Saved! The very good news!

rescued and saved!

Last time I wrote about the bad news of the drastic "fall" of creation from the way God made it in the beginning and intended for it to be.  Now it's time for the very good news of His promised One, Jesus Christ, our rescuing hero.

Jesus praying for us?

To appreciate the rescue we have to appreciate the bind we are in.  When Adam and Eve's spiritual nature was changed they lost their spirit to Spirit communion with God.  When they had children, the children were also lacking that spiritual ability.  What's more, the children had never experienced it in the first place, so they didn't even know who they had been meant to be.

There are many many religions in the world.  I think that reveals that somewhere in each of us there is a sense that we need more than ourselves.  We are reaching out to something beyond and there have been many religions invented to give people hope that they can find it, whatever it is.  The story the Bible tells is of God reaching out to us to recover the lost relationship, and our lost identity as spiritual human beings.

How did He do that?  God (a Spiritual Being, remember), sent His own Son, also Spiritual, to become born as a human being.  He was called the Son of God and also the Son of Man because he was both of God and of humankind.  He was spiritual in the sense that Adam and Eve had been, but he came and lived without ever distrusting his Father.  He lived a perfect life, meaning he lived in relationship to God and never acted out of a will that disagreed with his Father's.  To us that could sound not only impossible, but undesirable.  Why would you not want to have your own way at times?  I think it is because of love.  Jesus knew God's love so intimately and so surely that he couldn't imagine ever disagreeing with anything God might want for him.  He was able to love God back and trust Him so completely that he never ever took anything into his own hands.  He only did what God was guiding him to do - the way it had started out with Adam and Eve.

But the part that is so amazing is that in the midst of this deepest love Jesus and God both knew he was coming to earth as a man to die.  He was sent here to represent God to us in his love, compassion and character, and he was sent to bear the punishment of all the sin of the whole world.  In verse 5 of Isaiah 53 it says "...the punishment that brought us peace was upon him..." and in verse 6 it says "...the the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

Our rescue can only be possible because Jesus was a perfect human being who bore the penalty of sin, which is death.  He agreed to be the scapegoat for us.  He took all the guilt himself and was executed for it on the Cross.    Sin was punished according to the law of God.  When Jesus prayed, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do" it was heard by God and He did forgive us.  Justice had been served and forgiveness was given.

Then God, being entirely just, raised His Son from his grave.  He had carried out all he needed to do for us though not guilty in the slightest, so God released him from death and he was resurrected!  (Now seriously, would anyone make this up?!!  It is beyond amazing.  There are no words.  And yet it is TRUE!)

Holy Spirit portrayed as a dove

There was just one more problem.  Man needed to have his spiritual nature restored so that he could once again, know God.  So in the same way that Jesus became identified with us, we can become identified with him.  He was one of us - a person.  That is not a stretch to identify with.  But we also get to identify with him as the Resurrected Son of God.

If you believe the Bible account of all of this (and you need to read it there to hear in your own heart how God tells it), then the response that God asks for is that you tell Him you believe and accept what Jesus did for you.  You tell Him that you realize you were born deficient in being able to connect with Him spiritually and you know that you have not lived as He designed you to live.  You admit that you do not really know Him or love Him because you can't do it.  He will hear this.  This is what He has waited all your life to hear from you and He is so excited to hear it!  Then you tell Him you need and want Jesus' Spirit (the Holy Spirit) to come into your being so you will be spiritually whole and completely able to have a relationship with God.

 Jesus, himself, described this as being "born of the spirit".  It is like a second birth and it really is your true life as it was intended to be that begins right here.  Woohoo!  Happy Spiritual Birthday!!

Whether you have passed through this narrow gate a long time ago, or just recently, let's keep going.  It's a fantastic journey into a totally new realm.  It's God's kingdom we are a part of now.  We are lambs of the fold, adopted sons and daughters, and we have growing ahead!