Being God's Proxies: Heaven as the Template for What God Wants on Earth | Michael Heiser
- Andy McIlvain
- 8 hours ago
- 2 min read
Video from John 14:6
Being God's Proxies: Heaven as the Template for What God Wants on Earth | Michael Heiser
"Humans as God’s representatives.
01:54 – Defining "Imaging God" as a verb.
02:58 – Struggles with identity and mission.
04:22 – Plural language in Genesis 1:26.
05:35 – Criteria for the image of God.
08:08 – Misconceptions about the image of God.
11:51 – Human vs. animal soul/spirit terms.
15:13 – Problems with defining "image" as a quality.
19:12 – Functional meaning of the Hebrew "in."
22:51 – The mission to expand Eden.
24:16 – Shared attributes with God.
26:19 – True meaning of "bearing the Name."
29:43 – Jesus as the perfect imager.
32:50 – Imaging as discipleship.
35:39 – Why God addresses the heavenly host.
40:07 – Ancient context of idols vs. humans.
42:07 – Supernatural rebellion and motives.
45:59 – Divine foreknowledge and human freedom.
52:31 – God's intent for a blended family.
54:53 – Shared vocabulary of "Sons of God."
Michael Heiser argues that the biblical phrase “image of God” should be understood not as a static noun describing an inherent quality or attribute humans possess, but as a verb—“imaging God”—that defines humanity’s role and function as God’s representatives on earth. He stresses that this is an intentional, deliberate framing: Genesis 1:26–27 presents humans as created as God’s image (a status) in order to image God (a function), which grounds human identity and mission in divine purpose rather than in variable capacities like intelligence, consciousness, self-awareness, emotions, morality, or even “soul” and “spirit,” all of which either develop incrementally, can be lost (e.g., in Alzheimer’s), or are biblically ascribed to animals as well. Heiser illustrates the danger of attribute-based definitions by showing how they can be turned against pro-life convictions: if the image of God equals rationality or consciousness, then early embryos, the severely cognitively impaired, or those in comas could be said to lack (or only partially possess) the image, thereby undermining the equal, non-incremental, and universal sanctity of human life that Scripture affirms from Genesis 1 through Genesis 5 and 9. Instead, he reads the Hebrew preposition “in” (as in “in our image”) as indicating role or function—parallel to saying “I work in ministry,” i.e., “I work as a minister”—so that “in the image of God” means “as God’s image,” that is, as His authorized agents tasked with stewarding creation and bearing His name responsibly. Within this framework, the plural language of Genesis 1:26 (“Let us make… in our image”) is best understood as God addressing His heavenly council, commissioning humanity to extend His presence and rule on earth as His imagers, a vocation equally given to male and female, wholly possessed from conception, and transmitted generationally, thereby securing human dignity and mission irrespective of ability, age, health, or developmental stage." from the video introduction
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