God created man for communion with Himself. Surely there is more to the question of the relationship between God and man than this, but it is at least this. Without entering at this point into the complex questions associated with the nature of the image of God, we may confidently assert that God made man in His image. Being then the image of God, man possesses a peculiar status not had by any other created reality (whether animate, or inanimate; whether physical or spiritual).
This communion is not inviolable. It can be hindered or disrupted. The only thing that could hinder or disrupt communion with God is sin. When a man or a woman think it in their best interest to do what God forbids, he or she transgresses God's will and thus becomes a transgressor. Sin separates man from God. This is a mockery.
God's holiness is His attribute that distinguishes Him from the creation. It speaks of his transcendence. Though it distinguishes Him from His creation and in this sense separates Him from it, it does not press against the creation to drive it from His presence. God's holiness embraces the creation; it envelops it. Sin is the contrary of this. it is a mock holiness that shrouds the human soul in darkness. It distinguishes him from his Creator by enveloping him in corruption. This anti-holiness is repulsive, not simply as something against which one might recoil, but it positively drives away. It is a hunger. It is consumption. Sin is the cloak of the darkened heart that distinguishes it from its Creator. Sin breaks communion.
Because God is who He is, and because sin is what it is, God must judge it. It is the antithesis of God, so it must be destroyed. It must be removed. A dilemma arises at this point.
Sin hinders, disrupts and breaks communion with God. If God were to judge it, to remove it from His presence, then the person whom He had made in His image would no longer be in a position to fellowship with God. Therefore, communion would no longer be possible. However, if God did not judge a person's sin, the person would remain in an estate of sin. His sin would still separate him from God and therefore communion would no longer be possible. Whether He judges sin or not, once sin enters into the picture, God can no longer have fellowship with the man whom He made in His image.
How then can communion with God be restored? Somehow sin must be judged and judged in such a way that divine justice is satisfied, and the person who committed the sin might yet live. This requires a miracle.
The miracle required is one in which someone who is life itself could embrace the judgment of God and exhaust the full weight of His holy fury. Who else could do this but God Himself?
Jumping ahead in the realm of theological discourse, Christians say that God the Father, sent God the Son, in the power of God the Holy Spirit to secure salvation for His people. The Son of God made flesh is that miracle. It is a miracle of such grandeur that it eclipses creation in the magnitude of its beauty. Had it not been for Jesus Christ, God the Son made flesh, humankind would know only the shadow and then the reality of death. But because of Christ, the Father has clothed man in His own holiness.
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