Bible in 90, Day 1: A Love Story Begins

*image courtesy of Protect at www.sxc.hu

Today was Genesis 1-16.  I'm always captivated by the story of Adam and Eve.  When I think about my beautiful wife and the love and life we share, I think about what it must have been like for Adam and Eve during that brief time before sin crept in and drove a wedge between the sexes.  My relationship with my wife is amazing, but it is still infected by sin.  Jesus tells us that in heaven there will not be marriage like there is here on earth.  That being so, I believe that we will still know each other and remember our lives here on earth.  I tell my wife all the time that when we get to heaven, we will know each other better than anyone else in heaven.  We will eternally be best friends, and there will no longer be the enemy of sin present in our relationship. 

However, this is not the kind of love story I'm talking about today.  That beautiful love story comes to all too abrupt an end when the serpent shows up.  No, I'm talking about
the great love story between God and man.  In Genesis 3, we don't just hear about how Adam and Eve "messed it up" for all of us (and let's be honest, we wouldn't have done any better!).  We also see the beginning of the great pursuit of God after His wayward creation, humanity.  Immediately, God is seen pursuing Adam and Eve, in verses 8-9.  He is calling after them.  As soon as the proverbial guts are spilled, God is promising the coming of the One who would eventually come and set things right.

The love story continues throughout the Scripture, and we see it quite clearly in the passage we read today.  In chapter 6, we see God starting all over with Noah and his family.  God could have obliterated the earth.  Instead, He continued to pursue humanity.  In chapter 12, a man named Abram is called by God to be the beginning of an adventurous portion of the great love story where He promises the blessing of all peoples through Abram's line, eventually known as the Jews or the Israelites.  This blessing eventually culminates in the ultimate example of God's pursuit of mankind: the coming of Jesus.  There is no clearer picture of God's love for mankind that the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.