God Loves Us

When God created man He had a goal – He had a vision – He had hopes and dreams for us!

He created us, formed us, nurtured us – He loved us, and still does.

In Psalm 106:1: we read:

¹Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever

In certain translations the word mercy is translated as love – God’s love endures forever.

In Hebrews 1:10-12: we read about the eternal and unchanging nature of God. We have also read that God is love – that is to say that if God endures forever – that if He stays the same for ever, if He is eternal and unchanging – then the same must apply to His character.

God loved us even before the foundations of the Earth, for we read that Christ was foreordained before the foundations of the Earth to be our High Priest, the Lamb slaughtered for our transgressions.

This also indicates that the blueprint of salvation has been in place long before anything we know came to be.

In the Psalms David asks – who is man that You are mindful of Him?

To think that God, who is rich in mercy and grace – who is rich in ever enduring love, loved us so much that He would offer Himself, that He would endure our infirmities and iniquity to free us from the bondage that we’ve embraced.

We often sing – How great is our God! Not as a question, but rather a declaration.

We don’t stop to think about those words – about how great and wonderful He truly is, that He died for the sins of the world while we were still His enemies, while we hated Him and His ways He chose to show us love and compassion, He chose to show us mercy in a cold and merciless world.

Our sins have separated us from God

God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden. He interacted with them. They spent time together.

Isaiah 59:2:

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

In Hebrews the Holy Spirit encourages us not to harden our hearts, that if we hear His voice – that we should listen – unlike the Israelites in the day of provocation.

Our sins had become a separation between us and God, but God loves us, and because of His great love wherewith He loved us, even while we were still dead in our trespasses, He came to call us home – to draw near to us, and draw us near to His heart.

Through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, God asks, even petitions us – asking – to whom would you liken me? Who would you want to compare me to?

We need God – we don’t always realize it, but we need Him. We’ve known Him since we were first created, but today we have become estranged, we have become strangers to God, although, deep down in our innermost we know He is there.

For this reason many worshipped trees and rocks, for this reason many have searched for objects of worship – because of a need within to glorify God, but because of our separation from Him, many have turned to the idle practice of idol worship.

God says unto Moses – no-one can see me and live.

We do not know God. We know that there is a God, but the majority of the world doesn’t know Him for who He is in reality.

Because of our sins we cannot know God – because of our sins we have become blind and deaf.

The Lord says – I knock on the door of your heart, if you open the door I will come in and will eat with you – in other words – open the door and we will spend time together, quality time.

Our sins have separated us from God, but He wants us back.

Jesus died for our sins

II Corinthians 5:18:

And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

Christ is the solution to our problem.

Our sins have become a separation between God and ourselves, and therefore we live a life without God.

God says – It is not good for man to be alone.

Therefore, to bridge the gap that rests between God and ourselves, He comes to Earth and intercedes for us as High Priest, as the Holy Lamb of God.

He sacrifices Himself, tasting death for all men so that we can all gain from His reward – life everlasting, but more importantly, to reconcile man to God.

For this purpose the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, hung on the cross – to save mankind from its own foolishness, to free us from our sin, to free us from disease, to free us from the burdens of our own mistakes and failures – to save us.

Christ’s ministry here on Earth was to act as mediator between us and God – to act on our behalf in things pertaining to God.

Through His sacrifice we are saved

Through His intercession all our sins have been washed away – we are cleansed of all sin and iniquity, cleansed of all our transgressions. All our trespasses have been erased.

He bore our curse, and our disease, and through His intercession we are saved.

Peter states that there is no other name in Heaven or on Earth by which we can attain salvation – only through the name of Christ, only through the blood of Jesus.

Only through His Spirit can we be called children of God.

We were lost but now we’re found, we were blind but now we can see. Man can once again know God – we can once again spend time with Him.

Glory to the one who saved us from our sins and the burden of death.

