Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God." ~1 Peter 1:19-21
God does not do anything without there being a plan. He created the light and darkness so there could be a day and night. He created Heaven and the Earth so there would be a system in which His future creations could live. He created dry land and had the grasses and trees grow so His future creations would have somewhere to walk and sustenance for their bodies, and He called it good. He created the stars (the sun is a star) and the moon to provide light for both the day and the night so we could see and know that we have a God that thinks of the little things, and He called it good. He created all the water creatures and flying creatures so we could understand just how big and thoughtful He is and eventually use as a food source, and He called it good. He created all the creatures that walk on the earth so that we could have companionship and ultimately that Man should fellowship freely with Him, and He called it very good.
Unfortunately, God gave man a free will, which ended with us falling into sin through one person. All the stuff God made and we had to eat the one thing we weren't supposed to...kinda sounds like us now-n-days with fast food. Anyways, with us now having an inherent sin nature, we could not...can not, have fellowship with God on our own accord. God cannot be in the presence of sin because He is so holy and righteous, and every one of us is filled with sin from our birth. With where Adam and Eve stood after that initial sin, and where every human being follows to this day, our only destination is eternal separation from God. The only place that meets that standard is Hell, full of forever burning, pain, lack of love, and no hope of ever having it end.
Many people don't like to think of eternity like that. When people are asked if they know where they are going when they die, half of the time their answer is, "I don't think about that." What a sad life to live, not knowing the purpose of our life? But how often do we really think about what God has saved us from? Do we remember that that is where very person who does not know God as their Saviour is going? Hell is not something to be swept under the rug by people who do not want to hear. Hell is very real and filled completely with suffering.
When it's over 100 degrees outside, it's hot, but we can usually escape it within a few days. Hell has no accommodations. The heat lasts forever, and we're not even given a temperature, just that everything and everyone is always burning, forever. Even though there is burning, there is no light. Only complete darkness, so much that one person cannot see their hand before their face, let alone someone else, forever. Screaming and calling out with no one to reply. The thought that they could have had what those who accepted the gift of God have, forever. Separation from the only person who has always loved us, even before we were born, the person who looked ahead at all the sin we would be committing throughout our lives and prepared a plan, forever.
We can never truly understand Eternity. It just blows my mind every time I try to understand it. Just, time...but never stopping. Never having to be anywhere at any given time. No day, no night, just God or Hell...but there doesn't have to be the option of Hell for us or those around us. God had a plan.
From the beginning God knew there would be sin because He could see the future. Yet with this knowledge He still created humans. He knew when Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit and became the first sinners. From there, God made a plan. A plan that would have the ability to change the fate of every human on the Earth. A plan that no other being could execute. A plan involving a blood sacrifice.
This sacrifice that was planned and made is like none other that has been, nor ever will be.
The ultimate sacrifice to end all need for sacrifices. Jesus Christ's blood.
The whole story of the life of Christ leading up to this sacrifice is given to us in the Gospels (Matthew-John) in varying degrees, but it is important. Without this background, without the truths within the pages of the Bible, we would never know the true meaning behind this gift so freely given. Though many people look at the crucifixion of Jesus as the religious leaders killing Him, it wasn't really them that killed him in the end.
We could look at the pain He suffered through as His back, which had been stripped of flesh by the cat of nine tails, scraped up the cross so He could get a breath of air. We could look at the pain of the nails being in His wrists and feet through the whole ordeal. We could look at the pain as the people He loved, rejected and scorned Him, mocking Him...all of these things could have killed Him. Murdered by the people He came to save...
But God had a plan, and though He may have used the brutality of man's thinking to create the needed situation, it really wasn't a murder. This plan was a special one that was filled completely with sacrifice from the very beginning and did not contain the aspect of life being taken from a man by someone else. Through man's ignorance and God's power, the ultimate sacrifice was able to be made without murder, but with love. This plan for a sacrifice was one that only God could fulfill to the end, though, because He, as a sinless human, could not die.
"For the wages of SIN is death..."
