BEHOLDING IS BECOMING (PART - 1)
FACE TO FACE
In GODS sovereign plan HE designed us to live in HIS presence, and be filled with HIS very presence, and from that place we shine with HIS glory in all we are and all we do.
We are created for face-to-face encounters with GOD. Imagine the first time Adam opened his eyes at the very instance GOD breathed on his nostrils the breath of Life. In a moment, He saw the face of GOD shining in glory right in front of him! Just imagine, as he was gazing upon HIS face, all that GOD is...HIS love, power, goodness, majesty, perfection, and glory inundated him and every fiber of his being pulsated with divine life. Literally, Adam was saturated with GOD. He was soaked in glory!
This is a beautiful picture of what face-to-face with GOD looks like. This encounter was not just for Adam exclusively, but it is for the rest of mankind as well. In GOD'S sovereign plan, HE designed us, HIS Masterpiece, to live in HIS presence, in the place of intimacy. This is our highest purpose for creation, to host and be filled with the very presence of GOD and live in perfect union with the GODHEAD. From that place we shine with HIS glory in all we are and all we do.
GOD placed the first man and woman in the Garden HE called Eden.
Eden means pleasure and delight. HE created a perfect world, and it was not enough, HE planted a Garden, the Garden of HIS delight and pleasure, which became the special home for HIS beloved masterpiece, the first man and woman. In the garden HE gave them the mandate to manage the whole creation by expanding the borders of Eden to the rest of HIS created world.
GOD, who is love in highest perfection, sovereignly chose us to be at the very center of HIS delight and pleasure. We are GOD'S bull’s eye of HIS eternal affection. Mankind is created and wired for intimacy with the Maker.
Day after day, GOD would walk with Adam and Eve in the Garden in the cool of the day. As the days unfolded Adam and Eve discovered the different facets of GOD'S character and beauty. The more they saw HIM and heard HIM, the more they wanted to know HIM, and the more they discovered who they were in HIM. Gazing upon HIS face was like looking in a mirror; they saw their true identity in HIM; for so they were primarily created in HIS image and likeness.
How we wish this beautiful story had never ended, but it did. Sin came in destroyed this perfect picture of the love-relationship between GOD and HIS children in the Garden of HIS delight. The damage caused by the Fall was cataclysmic. Not only did sin come into mankind with its corresponding curse and death, the very image and likeness of GOD in man was disfigured and marred beyond recognition. The damage was not just something physical; it was deep within the recesses of man. His spirit was broken and paralyzed by sin. Together His soul and His body suffered the horrendous consequences of the Fall. Fallen mankind was separated from the Holy GOD for the first time. Fellowship was broken.
Thanks be to GOD, through Jesus everything was restored back to its original intent. Through HIM we have been brought back to the Father’s House to see HIS face and hear HIS voice again. JESUS became the Way, and the Door, back to the Father.
Comments