The new and living way

Romans 2:14-15:

¹⁴For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: ¹⁵Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

When we accept Christ as our Savior and allow His Spirit to do its work in our everyday lives, then His law will be written on our hearts – we will love our neighbors and we will love God with all that we have.

God gives us a new and living way, a clean slate – it doesn’t matter who you were or where you’ve been – for all our sins, all of our past is washed away to be replaced by His joy and His mercy and grace.

This requires true repentance from all the things you used to do and used to be, it takes a choice made in your heart.

Repentance is the door for change – once we lay down all our sins and all our burdens, once we lay down our hindrances and our mountains before God, only then can He renew us. When we let go of the trivial things that keep us bound to the old man, only then can we be renewed totally and completely through His word and His Spirit.

It is time that we open our hearts, that we pray as the psalmist did, that the eyes of our hearts be enlightened, that He will reveal His will and His ways unto us and lead us in all righteousness.

He has saved us from our old ways, from our old lives, and given us a new page, He has written our names in the book of life – He has erased all our records – all the transgressions and sins.

Through Christ Jesus we are renewed and established in righteousness, for righteousness is the sceptre of His kingdom. He has taken us out of the kingdom of darkness – under His hand have we been delivered from the principalities and powers of darkness – and has placed us in His kingdom. He has made us a Holy Nation, a Royal Priesthood – and thus we shouldn’t forsake our new found profession, but live it. We should reach out to the broken world that surrounds us, we should reach out to this sick and dying world.

The Promise (A basic timeline of the why)

In Genesis 3:15 God makes a promise. These are the events leading up to that promise. It basically progresses as follows – God creates the universe, and on a much smaller scale, God creates man.

Everything that God creates is good – He has created no evil.

God forms man from the dust of the earth – from clay – and breathes His breath into him.

Man is told to reign over the Earth, and he is told to name the animals.

Some say that it’s during this exercise that man realizes that he has no mate – naming the animals one by one, each with its mate to complete him, and it’s here that the need of a companion comes into existence.

God sees that it’s not good for man to be alone.

From man comes woman – different yet essential for the man to be complete. They are different, and this also shows the character of God – since a man shall leave his parents and cleave to his wife, they become one, even though they are different. It shows that God is both unity and diversity.

There is diversity within His unity – that He is all encompassing, yet He is one.

Man and woman are told to multiply, to subdue the Earth and rule over it.

They have a relationship with God – they walk together in the cool of the day.

Satan speaks through a serpent, opening a dialogue between Eve and himself. Slowly Eve starts falling into a pit of doubt and rebellion, and finally succumbs to the temptation set there by the devil.

She shares this forbidden fruit with Adam, who is with her.

Adam and Eve hides from God, they hear His voice walking in the Garden and are afraid and ashamed.

God calls Adam – and they reap the fruit of their disobedience. God curses the snake and makes this promise, for although He is angry, He is still love: ¹⁵And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)

The Promise throughout the Bible

The Bible is divided into various sections – books and chapters, but this however does not affect the message of the Holy Scriptures. The division between sections, books, chapters and verses does not erase the oneness of the Word nor undoes the central thread running through it.

• The Bible is divided into eight sections as follows:

• The Pentateuch

• The Historical Books

• The Poetic Books

• The Prophetic Books

• The Gospels

• The Historical Book

• The Doctrinal and Practical Books

• The Prophetic Book

The central theme that binds these books together is SALVATION!

In the Pentateuch (Genesis to Deuteronomy) we find the announcement of God’s salvation plan – the declaration of His plan to reconcile us to Himself. He reveals His plan to us through the Tabernacle – a plan for good and not for evil. Every part in its construction, as well as the Divine Ordinances set in place by God, shows us the Messiah that is to come.

We also see God’s desire to save His people in the Israelites migration from Egypt. He chooses – anoints – a prophet to lead them out of captivity, and elects a priest who offers sacrifices for their sins.

Moses in the Old Testament foreshadows Christ – He is a representative of God to the ancient Israelites, but is merely a servant – later God would reveal Himself through the flesh in a more personal way.

