(See here for Part Two – Sanctuary of the Divine)

 

In the End, God . . .

Before we continue unfolding our story in Genesis, let’s “cheat” and jump to the end of the Story, where we’ll discover another Black-Hole-like reality, another “singularity” with enormous gravitational force where we find that same Essence of God once again – at the end, when He returns and comes to live among those He loves.  Like with the Creation Moment, we let the scriptures paint a picture before us, as we recognize in our imagination a huge cosmic force drawing everything everywhere towards its designed destination at the Story’s Grand Finale –

The Same Love that set Creation in motion is now drawing the Cosmos towards its conclusion.

Again, as with any epic tale, we can gather significant insight in the opening and closing scenes.  Just as the opening helps us set context, lays out some of the important themes, and introduces us to the main characters . . . so the ending helps us see how everything wraps up, what happens to the main characters, how the conflicts have been resolved (or not).  Since we’ve been given the gift of the story’s “ending”, let’s zing ahead to the book of Revelation and digest this passage:

Then I heard a mighty voice from the throne and I perceived its distinct words, saying, See! The abode of God is with men, and He will live (encamp, tent) among them; and they shall be His people, and God shall personally be with them and be their God.  God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and mourning) nor grief nor pain any more, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away.  And He Who is seated on the throne said, See! I make all things new. Also He said, Record this, for these sayings are faithful (accurate, incorruptible, and trustworthy) and true (genuine).  And He [further] said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I [Myself] will give water without price from the fountain (springs) of the water of Life.

– Revelation 21:3-6 –

_________________________________

Remember the Pre-Beginning dream of the Trinity, the expansion of the Divine Fellowship to an extended family?  Apparently, as the Story concludes . . . we sneak a peek through this SECOND Black Hole reality, and see that God gets what He’s always desired.  He makes His dwelling among His people, and the Great Dance has been extended to include all those that have eyes to see and ears to see what was accomplished on their behalf.  And this scene never ends.  The beauty of this fellowship will no longer be constrained by time as we know it . . . In the End, God makes His home among those He has always loved.  The entire universe is being drawn towards this Stunning Conclusion as we speak.

Now, we recognize of course that much happens between Gen 1-2 and Rev 21-22 . . . much indeed!  This Drama unfolds with all of the fantastic elements that make it such a compelling read . . . villains and deception, conquests and betrayals, daring rescues and vicious hatred, amazing grace and incredible pain, hope and faith and dastardly despair, undeniable truth and impossibly horrendous decisions, natural failures and supernatural acts that defy all logic, the ongoing war between good and evil and the ultimate triumph of Good in the end.  We’ll get to some of that, shortly.

But let’s not lose sight of the Story, His Story, that is unfolding before us.  The Story is “book-ended” by 2 Black-Hole descriptions – Gen1-2 and Rev 21-22, and we can’t bypass these Beginning and Ending scenes too quickly or we’ll miss the Essence filling in the gap between them . . . the trajectory of where the whole thing is headed, the trajectory from the Pre-Creation to the Story’s End on which we find ourselves this very moment.

We aren’t made to include God into our tiny individual stories . . . God has designed it such that we can only find ourselves when we allow Him to include us into His Great, Eternal Story, the Story above all stories, the Drama of the Ages.  It’s the Beautiful Story of God . . . and we have a role to play in bringing it to this Glorious End.  The Faithful One that set the whole thing into motion is working in and through His Creation to complete what He began.

We might be ready now to transition from the Eternal Prequel, and make our way slowly to the edge of Creation.

Ready?

 

Love’s Explosion

Remember the psycho-insane gravitational pull into a Black Hole, from which not even light can escape?  The energy and mass of a million suns imploding to a dot contained in a teaspoon?  This phenomenon that makes the latest science fiction look like archaic animation?  Imagine now a Black Hole in reverse, spilling and spewing, spinning and spitting out its contents at light speed, flinging them into the farthest reaches of fathomless space.  Infinity erupts from within itself and unleashes a new form of Reality.

This is what I picture, the moment when God speaks into existence the entire cosmos In Christ, utilizing the Authority of His speaking Voice to express what was within Him (per se) and form the expanse of the universe.  The implosion of the entire universe into a singularity (The Essence of Love contained within the Crucified Lamb), now becomes the ultimate explosion from within the depths of Christ, and His Story begins to take shape in the new “dimensions” of space and time, matter and energy.

And though we can affirm that He created “ex nihilo” (out of nothing apart from God), we know in fact the One who contains, gives birth, and sustains the Creation was and is . . . Christ, the Celestial Word.

Love has exploded!!

 

This celestial Word remained ever present with the Creator; His speech shaped the entire cosmos. Immersed in the practice of creating, all things that exist were birthed in Him.

– John 1:2-3 (The Voice) –

. . .all things were created and exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in and for Him.  And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together)

– Colossians 1:16-17 –

______________________________

Depending on your cosmology model, over the course of a few days or several billion years, the stage is being set for the unveiling of creation’s pinnacle, the reason for it all, the crowning glory of the universe.  Diving into this mystery with eyes and ears wide open yields once again a weighty reality that changes our perspective of our role in the Story.

