A Note on God's Purpose

In reading through the creation story in Genesis it is astonishing that God does not move on to other, more important matters, after he has created the universe and human life within it. In dramatic contrast to all the gods and goddesses of mythology, the biblical God creates and then enters into the most personal relationship with what he has called forth and fashioned out of nothing. Walking with Adam in the cool of the day, addressing him personally, giving him a perfect mate, and calling him to participate in his own Lordship over creation are not the sorts of things most gods and goddesses would do. To heart of God shouts out to us: “I want real relationship with you. I want you to be part of my world and share in my life.” This is the simple, beautiful and astonishing story of the Bible. It will get very complicated after Adam’s fall and dastardly darkness enters and shapes the human mind, but the heart of God never flinches. “I want real relationship with you. I want you to be part of my world and share in my life.” Thousands of years later, when the time was right, the Father’s Son does the unthinkable—he becomes one of us. The Father’s dreams, so clear in the beginning and even more obvious in Israel’s history, are fulfilled in Jesus. Immanuel. But in our darkness, we cursed him and poured our scorn upon him. And here we see the genius of the Trinitarian love, for in bearing our scorn the Father’s Son has met us where we are, thus establishing a real relationship with us in our terrible darkness, and including us in his own relationship with his Father and the Spirit. We are accepted—and called.