At the inception of Elisha’s Riddle, we felt that God was calling us to release special “serialized” writings. Though it is not as common today, some of the greatest works of literature were serialized; meaning they were released piece by piece in special publications before being compiled and published as a completed book.

The following is a new “serialized” series. Every month, we will be releasing an early draft of a chapter from Dylan DeMarsico’s next book “Made Perfect.” This is his exciting follow-up to “The Happy Trinity.” It is a glorious, simple drink of the Gospel that we want to make available to the entire world. Each month will lead up to the official release of Made Perfect at the end of 2020. Enjoy the first chapter below!

God’s Dream

“Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:4-5 NKJV).

Before the universe existed, there was a dream. If you can imagine a time before time, there was a family of three. A Father, his Son, and a Spirit. They lived together in perfect love (John 17:24). And in that perfect love, something happened. God dreamed a dream.

They dreamed of a creature that would be perfect. This being would be holy and blameless. It would exist as a beloved child of the Father. The creature that the Father, Son, and Spirit dreamed up before the universe began was you.

Before any star was shooting across outer space, you existed in God’s dream. The idea of your existence was in the imagination of the Creator. Before the earth was spinning, before the dinosaurs were roaming, and before the oceans were roaring, Jesus Christ dreamed of you. How does it feel to know that God dreamed of you before the world began?

Your Existence

Jesus Christ existed as the Son of God forever. Before time began, he was the Father’s one and only Son. He was the Father’s beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased (Matthew 3:17). God is an infinite Being of love and affection. And his infinite love was pouring out on his Son in the realm of eternity (John 17:24). This was all before the world began.

The Father and the Son existed in an infinite relationship of joy.

The power that the Father and Son used to create the universe was the same power that they used to love one another with perfect love. The mystery and power of the Trinity is beyond anything we can imagine. He created the whole universe. And yet, miraculously, the Father, Son, and Spirit have created you to join in their love, peace, and joy.

The Father, Son, and Spirit were rejoicing as they created the universe (Proverbs 8:30-31). They created the mountains, the flowers, and the whales. And after five days of creating this world, he created his favorite thing on the 6^th day. And that thing, his greatest creation, was you. You are the pinnacle of God’s creation. Psalm 8 says that we were created with glory, honor, and dominion over the earth.

We are the ones He created to join His family. “Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself” (Ephesians 1:5). God’s dream for us wasn’t to just be “human beings” lost in space. We were created to be a part of God’s family. His sons and daughters.

When Jesus prayed to the Father here on earth, he revealed perhaps the greatest mystery of our being. He prayed, “that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:23). We know how much the Father loves his Son, Jesus. The miracle of our life is that God decided that he would create a creature who would share in the life of the Son, and be loved by the Father with the very same infinite love that he loves the Son with.

God’s dream for you is to join in the life of the Trinity. To be “in Christ,” sharing his life as a beloved child. To live a life of love, happiness, and soul tranquility in the Holy Spirit. This is why you are alive and breathing. You are his perfect child. What wonder! What fun! What joy!

Created For God

We were created for God. Paul wrote that all of us were created through Jesus and for Jesus (Colossians 1:16). This is the joy of being alive. To know that we were created to belong to this wonderful Being we call “God.” More specifically, we know that His name is Jesus Christ. And the reason we exist is to belong to him. As the old children’s song says, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” Our lives are in his hands.

Peter wrote that we were created to be “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). We weren’t created for a meaningless life. God’s dream for us is to partake of His divine nature. We were created to enjoy fellowship and friendship with him.

The amazing thing is that we weren’t only created to know God at a distance; we were created to be one with Him. Paul wrote, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him” (1 Corinthians 6:17 NKJV). God’s dream for you wasn’t to keep you far away from him. His dream was that you would be one with him. That you would exist in joyful union with him.

Psalm 36 says that God gives his people drink from his river of pleasures. We were created to flow in the river of God’s pleasure! Jesus loves you in a very intimate way. He lives in you. He told His disciples, “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and You in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20). Christ created you so that you would live in him, and he in you, in beautiful oneness of joy and life. It’s a spiritual marriage.

The Lie

The Bible says that Adam was created as a son of God (Luke 3:38). God created him to live in paradise, full of innocence and joy, in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve both enjoyed being alive and pure as God’s children. God then saw everything He had made and said it was all “very good” (Genesis 1:31).

