In Luke 10:25-28 we have an interchange between Jesus and one of the religious leaders of His day who questions Jesus as to what he must do to inherit eternal life, referring to the glorious life with God for which mankind was created in the beginning; the life that was lost, forfeited because of Adam’s sin, his rejection of God’s purpose for and rule over his life, the same sin in which all mankind have participated in since (Romans 3:23).
Jesus, knowing that this man was well versed in the revelation that God had given Moses in the Old Testament, puts the question back on the man. He asks him what is his understanding of that which had already been revealed in scripture. The man answers by quoting a passage from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 6:5) which revealed that if we are to live in the relationship with God that He created us to enjoy with Him, we can only do so if we “..love the Lord our God with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength;” meaning that God alone is to be the desire of our heart and the delight of our soul – the object of our deepest love and the source of our greatest joy.
And there are two definitive reasons for this. One is because the eternal, infinitely glorious, holy and righteous God who created us is, in Himself, worthy to be the object of our deepest devotion, affections, adoration and allegiance without qualification. And two, in creating us in His image and likeness for relationship with Him (Genesis 1:27), He is the only one who can satisfy the deepest needs and desires of our hearts and fulfill the most noble longings of our soul, because He put them in our hearts (Psalm 37:4).
It is essential we understand that God did not create us out of boredom or to cure His loneliness or to accumulate a lot of friends on Facebook. He did not create us out of any need or deficiency in Himself (Acts 17:24-25), but out of the overflow of the eternal love relationship between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit; that we might share in His glorious existence, enjoying life as He has enjoyed life throughout eternity (Psalm 16:11), not as divine equals but as beloved children, subject to His will and wisdom as our loving heavenly father. God would enjoy us enjoying Him, delight in us delighting in Him as the most glorious, most desirable, most valuable, most excellent, most awesome being in all of the universe, (Exodus 15:11), the creator and sovereign ruler of that universe.
Tragically, beginning with Adam and Eve, sin entered into the human heart, the belief that we ourselves could be like God, sovereign over our own lives, accountable to no one, free to do whatever we please, whenever we please, however we please, just like God (Genesis 3:5).
When the Bible speaks of the heart, it is referring to the core of our being, that from which all of our thoughts, affections, motivations, decisions proceed. Our heart has been so corrupted by sin (Jeremiah 17:9) that we no longer are capable of knowing, loving and being satisfied in God as our ultimate joy. Thus, as long as we remain in bondage to sin we are incapable of sharing in God’s glorious existence, of enjoying His abundant goodness and of magnifying the infinite perfections of His glorious being, which is the reason for which we were created.
Thus, along with sin came God’s promised judgement on sin, namely death in its threefold manifestation; spiritual death, being cut off from the glorious life for which man was created and all of the misery and futility that accompany that condition; physical death, being cut off from this present world and the temporal joys that it provides; and the second death, Hell, which is the destiny of all who die with their sins unforgiven by God in Jesus Christ. Those confined to Hell will never again know the joys of intimacy with God as He intended, but are forever the objects of His wrath, just as those in Heaven will forever be the objects of His love.
The Bible makes it abundantly clear from Genesis chapter 1 right on through Revelation chapter 22 that God is Holy, undefiled, morally perfect (Isaiah 6:1-3). And thus we learn as we study the Bible that sin, in its every expression, in its every form, variation and degree, is experienced by God as vile, detestable and infinitely offensive, the supreme contradiction of His holy and righteous nature and character (Habakkuk 1:13); and as such He will not tolerate it in His presence, and will punish severely and eternally both sinful angels, as well as sinful men and women who continue in it right up to their death (2 Peter 2:4-9).
Now there are those who would say, “My god is not like that, he is a loving god who forgives our mistakes unconditionally.” I would suggest that if that is your god, he (or she) is not the God of the Bible. Others might say, “What’s the big deal; can’t a Big God accept a little imperfection, a little contradiction and opposition from His creatures without getting so hot and bothered.” The Biblical answer to that is a resounding No, and I will address the reasons why in my next post.
Grace and Peace ×