How can this be? Doth my eyes deceive me?
Is it possible to meld the Creator with Creation? To yoke God and Man in such away that they be described as being ‘in relationship’ with one another?
In marveling over the mysterious entity called the God-Man relationship, there seem to be several key characteristics of this dance between God and Humanity, of the relational interaction between the Creator and His Creation. Those characters are divided into 4 other main pieces: Creation, Rebellion, Redemption, and Consummation.
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Creation
- The God-Man relationship broke forth at Creation’s dawning, in the midst of the swirl of the Milky Way and weeping willows, of Mt. Everest and wildebeests painted on the blank canvas of reality.
- Among the rest of God’s purposeful acts of creation, He breathed into existence two complementary, yet equal-in-nature forms: Man and Woman. Humans were the culmination of God’s purposeful act of creation and were created on purpose, with purpose as Eikons of God to reflect, enjoy, worship, and love Yahweh forever.
- Humanity was originally created to exist in an eternal relationship with God, defined by mutual love. It was God who created the God-Man relationship and invited humans to be in relationship with Him forever. They were intended and invited to be in an eternal relationship with God defined by mutual love, an invitation that allowed room for both acceptance and rejection.
Rebellion
- There was a real time-space event when Humanity rebelled and sinned by loving self rather than God. This time-space act of relational rejection first occurred through Adam and Eve and is recorded in the Book of Genesis in the ancient Scriptures.
- God did not intend for sin to be a part of creation or this cosmic relationship. Because sin is the result of a rejection of the Way of the Creator and the covenant of relationship, it was a potential possibility, but neither an intended component of the God-Man relationship nor God’s Reality.
- Sin is brokenness and death, both physical and spiritual. Because of the willful choice of Humans, all of creation is broken and in need of restoration, including the Eikons of God. Without restoration through the provisions of God, His Eikons earn eternal brokenness, death, and ultimately separation.
- But God wants nothing more than to restore the God-Man relationship and creation-society to the way in which they were originally intended to be. God desires to be in relationship with every single person in the world, not simply a select few; He desires to include each of His Eikons in His restorative, redemptive plan, not desiring that any be excluded to eternal separation.
Redemption
- God provided the means by which the God-Man relationship could be restored to the way in which it was originally intended to be through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In fact, the Creator took the form of Creation by becoming a human; God enfleshed himself in the Person of Jesus Christ to demonstrate the fullest extent of His love for Humanity and the world.
- Yahweh’s vision for restoring the God-Man relationship was communicated through the cross. On the cross God sacrificed His Son Jesus for the sake the God-Man relationship and the restoration of the entire creation. This restoration happen(ed)s because Jesus physically rose from the dead, an act by God which made known the sufficiency of Jesus’ sacrifice.
- Through the redemptive movement of Jesus, the cross, and resurrection, we find forgiveness from our act of rebellion, peace with the Creator, restoration of the God-Man relationship and the beginning of restoration of ourselves to the way we were intended to be at creation.
Reunion
- The final end of all things and ultimate reunion of God and Man will happen when Jesus returns to both judge and restore.
- Jesus is coming to judge those who ultimately and purposefully reject God and His covenant of relationship, resulting in eternal separation from his or her Creator and entire purpose for being human.
- Jesus is also coming to make all things new, desiring to restore all of Creation to the way the Father purposed it in the beginning and ultimately reunite with those who purposefully chose the covenant of relationship with Yahweh.
I write and marvel at the beauty, tragedy, and hope found in the God-Man relationship, a relationship that God began, is continuing, and will ultimately complete.