Aaron represents Christ in his priestly office. He performs the sacrificial rites, and offers gifts and sacrifices unto God for the forgiveness of sins. Later there would come a High Priest who would intercede but once for His people to cleanse them of their sins, to wash it away forever.

In the Tabernacle we learn that there will come a Savior – Jesus – and through Him we will be able to move out of the filth, the iniquity of the world, and into His righteousness. We learn that we will lay our sins before His altar and this will be rendered into an offering of praise – as we sing of the Amazing Grace that saved us while we were still wretched sinners.

We see that we will be cleansed, our sins washed away, as we seek to become more like Him – ultimately we learn that He will come to reconcile us to Himself.

In the Ark of the Covenant we learn that our Messiah, our Anointed Savior, is the fulfillment of the law.

God gave the Law to Moses – not to force people into a certain way of thinking – but to reveal His heart to us. Later Jesus comes and sums it up as follows:

Matthew 27:37-38:

³⁷Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. ³⁸This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Earlier we saw that we are created in the image of God and that our worth is proportional to that of our origin – that our evaluation of man is proportional to our estimation of God. By loving man we love God – for He is the creator of man! Also, I would like to make this statement – by loving God we love mankind – for if we love God, with all our heart and all our mind, and all our strength, then all our ways will declare the excellencies of Him who saved us.

We find that the whole of the Law is about love – not obey or pay, but love. It reveals God’s heart, teaching us – giving us a moral compass.

Christ came to fulfil the law – putting it in our minds and writing it on the tablets of our hearts.

We are not bound by the law anymore, but the law is bound to our hearts – a part of who we are.

In the Historical books we find the preparation of the Reconciliation mission.

We see in the Historical books how they were prepared for Salvation through the many trials and triumphs they endured.

The Poetic books indicate a desire for freedom, for salvation – it indicates our hearts desire to be free. In the history of the world – in times of trouble poets have stepped forth to expose that which torments, to speak of the turmoil we find ourselves in and to keep the hope of freedom – of liberation – alive.

David writes of both victories in the Lord, and turmoil within him as he often battles with various situations – but God is faithful – there is no shadow of turning with Him.

In Job we read of his trials and tribulations, his doubt and his fear – but we also read of God’s love – His power, His might, His mercy and grace. We find that God can truly still the storms within us, we find that God can truly quiet us by His love.

In Proverbs and in Ecclesiastes we find wisdom and advice – how to live!

And in Song of Solomon our hearts desire is vocalized as the young bride roams the streets of the city at night crying out to her beloved!

Prophecies play a large part in God’s plan as it foretells the coming of the Christ – as it increases our anticipation to see Him. The prophet calls out saying – hold fast to that promise! God is coming! A might one that will save you!

The call resonates – repent for the day of His coming is near!

The coming of the Christ is repeated time and time again throughout these books.

In the New Testament – in the Gospels – we find the climax of all these prophecies and types – we find the climax of all of the events in the Old Testament as the promise is made manifest and God reveals Himself through Christ Jesus to a broken and dying world.

Christ dies for us on the cross, crushing the head of the serpent – the Virgin Son defeats the devil and destroys the power that death has over us.

In the Historical book – the Acts of the Apostles – we see the propagation of the Plan of Salvation as the early church starts proclaiming the Lord Jesus and people start accepting His salvation. The church shares the Gospel with as many people as possible!

In the Doctrinal and Practical books we see the effects of the Reconciliation Mission, as many more come to Christ – it tells us how to react upon the salvation we’ve been given. We are taught that acceptance of this salvation is not enough and that it takes certain choices and actions to be completely manifest in our lives.

Finally in the Prophetic book – Revelation – we see the ultimate fulfilment of it all – the climax of God’s master plan.

The utmost center of the Word is our salvation and reconciliation with God.

