The God who wants a relationship with us.

It is hard for us to imagine what heaven is like. When John looked into heaven in the book of Revelation he described it in words of extravagance: precious jewels of many colours, rainbow around the throne of God, angel choirs, people of every nation and culture beyond numbering. Words are not enough, but it is all that we have.

Here is God in all His glory. There is but one God, revealed in three persons: the Father on the Throne, the Son at His right hand, the  Holy Spirit hovering all around and overshadowing it all. Magnificence beyond imagination.

And yet, before there was time or any star in the sky, there was still  God, with the same magnificence, with all His angels serving Him.

The mystery is that God was lonely. There was no one sufficiently like Him with whom He could share this and relate to.

Loneliness is a terrible thing. We all know this. We all long for someone whom we can relate to who is sufficiently like us to fulfil us. This is what marriage is all about. A man and a woman who are sufficiently alike, yet also quite different, that we can be fulfilled in our union together. Counterparts.

God longed for a counterpart.

He longed for someone like Him, yet sufficiently different, that TOGETHER, there could be fulfilment.

What a thought. The God who needs no one, yet longs for someone to relate to on a similar level.

What is He to do?

Create! But what is He going to create? He already has all the angels around Him. They are magnificent beings with great power and glorious appearance. But they are not sufficiently like Him to be a counterpart. These magnificent creatures surround Him. They serve Him. They worship Him. But they are incapable of relating to Him in the way that He wants so much.

So God sets about the work of creation that we read about in the Bible. He sets in motion a series of events that find their fulfilment in a perfect earth for perfect people who are “in His image and likeness.” Just like Him. People who can love and relate in the deepest way to Him and each other.

Adam and Eve. Two people who, in the way they relate to each other,( unity, one flesh together), can together as one flesh relate intimately with Him. One flesh, God and mankind. The perfect counterpart. Not identical to Him but the perfect complement to Him.

What a wonder! The creator and the created together as one.

Jesus shared about this great mystery and wonder when he prayed the great prayer found in John 17.After Jesus prayed for those with him on earth at that time, He prayed for us, you and me in our age all these years later.

[20] “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, [21] that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. [22] I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one--- [23] I in them and you in me---so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

His is the language of marriage. Complete unity but not uniformity. God is still God, the creator of all. We are still creatures, created by Him. Yet we are united with Him.

Here is the answer to the cry in God's heart for companionship and true relationship. Here is the most wonderful, yet mysterious, activity in all of time. God and us in complete unity just like a man and a woman becoming one flesh together.

Imagine. A perfect earth, perfectly suited for humans, united with God who is in His perfect location, heaven. Earth and heaven united. God and mankind united.

That is how it was always meant to be. And that is what it will be like when all things are made new in the new heaven and new earth.

In the original creation everything was perfect. No one was sick, or poor, or lonely. There was no death. No one oppressed anyone. No moneylenders stole people's land. In fact the very thought of these things was not even possible.

So it will be in the new earth.

Revelation 21:3-5
[3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. [4] 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” [5] He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

In the meantime we are on this fallen earth with a task to do. That task was very simple. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. And then love your neighbour as yourself.”

From this comes everything else we do.

Our love for God and for our neighbour (who is everybody) will automatically cause us to do the things that please our wonderful God. We will automatically want other people to love Him as well and  we will do whatever is necessary to show the love of Jesus to everyone, even if it costs everything we have and are.

What a God we love and serve!!!