God is not like anything else. You might say God is incomprehensible.

We see this throughout history, especially within the Bible where those who wrote of their experience of God use the language of simile, that is, where God is likened to something we already know or have experienced but different than.

When the prophet Ezekiel saw a vision of God there were no words that could describe what he saw. He had no frame of reference, so he used the language of simile likening what he saw as a throne, and above this throne was appearance of a man (Ezekiel 1:26-28), but not a man.

Earlier He described the “likeness” of four living creatures that had the “appearance” of men (Ezekiel 1:5-8), but they were nothing like man having four heads, four wings with hands underneath, and straight legs with calves’ hoofs as feet.

Thus, Ezekiel saw the likeness and the appearance of God’s glory, but not the Lord God Himself, because like the Lord said to Moses, “No one may see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20)

And so, to say that man was made in the appearance of God, it doesn’t mean in the physical sense, or in the exact image of. This would make man a replica of God and reduce God in our minds to our status, something we must never do.

We can never reduce God to our understanding, because when we do, we begin to manage Him, and that’s because it’s in our fallen sinful nature to want to have some measure of control.

So how can we believe when there’s no point of reference, no framework to attach our understanding to? We do so through Christ who is God and the exact representation of God.

Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

Jesus also said, “No one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27)