Recently, a dear friend of mine suddenly passed away. Unbeknownst to her or her family, that particular day would be her last on this earth. While my friend is now rejoicing with the angels in God’s presence, those of us here on earth who loved her are left grieving the loss…grieving the separation.
People say that death is simply a natural part of life, but I disagree. Death was never part of God’s original design. We were created in God’s own image with the intention of relationship and fellowship with Him. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; …So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:26(a),27
Why an All-Sufficient, Holy, Divine Being, who has perfect communion within Himself, would desire to create humans such as ourselves is beyond me. God has no need for us, and yet something in His heart yearned for us, desiring to be with us. God created us to be with Him; face to Face.
If you don’t already know our story, we threw that extraordinary gift of fellowship with our Creator away. We tossed that immeasurable endowment aside for the paltry trinket of independence; of being our own god. Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Genesis 3:4-6
And so, death entered into mankind, separating us from God. How this must have broken God’s heart. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”- [eternally separated from God] therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.” Genesis 3:9,12,22-24
God the Father could not endure to see His image bearers hopelessly separated from Him, so He took matters into His own hands. In an act of mercy and love that far exceeds what our human minds can fully comprehend, God separated Himself in order to save us from eternal death and redeem us back to Him. God the Father sent forth His Holy Spirit from His heavenly abode, to a virgin named Mary who would give birth to God the Son. Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:26-27,31-35
God the Son, willingly clothed Himself with humanity in order to once and for all right the wrong that we committed so long ago in His garden paradise. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 Here in John, the Greek word for ‘perish‘ is: apollumi; which means, to destroy fully. As a prefix, ‘apo‘ denotes separation. God the Father, sent His Son into our fallen world because without Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sins, we would forever be separated from Him. There is no other way back to God apart from Jesus.
As I grieve the loss/separation of my friend as well as others whom I love, I believe that in my grief I am experiencing a small taste of what God’s own heart feels for those who are and who will one day be forever lost to Him. After all, we were never meant to be separated from God.
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as you, father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” John 17:20-23
Dina
The Green Olive Tree 