The Bible's "Believer Similitudes" ~ by Angus MacKillop

… or what God likens us to ….

In the Holy Bible, we are all aware that both Jesus and God are called by a multitude of different names which reflect aspects of their character and personhood. See for example, our article entitled “The Names of GOD & JESUS.”

The same is true for God’s confirmed believers, though the list of these names from the Bible is certainly less commonly known. But first, what is a similitude? Doctionary.com says it simply means :

1. a likeness; a resemblance: a similitude of habits,
2. a person or thing that is like or the match or counterpart of another,
3. a semblance; an image: a similitude of the truth,
4. a likening or comparison in the form of a simile, a parable, or an allegory.

Thus God’s “Believer Similitudes” are how God sees His people, His believers. The following list is of course generated by man, but it is a sorting of the Word of God – of how God Himself, sees us. It is not how man sees man, but how God sees man.

Malachi gives an excellent example of how God sees us as we read about the Second Coming of Jesus (Malachi 3:17):

“And they shall be Mine, says Jehovah of Hosts, for the day that I will make up My jewels. And I will pity them as a man has pity on his son who serves him.”

In other words, God sees us as His JEWELS, His treasures, His treasured possession. Again I repeat, this is not what we say about ourselves and what God says about us. How wonderful is that?

The following comprise 35 others ways in which God sees us, sorted into an alphabetical order:

A spiritual house	1 Peter 2:5	“you, too, as living stones, are building yourselves up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, so that you may offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus, the Messiah.”
Ambassadors	2 Corinthians 5:20	“Therefore, we are the Messiah’s ambassadors, as though God were pleading through us. We plead on the Messiah’s behalf: ‘Be reconciled to God!'”
Athletes	2 Timothy 2:5	“Moreover, no one who is an athlete* wins a prize unless he competes according to the rules.”*
Branches	John 15:5	“I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me while I abide in him produces much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”
Building	1 Corinthians 3:9	“For we are God’s co-workers. You are God’s farmland and God’s building.”
Calves in the stall	Malachi 4:2	“But the Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in its light for those who fear my name. You will go out and leap like calves released from their stalls“
Candle	Matthew 5:14	“You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden.”
Cedar Trees	Psalm 92:12	“The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar* in Lebanon.”*
City	Matthew 5:14	“You are the light of the world. A city* located on a hill can’t be hidden.”*
Eagles	Isaiah 40:31	“… but those who wait on Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Eagles	Psalm 103:5	“… who satisfies your mouth with good; your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Epistles	2 Corinthians 3:1-3	“Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, like some, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men, it having been made plain that you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, not having been written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but in fleshly tablets of the heart.”
Farmland	1 Corinthians 3:9	“For we are God’s co-workers. You are God’s farmland* and God’s building.”*
Fish	Matthew 13:48	“… which, when it was full [of fish], they drew to shore, and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.”
Fruitful Trees	Psalm 1:3	“And he shall be like a tree* planted by the rivulets of water that brings forth its fruit in its seasons, and its leaf shall not wither, and all which he does shall be blessed.”*
Gold	Job 23:10	“But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
Green olive trees	Psalm 52:8	“But I am like a green olive tree* in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.”*
Infants	Matthew 11:25	“At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from wise and intelligent people and have revealed them to infants.'”
Jewels	Malachi 3:17	“And they shall be Mine, says Jehovah of Hosts, for the day that I will make up My Jewels. And I will pity them as a man has pity on his son who serves him.”
Lambs	John 21:15	“Then when they broke fast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?’ He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, ‘Feed My lambs.’“
Light	Matthew 5:14	“You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden.”
Little Children	1 John 2:1	“My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
Little Children	1 John 2:12	“I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.”
Living stones	1 Peter 2:5	“… you also as living stones* are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”*
Members of a body	1 Corinthians 12	“For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.”
Mount Zion	Psalm 125:1	“They who trust in Jehovah shall be like Mount Zion; it is not shaken, but remains forever.”
Palm trees	Psalm 92:12	“The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.”
Panting Deer	Psalm 42:1	“As the deer pants* after the water brooks, so my soul pants after You, O God.”*
Pillars	Galatians 2:9	“and knowing the grace given to me, James, and Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, gave right hands of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we go to the nations, but they to the circumcision.”
Pillars	Revelation 3:12	“Him who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will go out no more. And I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of Heaven from My God, and My new name.”
Runners	1 Corinthians 9:24	“Do you not know that those running in a race* all run, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain.”*
Salt	Matthew 5:13	“You are the salt* of the earth, but if the salt loses its savour, with what shall it be salted? It is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and to be trodden underfoot by men.”*
Servants	Matthew 25:21	“His lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”
Sheep	John 10:3	“The doorkeeper opens to him, and the sheep* hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”*
Sheep	Psalm 23	“Jehovah is my Shepherd; I shall not want… Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
Soldiers	2 Timothy 2:3	“Therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier* of Jesus Christ.”*
Stars	Daniel 12:3	“And those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the sky; and those who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars* forever and ever.”*
Strangers and pilgrims	1 Peter 2:11	“Dearly beloved, I exhort you as temporary residents and pilgrims* to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul…”*
Sun	Judges 5:31	“So let all Your enemies perish, O Jehovah. But let them that love Him be like the sun* when he goes forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.”*
Vessels	2 Timothy 2:20	“But in a great house there are not only vessels* of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.”*
Wheat	Matthew 3:12-13	“… whose fan is in His hand, and He will cleanse His floor and gather His wheat* into the storehouse; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”*

Each of the above descriptions of God’s children, of God’s own, relates to a separate aspect of our identity in Him. We ought to meditate on each one and understand how each description relates to us and how we need to develop our character in Christ to be more rounded and thus aligned with the Word and Will of the Father.

We are precious to God, as He says in Malachi 3:17, and we should be very aware of this, for as we read in Matthew 25:32-33 & 41,

“Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left….. Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'”

Amen.

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