God gave Adam and Eve everything they could have wanted, and they threw it all away by rejecting Him. Still, God was not content to leave it at that. We will look at the lengths to which He is willing to go to restore a relationship with His people.
God promised that He would use the family of a childless nobody named Abraham to bless the entire world. His commitment to see that promise through to completion transcended their disobedience and stubborn rebellion. How else could we explain the fact that this one family eventually became a great nation?
God gave them His law and showed them how to live in harmony with one another. They became the envy of kings and queens from all over the world, but they succumbed to the seduction of other gods. They never stopped believing in YHWH, they simply added other gods to the mix.
God warned them that He would discipline them, as any loving parent would discipline a disobedient child. Through prophets, He sent His message, but the people refused to listen. The 10 northern tribes were scattered across the known world. Later, the 2 remaining tribes in the south were carried away into exile as well, where they remained for 70 years.
God is relentless and more stubborn than His children. He never gave up on them or His dream. A small community eventually resettled in Jerusalem, and God’s people began to gather again in God’s place. They rebuilt the Temple. They rebuilt the walls. They made sacrifices. They read the law. They wept and prayed and celebrated.
But something was missing, the visible, tangible presence of God.
God had promised to be among His people. The visible reminder of His presence would be the Ark of the Covenant. This golden box was to be placed in the centre of the Temple, but it had been lost. The Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, was an empty room. Great building, no God.
As the first act of God’s story comes to a conclusion and we reach the intermission, we’re left with a combination of feelings. We can see clearly how God keeps His promises, but we’re still looking to see how God will ultimately deliver His people from evil.
The people are broken and the Law is inadequate to fix them. No amount of sacrifice or obedience can repair the damage that has been done. Forty years in the wilderness couldn’t undo the damage, neither will 70 years in captivity. The story is incomplete. Something cosmic is going to have to happen for all this to have a happy ending.
And that fact points us forward. The people would wait 450 more years until the time when the Author and Finisher of this story showed up, embodying the visible, tangible presence of God, appearing in the Temple (actually replacing and becoming the Temple), endowing those who trust Him with Temple-like status, enabling those who follow Him to be the dwelling place of YHWH.
It is only when we realise that Jesus Christ — His sinless life, His sacrificial death, His victorious resurrection, His ongoing work — is the dénouement of the story that we understand the first act. Then we see Him as the One promised in Genesis 3. We recognise Him as the boat that carried Noah’s family to safety, the ram sacrificed in Isaac’s place, the Passover Lamb that secured life for the people in Egypt, the manna that sustained them in the wilderness. He is the sacrifice, the Temple, the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy of Holies, the fulfilment of everything hoped for and promised.
Prayer
God of glory, in wisdom You have made the heavens and the earth, and nothing is too difficult for You. You rule over the cosmos with its hundreds of billions of galaxies and hold all things together. You created all things for your good pleasure, and the heavens proclaim Your glory, majesty and greatness. Your glory and wisdom are also manifest throughout the manifold flora and fauna of this rich, though bent, world. In spite of the transgression of the Fall and the consequent spread of sin and of death, Your redemptive work will overcome the ravages of sin. Your Word clearly reveals that no amount of human effort could conquer this alienation and bring about peace with You and with humanity. I thank You that You have paid the only price that could bring this about through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
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