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Jesus: God’s Solution to Our Dilemma Before humans – before Earth, before the moon, before the cosmos – only the spiritual realm existed. The Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Word (Jesus) reigned as one God over the Kingdom of Heaven. God created a physical world to coexist with the spiritual realm. In that new world, He placed the first man and woman in a garden paradise called Eden. Adam and his wife Eve lacked nothing as they cared for the garden. In Eden stood the tree of life, which bore fruit that preserved human bodies from death. The tree of knowledge of good and evil also grew among the vegetation, in the middle of the garden. God warned Adam and Eve never to eat from that tree or they would lose their lives. As Adam and Eve passed near the forbidden tree one day, its beauty drew Eve’s attention. Desiring the knowledge it offered, she picked its fruit and took a bite. She then handed the fruit to Adam who also ate it. They immediately understood the implications of their misbehavior and tried to hide from God among the trees. True to His word, God drove the man and woman out of Eden, separating them from Him and the tree of life. He posted cherubs to guard the way to the tree of life, ensuring neither Adam nor Eve could return to eat its fruit and enable their bodies to live forever. In addition to their eventual physical death, Adam and Eve suffered a spiritual death the day God removed them from His presence. Likewise, God spiritually separated each of us from Himself the day we first rebelled against Him. Nonetheless, aware of our tendency to do carelessly whatever we please, our loving Creator designed a selfless plan to deliver us from the dreadful consequence of our defiance. He would forgive us – conditionally. Only the compelling blood of an innocent man’s voluntary self-sacrifice could bridge the chasm separating us from God’s favor. Hence, our dilemma – none of us could make amends for our own misconduct, much less for the wrongdoings of all humanity, because we all have disobeyed God. To our rescue came Jesus, the Word of God. While maintaining His godhood, the Word emptied Himself of the power and privileges of God to appear as a common human infant when born on Earth. Born to die, He made our reconciliation with God possible by offering His blameless blood as an acceptable sacrifice on our behalf. John, a beloved friend of Jesus, spoke on behalf of all the prophets who walked on Earth with Jesus when he wrote, What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life … we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:1-3 NASU) Open your mind and open your heart as you consider in the following chapters – what I wish I had known about the Jesus story.
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Chapter 1
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“Were not our hearts burning within us … while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32 NASB) |