Humanity’s story begins before the fall and even before the Garden. Our story begins in the heart and mind of God. Before humanity was created God already had servants (angels) so the mentality that we are just meant to serve God is slightly skewed. Yes, we do serve but that was not the purpose for our existence. We were created for family. God created humanity for a family of loving relationship. We were not created to be playthings that are divinely controlled for His amusement. We were not created to bring glory through our destruction and demise. We were created solely for the heart of relationship.
When we go back before the fall, where the stigma of sin and its consequences were attached to humanity, we are able to see our purpose and value. Mankind is not worthless or a chore to God. We are highly valued and adored by our Father! Jesus’s main objective was to redeem humanity back to the Father’s original intent. What is that? Genesis 1:26 states that we were created in His image and likeness. What does that mean? God made us like Him or in the pattern of Himself. In the Hebrew, the words for “image” and “likeness” both give a word picture of humanity being like a model of God. We are not Him, we are similar in nature to Him by design. This is important to understand.
The fall wrecked havoc on humanity, but Jesus made right what the fall had impacted. Through the birth of the Spirit, humanity is brought back to being the expression of God on earth. Our mission to rule over the earth is restored in the Kingdom as it was originally instructed in the garden. This pairs with the language of Jesus in the Lord’s prayer of “on earth as it is in heaven.” Believers are to express the heart of the Father to the world around us, impacting it with the culture of the Kingdom or God’s family. God gave man the instruction to rule the earth through His authority and dominion. In the new covenant we co-labor with God via the Spirit. The concept is consistent. In the garden, Adam and Eve ruled the earth in relationship with God. In the new covenant we do likewise in relationship with God.
So what does this have to do with a Gospel presentation? The Gospel is far more than a discussion of heaven and hell or sin. The Gospel is the story of How God, through Jesus, brought humanity back on course for His plan all along that started in the garden. His value and purpose for humanity was not lost at the fall. The Gospel is not just how to avoid hell. It is about a Father getting His children back. It’s about a family being restored.
