The Road of Freedom

If you were transported to the time of creation with the privilege of watching God shaping the universe, you would be amazed to see the appearance of light through a simple word spoken by him. In amazement, you would observe the separation between the dry ground and the waters on the surface of the globe, watching the Creator carving the outline of a living sculpture with his own hands. You would witness the thriving of plants in varied forms, colors, and smells, sublimely disclosing the living canvas painted by the Creator. You would also see the Lord creating animals in their uncountable types and sizes, placing them on the surface of the earth, in the waters, and in the heavens. Finally, you would witness God designing his masterpiece: the human being. You would see the Eternal molding the first humans with his own hands, delineating man and woman as his own image and likeness. Finally, you would lose your breath as you watched the Creator of the universe himself blowing into the nostrils of an earth doll, turning the inanimate into a living being. When we talk about the wonders of creation, we cannot help but mention that before we knew the truth described in Scripture, you and I were born in a home that did not know the whole revealed truth of God. For before the new birth described by Jesus in John 3:5–7, we all had wrong concepts regarding our origin. Consequently, we need to be clear about the biblical truth that the world and everything in it were made by the One God, the same who one day came down from heaven incarnating as Jesus Christ, disclosing himself to us! When talking about the creation I cannot help comparing it with what happens when a couple wait for the delivery of a son or a daughter. It is normal for a couple waiting gladly for the birth of a child to decide to prepare the baby’s bedroom. Usually, a place is separated in the house which is arranged and decorated in the most delightful and charming way. Some furniture is bought, with the baby crib as the coziest item in the bedroom. Toys, clothes and other objects are placed with great care. Everything is done with love and perfection for the loved one which will arrive. Finally, when the nine months of pregnancy are over, that little human, the image and likeness of its parents is finally born. Now the baby can enjoy the parent’s affection, love and relationship in this beautiful place prepared specifically for him or her. This is the picture portrayed in the world’s creation: A God who prepares everything for the arrival of his son and daughter. The Creator organized the world for the advent of the ones who would be his image, the object of his love. They would call him Father and he would call them his children. You and I were created to be sons and daughters of God, to have a divine and eternal fellowship with the Creator. When the Lord created the human being, he himself said that this was “very good”, that is, pleasant, satisfying. Our creation brought happiness to God’s heart; maybe the same kind that a father and a mother have when giving birth to a son or daughter. Differently from the rest of the creation, which God declared that “it was good,” man and women were declared “very good”, indicating how delighted the Creator was! We read in the book of Genesis that the Lord spoke face to face with Adam and Eve. The Creator walked with them in the garden of Eden. We could express the same astonishment as the psalmist did, uttering (Psalm 8:3–4): “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” Why would the almighty God walk with his creation if not because they were made to be his children? What a great experience it would be to be able to enjoy moments like those that Adam and Eve had with the Creator. We can only imagine the type of relationship they had when there was yet no evil. Man and woman were still not separated from God! I remember when my first daughter was born, and I experienced the joy of taking her home from the maternity hospital. The satisfaction was too great to fit inside me. I believe this feeling is a small reflection of God’s enigmatic love for us. For he imprinted deep inside the man and woman a love and other inexplicable feelings for their children that points, even though superficially, to his deeper love and care for us. Nevertheless, we know that our history had a sad twist, causing the calamitous and suffering condition in which humanity is found today. I know that not every father and mother love their children as they were supposed to, for today there is something wrong in the creation, within every one of us! An angelic invader infiltrated the garden of Eden and, according to Genesis chapter 3, implanted a seed of imperfection in a perfect world. This seed is called sin, and we will talk more about it in the next chapter. Now, however, we must look at God’s original creation, his love, his original plan, and the fact that you were created to be his image and likeness.