Salvation
The message of the Gospel or “Good News” starts
with “Bad News”. It begins with a story of disobedience; God’s
intended perfect creation polluted by “sin”. The word “sin” is derived
from an archery term used to describe an arrow shot toward its target, but falls
short of its intended mark. God had made Adam and Eve with free will.
He desired that acting on their own, they would choose to have an intimate
relationship of love with Him. Instead, the relationship was spoiled
through lying and cover-up; faith and trust were displaced by shame and guilt.
The genes of the entire human race were within Adam and Eve and when they
decided to rebel against God’s will, their lives were plunged into death and
decay. This became the legacy of all of mankind. For all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God [Romans 3:23].
The life of mankind was interwoven with his
relationship with God. He placed Adam and Eve in a garden that would
supply their every need but had commanded them not to eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. He told them that on the day that they ate of
it, they would die [Genesis 2:17]. This was spiritual death as well as
physical decay. Spiritual death meant separation from God, and banishment
from His presence forever. So when they sinned, it brought the dissolution
of the relationship between God and mankind and left humanity lost and without
direction. They had to find a way to make it on their own without God
because He could no longer relate to them without trust. For the wages of
sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord
[Romans 6:23].
But God still had His tender love for His precious
creation. Seeing their desperate situation, He was determined not to let
them be lost to obscurity. His love for them was so great, it would not
allow it even after they had broken His commandment and pushed away the intimacy
of relationship. God made bold plans to redeem His people back to Himself
[Genesis 3:15]. This would be tricky, because, unlike our relationships
with each other on an imperfect level, God is perfect. He is Holy in
righteousness and cannot abide or tolerate the presence of sin. Any
attempt by imperfect beings to relate to Him would end in their destruction
[John 1:18].
The only way to redeem mankind from the sentence of
death was to find a suitable substitute, someone to die for them. Payment
had to be paid in blood [Hebrews 9:22]. The way of redemption was
foreshadowed when God killed animals and gave Adam and Eve their skins as a
covering for the shame of their nakedness [Genesis 3:21]. In the Law of
Moses during Passover, a spotless lamb without blemish [Exodus 12:5] had to be
offered as atonement for the sins of the people. This had to be done
annually. This also only foreshadowed the real redemption that would occur
through the slaying of the Messiah, God’s very own Son, His spotless Lamb [John
1:29]. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us [Romans 5:8].
God loved the human race so much and so fervently
desired their love in return, that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, into the
world to die for the sins of the whole world [John 3:16]. Jesus became the
perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world [1 John 2:2]. Now, each
person is invited to place his/her trust in Jesus. In so doing, the
sentence of death is overthrown and instead of separation from God for eternity,
each man or woman by faith can receive eternal life [John 3:16]. Any
person that agrees with God concerning sin, accepts the atoning sacrifice of His
Son and proclaims that Jesus is Lord, believing from the heart that He came back
to life after dying on the cross, will be saved. Acceptance of His
lordship results in right standing (righteousness) with God and salvation from
the consequence of sin. If you confess with your mouth Jesus as
Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be
saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and
with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation [Romans 10:9-10].
All
who receive Him are given the potential of becoming His children [John 1:12].
The Holy Spirit comes to live within each believer [John 14:17]. He
proclaims God’s word to the reborn spirit and guides the listening believer by
faith into all truth [John 16:13]. Through the obedience of faith to His
word, they demonstrate their love toward Him [John 14:15] and the intimacy of
relationship that God desired with Adam from the beginning is established.
Those who consistently demonstrate their love for God, by following after the
Spirit, are the true children of God [Romans 8:14].