Something was definitely lost in translation. The ancient texts did not actually say "likeness" or "image" — that is a mistranslation of the Latin mistranslation of ancient texts, translated from even older ancient Hebrew. The original ancient Hebrew used terminology that meant something more akin to God' representative or Voice. It's apparently predicated on the ancient practice of kings to send stewards to the far reaches of their domains, to manage things with the "kings voice." What the representative said was intended to be taken as the king speaking and acting in that region.