What Is The True Meaning Of Christmas?

     I recently watched A Charlie Brown Christmas with my kids, and I was really shocked by it. It’s been quite awhile since I saw it. Moreover, it’s been quite awhile since I saw anyone on television contemplate the real meaning of Christmas like Charlie Brown was doing in that cartoon. I think it says a lot about how far our culture has fallen away from Christianity. At the time Charles Shultz wrote that story, nearly fifty years ago, our culture was still asking that question in public. Today, it seems that hardly anyone, if anyone, even cares! Looking around this Christmas season, I rarely see any semblance of Christianity, barely even a Nativity set to be found; but rather most of what I see are various cartoon characters dressed up like Santa Claus on people’s front lawns. What has happened to Christmas?!

     When you think of Christmas, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? What is the biggest single thing that you associate with Christmas? If the first thing that popped into your head was Santa and you consider yourself a Christian, let me challenge you to please get back to what’s important. Christmas is about Christ and no one else. Even if you include the more secular seasonal icons, like Santa Claus, in your celebration, please don’t make them the focal point of Christmas.

     Now as a quick disclaimer, this is not intended to be a commentary on how I think Santa is completely evil and bad for our kids. I think that each individual can decide whether the fantasy of Santa is an allowable thing based on what one’s conscience says about it. I really don’t see much of a difference between Santa and Disney, or any other character of the childhood fantasy world. I think the same discernment used to decide whether certain Disney or other characters are appropriate should be used also for Santa. However because Santa is a character reserved for the holiday that celebrates our Savior coming into the world, how we expose our kids to Santa should be given much more serious thought. Therefore, as should become very evident, this is a commentary on how reverent we should be towards our Savior through this holiday, and whether Christmas is in fact a holiday about Christ or Claus.

     I think it’s good to first look at how Santa Claus has become such a prominent part of our Christmas celebration. Most people probably know that Santa Claus is a Dutch and German version of Saint Nicholas, who was actually a 3rd and 4th Century Greek Christian. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra, and is largely famous for putting gold coins in the stockings of three young women in need of a dowry so they could get married.

     Nicholas lived in an area that is now part of Turkey, and was far different from the Dutch-Germanic version that we know today as Santa Claus. First of all, the faith of Nicholas was so strong that he was sent to prison for it because the Roman Emperor Diocletian was persecuting anyone, especially Christians, who failed to worship him as god. Prison is a rough enough place on its own, but just some cursory research on the prison conditions of ancient Rome will show they were nothing like the prisons of today (which are luxury hotels compared to those of the past).

     Furthermore, Nicholas was so passionate about standing for Jesus Christ that at the famous Council of Nicea in 325 A.D., he smacked the heretic Arius in the face during a debate for claiming that Jesus was a created being. Nicholas, as did most of the Nicean Council, felt it was essential to recognize that Jesus Christ, though a human being, was also an eternal member of the Trinity along with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. That’s a debate left for another day, but know that it is because Christ is 100% God and 100% man that He is a suitable sacrifice for human beings. If He was a created human being, He couldn’t atone for our sins because He would have been born into sin and thus would have needed a savior Himself.

     Nicholas was really nothing like the Santa Claus of today. He possibly never saw snow, probably never wore a big fluffy red suit, was likely not very fat, and certainly didn’t have flying reindeer. So how and why do we have the Santa Claus image of today? The answer lies in the blending of Christianity and pagan Germanic religions. Most Christianized cultures blended certain aspects of their prior pagan culture with their new faith. Actually, the true date of Christ’s birth is highly unlikely to be anywhere even close to December 25th, but rather was picked for that date to coincide with the pagan celebration of the winter solstice. So if the birth date of our Savior was merged with paganism, certainly the legends of Saint Nicholas aren’t above that either.

     The early Dutch and Germans celebrated a Santa Claus that was also very different from the one we have today. That Santa is often shown as being much skinnier, walked around as a robed monk with a staff, and had a sneaky side kick named Zwarte Piet, which is Dutch for Black Pete. According to legend, this dubious precursor to Santa’s helpers had the job of sneaking through chimneys to bring bad children a bundle of sticks or something rotten like that instead of sweets. Some legends even have Black Pete whipping the naughty boys and girls, and even dragging the worst of them off to eternal torment in Hell. Not exactly the loveable Santa Claus of today, but likely an often used parental weapon to keep their kids in line.

     As a side note, there is a very interesting story behind the other Germanic name we attribute to Santa Claus, Kris Kringle. After the protestant reformation, Martin Luther saw a grave danger in allowing children to be so infatuated with Saint Nicholas around Christmas, much like they are today with Santa Claus. To bring attention back towards Christ, Luther invented a way to compete by getting the kids to fantasize that the infant Jesus would travel the world bringing gifts to children as representing the gift of salvation. The name of the infant carrying gifts is Christkindl, which in English means Christ child. The concept still exists in Germanic cultures today, but in America it morphed into Santa’s alias, Kris Kringle.

