Hi Bob,
God is NOT a person! I agree.
So then is the Lord Jesus yet a person (a man) and a perfect reflection of God?
So we understand that the Father is not a person/man... but I feel we cannot even really comprehend exactly what the Father is, considering "heaven of heavens cannot contain Him" (1Kings 8:27). It was the Father who determined to have this creation and bring into existence all these beings (physical and spirits) into it. As the Father has no form or voice (John 5:37), so first He brought forth a Son (John 16:28) that He gives these attributes to, as the God/Lord over it all.
I believe the Son is like as extended part of the Father, not the wholeness of the Father, but what the Father needed to have for this creation... a Son given the same form and shape that would be given to all the created beings, a God we can see and hear, that we could relate to.
Even in His glorious form the Son is in the shape of a man, both in the OT and NT.
Dan 7:9 "I watched till thrones were put in place,
And the Ancient of Days was seated;
His garment was white as snow,
And the hair of
His head was like pure wool.
Exo 24:9 Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,
v. 10 and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under
His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity.
Dan 10:6 His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude.
Rev 19:12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had[5] a name written that no one knew except Himself.
Rev 2:18 "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write,
"These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass:
And will the elect individuals be persons (men/women) who have been made a perfect reflection of God?
And stand with Lord Jesus as members of the body of Christ; a perfect reflection of God?
Paul tells us at the return of Christ the elect will be "changed" from mortal flesh and blood to immortal spirit beings.
1Cor 15:51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed--
v. 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
v. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
The elect will retain their individually, but will obtain their completion/perfection/incorruptibility to rule with Christ. He will have all these glorious spirit being serving under Him, as is represented symbolically as they having thrones.
Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
It says in Isaiah that those people under going judgment will actually see the elect/teachers.
Isa 30:20 And though the Lord gives you
The bread of adversity and the water of affliction,
Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore,
But your eyes shall see your teachers.
I hope this is of help to you Bob.
mercy, peace and love
Kat