From the beginning of the creation, God wanted Spirit to spirit intimate communion with mankind – Gen. 3:8, 9; Mt. 9:15; Jn. 4:24; 15:13-17; 16:12-15; 1 Cor. 2:9-13; Eph. 5:23-32. He loved us and desired that we love Him back – Deut. 6:4-6; 1 Jn. 4:19. He gave us opportunity to love Him through choosing to obey Him, but we did not – Jn. 14:15; 15:10; Jn. 3:19, 20.
Our spirit-to-Spirit communion was lost those many years ago in the Garden of Eden. “What is this you have done?” God asked. They did not obey the Lord God; they sinned against Him. Mankind had cut themselves off from God, and God would have to do something miraculous to bring them back into fellowship with Himself. – Gen. 2:17; 3:15; Gal. 4:4-7; Jn. 12:30-36.
Throughout time He revealed the way and the means of being reconciled to Himself – Gen. 3:15, 21; Ex. 12:13; Num. 21:6-9; Isa. 53; Jn. 3:16. Christ is the One who would make this possible – Acts 4:10-12. Nothing earthly could accomplish our restoration to God. He sent His Son, from heaven, down to this earth to bring us back together – Mt. 10:40; Mk. 9:37; Jn. 12:44-46, 49, 50.
Through Christ Jesus’ sacrifice and shedding of His own blood we have been brought back into the closest union possible with the God who created us – Jn. 17:2, 3, 11, 13, 17, 20-26. For all who believe in Him, He will give His Holy Spirit to be with them forever – Jn. 14:15-18. Through Christ we can have this Spirit-to-spirit communion opening the way to spiritual worship in truth as we serve this great God who created all things and loves us.
The commencement of the relationship with mankind and the God who created them, was in the “Garden of Eden.” God made Adam out of the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life and placed him into the Garden. This was a very personal intimate relationship between God and Adam whom He created in His image and according to His likeness: holding the dust of the earth in His hands and forming the man’s being from his appearance to his innermost parts, and through the breath of God to the very characteristics of his life (thoughts, ways, understanding, personality, etc.) which He gave Adam.
Later He also gave Eve this same formation in her innermost parts and individual characteristics of her life. God wanted Adam, whom He loved, to have a comparable helper. The Lord God put Adam to sleep and carefully took a rib from Adam, and out of Adam’s rib God created Eve in His own image and according to His likeness; she was made for Adam [Genesis 2:21-22].
God loved Adam and Eve. He instilled His very being into them. In the image and according to the likeness of God He made them; male and female – Genesis 1:26-27. God gave honor to Adam and gave him the task of naming the animals. God honored the names Adam gave each animal and the names Adam gave them were their names. None of these animals were comparable to nor a helper for Adam. God made that very clear – Genesis 2:19-20.
God, making Eve from Adam’s rib, also indicated that there was to be an intimate personal relationship between these two (Adam and Eve). God brought her to the man, and they became husband and wife (the most earthly intimate relationship there can be; husband and wife); the two became one – Genesis 2:22-24. God gave Adam and his wife Eve responsibility in the garden. They were to have dominion over the creation, tend the plant life, and live and multiply in that beautiful place – Genesis 1:28.
Now these two people walked in the cool of the day with the God who created and loved them. There was Spirit-to-spirit communion between God and man (the deep thoughts and desires of God shared with mankind’s own thoughts and desires). There was no need for a mediator, priest, or sacrifice between God and man. God came to Adam and Eve and they came to God. There was nothing between them, to block their communion and love. They had free access to talk with God on any issue of life, and the Lord God showed them many godly truths from His very heart. They had been given the ability to do the work He had set before them.
Life began for Adam and Eve with sharing, loving, and working together alongside of the Lord God. Their living fellowship was beautiful, free, and unhindered. This was cut off abruptly when they chose to follow the Serpent’s suggestions (crafty deceptive words) and disobey the God who gave them all good things to enjoy. On this day when God came to walk and talk with them, they hid from Him – Gen. 3:8-11.
Sin brought this deadly breach between God and man. The leaf had fallen from the tree and soon would return to dust. At first it did not appear dead, but it was. Like the leaf, one day Adam and Eve who did not appear dead, would return to dust. The process had begun. They were dead in their trespasses and sins, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord [Romans 6:23]. There, in the Garden, God in His great wisdom and deep love for mankind brought the only solution possible; the sacrifice of one life for another.
An animal skin was their covering; through its death it covered the shamefulness of man’s nakedness before God. Blood through death, provided a robe for mankind. We who are in Christ are clothed in His righteousness [Romans 5:17; Revelation 8:19, and Philippians 3:9]. The shame of our nakedness is covered with Christ’s righteousness [Revelation 3:16-19]. Christ died for our sins, and His blood was shed to accomplish forgiveness and remission.
Religion was needed now because of sin. Mankind needed a mediator. And so, God promised one through Eve, the seed of the woman would be the Savior and Mediator between God and man. Would mankind believe Him this time? God had spoken and man must choose to believe or not to believe.
Adam and Eve chose to act according to, and so believed, the Serpent. Without faith in the words spoken by God there is no hope. Now mankind can believe in God’s plan of salvation in the seed: Christ Jesus our Lord. it is impossible to please Him apart from faith. [Hebrews 11:6]. Yet faith without works is dead [James 2:26]. If we truly believe God, we will do what He says. If we love Him, we will do what He says [John 14:15,23]. And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again [2 Corinthians 5:15].
