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Why did God make us? Here are some helpful insights into this common question. Essentials is designed as an audio course, but all the verses mentioned are collected below. Many people print the verses so they can mark them up with insights they gain from the talk. Click the play button, and get started!
God is not a loner
Even before man: Genesis 1.26
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Communion: John 1.1-2
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
In the garden: Genesis 3.8-9
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
Created for a love relationship
His gift of love for us was sacrificial: John 3.16
16 “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.
None greater: John 15.13
13 Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
Help to grasp: Ephesians 3.17-18
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…
Indestructible: Romans 8.38-39
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Everlasting: Jeremiah 31.3-4
3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. 4 I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful.
Our call to love for Him
Great Commandment: Mark 12.28-31
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: `Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Jesus explains it: John 14.21,23
21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” 23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Why we are free
First Century Jewish Marriage is described as the model of the relationship of Christ and those who love him.
The Bridegroom: John 3.28,29
28 You yourselves can testify that I said, `I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.
The Costs of Betrothal
1 Corinthians 6.18-20:
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body.
Acts 20.28:
28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood’s creation.
The Covenant Cup
Matthew 26.27:
27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.
The Bridegroom’s Preparations
John 14.2,3:
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
The Bride’s Preparation: Mikvah
Acts 8.12:
12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, both men and women.
The Bride’s Wait
Mark 13.32:
32 “No-one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Matthew 25.13:
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
The Joyous Reunion
Revelation 19.7:
7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
1 Thessalonians 4.17:
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever.
Price of Betrothal
God’s chosen metaphor is marital love!:
Hosea 2.16,19-20
16 “In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master’.” 19 I will betroth you to me for ever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. 20 I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.re you’re sure to pass by frequently.
Bridgegroom love!: Isaiah 62.5
5 …as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.
Not just in the Old Testament; NT, too: 2 Corinthians 11.2
2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.
We are the Bride of Christ: Revelation 19.7
7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
Spiritual prostitution: Leviticus 20.4-6
4 If the people of the community close their eyes when that man gives one of his children to Molech and they fail to put him to death, 5 I will set my face against that man and his family and will cut off from their people both him and all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molech. 6 “‘I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them…
And again: Exodus 34.15-16
15 “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. 16 And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.
Adultery and lust: Ezekiel 6.9
9 Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember me–how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols.
Plainly sexual: Ezekiel 16.15-17
15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favours on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his. 16 You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. Such things should not happen, nor should they ever occur. 17 You also took the fine jewellery I gave you, the jewellery made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them.
Getting the point?: Ezekiel 20.30
30 “Therefore say to the house of Israel: `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Will you defile yourselves the way your fathers did and lust after their vile images?
Not just OT: James 4.4
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
A Great Mystery: Ephesians 5.31-32
31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery–but I am talking about Christ and the church.
A passionate contest
The desire of Satan: Genesis 4.6
6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
The desire of a woman for a man: Genesis 3.16
16 …Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
The desire of a man for a woman: Song of Solomon 7.10
10 I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me.
When you’re in love…
True love means you want to spend time. A long-distance romance. You need time alone. A long-term romance. Our role model: Luke 5.16:
16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Five theme verses
His love for us: John 3.16
16 “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.
His chosen metaphor: Ephesians 5.31-32
31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery–but I am talking about Christ and the church.
Bridgegroom love!: Isaiah 62.5
5 …as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.
Our love for Him: Mark 12.30
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
Our role model: Luke 5.16
16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
