Intimacy 103

[HKHaugan]

Intimacy 103

As we continue our look at intimacy in a Genesis perspective, we see Adam and Eve lived open and pure lives in Eden. It seems death was the farthest thing from their minds (Gen.1-2).

First of all they had no idea of what the experience of death was. In fact before Eve was created Adam was warned about death but his lack of response indicates he might not have grasped its significance (Gen.2:17).

Second, the Lord knew that one problem stood out for man's future, aloneness. Aloneness is the consciousness of having no relational tie. This is why He made Eve to be a relational companion for Adam. It's not good for a man, or anyone for that matter, to be alone (Gen.2:18). God is relational: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So, being made in His image, every human being is made to be relational.

Third, both Adam and Eve were aware of being individuals. Individuals who were one flesh with each other and one with God. They were spiritually and physically relating as one with the world and spiritually at one with God. They had a vertical and horizontal relationship bonded spiritually in God. This was intimacy in its purest form, Holy Spirit intimacy. Consequently they were able to be free and open in their choices and decisions. Spiritual intimacy was the means by which they were one with God and each other. Also, there was this holiness of spiritual reality in their relationships, they knew no shame (Gen.2:25).

But then the crash. The moment when the devil's temptation offered immediate satisfaction. They accepted his invitation, disobeyed God's Word and experienced shame. Sin, the devil's spirit, replaced the Holy Spirit and shame was the flame for the game they could not tame. Shame is the key to understanding death. Shame is the feeling of guilt. Shame causes separation internally and externally. It is withdrawal into self and away from others.

One interesting synonym for shame is mortify. The root of mortify is mortem, Latin for death. To be mortified is to feel immediate relational separation. That separation results in the awareness that we are isolated in self and have no direct connection with anyone. Guilt breeds fear and fear causes hiding, excuse, blame and the loss of intimacy. The loss of intimacy with God and one another is what death is about. This is spiritual death. All human choices and decisions since the Garden experience have resulted in spiritual death, physical death being its symptom. This is the stuff of Genesis 3. If you read Genesis 3 you get the bottom line reason for the broken lonely condition of every person in the world in which we live and why Jesus is our only hope for restored intimacy and relational oneness.

Add to all that, the perpetrator of this massive world disruption, Satan. His goal is the eradication of intimacy. You can be sure that wherever intimacy is threatened, the devil is at work. Death, real death, is more than just the body ceasing to function. It is the loss of intimacy with God and one another. So death is the spiritual experience of being separated from God and everyone else. That's the devil's goal. He is the author of death and its aloneness. He is eternally alone and wants each of us in that condition. That's his forever dominion.

And if death is eternal that means eternal separation is what hell is all about. But we can't approach people who don't believe in Jesus with an attitude laced with the fear of having to face that after physical death. How we share that reality has to be loving, honest, yet true. It has to be led by the Holy Spirit. As far as my own take on hell is concerned, relational separation is exactly what it must be like. Is there any other possible explanation for why Jesus would go to the Cross? Jesus could not bear seeing us lost forever. He loved and loves us. He came to restore our relational condition with Him, our Father and the Spirit. Jesus' death was spiritual, relational and personal for our sake. His death was every person's death encased in His body. His Resurrection was everyone's hope for a relational eternity with God and all those who have faith in Him. For Jesus everything is personal, relational and filled with the desire to please His and our Father. He is the exact image of God sent to show what we as images of God can become like.

In Jesus we have a taste of both life and death. As we relate to Him in this world we can feel where His Spirit shows us the difference between isolation from God and unity with God from one moment to the next. His life was the experience of the devil's working against Him and the life of God overcoming the devil's work. He never felt guilt because He never sinned. When He did feel it was on the Cross when He bore it for us. “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2Cor.5:21).” So in Him we feel the Spirit exposing our sin, revealing its cure and freeing us from its power, all at the same time.

When we feel guilt we feel aloneness. When we open up to Jesus we feel one with Him. That happens when we tell Him we know our guilt, feel it and ask His forgiveness. His response is always immediate and comforting, “Come unto me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest (Mt.11:28).” That's what momentary repentance is all about. It's living a moment by moment lifestyle of repentance (that's what taking up our cross means) leading us to always be open to having the Holy Spirit direct the traffic in our lives. Then is when He restores our intimacy with Him and we find our way back to a restored intimacy with others. It's the good news of Jesus at work in us overcoming the power of sin through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of intimacy. We have the privilege of sharing this incredible experience with everyone we meet.