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Why do most people desire to have children? Why are some willing to put themselves through such an ordeal, at times, to do so? Then when we do have them they can be so hurtful to us by some of their words and actions, whether intended or accidental, that it often feels as if a knife has cut through our souls. Why do we have this desire within us as couples to have children as part of our lives? I believe we desire to have children because it is a way for us to share our love for each other in a greater way, through a family, increasing the love by spreading it out to our very own offspring even though we know there will be times they hurt us. One of the early church fathers, Augustine, once said about God; “You have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in You.” I believe that what Augustine is saying is the reason for the creation of man and mankind’s history because God desired to share His love, through the Trinity, with us, His children, formed in His likeness and formed for relationship with Him. Gen. 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,” God made us for Himself. This is the only satisfactory reason for why the heart of man longs, feels empty, until we come to know God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. No matter what man’s so-called higher learning may try to convince us of, that we evolved or that we are independent spirits seeking self fulfillment, or any other momentary idea pushed forward, none truly answer or fulfill the longing of our hearts until we come into relationship with God through Jesus Christ. There seems to be a deep emptiness in every human being that can only be filled by the infinite, eternal presence of God. I believe this is why people will go from thing to thing to thing trying to find that which is missing from their hearts. Acts 17:20–21 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) Even the people of Paul’s day were searching for what was missing from their lives, when all the time it is only God that can fill that emptiness in us. Today’s self help books and infomercials. God made us for Himself. That is why we have this longing in us, as the Westminster Catechism teaches; “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” The 24 elders before the throne of God agreed as seen through their actions before God. Rev. 4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” God formed us for His pleasure and fellowship with Him, so we could enjoy the mingling of our personalities, His desire for our relationship with Him. Psalm 37:4 Delight in the Lord
Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, before sin entered, is a wonderful example of this fellowship with God. The close relation-ship they had with Him. Gen. 2:15-25 Those who have little children or younger siblings; when they draw a picture they run before you to get your approval. No matter where Adam went in the garden, God was with him. It would be easy to imagine that when Adam was naming the animals, each one he named, he would have looked to his heavenly Father for approval. Then when Eve comes along, Adam would have shown her all that the Father had created for them. She would have been in awe over it all, all that God had made for them and their happiness. But even more so, she would have been in awe of the fellowship they shared with God, the times He walked with them and talked with them, explaining things to them. Why questions of a 5 yr. Old. Answering all the whys they had, there in the garden with God as He answered softly with loving words to their hearts. Worldliness creeps into our children. But then sin entered into the bliss of the situation and mankind knew they had done wrong before God. Psalm 51:4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. For the first time in their relationship with God they feel ashamed because they knew they had done harm to their relationship with God. So they hid themselves from the One who loved them so, because sin separates. Luke 5:8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” Now because of sin and its consequences man was cast out from the presence of God. Gen. 3:23-24
Now their lives were lived in separation from God, the Biblical definition of death. Not at all the life God desired for man but the consequences of the decisions of man. Yet, God still yearned for the relationship He had created man for with Him. So, God continues with the plan He had from before creation to redeem man back unto Himself. 1 Peter 1:18-21 Christ would come and heal the rift of sin between God and man, restoring the way to relationship with God and man. Mediator to restore our relationship. Heb. 10:19-20 So, it is by His sacrifice that we can once again enter into a loving presence of our God. But we need to take the step toward God by recognizing who we are before Him, sinners who deserve death, separation from God. But realizing that God has done the work for us to return unto Him.
Think of the Tabernacle of God, built by Moses under the direction of God. It symbolizes man’s state before God; The walls and the curtain represent our sinful state, separated from God. To gain access to Him we must go by the way of sacrifice, the bronze altar, Christ’s sacrifice for us. Then we can be washed clean, the laver. Now we are clean before God but to come into His presence, into true fellowship with God, this will only come as we move through the Holy place, through the Light of the Golden Lamp stand, Jesus, the Light of the world. Through the showbread and wine offering, Jesus body and blood given for us, the fellowship offering before God and the blood, sprinkled, that makes us holy and righteous. Then and only then can we enter into the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God, to see His glory and experience His presence. This is what the writer of Hebrews refers to in these verses. God desires a deep relationship with us and we know in our heart of hearts that is what we need and desire most, what is missing from our lives. Not just the fact that our sins are forgiven but that God desires that we push forward into the Holy of Holies, to be in His presence and to live in that presence. Children restored to their Father.
This is more than just a decision to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior over our lives, to have our sins forgiven. This is a desire from our hearts to live our lives out in relationship to God through experience. Getting to know God better and better, relating to Him and He relating to us and our walk with Him, experiencing Him in our lives daily. Knowing His touch, His words, and His love in us. Spouse bringing kids to your work, they run and jump into your arms. God is waiting there for His redeemed children to push their way forward into His presence. He waits beyond the veil that kept man so long from His presence but now is opened by Jesus so we can enter in. Matt. 27:50–51 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Who is it that waits beyond the veil that separated us for so long? God, Himself waits for us to enter in; One God, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, all things visible and invisible. The Lord Jesus waits, the Only begotten Son of the Father, begotten before anything existed, God of God, Light of Light, True God of True God, begotten not made, of the same substance with the Father. The Holy Spirit waits, the Lord, the giver of life, He who proceeds from the Father and the Son. Who with the Father and the Son is worship and glorified. They wait for us to push forward into His presence, with confidence.
God has left evidence of His desire for us to come. Acts 17: 24-28 He has revealed Himself to us again and again so that we might desire to come. He waits to show Himself to us in the fullness of His glory. He waits for the humble and pure in heart, because of the work of Jesus in their lives. He waits for us to come.
The world is going to hell in a hand basket because of its lack of knowledge of God. The church is starving for the presence of God. The cure for both is for us to push forward in relationship with God, to be aware that we are in Him and He is in us, through Christ. When we take this reality to heart it will burn away the impurities in our lives and begin to move us to a deeper relationship with God, who waits for dear His children, to enter in. Benediction: Rev. 1:5b-6 To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
