There it is. The end of our searching is God…period. Everything comes down to Him. We can gain some solace by treating the symptoms, but until we get to this Center, we have not really understood the dilemma or the solution.
But how do we get there? It isn’t enough to just believe in God. It isn’t enough to live a good life and be nice to others. It isn’t even enough to say you’re a Christian and go to church and accept a certain set of beliefs. Of course, these are all good things, but they are starting points. Getting back to God means getting back the two things lost in the Fall.
Before the Fall, Adam and Eve were perfectly innocent. They had never disobeyed God. They had never done a bad deed, uttered a cross word, entertained an ill thought, or felt the sting of guilt. They were morally pure – spotless and unblemished.
Before the Fall, Adam and Eve enjoyed unrestrained intimacy with God and each other. They had audible dialogue with God, saw Him with their physical eyes, and actually felt His touch. They knew God and were known by Him. As for each other, Adam and Eve were naked and were not ashamed.
That was life in the Garden of Eden before the Fall – Complete Innocence and Uninhibited Intimacy. Then, in a moment that altered the very heart of mankind and nature itself, it was gone. One act of disobedience stripped humanity of its innocence and severed its intimacy. And so began the Human Dilemma. But God didn’t turn from His wayward children. He initiated the long process of building the way back. And when the time was right, He completed the way by entering His creation as a human and becoming the Divine Solution. His life provided glimpses of the miraculous restoration of innocence and intimacy. Sins were forgiven, outcasts were loved, devils were cast out, bodies were healed and fed, and hope was restored. And in an act of obedience, Jesus offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice that paid the penalty of sin. Just before He died, Jesus declared the way back to God….Finished! Three days later, He came back from the dead, defeating the last enemy and proving that death is not the end.
As fantastic as it sounds, this man Jesus is our only Solution. In Him, the troubled can find peace and the captives can find freedom. In Him, the commoner can become royalty. In Him, the adulteress can become a virgin. In Him, the old legalist can be born again.
The Human Dilemma is coming to an end. The Divine Solution has come.
