Emmanuel

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.'"     Revelation 21:3

God desires to be with us. The God who said "let there be light", the Ruler of heaven and earth, the Name above every other name wants to be with you and with me. I've heard it said, "the God who is everywhere desires to dwell somewhere." Emmanuel. God with us. Communion with man was God's plan A and the desire of His heart before the foundation of the earth.

In Genesis, when God created man, he gave Adam and Eve access to all of Eden with the exception of one tree - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When the serpent came to tempt the woman his first tactic was to make the woman question "Did God actually say?..." The conversation that followed led Eve into a place of questioning God's very intentions. 

"But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate." Genesis 3:4-6 (emphasis added)

The fall of mankind and the first sin ever committed was rooted in a desire to BE God, instead of being satisfied to be with God. Oh how this wreaks havoc in all of humanity. The greatest counterfeit to a life in communion with God is the false assumption that one can be god. We all do this in different ways. For some, control might be where you fall to the trap of playing god. In an effort to fulfill your desires, you may step in to places of control that are solely meant to be led by the hand of God. Others may isolate out of fear of being hurt. You manage the access people have to your heart by guarding it with sky high walls. In reality the Lord can use even our deepest wounds to glorify Him and bring healing to our own hearts and the hearts of others. His plan for redemption in our lives and others' may look different than the safety we feel in isolation. Here's a tough one - in marriage (or friendship for that matter) some of us tend to point out faults and offer (or insist upon) our opinion on how they should be fixed when the Lord may be calling us to intercession for our spouse or friend instead. Each of these are areas in which I have struggled to play god in my own life. Friends, this is not the life of freedom and communion He intended for us. When we try to step into the "god seat" we are only robbing ourselves of experiencing the purity of communion with Him as He guides us the way only He can.

Although God had created Eden simply to commune with man, when sin entered the world that perfect communion could no longer exist. Sin opened the eyes of Adam and Eve to their nakedness and they began to clothe themselves and hide from God. God walked through the garden "in the cool of the day" looking for Adam and Eve. When the Lord finds Adam and Eve He asks if they have eaten from the forbidden tree - to which they confess. The Lord then proceeds to pronounce judgment on the serpent, the man, and the woman. However, following God's judgement, He does something at which I have always marveled.

"And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them." Genesis 3:21

In order for Adam and Eve to be clothed an animal would have needed to be sacrificed. Immediately following the first sin of mankind God made atonement for them. However, the story doesn't end there...

"Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--' therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life." Genesis 3:22-24

This part of the story has bothered me for most of my walk with the Lord. For many years my heart wondered "how could a God who desires to be with us so quickly exile Adam and Eve from His presence? Where is the grace in that?" You see, for many years (if I'm honest, the majority of my walk with the Lord) I had viewed God as the distant, angry dad. I spent years viewing myself as the orphan looking in on God the Father at His table with many children - I was just never one of them. I believed I had fallen too hard. I felt incredibly unlovable. I was convinced God was a merit based father and I had never quite made the cut. In many seasons in my life I was wrought with anxiety trying to prove to Him I loved Him - feeling I could somehow earn His love. Maybe you're reading this and realizing how familiar these narratives are in your own mind. My friend, my prayer for you is that you would encounter the unrelenting and consuming love of God. I pray that the Lord reveals the true nature of who He is and I invite you to lay down all false pretenses you have of Him. In knowing Him more clearly I promise you will only fall more and more in love with Him.

Last year I began the journey of reading the Bible from cover to cover, approaching the scriptures with one question in mind - "God, who are you?" Little did I know, this was a stirring in my heart from the Father and was the single greatest question I have ever asked. When we see God clearly we are able to see ourselves well. When our view of God is purified our view of others is as well. In knowing Him we become more like Him. The journey of approaching His Word with that question in mind has proven to be one of the sweetest gifts He has ever given me. However, the journey started off a little rocky...