Next Cain and Abel were to bring offerings to God. God had not abandoned man. He still spoke to man. As the Scriptures indicate, both Cain and Abel knew what sacrifice the Lord God required [Genesis 4:7a; Romans 10:17]. There was no place for pride or self-will. God is who He is, and He must be obeyed.
God had told them to bring the only suitable remedy for man’s sinfulness, and that was the blood and fatty parts of the sacrifice. Nothing else would solve the problem. What was the problem? Sin. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins [Hebrews 9:22; Leviticus 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19].
Man was dead. He was cut off from his spiritual source of life, [Romans 5:18; Job 12:10; Revelation 21:6-8]. The Spirit of God and His righteousness are life to mankind, but sin cut that off. God is love, but that was abandoned. God is light, but that was rejected. The choice of disobedience was choosing the darkness and so they hid themselves from the Light, for their deeds were evil [John 3:19-20]. God in His great mercy went looking and calling out to Adam and Eve and found them. God, all by Himself, took care of their immediate sinful need and later the sin of the world. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world [John 1:29].
Throughout history the Lord revealed His way and means of cleansing us from sin and reconciling us to Himself. He was going to bring us into a union with Himself that would never be broken. He would give life that would never end. He would give us His own godly character of righteousness, love, and truth. How did He reveal this to man?
First, He gave them the law from His very heart and character. His love was the basis for the ten commandments and moral laws for the Israelites. Then God gave them the tabernacle enclosed by a pure white cloth fence. His people were to come to Him through the one gate, with an animal sacrifice, through a clean priest. God had them provide light, and bread, and sweet incense continuously.
He Himself came in the Holy of Holies over the ark of the covenant, where the blood was to be applied once a year, to be with His people. He also was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to protect and lead them to the promised land. He brought them out of the bondage of Egypt and into the land full of milk and honey. The tabernacle is a picture of Christ and mankind’s way of salvation through Him. [the book of Exodus].
The way to the Father has been opened through the body of Christ and His people are kept by the Holy Spirit [Hebrews 9:1-10:25]. The law was a tutor to school us about our sin and need for a salvation that comes by faith in Christ [Galatians 3:16-19, 22-27].
In the New Testament God reveals His desire for the human race to be reunited with Himself in the pure Spirit-to-spirit relationship He instigated in the Garden of Eden. Christ has come and accomplished these things, and this life is internal and spiritual.
Jesus said, “the hour is coming and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” [John 4:23].
Worship of the Lord God Almighty is based upon who He is and the great things He has done. When the Old Testament believers offered their animals, it was their worship to the Lord. Genesis 22:5 says, ‘And Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.’ ” Abraham was to offer his only son of promise and he was willing to do that for the Lord God. God saw Abraham’s love in his obedience and interceded with a ram to take Isaac’s place. The sacrifice of worship was given. God had found one who loved Him supremely.
God has provided all things necessary for life and godliness through His precious and magnificent promises [2 Peter 1:3]. God had provided what Adam and Eve needed. He had provided what Abraham and Isaac needed. He provided what the children of Israel needed. Last of all He has provided, in Christ, what the whole world needs. The animal’s skin, the ram in the thicket, and the tabernacle sacrifices were only temporary sacrifices looking forward to the once for all time sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, John 1:29.
The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Thy word is truth. When we repent and believe on Him our spirit at that point has received the salvation of God, the Spirit of God, and the truth of God according to His word. We are then in a union of spirit to Spirit with God and other believers as well. The unity of the Spirit is to be kept in the bond of peace with the brethren [Ephesians 4:3]. “For we are the circumcision (spiritual), who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus” [Philippians 3:3].
There is no need for external incentives. The spirit-to-Spirit communion and the truth of God’s word are all we need. Worship is closely associated with Spirit and truth [John 4:23,24], salvation [John 4:22], forsaking all to be united to Him [Psalms 45:11], His being the Creator [Psalms 95:9], His glory, wonders, greatness, praiseworthiness, fearsomeness, honor, majesty, strength, beauty and our holiness and trembling [Psalms 96:9], His holiness [Psalms 99:5,9], and abiding with Him [Psalms 132:7].
Thousands of years have passed, and God has sent so many messages to mankind showing them the way to the purest, deepest, union of Spirit-to-spirit life through faith, obedience, service and worship of the Lord God Almighty. The Lord has accomplished this all by Himself, for mortal sinful man could not raise himself from the dead. For Adam and Eve to get back to the tree of life (the holy relationship they had with the Lord God) they would have to pass through the flaming swords of the Cherubim. They would have been judged for their sins through death.
Christ who knew no sin, and no sin was found in Him, saved all of mankind from that judgment. Christ who became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God through Him, died in mankind’s place [2 Corinthians 5:21]. To know Him is eternal life. This is that intimate union relationship that the Lord wanted us to have with Him.
Jesus said: Abide in Me and I in you, abide in Me and My words in you [John 15:4-7]. When we are actually with Him in our immortal bodies, we will worship Him who is worthy [Revelation 1:8;4:8, 11; 5:11-14; 6:2-7; 21:2-7]. And He showed him His bride [Revelation 21:9]; and they say, “Come” [Revelation 22:16-17, 20].
Finally, the most intimate Spirit-to-spirit communion any two beings could have is realized in this bride and bridegroom’s marriage: the marriage of the Lamb of God [Revelation 19:7-9]. Glory be to the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come! For He created all things, and they were created for His pleasure, and we are glad in it!