God and Man: It Is All About Relationship
According to a Simple Layman
As a simple layman, what I offer here is not the result of years of Bible college or seminary training. Rather, it is my present understanding of the relationship between GOD and man.
I believe what I am presenting is biblically sound and does not contradict Scripture. However, I am sure that some theologian somewhere—and some who enjoy examining every jot and tittle—will find fault with this little writing.
There never was a time when GOD did not exist. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—commonly called the Holy Trinity. The mystery of one GOD revealed in three Persons has always been difficult for the natural mind to comprehend.
Within the heart of GOD was a plan to create a family of sons and daughters through whom He could demonstrate His pure and holy love. Interwoven with this plan was His purpose to prepare a perfect Bride for His only begotten Son.
What will ultimately be fulfilled through that holy union is beyond my understanding. My mind cannot comprehend the wonder of it, yet the Spirit within me stirs and my heart burns when I consider the day when all things will be brought into perfect unity and harmony in Christ.
The Story of Man
Before GOD created man, He created the angels in numbers too great to count. He also created the heavens, the earth, and everything within them.
Then He created His most magnificent earthly creation—man.
GOD created man in His own image and likeness. I believe that what Adam was like, and what he understood, was so far beyond what we presently know that fallen humanity would scarcely recognize him.
The first Adam was created perfect and placed upon a perfect earth, in a perfect garden. I imagine that the Garden of Eden was truly heaven on earth, with every creature and plant living in perfect harmony within a pure and unspoiled creation.
The air would have been sweet and clean. The waters flowing through the garden would have been pure. Every imaginable form of delightful food grew all around them, freely available to be received and enjoyed.
In my own imagination, that food would have been perfect in every way—fully nourishing the body while delighting the senses beyond anything we presently know. I have even wondered whether it was so perfectly suited to the human body that it was entirely consumed as nourishment, leaving nothing to be eliminated.
That, of course, is simply my own thought. Scripture does not tell us.
Everything in the garden was perfect beyond our present ability to comprehend. In that place, man could live forever. There was no sickness, decay, or death.
How long GOD and man enjoyed fellowship in that state, I cannot say. Scripture does not tell us.
There came a time when GOD declared that it was not good for Adam to be alone. No suitable companion could be found for him among the animal kingdom, so GOD caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. From Adam’s side, He created woman.
In this, we may see a foreshadowing of the day when the Bride of Christ would also come forth because the side of GOD’s Son was pierced.
For a time, Adam and his wife, Eve, lived in that wondrous place. They enjoyed one another, all of creation, and perfect fellowship with GOD.
The Entrance of Sin
At some point, Lucifer conceived sin within his heart. He sought to exalt himself above GOD and rule over creation. He was cast down and came into the garden in the form of a serpent to tempt Adam and Eve.
Appealing to their senses and their reasoning, he persuaded them to disobey GOD.
In that perfect garden, man was free to eat from every tree except one: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
GOD had commanded Adam:
“Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it.”
— Genesis 2:16–17
The serpent persuaded Eve that the forbidden tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. He told her that eating its fruit would make her like GOD, knowing good and evil.
How long he worked upon her thoughts, I do not know. Nor do I know how much time passed between Eve eating the fruit and Adam choosing to eat it also.
But Adam was not deceived as Eve had been. He knowingly chose to disobey GOD.
The moment they ate from the tree, their eyes were opened to good and evil. Their wilful disobedience created a terrible separation between themselves and GOD.
Until then, man had walked in agreement and harmony with his Creator. Evil had not entered his experience. He had known only the goodness, provision, and presence of GOD.
But when man rejected GOD’s command and agreed with the serpent’s lie, sin entered the human race.
Man had been entrusted with authority over the earth. Through his disobedience, he surrendered that authority and brought himself and his descendants under the terrible consequences of sin.
Fellowship was broken.
Innocence was lost.
Fear and shame entered.
Death began its reign.
The Way Home
Adam and Eve were driven from the garden so they could not eat from the tree of life and live forever in their fallen condition.
From that point onward, the Bible records the unfolding story of our loving GOD working to restore man to Himself.
Yet the tragedy revealed throughout Scripture is that fallen man does not naturally desire fellowship with his Maker. We are more content to live according to our own direction than to surrender ourselves to GOD.
We want His help, but not always His rule.
We want His blessings, but not always His lordship.
We want Him to repair our lives, but we resist giving our lives completely to Him.
Nevertheless, GOD did not abandon man.
From the moment of the Fall, He began revealing the Way home. Through covenants, promises, sacrifices, prophets, and types, He pointed toward the One who would come to destroy the works of the devil and reconcile fallen humanity to GOD.
That Way is not a religion.
It is not a church organization.
It is not a system of rules or traditions.
The Way home is a Person.
Jesus Christ declared:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
— John 14:6
The relationship lost through the first Adam can be restored only through Jesus Christ, the last Adam.
Man cannot reason his way back to GOD.
He cannot work his way back.
He cannot become religious enough, moral enough, or knowledgeable enough.
Reconciliation is possible only because GOD came seeking man.
The story of Scripture is not primarily the story of man searching for GOD. It is the story of GOD calling to fallen man, revealing Himself, providing the sacrifice, and opening the Way home through His Son.
From the Garden onward, GOD’s question has remained the same:
Where are you?
And His answer to fallen humanity is also the same:
Come to Me through My Son.
Jesus Christ is the Way home.
K.J. (Jim) Taylor
Also known as A Simple Layman