What a beautiful thing innocence is. I remember the time where clothing, money, jobs, bills, safety, food, and the myriad of things that now are a part of my life did not even cross my mind. While innocence and immaturity can (but does not always) go hand in hand, there is great delight in the memory of such times.
Why is a picture or memory of such a time a thing of delight or beauty? Maybe it is because at one time, we were created for such living. Milton refers to it as Paradise Lost—it was Innocence Lost. Was that not Satan’s temptation to Adam and Eve? Knowing good and evil? As opposed to just knowing… God… the source of all goodness? Satan mocked innocence, and in our rejection of God, it was lost. And two thousand years later, innocence returned in order to purchase it—redeem it—for us once again.
How many things do we find beautiful that can be described as innocent, pure, undefiled, pristine, untouched, clean, or spotless? Is it not the heart’s cry for what it was originally created for? Somewhere deep within, we have a knowledge of and desire for what we lost. It seems rather odd that such a desire would even exist unless there was (at least at one time) a fulfillment of it.
The church is pictured as being dressed in white as the bride of Christ. Revelation says we are washed clean in the blood of the Lamb (7:14). Our innocence will be restored! What we long for, what we desire, will one day be given to us once again. And our response then? “Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” (Rev. 19:7) What can our response now to this hope be? “So then dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with him.” (1 Pet. 3:14)
A final random note: even when innocence is restored, it is in slightly different form than it was before. Before, “they were naked and unashamed”; after, “wearing white robes”.
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