Does God want to be near us?
He breathed into Adam – how much nearer can you get?
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit had been so in love with each other that they wanted to share that love with created beings.
When God breathed into Adam he became like the Almighty, an image of his Creator. One of God’s qualities he still lacked. He could not produce more humans like himself. The Lord created Eve to make that possible. Out of the love relationship between Adam and Eve they could continue the process of bringing more people into the world.
Sadly, to be made like God was not enough for them. They wanted to be like him but independently from him, possessing knowledge of both good AND evil. This trait was passed on to every one of their descendants. The result was that we are born with a tendency to say NO to God. We have a sinful nature and have no choice in the matter.
This all sounds quite unfair since we don’t get the same opportunity as our first parents to remain sin-free. But God is not unfair. He planned a new Adam. Not by breathing into a clay image again; this time he entered the womb of a virgin. When he grew up he lived the kind of live Adam should have lived, not in paradise, but in a sin-sick world.
Just like Adam and Eve rejected intimacy with God, the world he now entered did not want him. They tried to kill him while he was a baby and he had to take refuge in Egypt. When he was in the prime of his life the religious and civil courts condemned him to die in the most cruel way they could imagine.
By killing the only righteous man who ever lived the true nature of the world was exposed. Those who are willing to admit that the human race is evil have taken the first step toward their salvation. The next step is to accept responsibility for hurting God and others and seeking forgiveness.
The redeemed are those who believe they have been forgiven for Christ’s sake. In other words they believe God forgave them because the Son of Man suffered in their place. They become reconciled to their Creator and will be even closer to him than Adam was.
After his resurrection Jesus breathed on his apostles and said: “receive the Holy Spirit”. New life was created in them and the Lord breathes new life into everyone who responds to the good news by receiving Jesus as Saviour. This is what it means to be born again.
