God Grieved

God formed Adam from the dust of the ground ‘and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.’ We understand God is Spirit, not flesh and blood as we are (John 4:24). He doesn’t need air to breathe. So, when He breathed the breath of life into Adam, He was imparting His Spirit into Adam’s body. It was the living link between God and man.

Adam and Eve were warned that they must not eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” But they fell from grace when they ignored God’s warning and ate the forbidden fruit. They were now tainted with sin and had no place within the holiness of God. Sin and righteousness cannot live together. The unique relationship with God was broken, and they were cast out of the Garden. This was not through anger on God’s part. Neither was it punishment for disobedience. It must have been with a heavy heart that God made this decision, with love for His creation, but pained in the spirit by the necessary action.

God would have been stricken with grief. The very pinnacle of His creation had turned away and followed the serpent. Mankind was now at the mercy of the evil one, with all the resulting curses that go with it. The door had been locked because of sin. The world inherited the consequences, and death reigned. The only way God could receive His people back to Himself, free from the inherent curse of sin, was to start again. Man had to be reborn by the Spirit of God into a restored relationship with God, but first the old, sinful man had to die.

Jesus, Son of God, pure, holy and righteous came into the world as the Son of man. He was the pinnacle of humanity, yet became the sacrificial lamb. He bore the curse of sin and death that condemned mankind. ‘He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities.’  ‘He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.’ He paid the price for us all.

This is not the end of the matter. Sin has been dealt a mortal blow, but to be restored to God there must be rebirth, pure, holy and righteous, as with Adam at the beginning. Jesus said, “You must be born again.”

The death of Christ made the way open for mankind to come back to God, but not everyone takes hold of it. There is a condition: only those who acknowledge personally the death of Jesus, and receive Him as Saviour, are restored to an everlasting relationship with the Father. ‘That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.’

The shroud of sin is replaced with a robe of righteousness.