But in Genesis 3, we read of a lie. The serpent . . . satan, the devil. He showed up and tricked Adam and Eve. He told them, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). The serpent tried to make them think that God’s dream wasn’t enough. He enticed them to doubt God.

Adam and Eve were made perfect. They were God’s children, holy and blameless (Ephesians 1:4-5). They had God’s love and affection. There was nothing else they needed.

But they bit the lie. They stopped trusting in God’s dream for them. God created us in His “likeness” (Genesis 1:26). The devil convinced them that they could become more like God. But they were already like him! What a stupid lie!

Peezy’s Dream

I have a friend named Peezy and one day he told me about a dream he had. In the dream there were a bunch of Christians who were trying to push through a door. They were “pushing for their breakthrough.” They pushed and pushed and finally broke through.

Once they broke through, they found themselves in a wine cellar. The wine cellar had only two things in it: bread and wine. It was the body and the blood of Jesus! But in the dream, to Peezy’s surprise, they were disappointed. They wanted something else. They weren’t content with Jesus.

Just like Adam and Eve in the Garden, they were tricked into thinking they needed something other than God’s dream. The devil feeds us the same lie he fed Adam and Eve. He tries to deceive us, telling us Jesus isn’t enough. But through Jesus and His finished work on the cross we’ve been made perfect (Hebrews 10:14). We don’t need anything else but Jesus. God’s dream for us is enough.

Like Paul, we are to be content in whatever the circumstances because we have Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). The body and the blood of His sacrifice do not disappoint. The river of His pleasure satisfies us all the days of our lives.

God’s Delight

Jesus is our example of God’s dream. He came to earth to show us the way. In every way, Jesus reflects the life of God in us. As Paul wrote, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith” (Galatians 3:26). We exist as sons of God, just like the eternal Son of God, Jesus. John added, “As He is so also are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

One of the most important things that Jesus showed us, is that before we begin any work of ministry in our lives, we must discover that we are the beloved children of God. When Jesus was baptized, the Father’s voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). Or as the Hawaiian translation reads:

“You My boy! I really get love an aloha fo you, an I stay good inside cuz a you!” (Mark 1:11 HPB)

It is of great importance that you realize that the Father is pleased with you. The God and Father of the universe is happy with you. Jesus wants you to know the Father’s love in the same way that He knows it (John 17:23).  You are God’s delight. He created you to take delight in you. As Revelation 4:11 reads, “For Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11 KJV).

It’s like if you made a little creature out of clay, and he was really cute and it came to life. You really liked the little creature you made, and so you take great delight in it. You are God’s clay creature that He made. And He enjoys you.

Sin

Ever since we started believing the lie of the devil; which was that God made a mistake with us and was holding out on us; we as a human species have fallen into all kinds of horrible sin. From murder to sexual abuse, hurting yourself and damaging children. The list goes on and on. There is no denying the reality of sin in our world.

But remember how sin came into the world. It was through a lie. If Adam and Eve would have trusted that God had already given them all they needed, they wouldn’t have stumbled. They could have told the serpent “no,” and walked away from him. But they didn’t. And this pattern of sin continues to this day. Believing the lie that God isn’t enough in our lives. And so we act out, looking for something else, and fall into all kinds of addictions.

Alcohol, drugs, sex, attention, knowledge, power. Any sort of thing can become our “false-god.” But they never fill the void, because even the “void” itself is a lie. God didn’t create us with a “void.” He created us in His image (Genesis 1:26). Sin always begins with a lie of the devil about who we are. He wants us to think we are missing something.

Jesus showed us this by example as well. In the wilderness Jesus was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-11). Every temptation began with, “If you are the Son of God.” Right there, the devil is already beginning his lie. Jesus was the Son of God from all eternity. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

And the same goes for us. The devil will question our identity. “If you really are a child of God.” He wants to unsettle us. But the question of our identity was already settled before the world began. The Father, Son, and Spirit settled it for us. “Before the foundation of the world… He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will” (Ephesians 1:4-5). We are the children of God. The devil really is nothing but a liar.

You no longer have to try and explain yourself or make a defense for yourself. You are who you are. A perfect image of God. Fearfully and wonderfully made. The devil has been exposed as a liar and he no longer has any power whatsoever over humanity.

So we have seen that sin entered the world through Adam and Eve. But what was God’s response? David wrote in the Psalms, “He rescued me, because He delighted in me” (Psalm 18:19). God’s love and delight for the world led Him to do the greatest thing in the history of the universe. The cross. And it’s through the cross, that you are restored to perfection . . .