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This creation included man and woman - the crowning work
of God’s creative activity (Gen. 1:26). The first man was Adam and his
wife was Eve. They had the awesome privilege of living in perfect
communion with God until they allowed sin to destroy their lives and
those of their posterity. By eating of the forbidden fruit of the
Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve brought God's wrath upon themselves and
all of mankind. It was at this point, known as the Fall of man, that
all of creation was stricken with death, disease, and disorder (Gen.
3:14ff, Rm. 8:19-22). By choosing the paths of sin, Adam and Eve cut
off the wonderful communion they had enjoyed with God and they were
forced to leave the Garden of Eden. In spite of their sin, God chose to have mercy on them by allowing them to have children who would begin to subdue the earth. Yet, even their wickedness became too much for God to bear so he decided to destroy nearly all of the human race by the means of a global flood (Gen. 7-8). Only eight humans (1 Pt. 3:20) were a allowed to survive the flood (Noah, his wife, their three children, and their wives). God also graciously spared representatives of every kind of animal on earth through the use of an ark. Once the flood waters subsided, Noah and his family began the process of repopulating the earth, with the animals following suit. In time, God would establish His covenant with a man
named Abram (Gen. 12). It was to this man that God made the following
promise "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your
name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless
you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families
of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen. 12:2-3). With the birth of Isaac
and then Jacob & his sons, the nation of Israel was born and they
became God's special people on the earth. It was to the Israelites that
God gave His laws and expected them to act as a holy people, set apart
for His purposes and His glory. In keeping with God's law, the Israelites were expected to make confession and atonement for their sins through the offering of sacrifices, the most precious of which was a blood sacrifice of an unblemished animal. There was a problem though - one later highlighted by the author of the Book of Hebrews: "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins (Hb. 10:4). In other words, animal sacrifices would never provide a sufficient means for the permanent removal of sin - that's why the Israelite priests had to offer them year after year. What were the Israelites to do? That brings us back to Jesus. The Bible says that "when
the fullness of time had come, God sent for His Son, born of a woman,
born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we
might receive the adoption as sons" (Gal. 4:4- 5). In other words,
Jesus Christ - the only Lamb of God (Jn. 1:29, 36) - came to earth to
take care of the Israelites' sin problem and the sin problem of every
person who would ever live. The One who was fully God became fully man
to that He might reconcile sinful men to God (Jn. 1:14). You see, the
Bible teaches that every one of us has "sinned and fallen short of the
glory of God" (Rm. 3:23). The wages of that sin is death, but
thankfully the free gift of God is eternal life (Rm. 6:23). But what about Jesus - why was it necessary that He
come? What did He do? Simply stated, Jesus Christ was born of the
virgin Mary (Lk. 1:26ff), lived a sinless life (Is. 53:9) and died in
my place and your place on Calvary's cross that we might have access to
abundant and eternal life (2 Cor. 5:21, Jn. 3:16, 10:10). Thank God
that Jesus' story doesn't end at death. Though He died and was buried
in a borrowed tomb on Friday, He rose victorious over sin and death on
Sunday - this is the very essence of the Gospel (1 Cor. 15:3-4). The
Bible tells us that following His resurrection, Jesus Christ appeared
to over 500 of His followers before ascending back to His Heavenly
Father from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:9-12). Greater still, Jesus has
now gone to prepare a place for His children in heaven and has promised
to come back and received His followers unto Himself - both the dead
and the living (Jn. 14:1ff, 1 Th. 4:13-18). Though times will continue to get much more difficult
until Jesus returns (Mt. 24), we have the assurance of knowing that
Jesus will deliver on that which He has promised and that one day
"every knee shall bow... and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Phi. 2:10-11). So what does all this mean to you? It means that God loves you and has made all the necessary provisions to save your soul. How, you ask? The Bible answers that question very plainly: "If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rm. 10:9). Would you like to know that God is your Father? Would you like to know that your sins are forgiven forever? Would you like to know that heaven will be your eternal home when you die? You can know all these things by turning from your sins and asking Jesus to save your soul. You might say, "You don't know what I've done - surely God can’t save me." Friend, not only can God save you, but He eagerly wants to do so, for the Bible says that He "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tm. 2:4). He has saved thieves, liars, murderers, adulterers, and a host of others - now He longs to save you. Will you receive Him as your only Savior and Lord? If you'd like to do so, you can repent of your sins right now and place your full faith and trust in Him. Why not consider doing so by praying this prayer of repentance and faith: Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I have
sinned, If you prayed that short prayer and trusted Christ as your Savior, please contact us as soon as possible so we can assist you in developing a much more intimate walk with God as your grow in the "grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pt. 3:18).
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