinct from every other creature God put on the earth. So what does it mean to be made in the image of God? The Catechism teaches that it is in Christ, “the image of the invisible God,” that man has been created “in the image and likeness” of the Creator (CCC) 1701. Clarence Larkin (1850-1924) goes further and contended that just as God is Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- so too are human beings; Body, Soul, and Spirit. Larkin refers to the Tabernacle as “a type of the ‘Threefold Nature of Man.'” Citing 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and Hebrews 4:12, Larkin writes:

“The Courtyard represents his Body, the Holy Place his Soul, and the Most Holy Place his Spirit, and as there could be no communication between the Courtyard and the Most Holy Place, only through the Holy Place, so can there be no communication between a man’s Body and Spirit, only through his Soul. After the completion of the Tabernacle, it remained empty of the Presence of God until the Spirit of God descended and took up His abode in the Most Holy Place. So a man may be complete as to body, soul, and spirit, but his spiritual nature will remain unregenerate until the Holy Spirit enters and takes possession of the “spirit” compartment of his nature.”    –Rightly Dividing the Word (pg 87)

The “God-shaped Hole”

This is a fascinating word picture! Human nature “unites the spiritual and material worlds” (CCC355 – see also CCC 369-70) The “spirit compartment” that Larkin writes about could be equated with Blaise Pascal‘s “God-shaped hole” within each of us, which in Pascal’s words “he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.”  We seek power, money, and notoriety, or like Oscar Wilde, beauty and pleasure. None ultimately satisfy.  As St. Augustine (354-430 AD) put it, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in You.”

The New Tabernacle

But if someone’s work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved,but only as through fire.  Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy –1 Corinthians 3:15-17

The Tabernacle, God’s dwelling place among human beings, was eventually replaced by a more permanent structure -the Temple in Jerusalem. There God’s Glory was said to descend at least once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, and has never been rebuilt. Reason tells us that it needn’t be! For if you have accepted the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, you have invited God to dwell within you. You ARE the tabernacle! I heard a sermon once that said the reason we no longer need the Tabernacle for worship is because we now bring the Tabernacle with us. At the Mass, Jesus is present in the Word, and centrally and supremely in the Eucharist, but He just as surely dwells within the true believer. This is an incredible truth, and it is one we should ponder often and deeply.

Whose Image Is On You?