     Eventually we arrive at the version that we have today, which is really a blend of the legends regarding Saint Nicholas and Black Pete in one person. Today’s Saint Nick is a heavy set man, who used to smoke a pipe before that became politically incorrect, wears a funny suit, sneaks into people’s homes on Christmas Eve to give presents (and as parents often warn, sometimes coal to the bad kids), and steals cookies, all after landing on their rooftops with his flying reindeer. Even in the best light, does Santa Claus, especially with his twisted legendary past, really have anything to do with Jesus Christ coming into our world, much less honor Him?

     Even the gift giving part is totally based on whether kids are naughty or nice. Jesus came into this world to give us what we do not deserve, eternal life. We can do nothing good enough to earn God’s gift of salvation, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8, 9 (NKJV). More incredibly, we do not deserve it at all, because, “There is none righteous, no, not one … There is none who seeks after God.” Romans 3:10b, 11b (NKJV). Nevertheless, “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8b (NKJV). That is what Christmas is all about!

     Please don’t casually dismiss my point as being over the top. Think this out, because there really is a God, who really did come into this world 2,000 years ago to save us from the due penalty of our sin. If we are going to celebrate that event at Christmas, shouldn’t we figure out whether the way we celebrate it is either honoring or offending to God? Let’s take a serious look at what the true meaning of Christmas is.

     Many years ago, in the beginning of mankind’s history, God placed the first two human beings in absolute paradise, free from all forms of disease and pain. God only gave them one rule to follow:

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 2:16, 17 (NKJV). It was really a test to see whether man would follow God, or the evil desires of his heart. Unfortunately for us, Eve was far too enticed by Satan’s bait when he said, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5 (NKJV) (bolded emphasis added). She wanted to be like God, and our forefather Adam very willingly followed her into rebellion. See Genesis 3:6b; 1 Timothy 2:14. After this, mankind was cast out of God’s paradise and into a world cursed with death.

     From that moment, mankind has been waiting for the Savior to come and reconcile us to God. Right after Adam and Eve’s fall, God described the Savior to Satan saying, “He shall bruise your head, [a]nd you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15b (NKJV). This promise was so important, because at the very moment that Adam and Eve broke God’s law, God would have been perfectly fair and in the right if He chose to execute His justice on the spot, killing both of them and putting an immediate end to the human race. God warned Adam and Eve that they would die for their disobedience, and God has warned us through the Apostle Paul, “For the wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23a (NKJV).

     However, in God’s awesome mercy and grace, He allowed Adam and Eve to live, but in a fallen world filled with sin and constantly subject to death. They did in fact die, precisely as God promised, just not in immediate response to their sin. God has graciously given us the same opportunity to repent from our sinful ways. The Apostle Peter explained why God chooses to hold off on executing his justice on mankind like this, “The Lord is … longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (NKJV).

     Just as Adam and Eve were separated from God because of their sin, we too are separated from Him. The Bible makes very clear that we are all sinners, “There is none who does good, no, not one.” Romans 3:12b (NKJV). The only difference between us and our ancestors from Eden is that we not only have transgressed God’s law ourselves, unlike Adam and Eve, we were born into the curse of sin. The Bible records that God told Noah, “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” Genesis 8:21b (NKJV). We begin life with the same sinful spirit of rebellion that consumed our ancestors Adam and Eve, and because of that sin, we can never regain the favor of God on our own. That is the reason why the first Christmas was so spectacular. The One whom God promised He would send, way back in the Garden of Eden, finally came!

     For thousands of years, the Jewish nation was waiting for the promised Messiah, the Savior who would reconcile God and man. The Prophet Isaiah said that a miraculous sign would be given indicating that the child was the Messiah, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14 (NKJV). The name Immanuel means God with us, and that is exactly what Jesus was, God in our form and among us.

     The Prophet Micah foretold that the Messiah, One who had no beginning, would be born in Bethlehem, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, [t]hough you are little among the thousands of Judah,
 [y]et out of you shall come forth to Me [t]he One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, [f]rom everlasting.” Micah 5:2 (NKJV) (bolded emphasis added). Interestingly, Micah was very specific in his prediction. There were two towns named Bethlehem in the 1st Century, but the one that was called Ephrathah in ancient times was where Jesus was born. The other was in the northern part of Israel, much closer to Nazareth.