I remember coming to this verse in Genesis very early in this journey and it stopped me in my tracks. All the familiar narratives rose in my mind about the angry God who couldn't stand the sight of a dirty human. My view of God when first reading this scripture was completely lacking in love. I saw a disappointed God, a mad God, and a harsh God - but very rarely a loving God. Then I began to dive a little deeper - what was this tree of life and why was it so important to guard from humanity? 

In verse 22 God begins a sentence but never finishes it - 'Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--'  (Genesis 3:22). After the fall, the idea of man living forever in his sinful condition was an unimaginable thought to God. "Therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken" (Genesis 3:23). Many commentators assert that the tree of life served in someway to confirm a person in his or her moral condition. God couldn't stand the thought of man being separated from Him forever in a sinful state. God was protecting Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of life and confirming themselves in a state that would forever separate them from Him. He wasn't shunning them - He was saving them. 

What a patient, loving, and long-suffering God we serve. His desire was to commune with us, and when sin stepped in the way He forfeited the ability to "walk in the garden in the cool of the day" with man in Eden so that one day we could all be reconciled back to Him. Before Jesus came to make atonement for our sins as the single greatest act of love the world has ever known, God showed us the depth of His love in removing humanity from any access to seal their eternity in a broken moral condition. In God's grace He protected mankind from the tree of life until the perfect sacrifice could be made and we could be given the choice of reconciliation with Him. Thank you, Jesus!

"Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates." Revelation 22:16

Through the power of the blood of Jesus, God made a way to grant all of us eternal access to the tree of life "with it's twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month" (Revelation 22:2). In the new heaven and new earth believers will be fed year round by the tree of life, the tree once banned from all humanity. This is the power of the grace of God. He makes all things new! When we place our faith in Jesus and submit "our robes" to the cleansing of the blood of the Lamb we are given eternal access to the Father in the way He originally intended. Yahweh. Emmanuel. Abba. God did everything possible to reconcile us unto Him simply out of a desire to be with us. That is how much He loves us! For those who know Jesus as Lord of their life, eternal communion with God is our promised hope.

The bookends of the Bible testify to the grace, love, and pursuit of God toward humanity. In the beginning He created man in Eden to commune with Him. At the end of the age every person who places their faith in the saving work of Jesus will be ushered in to eternal communion with God. Although all have sinned and fallen short, God gave us Jesus, who "entered once and for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:12). Friends, we have been given access to the tree of life. We have been granted communion with the God of all creation. You know the sweetest part? That's exactly what He wanted all along.

I'm not sure where you may find yourself today. Maybe you struggle with playing god in your own life. Maybe the thought of communion with God is frightening to you. Or maybe you struggle to see how the Creator of the universe could desire intimacy with you. My friend, that was His sole desire in creating humanity. He created us in His image to commune with Him. The God of heaven and earth simply desires intimacy with His children. He wants His family healed, whole, and in perfect relationship with Him. He desires to be with you. He knows every hair on your head and every thought in your mind. He is simply beckoning us to stop trying to clothe ourselves and hide from Him as He seeks us out this side of heaven. There is comfort, peace, and rest in the presence of God. He is everything you need or may be seeking. He will fill every void in your heart. My friend, He loves you and wants desperately to commune with you.

Here's the most beautiful part - when we are willing to trade the robes of our orphanhood and accept the robes of sons and daughters we become ministers of reconciliation. 

"All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation." 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Since the beginning of time until the end of the age God has unrelentingly pursued communion with His people. If I may, I implore you to respond to His pursuit. I believe you will be met with the kindest, most truth-filled, empowering kind of love. Time in His presence will transform the very essence of who you are into the most beautiful version of all He created you to be. In the process, He invites you to take part in leading others back to the place of communion with Him as well. During our time on earth we are invited to spread the ministry of reconciliation as far and as wide as we possibly can. We get to take part in bringing His family back together! What a precious gift. So next time you find yourself questioning your worth, trying to jump into the "god seat", or struggling with knowing your place in this world - simply remember this - with you is the place God most desires to dwell.