"In the Beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth" Gen: 1:1,
The account of creation is not just a history
of God bringing the materiel universe into being, but is something even more.
It is a statement of his Devine intent, that God had, in the creation of Heaven
and Earth coming together, meaning having a relationship. The two were always
intended to be united. When we read the Holy Bible through Who Jesus Christ is,
then it takes on even greater meaning.
"But the Earth was (or as some believe, became), without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep" (2)
God is stating that He has a relationship
intention between Himself and the creation of which He is the progenitor of.
God spoke, and it came into being, this also reflects that His purpose will
ultimately be brought to pass.
In His Image
"Then God said, “Let us make mankind in
our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and
the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all
the creatures that move along the ground. So, God created mankind in his own
image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them”. (26-27)
God created humanity, our first parents Adam
and Eve, to have a relationship with Himself. He vests in
humanity attributes of Himself to make this relationship possible.
We see however, that this relationship is
damaged by Adam and Eve's choices of eating the
from the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”. They do so, after
entertaining the Serpents suggestions that this was good for them, that
they "will be like God, knowing God from Evil" (5b)
The results is a negative transformation of
their state of being, they now have a "fallen nature"
which encumbers their relationship with the God who created them and one
another and even with themselves. This "fallen nature" manifest
in their hiding from God when He calls out to them.
"And they heard the voice of the LORD God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden." Genesis
God addresses their action with them and the
truth comes out that the Serpent spoke and they listened. God removes them from
the garden to live with the result of the choice, but not before revealing that
He has provisions to bring a reconciliation for humanity and himself, that is, an
atonement and reestablishment of the right relationship and bring God and
humanity back into relationship.
"And I will put enmity between you and
the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and
you shall bruise his heel"Gen:3:15
The Need to be Reconciled
This condition, this needs for reconciliation,
will not only effect humanities relationship with God but with one another. The
need for reconciliation is present from the strain we see between Cain and
Able which resulted in Abel’s death at the hands of his brother Cain. The
deterioration of society as a result of the choice of Adam and Eve led to God's
intervention and the sending of the Great Flood.
This need for reconciliation
surfaces repeatedly in human history, we see it acted out at the Tower of
Babel and the scattering of the Nations.
All the problem inflected upon humanity arise
out of the need to be reconciled back to a proper practical relationship with
the Great God, that is set "at one'" atonement". When
we are first reconciled to God then we can be reconciled to one another.
For All Nations
God moves in and among human history to being
about that reconciliation we see it in the call and life of the Patriarch
Abram, renamed Abraham.
"Now the LORD had said to Abram,
Get you out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's
house, to a land that I will show you: And I will make of you a great nation,
and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing:
And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you
shall all families of the earth be blessed" Gen:12:1-3
This blessing which emerges into human
history, through Abraham's decedents which is the Nation of Israel, is, we see,
not for Israel alone, but it is a blessing for "all the
families of the Earth".
"And in your seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed; because you have obeyed my voice" Gen: 22:18
This blessing, which is the
means by which humanity is reconciled back into the intended relationship which
God has always purposed for us. This blessing, we are told by the Apostle St.
Paul is the man Jesus Christ; God's uniquely born Son.
"The promises were spoken to
Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say "and to seeds,"
meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who
is Christ"Gal:3:16
Jesus has come to reconcile humanity back to
God, to be the Savior of all peoples if they will freely receive it. Acts 17:26 tell us that all nations are made from
"one blood" a blood which Jesus shares with
each of us through the incarnation. He shares our lives so we can share
His. Jesus has, as he said in John:12:32, drawn
all men (humanity) to Himself in the lifting up of crucifixion,
not just Israel, but all. Sharing our humanity to the point of death that we
might live eternally with God. Heaven and Earth together in Jesus' very self.
This God, who created all things and created
humanity in "His image and likeness”, now we see
in Jesus Christ, we see that God takes up and shares our humanity.
The early Church theologian Gregory of
Nazianzus (329-390 AD), wrote regarding Jesus'
incarnation "that which is not assumed is not redeemed"
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father,) full of grace and truth." Jhn: 1:14
"Since the children have flesh and blood,
he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power
of him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil"--Heb:2:14
Jesus has assumed up the whole of our
humanity, He is one of us yet without sin, even facing temptation Jesus never
gave into it. He did what we could not.
Message of Reconciliation
This is the message of the Gospel, that in
Christ there is reconciliation which is experienced when we come to believe in
our Lord Jesus Christ. The early church was motivated to tell any and all about
this reconciliation accomplished in our Lord Jesus Christ.
"For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So, from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" 2Cor:5:14-21
Lives Which Reflect Reconciliation
When we come to see the work of Jesus upon the
cross and the power of His resurrection our lives reflect what is true in
Jesus. We then, can live reconciled lives. Our behavior is transformed, it
shows that we are living out of that reconciliation, that "atoned"
state. We are in relationship with God, just as our first parents' lives
reflected that "fallen" condition that they
entered into when choosing the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
This reconciled life will be demonstrated
not just in our relationship with God but with those around us. We begin to see
others as our Lord sees them as the objects of His love for whom He died.
Differences are minimized therefore we can have unity in Jesus.
Just as a body, though one, has many
parts, but all its many parts forms one body, so it is with Christ. For we were
all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles,
slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body
is not made up of one part but of many"1Cor: 12:12
This reconciliation brings all together when
we see that in Jesus, we are one.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in
Christ Jesus." Gal: 3:28
We are all in Jesus made "at-one". We have atonement with God and one
another, we are reconciled in Christ Jesus. The Relationship that
is hinted at, at the very creation of Heaven and Earth together is
accomplished in our Lord Jesus Christ and in Jesus alone.
"Therefore, we implore you on
Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God."2Cor:5:20.
Benediction: May we each and all, be ever reconciled to our God and one another, today, tomorrow and forevermore Amen.
Rev.Todd Crouch, Norman, Oklahoma
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