     More than 700 Years after Isaiah’s prophecy, God sent an angel to assure a poor Jewish carpenter named Joseph who was betrothed to a similarly poor Jewish girl named Mary, that although Mary claimed to be a virgin yet was clearly pregnant, everything was okay, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:20b, 21 (NKJV). The Scriptures make clear though, even from the Old Testament, that this Redeemer would not only save Israel, but also people from throughout the entire world. Isaiah records God the Father speaking to God the Son about the plan for salvation saying, “I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, [t]hat You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.” Isaiah 49:6b (NKJV).

     Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth, some 80 miles north of Bethlehem. So that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem and fulfill prophesy, just prior to the birth of Christ, Cesar Augustus unknowingly took part in God’s plan when he ordered that a census be taken of the entire Roman Empire, likely to assess taxes. Each head of household had to travel to their ancestral home town to be registered in the census. Both Joseph and Mary were descendants of King David, who was born approximately 1,000 years earlier in Bethlehem. Thus, they were required by the edict to register there, in the same Bethlehem that was previously called Ephrathah. Exactly as the Prophet Micah foretold 700 years earlier!

     If traveling 80 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, through a mountainous terrain and on the edge of giving birth was not enough, the Gospel of Luke tells us, “And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:7 (NKJV). Do you realize what a manger is? Most of us probably think of it as a quaint little wooden structure filled with soft hay. Did you know that a manger is actually where animals living in a barn eat out of?

     The manger that held the infant Jesus was likely a sloppy, damp, foul smelling thing under the hay covering it, and yet it held the King of the universe, the Savior of mankind! The Apostle John told us exactly who Jesus was when he wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” John 1:1—3 (NKJV) (bolded emphasis added). When John came face to face with the risen Christ during the vision he received that became the Book of Revelation, John was so awe struck by Christ’s appearance that he declared, “I fell at His feet as dead.” Revelation 1:17b (NKJV).

     But when God came into this world as a human being, not only did He condescend from His true nature, He was born into absolute humility. The Prophet Isaiah described exactly this when he wrote:

He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

Isaiah 53:2b, 3a (NKJV).

     In continuation with the lack of pomp and circumstance, our Savior’s arrival was announced only to shepherds, one of the lowliest professions of the time, living in nearby fields. However, although the circumstances and surroundings of Christ’s birth were quite modest, the announcement the shepherds heard was quite the opposite:

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”     

     And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
          “Glory to God in the highest,
          And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Luke 2:9:14 (NKJV). Can you imagine the awesome sight of the entire sky being filled with angels announcing the birth of the Savior and King?

     The incredible and history changing announcement of Christ’s birth was captured in a Christmas carol written in the early 1700’s by the famous hymnist Charles Wesley and evangelist George Whitefield:

     Hark! The herald angels sing,

     “Glory to the newborn King,
     Peace on earth and mercy mild,

     God and sinners reconciled.”

     Joyful, all ye nations, rise,

     Join the triumph of the skies;

     With the angelic host proclaim,

     “Christ is born in Bethlehem.”

    
     Hark! The herald angels sing,

     “Glory to the newborn King!”

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Charles Wesley, modified by George Whitefield (public domain).

     Santa Claus cannot, nor ever will, reconcile us to God. All of us have transgressed God’s law, and every single person ever created will either have to pay the penalty themselves for doing so, or we can have our sins forgiven and placed on Jesus at the cross by repenting and trusting in the Savior who voluntarily gave Himself to us on the very first Christmas. The Apostle Paul explained, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:1, 2 (NKJV).

     It is only through repentance and faith in Christ alone that we can be reconciled to God. Nothing we do can overcome all the wrong each of us has committed. Paul went on to explain:

having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

 Romans 5:9b—11 (NKJV).

     This is what Christmas is really about! God, reconciling mankind to Himself, despite the fact that the only thing we deserve from God is the penalty that comes with violating His holy and just law. I’m not saying that in order to be a Christian you must abandon all references to Santa Claus. In fact, my kids enjoy Santa Claus as much as other characters of childhood fantasy. What I am saying is please make sure you are putting the emphasis of Christmas on Christ, through whom we have been given the greatest gift of all, eternal salvation! Most importantly, make sure you are reconciled to God by repenting from your sin and trusting in the Savior alone. If you hear His voice, please don’t delay, do as Jesus commanded, “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15b (NKJV).

What If We Really Are Nearing The End?

     So many people today, both religious and secular, are obsessed with contemplating whether we are living in the era of the world’s end. Just look at how popular all the disaster movies and end times books are. Between Christian novels like the Left Behind series based on the Rapture and the Great Tribulation, to movies like 2012 presumably based on the Mayan prophecies of the world’s end, society seems to be caught in the grips of disaster speculation. Even the scientific and political communities are totally consumed with the notion that if global warming is not stopped and reversed, we will cause the world’s demise.

