The Light Side of the Moon

Let me start off, by saying, in my very humble opinion, God can be anything He wishes to be and He can do anything He wishes to do. But I think the vital question is: what does He wish to be and what does He wish to do? Now God could be three separate but equal persons. We could call this the Non-Affirmative Action God. Or He could be (if He so wished) 26,345.7 persons. We could call this the Population Explosion God. Or He could be One person. We could call this the Old Testament God. "I am Jehovah, and there is none else, Except Me there is no God..." (Isaiah 45:5, Young's Literal Translation).

Everywhere He went in the OT God went without too much baggage. Sometimes a messenger or two would travel with Him. While on earth He would appear in human form but He was not wrapped in human flesh. A funny thing though. While He was on earth He was still in Heaven. An analogy of this might be that of the moon. At night we see one side of the moon. The other side (the dark side) we never see because the moon rotates at the same speed as the earth, so only one side is ever visible to us. Yet the moon is one moon not two. It has two sides though, one visible to us, one invisible. The side we see is the image of the moon but it is also the moon itself. Thus the visible God and the invisible God.

Now how did this OT God operate? Was He a mere onlooker in the affairs of humanity or did He get His hands dirty so to speak? He made the earth and the inhabitants thereof. He was the owner and CEO. What was His management style? Without a doubt it was hands on. When God made man, He made him with intelligence and the ability to choose. He did this because life itself is a choice and God chose so we might choose. The first choice (one that was free of deception) that we know of that man made was not a good one. The man chose to disobey God. Because of the man's decision, he was punished by God. Actions have consequences.

Instead of getting better, things just got worse. At some point, one could imagine God saying to Himself, "Let's just call the whole thing off." But luckily for the future of mankind, (thanks to one righteous individual along with his close family members) humanity survived yet another example of God's reaction to evil.

Then later we come upon another man of distinction. This man is far from perfect but he has one characteristic that pleases God. He believes God. For this he is accounted righteous and the template for the salvation of humanity begins.

Still death, because of sin, reigns among humanity. God is the God of life so He finds this situation appalling. He created man to live not die. What can be done? He may not like it, but only one solution seems viable. For humanity to live, God would have to die. For God is love (I John 4:8,16) and the greatest love is to lay down one's life for one's friends (John 15:13).

At an appropriate time, when the circumstances were favorable, the visible God descended into a virgin's womb. There He reinvented Himself becoming the Son of Himself. To be able to die, He had divested Himself of His immortality. Now He was wrapped in human flesh, flesh that was subject to death.
He was Emmanuel (God with us)and His time on earth began the healing of the bond that had been broken between humanity and God. Now righteousness was an universal possibility.
But as the owner of humanity, he took on the responsibility of humanity's deficiencies and through His death, burial, and subsequent resurrection, He makes possible the redemption of all humanity.

Was any of this planned? Both yes and no. Most importantly, it was done.

Who is this Being that interacts with mortal man? A part of Him is beyond being, beyond understanding. But a part of Him is here with us now and that part we understand.
How then should we live? We should live in accordance with our understanding, and when that is lacking, we should seek more understanding. We believe in a God who creates, who anticipates, who predicts, who adjusts, who intervenes, and who resolves. I suppose if He wanted to, He could have a written a computer program billions of years ago that pre-determined everything that was to happen. But I don't think so.

CMN