An Awesome Idea

What an awesome idea, that God has an unending desire to have intimacy with mankind. Such thoughts are too inconceivable for most of us. We can’t believe that the God of the universe would take and interest in a mere mortal. This thought is too outrageous for our minds to grasp. Many believe we shouldn’t bother God with our problems assuming He has little time for such trivial interests. We get so involved in running our own “kingdoms” and looking at life from our own perspective that it is difficult to imagine that God’s view could be quite different. Only as we study the Word do we get a glimpse of what is really on God’s heart. We learn that He created us for His pleasure. (Rev. 4:11)

His Desire Existed From the Beginning of Time

In the first chapter of Genesis we see that God created everything in six days, and it was good (Gen. 1:31). All that He created gave Him pleasure. We don’t hear too much about God’s pleasure, but if He said it was good, we must believe He was pleased with His creation. He was especially pleased with His creation of mankind. The Bible says, “He created them, male and female. He created them in His own image” (Gen. 1:27). Nothing else was created in His image, just mankind.

Have you ever seen new parents trying to decide whom their baby looks like? What an honor when someone says the baby resembles Grandpa, Aunt Sue, Mom or Dad. A great sense of pride fills the honoree. Can we just think for a moment of the great sense of pleasure God must have had when He created His first man and woman. It was His best work and He thought it was good.

We see further that God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day (Gen. 3:8). They had an open fellowship and communed with God continually. What a wonderful time it must have been for God and for Adam and Eve. We can only imagine what the world was like before sin entered. Peace and provision, joy and laughter, fellowship and intimacy all existed on levels we cannot possibly conceive, and God was blessed.

Provision and Promise

Even as sin entered, God was ready to make provision for mankind to return to the intimacy that once existed. He covered Adam and Eve with animal skins and the first shedding of blood occurred (Gen. 3:21). God set in motion what would later become the sacrificial system of the shedding of blood for the sins of mankind. At that time, in the garden, He made a promise of the seed that would come. He foretold of a time when the seed of satan would bruise His (Jesus’) heel and the seed of the woman would crush his (satan’s) head (Gen.3: 15).

Just when satan thought he had won a victory, God made provision for mankind to be reconciled to Himself with a promise of the Savior.

The Old Covenant

Can you imagine that God longed for the intimacy of His creation and had a great desire to have that fellowship and intimacy restored? In God’s time He chose a man named Abram and began to build a family of people for Himself through Abram. God chose to make a covenant with Abram and promised him that he would be called Abraham, the Father of Many Nations. He confirmed the promise of a seed that would come from Abram’s seed. Once again, God began to have fellowship with mankind (Gen. 17:1-8).

 A Scarlet Thread

Throughout the Old Testament we see evidence of a scarlet thread that weaves its way through Abraham, Moses and the prophets. God sets up a system that becomes a type and shadow of things to come. He sets up the Levitical system and the Feasts of the Lord in Leviticus 23 as a “dress rehearsal” for these future events. For generations the Israelites kept the traditions handed down to them not fully understanding the significance of what was taking place. Once a year the high priest was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies with the blood of the (pure and spotless) lamb and place it on the mercy seat for the atonement of the sins of the people of Israel. There, between the wings of the cherubim, God would meet with him (Ex. 25:22). There, He would restore intimacy and fellowship for another year with His chosen people through the shedding of blood. They continued to wait for the promise of the seed.

The Promised Seed

In the fullness of time God send his only begotten Son. John 3:16 is quoted frequently and is usually one of the first scriptures we memorize. Do we really understand what God did for us? When we try to grasp the meaning of how much God so loved “the world” can we really understand? Is the concept too difficult four our human minds? Can we begin to even think about His longing to be reconciled to His creation and what He was willing to sacrifice to that end? Jesus came on a mission. He was a missionary sent to bring reconciliation between mankind and His Father. He came to institute the ministry of reconciliation (2Cor. 5:18, Eph. 2:16, Col 1:20, Heb. 2:17). He came that we may have life, and live more abundantly (John. 10:10). He came as the door and the way to enter into the presence of the Father. He shed every drop of His blood and there is no more need of the blood of bulls and goats for the covering of our sins (Heb. 9 & 10). He came that we could enter boldly into the throne of grace and receive mercy (Heb. 4:16). Can we have any doubt how much longing the Father has for intimacy with us, His creation, that He was willing to pay such a price? He has been determined from the foundation of the world to have intimacy and fellowship with you and me.

What Will You Do

It is up to you what you decide to do as a result of reading the above. Will you choose to enter into a relationship with the Father through Jesus? His provision has been made for you to be reconciled through the death, burial and resurrection of His only begotten Son, Jesus. The choice is yours; you can have religion or a relationship. Religion is only going through the motions and traditions of man; relationship will cost you everything, just like it cost Jesus everything. But, the rewards are eternal and they begin as soon as you decide.