When man ate of the fruit, when he succumbed to temptation, he signed a death warrant on behalf of mankind, and thus we were all lost to sin, but God who is rich in mercy offered us salvation.

Christ is our salvation, as stated through the mouth of the prophet – He is mighty to save! He is the Power that saves us, it is His sorrow which works our repentance to salvation. He is the one who has freed us from the bondage of sin and liability to eternal death giving us eternal life and joy. His act of redemption saved us from destruction.

In Genesis we find man’s fall from grace into depravity and death, but in Revelation we find man in the eternal presence of the Lord – being reconciled to God and established in the righteousness of Christ.

Amen.

ˈbluːprɪnt/
noun a design plan or other technical drawing.

Isaiah 59:1-2: “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”

Hebrews 4:14-16: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

The Bible, as I have understood it over the years, is a beautiful narrative of God the creator, and His love for His creation.

At the very outset of this narrative we see the creation of man and the subsequent fall of humanity into sin. Genesis describes the relationship that Adam had with God as being extremely intimate, face to face almost, would be the assumption.

We see, in the creation narrative, a boundary being set by God. God tells Adam that they may eat from any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

In Jewish tradition the eating of the fruit was what made evil or rather, the desire for evil part of the human psyche.

Augustine of Hippo emphasised that it was not necessarily the fruits themselves that carried evil, but that the intermingling of evil, or henceforth, carnal desire was brought upon by the breaking of this boundary set out by God. It was the act of disobedience that allowed sin to infiltrate and corrupt the hearts of man.

In the tradition of Augustine, this original sin signified a turning away from God (or being) towards nothingness – or a state of not being – a loss of AUTHORITY. A loss of IDENTITY.

God had a specific blueprint in mind for humanity when He created us. He had a plan and a purpose for His creation – but at the same time gave us the agency of free will – the option to choose.

In choosing to disobey God, Adam and Eve turned towards nothingness in what Augustine describes as the ‘depletion of the soul’ and the ‘tendency to nihilate oneself’ – to reduce oneself to nothing.

Since then generations have been born into sin – into this nothingness.

To make this more relatable, I would ask the following: Have you ever felt that there is an emptiness inside you? A hollowness? A search for meaning or purpose? A search for deeper truth? A need to find meaning for your existence?

One of the fundamental questions of philosophy is, “why are we here?” or rather, “what is the meaning of life?”

Man was created with full knowledge of this, but chose to turn away from the source of life, or the Creator, towards nothingness – and for generations we have been born into the world with this emptiness, this void, this nothingness inside of us – a nothingness we try and fill with all kinds of things, from sex, to drugs, to music, movies, money, material possessions, power etc, – false idols, in an effort to find meaning and purpose, when our purpose has always been in God.

As the book of Colossians clearly states – all things were created through Him and FOR Him.

That is why it was necessary, as per the scripture above, for Jesus to come and intercede for us as our High Priest – to come and bridge that gap – to come and fill that emptiness.

Glory to God, the arm of God is not to short to reach us – but it is our iniquity – our sinfulness, our rebellion, that builds walls between us and the love of Christ.

Isaiah 53:4-6: “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Jesus, our High Priest, familiar with all our trials and tribulations, has paid for our healing – the restoration and renewal of our souls, our hearts, our bodies – He has paid for the healing of your heart, your emotional wellbeing, your spiritual wellbeing, and the healing of your body – your physical wellbeing. He has paid the price for our healing from sin and the consequences thereof.

There was a blueprint. There was deviation. Now it is time for a reboot – now’s the time to find your purpose, to find your identity – now’s the time for the blueprint to be rebooted.

As we go through this journey, you will discover a new freedom – which is the foundation of the Christian faith – you will experience inner healing and restoration. You will experience deliverance. You will feel the chains breaking.

I leave you with the words of Christ Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith and salvation.

Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

This is my prayer for you.

That you may find Jesus – that you will experience the peace He has promised, and that you will receive the grace He offered on the cross.

#blueprintreboot #comefindyourself