Therefore, to rescue us from godlessness and restore us to paradise, the illusions must first be shattered. The first step for the Church is to pick up the sledgehammer of truth and to wield it against the illusions to shatter them as the blow of the hammer shatters glass. Does all truth shatter the illusions? No, just the subset of truth relevant to the illusion being shattered. Thus, the two illusions are shattered in two different ways. Demonstrating the sweetness of paradise shatters the illusion that camouflages it. Demonstrating the sourness of godlessness shatters the illusion that sugarcoats it. The shattering of the illusions transforms settlers whose roots bind them to the hostile desert of godlessness into pilgrims who pass through it. When the illusions are shattered and the truth becomes visible, rational people seek the the sweetness of paradise (and flee the sourness of godlessness). It would be contrary to our welfare to do otherwise. The appeal is to our rationality. Our rationality, when exposed to the truth, steers us in the right direction.
How is the illusion that camouflages the sweetness of paradise shattered? The knowledge of God shatters the illusion. To shatter the illusion, the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9). It was, therefore, decided that the knowledge of God would be transported from heaven to earth and into the hands of the children of Adam and Eve. Arising from the decision was the subsidiary question, ‘what package would be appropriate to hold the knowledge of God during its journey?’. Ordinarily, to hold knowledge, knowledge is put into a book or into some other functionally equivalent repository. However, the knowledge of God is heaven's most precious treasure. No mere book is suitable to transport it. A package equal in dignity to its cargo was desired. Therefore, into an extraordinary treasure chest, the knowledge of God was poured. The treasure chest was Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God himself, would carry the knowledge of God from heaven to earth and into our hands. The truth that Jesus carried to us is that God loves us despite our sins. Thus, the treasure chest was also a love note - a love note from God to us.
Moreover, God was not satisfied with just putting the love note into our hands. God wanted to prove to us its genuineness as well. He did not want any doubts to afflict us. He wanted us to be 100% certain or as close to perfect certainty as we can attain. Many false, inaccurate and conflicting pictures of the nature of God circulate through the minds of the children of Adam and Eve. The multiplicity of pictures creates confusion. “This is God” some say as they point to their favorite picture of God. Others point to a different picture and say, “No, this is God.” The controversy goes on ad infinitum. Because of the confusion, the most Holy Trinity desired to set the record straight once and forever. They decided to clear the air. They decided to give us the gift of the definitive picture of the nature of God. They decided to give us a self-portrait whose fidelity to themselves would be unmatched by any representation made by human hands. So God arranged a demonstration to put the proof into our hands. He wanted us to draw our own conclusions from the demonstration. He wanted us to see the truth, as it unfolded, for ourselves. Why? Because the truth sets us free (John 8:32).
The demonstration would be a collision between good and evil. The collision would be bigger than the Big Bang and larger than the Large Hadron Collider. It would take place at Calvary. The collision would be a joint venture between God and us. We would supply the evil for the collision. We would torture and kill him. He would suffer and die. Jesus would supply the good. Jesus was the good. The collision generated byproducts. Two byproducts, not just one, were generated: 1) Jesus did not stay dead and 2) Jesus did not stop loving us. The byproducts of the collision unambiguously revealed to us the identity of Jesus. That Jesus did not stay dead is the irrefutable proof that Jesus is God. That Jesus did not stop loving us is the irrefutable proof that divinity is love.
The demonstration showed us the existence of a firewall between the evil we do and his love for us. The evil we do and his love for us are disconnected. Between them is an abyss. The circuit is open. Our God is wired differently than us (Isaiah 55:8-9). The dial that controls his love for us is not in our hands. It is in his. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place.
At Calvary, the genuineness of the love note was tested. Was the love note real or counterfeit? If the love note were counterfeit, God's love for us would have faded as we tortured him and died when we killed him. But it did not. Both he and his love for us survived the evil we did to him. The love note passed the test of genuineness. It was not counterfeit but real. Indeed, we are loved and our lover is God. The proof is in our hands.
Nobody emerges from the black hole of death. It is a one way street. Whoever goes in does not come out - not even Houdini. But he did. He emerged from the black hole of death alive and still in love with us - with his most sacred heart still filled to the brim with love for us.
The love note and the demonstration of its genuineness change everything. They are the elephant in the room. They must be dealt with. They cannot be ignored. They were put into our hands to stir us to think about them. They are meant to change the course of our lives. Our lives depend on our response to the love note and the demonstration of its genuineness.
What is your response?
Prior: The Origin of Our Predicament - Introduction to God's Rescue Plan (Click Here)