Immanu-El, part 1

Humans have always had a sense of something greater than ourselves.  "Primitive" civilizations
create lists of gods, usually from the seasons and natural events, and devise ways to appease the anger of those gods.  "Advanced" civilizations reject those gods, explaining natural events by the sciences. 

But the God of the Bible reveals himself as the Creator of all the objects the primitive civilizations worshipped:  sun, moon, stars, etc. This God made humans also, the man from "the dust of the ground" (Genesis 2:7) and the woman from a rib from Adam's side (2:21-22), to show an intimate connection of being (2:23-24).  The description shows a God who was involved in the welfare of these people he had made, a God who was connected with them and present with them.

Tragedy resulted.  The humans listened to temptation from the serpent, the embodiment of their arch-enemy Satan, who gave them the "gifts" of doubt and desire.  Turning away from trust in their Maker, they rejected the single restriction from God (not to eat of the 'tree of the knowledge of good and evil,' 2:16-17) and broke that intimate connection with him. Even then, God continued to seek them:  "When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.  Then the Lord God called to the man, 'Where are you?'" (3:8-9).  

God then uttered the first prophecy of the One who would rescue their descendents.  "And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel" (3:15).  Hebrew scholars, and Bible students to this day, recognize this as the first foretelling of the Messiah, who would be wounded but in that wounding would forever crush the power of the serpent.

God continued acting in human history to work out his purpose.  He chose Abraham as the ancestor of a nation, Israel, through which he created the vocabulary of salvation:  sin, sacrifice, the blameless lamb,  the priesthood, the temple and more.  Israel's history shows God pursuing them in love, in spite of their sins, just as he did Adam and Eve, and promising reconciliation.

In Isaiah 7:14 he promises "Immanuel (which means 'God with us')."  The promise that God would be with us again, loving us and walking and talking with us, fills our deepest desire for something meaningful.  It is the true destiny of humanity.  But how could God be with us -- we who are filled with sin and shame?  That's the greatest wonder of all!  We'll look at that next time.