From Genesis to Revelation God has been calling man Back to His Heart.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”, Genesis 1:1.  For five days, God created out of his intellect; out of his divine and perfect creative mind he formed the dry land and sees and grass and trees, the stars and the living creatures.  Then, on day six, He created from his heart.  From the very depths of his loving heart, he created man.  The Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 1 verse 26, “Then God said, let us make man in our image…”

The Funk and Wagnall’s Dictionary defines “image” as “The counterpart of an object produced by reflection.  The same dictionary defines the word “Counterpart” as “one who completes another”.

What a picture of the love God had for mankind right from the very moment of creation.  Man was the counterpart to God’s heart.  Man walked with God in perfect relationship in the Garden of Eden.  God loved man above all He made.

Of course, the enemy, right from the beginning, had his eye on what God loved most.  Being that God was all powerful, satan knew he could never hurt God himself, but he could take away the one thing He loved most.  He couldn’t break God, but he could break God’s heart.

The fall of man severed the relationship between God the Creator, and man His creation.  Sin came into the world through Adam’s disobedience as seen in Genesis chapter 3, and the perfect world God had created was no more. 

The counterpart of God’s heart was torn from Him, and since that day, from Genesis to Revelation, God has set about trying to win mankind back to His heart.

Every book of the Bible has been God speaking to the world, to His wayward people, “Return to me”.  Throughout the Old Testament, the Lord God delivers His people over and over and yet they turn away from Him.  He uses the prophets to cry out to return to their first love, and yet they turn to other gods. 

One of the most beautiful pictures of God’s redeeming love is seen in the book of Hosea.  The Lord tells the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute named Gomer. (The name “Gomer” means “complete”.) Even though Gomer turned away from him, Hosea loved this woman completely and unconditionally, and forgave her of her adultery.  Gomer eventually left Hosea and ended up being sold in a slave auction.  Hosea went looking for her, and when he found her, detestable as she was, he bought her back with his own money.  

This is a picture of God’s redeeming love for us through His son Jesus.  Mark 10:45 says “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but the serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The book of Revelation has a bride groom coming back for his bride.  Through out scripture, the imagery of divine romance, of broken vows and broken hearts, of spiritual adultery and forgiveness flows over and over again.  Even today, there is a God whose heart is breaking over those who are still far from Him.  God continues to call out to each and every person through His word and the Holy Spirit, to reveal the sacrifice of His only son Jesus, the one who made it possible to come back to the heart of our Creator.

Constantly, from the beginning of time until this very moment, the enemy, the prince of this world, satan, is still trying to take what God so loves…you.

Atheists are not born.  No little child is born saying, “I hate God.  There is no God”.  Atheism comes from a life of unanswered questions, and of disappointments and wounds that the enemy deceived into thinking God was the cause, and if “He really were up there, He would never had let that happen…” and all the many other lies that the enemy has used to get people to turn away from the One who loves them most.  

God could not have done more to redeem you.  He couldn’t have given more or paid a higher price.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  John 3:16

Dear Reader, today the Lord is calling out through the redemptive blood of Jesus, come unto me, return to me…I love you…He calls out through His church, through His Word, through the whispers in your heart, through the mother or grandfather who prays for you, through the neighbor who invited you to church, through the track that was left on your door, and in a hundred other ways, every day, God is calling you…back to His heart.