Creation
Read Revelation 21:1-5.
From the very beginning, this was his heart. He created not out of any loneliness or any need to have company, but because creating is his nature. He created because that's who he is. And he loved his creation. It was beautiful. It was perfect. It was holy.
And it was free.
It broke his heart when the creation chose to walk away. Where once there had been walks together in the garden, now there was hiding and fear and brokenness. He missed the walks. He had offered love and the creation rejected that love.
And so it went.
"I love you," he would say, and the creation would worship other things. Statues of bronze, wood, gold. When he drew near, they pulled away. When there was trouble, they cried out. He would always, always, always hear them and come to rescue them. "Thanks," they would say (sometimes), and then go their own way again. He gave laws that would lead them to their best life, but they still chose their own way and broke those laws.
So he came to walk among them. He became one of them. The creator entered into the creation and for thirty-some of their years, he lived and worked and taught...and loved. He loved them with his life. He died for their sake. And he rose again to show them what glory was ahead.
And mercifully, some of them got it.
One of those who got it also was given a vision on an island, a vision of things to come. The images were bizarre, strange, and hard to write down, but he did his best. Most of all, what he saw was that this had been the creator's heart from the beginning: to be with his creation, to walk with the creation. In the end, he will be with us.
That is the promise. That has always been the plan. And that is what our creator's heart most longs for. Not because he needs us. But because he wants us, he loves us, we are his.
"...he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God" (21:3).
From the very beginning, this was his heart. He created not out of any loneliness or any need to have company, but because creating is his nature. He created because that's who he is. And he loved his creation. It was beautiful. It was perfect. It was holy.
And it was free.
It broke his heart when the creation chose to walk away. Where once there had been walks together in the garden, now there was hiding and fear and brokenness. He missed the walks. He had offered love and the creation rejected that love.
And so it went.
"I love you," he would say, and the creation would worship other things. Statues of bronze, wood, gold. When he drew near, they pulled away. When there was trouble, they cried out. He would always, always, always hear them and come to rescue them. "Thanks," they would say (sometimes), and then go their own way again. He gave laws that would lead them to their best life, but they still chose their own way and broke those laws.
So he came to walk among them. He became one of them. The creator entered into the creation and for thirty-some of their years, he lived and worked and taught...and loved. He loved them with his life. He died for their sake. And he rose again to show them what glory was ahead.
And mercifully, some of them got it.
One of those who got it also was given a vision on an island, a vision of things to come. The images were bizarre, strange, and hard to write down, but he did his best. Most of all, what he saw was that this had been the creator's heart from the beginning: to be with his creation, to walk with the creation. In the end, he will be with us.
That is the promise. That has always been the plan. And that is what our creator's heart most longs for. Not because he needs us. But because he wants us, he loves us, we are his.
"...he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God" (21:3).
What a promise! What a hope! What a glorious goal!
I've often wondered how horrible it must have felt for Adam and Eve. We feel terrible when we realize we have done wrong. They lost the presence of God walking with them daily. What an awful hole that must have left.
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