Jesus gave up the ghost. Something that no other can do voluntarily. Jesus faced separation from His Father, bore ALL our sins, and died...for me, for you, for everyone.
How often do we remember? How often do we tell others?
This is THE most important and precious gift we can EVER given anyone. Not just at Christmas, but every day of the year. Yet we keep it to ourselves...where do we really stand?
Unfortunately, God gave man a free will, which ended with us falling into sin through one person. All the stuff God made and we had to eat the one thing we weren't supposed to...kinda sounds like us now-n-days with fast food. Anyways, with us now having an inherent sin nature, we could not...can not, have fellowship with God on our own accord. God cannot be in the presence of sin because He is so holy and righteous, and every one of us is filled with sin from our birth. With where Adam and Eve stood after that initial sin, and where every human being follows to this day, our only destination is eternal separation from God. The only place that meets that standard is Hell, full of forever burning, pain, lack of love, and no hope of ever having it end.
Many people don't like to think of eternity like that. When people are asked if they know where they are going when they die, half of the time their answer is, "I don't think about that." What a sad life to live, not knowing the purpose of our life? But how often do we really think about what God has saved us from? Do we remember that that is where very person who does not know God as their Saviour is going? Hell is not something to be swept under the rug by people who do not want to hear. Hell is very real and filled completely with suffering.
When it's over 100 degrees outside, it's hot, but we can usually escape it within a few days. Hell has no accommodations. The heat lasts forever, and we're not even given a temperature, just that everything and everyone is always burning, forever. Even though there is burning, there is no light. Only complete darkness, so much that one person cannot see their hand before their face, let alone someone else, forever. Screaming and calling out with no one to reply. The thought that they could have had what those who accepted the gift of God have, forever. Separation from the only person who has always loved us, even before we were born, the person who looked ahead at all the sin we would be committing throughout our lives and prepared a plan, forever.
We can never truly understand Eternity. It just blows my mind every time I try to understand it. Just, time...but never stopping. Never having to be anywhere at any given time. No day, no night, just God or Hell...but there doesn't have to be the option of Hell for us or those around us. God had a plan.
From the beginning God knew there would be sin because He could see the future. Yet with this knowledge He still created humans. He knew when Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit and became the first sinners. From there, God made a plan. A plan that would have the ability to change the fate of every human on the Earth. A plan that no other being could execute. A plan involving a blood sacrifice.
This sacrifice that was planned and made is like none other that has been, nor ever will be.
The ultimate sacrifice to end all need for sacrifices. Jesus Christ's blood.
The whole story of the life of Christ leading up to this sacrifice is given to us in the Gospels (Matthew-John) in varying degrees, but it is important. Without this background, without the truths within the pages of the Bible, we would never know the true meaning behind this gift so freely given. Though many people look at the crucifixion of Jesus as the religious leaders killing Him, it wasn't really them that killed him in the end.
We could look at the pain He suffered through as His back, which had been stripped of flesh by the cat of nine tails, scraped up the cross so He could get a breath of air. We could look at the pain of the nails being in His wrists and feet through the whole ordeal. We could look at the pain as the people He loved, rejected and scorned Him, mocking Him...all of these things could have killed Him. Murdered by the people He came to save...
But God had a plan, and though He may have used the brutality of man's thinking to create the needed situation, it really wasn't a murder. This plan was a special one that was filled completely with sacrifice from the very beginning and did not contain the aspect of life being taken from a man by someone else. Through man's ignorance and God's power, the ultimate sacrifice was able to be made without murder, but with love. This plan for a sacrifice was one that only God could fulfill to the end, though, because He, as a sinless human, could not die.
"For the wages of SIN is death..."
Jesus gave up the ghost. Something that no other can do voluntarily. Jesus faced separation from His Father, bore ALL our sins, and died...for me, for you, for everyone.
How often do we remember? How often do we tell others?
This is THE most important and precious gift we can EVER given anyone. Not just at Christmas, but every day of the year. Yet we keep it to ourselves...where do we really stand?
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