What has God done to save man and to restore
His creation?
Perhaps the most simple and clear answer to this question is recorded for us in the words of John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Though God is a just God who must punish sin, His first desire for each and every one of us is that we might be saved from eternal condemnation and punishment and live forever in fellowship with Him. In order to provide salvation for fallen and sinful mankind, God sent His Son into this world as a true man to take our place under God's law and fulfill it for us, and to suffer and die upon the cross to bear the full punishment and condemnation for the sins of all people.
God promised a Savior from the beginning, immediately after the fall of Adam and Eve. He said in His words to the serpent: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15).
God's Word tells us: "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Gal. 4:4-5).
Since man was unable to fulfill the righteous demands of God's law and could not make atonement for his own sinfulness, God sent His own Son into this world, born miraculously of the Virgin Mary, true God and true man (cf. Luke 1:26ff.; Matt. 1:18ff.). God's Son, Jesus the Messiah, or Jesus Christ, lived a sinless life under God's commandments. He walked in perfect fellowship with God the Father in heaven. In obedience to the Father, He then went to the cross and was forsaken and condemned of God the Father that He might suffer the full and just punishment for the sins of all mankind (cf. Matt. 27:46).
Again, the Bible says: "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). The Bible tells us that "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world" (1 John 2:1,2).
The Bible tells us "that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures ... that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3,4).
Because Jesus died for our sins and rose again, God is gracious to us, forgives our sins and accepts us as His own dear children. Through faith in Jesus and His blood shed for us upon the cross, we have forgiveness and life everlasting in God's eternal kingdom.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace...." (Eph. 1:3-7).
Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 09/10/2014