After God had made a human body out of the "dust of the ground", he breathed into his nostrils the "breath of life"'. This caused God's image to be created in Adam. His Spirit was living in the body of Adam.
But on the day Adam sinned the Spirit of God departed from him; he died spiritually and lost his intimate relationship with his Maker. Adam's biological life continued but God was no longer at home in him like before the Fall.
Later Adam fathered Seth "in his own likeness and after his image". All people born after that had the images of their parents. I am a copy of a copy ... of a copy of the original image of God. I was born flawed both spiritually and biologically.
But the Lord knew all this would happen. He inspired the Psalmist to prophesy "a body you have prepared for me" concerning the coming Redeemer. This was in accordance with the promise he had given Eve that her seed would "crush the head of the snake". About 4000 years later that seed was planted into the womb of a Jewish virgin who would become the mother of the "second Adam". God's original plan to live in a human body was finally realised in this "last Adam" who is the "fulness of God in bodily form".
We were created to have fellowship with God. After Adam had sinned God still had the desire to be with him and called out to him: "Where are you?" Just like Adam and Eve we have a tendency to avoid our Creator. Another tendency we have is to try and behave in the way we think God requires, while keeping him at a distance. Our self-righteousness can so distort our perception of good and evil that we don't recognise the agents of God in our midst.
Herod was an Idumean who converted to Judaism to curry favour with the Jews. He was so paranoid about his title as king of the Jews that he murdered innocent children in his attempt to get rid of the newly born rightful owner of that title. The depth of depravity we humans had sunk to became glaringly obvious through the actions of the religious authorities and the government of the day. It culminated in the crucifixion of the King of kings, the notice "king of the Jews" cynically attached to the instrument of his execution.
But the second Adam could not stay dead. By rising from the grave he paved the way for humans to once again be indwelt by the Spirit of God. The invitation to "buy without money" is open to "whosoever will" (Isaiah 55:1; Revelation 22:17). The "righteous shall live by faith", trusting that their sins are forgiven because of the "once for all" sacrifice made on their behalf (Habakkuk 2:4; Hebrews 7:27). The virgin did conceive, and her Son gives those who believe in him the authority to become children of God (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; John 1:12). They may also freely receive the Spirit who was given after the glorification of the Son (John 7:39).
