Read Ezekiel 37:15-28 here.

From the beginning, God has desired two things for people: that we be united, and that we be with him.  God recognized from the beginning that life is far more fruitful when we work together as one.  He recognized that the heart of man is incomplete and unfulfilled in isolation. With a message that echoes throughout the entire Bible, Jesus prayed that we would be one, as God is one, in a reference to the triune experience.  God also realized that life’s daily obstacles are impossible for us to navigate without a guiding light, a path to follow or a voice to listen to.  From the beginning God communicated to his people that not only do they need to work as one, but they need to be “with him.”  Only in his presence would his people find the way that leads to prosperity of the spirit and safety for the soul.  However, as frequently as he communicated this message of “oneness” to his people, his people refused to listen and fragmented their human relationships as well as their spiritual one with their one and only God.  Likewise, as much as God advised them on the value of being one with him alone, for their own well being, his people continued to follow the idols of their hearts and reaped the destruction brought on by their choices.  The irony is that despite the continual neglect of his message, God’s patience with his people increased. More than that, in the end he proactively became “God With Us” in the form of the despised, rejected and crucified Emmanuel: Jesus Christ.  The life of Jesus Christ is more than simply good news.  It is THE news.  Jesus Christ represents the extreme limits of how far God’s love is willing to stretch, if only to be united with his children as he created them to be.