If ever there was a hopeless situation, this is it. However, although it is completely true that the Lord is a holy and terrifying God who will punish all sin without exception, He is also loving, merciful, compassionate, and full of grace.
You see, before God had even made mankind, He knew that they would turn against Him to their own destruction; and He had ordained a plan and purpose from all eternity that would clearly demonstrate His own mercy and grace. To understand the working out of this purpose, we must start at the beginning of history. We’ll summarize briefly, but since space will not allow for the full account here, I would encourage you to read it for yourself in Genesis chapters 1 - 3.
The opening chapters of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, recount the creation of our universe. The first man and woman, named Adam and Eve, were the crowning glory of God’s creation. Every aspect of this newly created universe was perfect, completely untainted by death and any of the other effects of sin that we see today. Adam and Eve were made in the image of God and were given eternal souls. They experienced the joy of close fellowship with God Himself.
This intimate fellowship did not last long, for Adam and his wife were soon tempted by Satan to rebel against God, and they rejected their Lord’s loving rule over them in order to become their own “gods.” God had warned them that disobedience would result in their deaths; and although it would be years before they experienced the culmination of the process of physically dying (followed by judgement), spiritual death was immediate and obvious. Aware of their guilt before God, they no longer desired fellowship with Him. When the Lord confronted them about their sin, they passed the blame along rather than acknowledging the evil of their own actions. Mankind’s new fallen, rebellious nature was manifesting itself. This sinful nature did not die with our first parents; it has been passed on to each one of us, their descendants. Romans 5:12 says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
Yet even in the midst of pronouncing curses on the earth and its inhabitants because of man’s fall into sin, God promised to send a Savior who would have victory over Satan (Genesis 3:15; compare with I John 3:8 and Romans 16:20). As history progressed, many prophecies were given by the Holy Spirit of God to godly men regarding the coming of the Savior, or Messiah. These are recorded in the Old Testament, written hundreds of years before the Messiah’s coming. Examples of these fulfilled prophecies include: the time of His coming (compare Daniel 9:24-26 with Mark 1:15 and Galatians 4:4); His place of birth (compare Micah 5:2 with Matthew 2:1-6); that His mother, while still a virgin, would miraculously conceive and bear a Son (compare Isaiah 7:14 with Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-35); His lineage (compare Jeremiah 23:5-6 with Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-31); and His true, divine identity (compare Isaiah 9:6-7 with John 1:1, 1:14, and Matthew 1:23).
God also prophetically revealed the Savior’s ultimate purpose in coming to us. Isaiah chapter 53 clearly explains His mission (I would definitely recommend reading the chapter in full). Notice verses 5 and 6: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Understanding what is being said here is vitally important, so we will come back to this passage later.
The Savior and Messiah referred to in all of these prophecies is Jesus Christ. Many of us are familiar with the basic biblical history regarding the earthly life of Jesus: that He was born of a virgin in the town of Bethlehem; that when He was grown he preached to multitudes of people about the kingdom of God; that He often performed miracles; that the religious leaders of the day, acting out of envy and hatred, delivered Him to the ruling Roman government to be executed via crucifixion; and finally, that He rose from the dead on the third day and ascended back into heaven shortly after that, promising to return one day. What people often overlook is the life-changing significance these events that took place some 2,000 years ago have for us today.
In Part IV, we’ll see how all of this “ancient history” has every bit as much relevance for you and me right now in this modern world as it did for the people who were there watching it happen.
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