---

Side-note: Don’t get hung up and allow the “How” of Creation to become more important than the “Who and the Why.”  Many theologians, pastors, scientists and regular folks . . . all who love Jesus deeply and honor His Word . . . hold to varying interpretations and models of the How, from 6 literal 24-hour days to 13.78 billion years, and anything in between.  The key? “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1

---

And the Why?  Here it is.  God-in-Three is about to extend His fellowship by fashioning a creature made in His very image and likeness.  There’s too much Love to keep to Themselves!  It must overflow and become an extended family.  Imagine the anticipation and excitement of new birth in a human family, combined with the joy of a renowned artist extraordinaire about to complete his ultimate Masterpiece, and you’ll have a faint glimpse of God’s delight as He envisions fashioning Adam from the dust of the ground and breathing into his nostrils the breath of life – when man will first became a living soul.  The force of the Cosmos has initiated a love-driven trajectory moving the Story forward, and we will catch a clear glimpse of this in the opening scenes of Genesis.

What would life be like in the Garden, Creation’s “Original Paradise”?  We’re moving from the somewhat abstract concept of the Pre-Beginning Godhead, and are now catching the first glimpses of God’s tangible vision played out with flesh-and-blood humans in time and space . . . some of the firstfruits of the Divine Seed containing the Concluding Vision in Rev 21-22 of where our Story is headed.

 

In the Garden, God is the Source of All

“Heaven is the song we were born remembering” – C.S. Lewis

It would serve us well to imagine this spectacular scene.  The vision of the Godhead, the dream that found its birthplace in the Pre-Beginning, is now unfolding before us.  The worlds have been purposely flung into existence, the earth and skies and seas have been flooded with exquisite beauty and intricate detail . . . features, creatures and flora of every exuberant variety have been joyfully fashioned to bring hints of the Creator into every corner of the globe.  And now, the final act of the Creation scene is before us.  Lean in . . . draw close . . .

See His tenderness expressed as He affectionately fashions from clay the first one made for Intimacy, the innocent one who would be hand-crafted in His image and likeness.  Savor the wonder of the Creator’s breath as he infuses His very spirit-life into His masterpiece and now animates it as a living being . . . the first human soul.  Picture a universe-wide “gasp” as the Three-in-Love behold Their handiwork, Their Self-Sculpture . . . offer a blessing over it, and declare with joy that this is “very good.”  Take in His joy unspeakable as He gives man a role in the Creation, to care for his world and to multiply and fill it for the purpose of extending the Creator’s loving Presence and Oversight to the ends of the earth.  Wow!!

 

______________________________________

Let’s pause here and peer within First Man.  After all, humanity in its entirety was in Adam’s loins at the time . . . so it’s helpful for us to explore this intimate interaction.  True to form, God-in-Three fashions a three-part creation, formed in Their own image and likeness.  Just as He had dreamed, heaven kisses earth and we emerge from the dust.

 

Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground (body), and breathed into his nostrils the breath (spirit) of life, and man became a living being (soul).

– Genesis 2:7 –

 

Entire volumes have been written on this topic of spirit, soul, and body . . . but we’ll condense it down to the following as we attempt to frame the idea of man’s Identity:

 

 

In a very real sense, and keeping to our theme for the Grand Story, the innermost being of every man (spirit) can be visualized to contain a Black Hole – a deep void with an infinitely large astronomical force pulling towards its center, only possible to be filled with a corresponding infinitely large Reality – Christ Himself.  These magical, marvelous realities of the galaxies are not only found in outer space, but in the deep, incredible inner universe within each of us.  Paul in his letter to the Romans speaks of this inner-space reality as ‘eternity in our hearts.

Essentially, man was created to live from the inside-out, finding His Identity and Life from the Infinite Spirit of Christ within that joins Him to his Creator.  When this infinite inward force encounters an infinite God (spirit) as the source of his being, man forms his (soul) personality and core beliefs based on this awe-filled relationship he shares with the Divine, and expresses this Reality (the body as an instrument of righteousness) to the world around him.

Man is able to join with the Creator in expressing God’s love and joy and peace towards the rest of creation.  This was the vision expressed and demonstrated in Genesis 1-2.  Dream has become Reality and the Story is unfolding beautifully.

 

Adam Opens His Eyes

For a moment, consider the image that mankind enjoyed when he opened his eyes for the very first time. The God-of-All-Creation – kneeling before Adam in adoration and joy, beholding His Masterpiece after a life-giving kiss.  This moment, this essential breath-of-life-and-affirmation, signals the reality that ALL of humanity was designed to receive from its Maker.  To “open our eyes” (so to speak) as we awaken for the first time – and see the Eternal Eyes of God, beholding us with adoring love, affirming that what He had made was “very good,” sharing His Own Life-Breath with us.

This . . . is Gospel.

Can you picture Adam’s sheer amazement, like a child being born and seeing for the first time?

Heaven kisses earth and Adam emerges from the dust . . . wholly formed to find his life and sustenance within the sanctuary of the Godhead.  The Divine Fellowship is extended by one, soon to be two . . . with the intention for them to “multiply and fill the earth.”  God and man enjoy fellowship in the cool of the day, walking in the deep intimacy available when there is One source of Love and Life.

Paradise, in every tangible sense of the word . . . man will be gently drawn into the Divine Sanctuary of Truth and Love and Freedom.   He will hand-craft them and pronounce His handiwork, His masterpiece, to be “very good” . . . even to the point where the original Hebrew text in Genesis 2 will suggest that God kneels in adoration before His work as though gazing into a mirror.

This is where we find the birthplace of our awe and our innocence.

He wants us to rest and spend time here, smack dab in the Center of His Love-Infused Being, the birthplace of the entire Cosmos . . . and from there launch us into our present life and circumstances equipped with His passionate Calvary-like love and universe-creating dunamis power as ambassadors of another Kingdom . . . a way of living that calls out our truest Identity and our Ultimate Destiny, which issues from our Original Design.

 

Subscribe here to receive upcoming parts of this series directly to your inbox…