Dwight Moss
Columnist
God our Father created us to be in a relationship with him. The only way a true harmonious relationship can exist is for two people or more to be able to choose to be in a relationship. There can be no true relationship with a robot or a puppet. Our Father is not about to force anyone into a relationship with him. There is nothing true about a forced relationship.
A man or woman who seeks to, at all cost, create a relationship with another person is seeking to make it happen whether or not the other person is inclined to be in a relationship. In true relationships there is wooing, giving and receiving which is totally voluntary.
Our Father is a God who is wooing us back to himself. No strings attached! You can leave anytime you want to. However, our Father through Jesus has given us a one-sided covenant. God will always be true to his nature to love and forgive even when we are not willing. Jesus has sealed this covenant from heaven and it cannot be broken (see Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Heaven will be free of all evil because God is truly good. When we bear the image of the heavenly man (Jesus) our DNA will be changed. Because we have by our own free will and accord exercised our right to become God’s child. We will have become as Jesus is. Then we like Jesus will always seek the will of the Father. When we are raised imperishable (see 1 Corin. 15:48-52), we can once again feed off the tree of life of which we became forbidden to eat. This was because of our entering into death (see Gen. 3:22). It is the overpowering love of God that brings us back into harmony with God. This love is revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Again, we visit with Jesus as he makes a visit to his disciples. The disciples who recognized Jesus with the breaking of bread had quickly returned to Jerusalem to tell the others. Now Jesus is again going to scare and frighten his disciples. He will defy matter in his body. It is matter. Jesus is going to take his body through the walls where the disciples are discussing the sighting of Jesus.
The disciples seem to be reasonable men. They have seen some pretty extraordinary things performed by Jesus. However, he definitely died on the cross. Those present saw the spear thrust up through his side. Joseph and Nicodemus had pulled the nails out of his wrist and heels to free him from the cross. Then they carried him to a tomb in a garden nearby. Then they placed him in the tomb. The tomb was sealed with guards placed outside. Jesus was dead and buried. God’s new covenant is being born. Being born again is achieved through death. In God’s new covenant, relationship is being born through death. Stay tuned!