Before time began, God’s cosmic plan was to rescue us from sin and the separation it caused, and return us to the divine friendship He planned for us from the beginning. We were created for relationship with God from the beginning.

God knew Adam would fall and He already had a plan. “He chose us in Him before the creation of the world” (Eph 1:4, NIV). That is, before Adam fell, God chose us “to be holy and blameless in His sight… He predestined us for [full and complete] adoption [back] to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will” (Eph 1:4-5).

Proverbs 8:22-31 describes Jesus as the Lord of Glory, the pre-existent Word, standing with the Father as the Father was creating: “I was there… constantly at His side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in His presence, rejoicing in His whole world and delighting in mankind” (8:27, 30-31). John 1:1-4 also confirms, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” God’s plan was to send Jesus into the earth at the appointed time to redeem ALL that Adam had lost, “The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam [Jesus], a life-giving spirit” (1 Cor 15:45).

And so, God created us anew in Christ.

The new creation in Christ are ALL people who through faith in Christ have been baptized into His death and are now raised to a new life in Him through His resurrection (Rom 3:22, 6:3-4). The new creation has been made spiritually alive in Christ and joined to Him in an unbreakable spiritual union because the Spirit of God is now living on the inside (Rom 6:11; 8:9, 11). Our new union with Christ is a spiritual fellowship where we are brought into an intimacy that surpasses all others and we now can share inseparably in His love (1Cor 1:9; Rom 8:39)

“What counts” now, “is the new creation” (Gal 6:15). For every believer who is in Christ, “the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor 5:17). The old dead man, and the sin that once entangled it, has been done away with (Heb 12:1). Believers in Christ have been called and ordained by a divine re-instatement, back into the extreme high place of relationship with God. Paul writes of our current status, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realm in Christ” (Eph 2:6).

God bestows the highest of honors upon ALL believers by making our heart His home. He baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and then dwells in our heart through the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4; 1 Cor 3:16). He marks us with His “seal” of ownership upon our heart and calls us the “sons and daughters of God” (2Cor 1:22, 6:16; Eph 1:13). We are no longer servants, we are called His “friends” (John 15:15).

Through His death and resurrection, Jesus completely returned us to our status as God’s friend, just as Adam had enjoyed. No one has been left outside this invitation to friendship. We have all been welcomed to walk with God in the cool of the Garden, that is, in relationship with Him, together with all the people who enjoy His strong and unmistakable presence in their lives.

More than a welcome, God’s heart’s cry is for people to understand and accept this mind-blowing revelation: this is invitation into friendship with the Creator of the world.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism’s states, “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”  (Westminster Assembly, The Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. 1643-1652.)

Enjoyment is the reward of deep friendship with God.

A.W. Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us” because it reveals what we believe about God. It reveals whether we believe His Word, His promises, His GOOD intentions, His offer of friendship and deep desire for us… or not. (A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge Of The Holy.)

God deeply desires friendship with us.

It wasn’t just man’s loss in the Garden, God lost something in the Garden too, the loss of communion with us broke His heart. God has not stopped yearning over us and He broods over us, waiting, longing for men to respond. God’s longing for deep intimacy and true connection with humanity is on display through His word. We are the apple of His eye (Deut 32:10; Ps 17:8; Zech 2:8). We are His very special and precious possession (1 Pet 2:9).

Friendship is His invitation to us, an invitation back to His heart, back to nearness, to intimacy with our Father, our very GOOD and loving God.