The Maternal Image of God

The Maternal Image of God
N. Keith Shepherd

I. Introduction

II. The Image of God

Exodus 1:18-21 (NLT) ¹⁸So the king of Egypt called for the midwives. “Why have you done this?” he demanded. “Why have you allowed the boys to live?” ¹⁹“The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women,” the midwives replied. “They are more vigorous and have their babies so quickly that we cannot get there in time.” ²⁰So God was good to the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful. ²¹And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

A. We are created in God’s .

Genesis 1:26-27 (NLT) ²⁶Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” ²⁷So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

B. They were reflecting the character of the Creator.

Genesis 17:1b (NASB) “I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless.”

Genesis 49:25 (NLT) “May the God [El] of your father help you; may the Almighty [Shaddai] bless you with the blessings of the heavens above, and blessings of the watery depths below, and blessings of the breasts [shad] and womb [racham].”

Isaiah 66:13a (NASB) “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you.”

Matthew 23:37 (NLT) “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.”

C. Will I choose the or the mindset?

Exodus 1:18-19 (NLT) ¹⁸So the king of Egypt called for the midwives. “Why have you done this?” he demanded. “Why have you allowed the boys to live?” ¹⁹“The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women,” the midwives replied. “They are more vigorous and have their babies so quickly that we cannot get there in time.”

III. Conclusion