You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people (I Peter 2:1-10); the generation of the first born, which is Christ. We are not of the generation of the bondwoman but of the free (Gal. 4:23-26). Christ is the image of God (II Cor. 4:4, Col. 1:15-19). We are conformed to the image of His son (Rom. 8:29). Jesus was the light of the world (John 8:12). You are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14). As he is so are we in this world (I John 4:17).
He (man) is the image and glory of the son (I Cor. 11:7)...changed into His image (II Cor. 3:18)...the new man (species) (Col. 3:10). I have already contended that the Christ generation is from the lineage of Adam (a son of God, the second man, Luke 3:38), not aw-dawm.
The purpose of the first man was to till (be in bondage, enslave) the earth (Gen. 2:5). The earliest human remains found in the world are in Africa, in the same vicinity as the earliest known mines. Could early man have been forced into slavery to mine metal ore?
The ministration of Christ is a priesthood after the order of Melchisedec (Gen. 14:18, Ps. 110:4, Heb. 5:6-10, 6:20, 7:1-21). The sons of God are the order of Melchisedec. Heb.7:4, "consider how great this priesthood is that Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils to it."
We are seated with Him (Eph. 2:6) in authority (Eph. 3:10) in the church (priesthood). The Melchisedec priesthood (eternal, higher order) has always co-existed with the natural order and has been documented through the ages from the Sumerian texts (earliest) through the Acts of the Apostles. Certain signs were to follow them that believe (Mark 16:17-19): power and authority.