     I have to admit, it consumes me all too often as well. Not the global warming part though. The world will not come to an end because of man. God Himself will destroy the world at His appointed time, when His plan for this world is finished. The Apostle Peter wrote of that day saying, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:10 (NKJV).

     The Mayans don’t necessarily have it right either. The end could come in 2012, but not because the Mayans had some revelation about it. Jesus said very clearly, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” Matthew 24:36 (NKJV). As a side note, I actually believe that this verse is speaking of the return of Christ for His Church in the event we refer to as the Rapture. However, whether or not that’s the correct inference, Jesus was definitely talking about the end, or at least the beginning of the series of events that lead in short order to the actual end.

     So as much as you want to be carried away with the Mayans, or some other unbiblical “prophet” (like the ever popular false prophet Nostradamus), keep your eyes on what Scripture has to say about it. Understand that the end of the world is coming in a dramatic and horrific manner, but not in the hap hazard way described by the numerous unbiblical predictions out there. Rather, it will come exactly as God has warned it would through Scripture, culminating in the return of Christ.

     Regarding the timing of His return, Jesus said, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Matthew 24:42—44 (NKJV). In one of the last verses in all of Scripture, Jesus said, “And behold, I am coming quickly … .” Revelation 22:12a (NKJV). It certainly sounds to me like Jesus wants us to be ready!

     Now although we cannot know the hour, God has given us various warning signs that will precede the return of our Lord. Thus, we will know when we are at the threshold of the final days of world history. Some of those events have already occurred in recent history. Other events are right now coming into focus.

     One of the most incredible signs that has happened since Jesus left this world concerns the miracle of the Jewish Nation. Israel has miraculously been regathered from the countries where God scattered them. Through the Prophet Ezekiel, God explained that because of Israel’s disobedience:

Therefore I poured out My fury on them for the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it. So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds.

Ezekiel 36:18—20 (NKJV). During Ezekiel’s time, the sins of Israel had to do with rejecting God in favor of the false gods of their neighbors. The Jews were allowed to come back into their land under occupation, however, they were scattered again by God (through the Romans) when they failed to recognize the Messiah had come. Jesus predicted this when He said, “And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” Luke 21:24 (NKJV).

     No nation in the history of the world has ever survived after 2,000 years of being scattered across the globe. Many nations have been conquered and dispersed from their land, yet they are always absorbed by whatever culture or nation they went to. This didn’t happen with the Jews. After living in various countries and cultures throughout the world for 2,000 years, the Jews retained their national, religious and cultural identity. That’s impossible, but because Israel plays such a central role in end times prophecy and because God has promised to prove to unbelieving Israel first and then to the unbelieving world that Jesus is the promised Messiah, Israel’s preservation and reunification were inevitable.

     Again through the Prophet Ezekiel, God said:

Therefore say to the house of Israel, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.’”

Ezekiel 36:24 (NKJV).

     Despite the impossibility of this happening, and despite the constant threat against Israel’s continued existence, this prophecy started its fulfillment when Israel regained its statehood in 1948 after more than 2,500 years of captivity, occupation or dispersion. One day the rest of Ezekiel’s prophecy will be fulfilled when God pours out His Holy Spirit on Israel and proves to them that Jesus is their Messiah, just as God promised through the Prophet Zechariah more than 500 years before Christ’s birth and crucifixion, “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” Zechariah 12:10 (NKJV).

     Almost as implausible as the prophecies surrounding Israel’s reunification is the reemergence of the Roman Empire as predicted by Daniel, who was a contemporary of Ezekiel. Through the Prophet Daniel, God told exactly how He would send the Jewish People into captivity through four dominating empires, Babylon and Medo-Perisa (both of which happened during Daniel’s lifetime), then Greece through Alexander the Great and the four rulers that split off when he died, and then finally Rome. Daniel also described that the Roman Empire would again be in existence in the end times, “And shall devour the whole earth, [t]rample it and break it in pieces.” Daniel 7:23b (NKJV). The Apostle John was given the details of how the revived Roman Empire, throughout the last seven years of the history of this age, would make a final but failed attempt to destroy the Jewish People and all those who trust in Jesus. See Revelation 6—19.

     I believe we are witnessing this revived Roman Empire come into formation through the European Union, which originally formed to create a common European market and community of nations. However, in November 2009 the European Union essentially formed a new world power when it ratified the Lisbon Treaty, which is actually a national constitution among united European states. This new united Europe will no doubt become a dominating force throughout the entire world, especially since the United States of America is clearly losing its position of global influence.

     I also believe that since the reality of the economic collapse in the Fall of 2008 became evident to all, the world has moved much closer to creating some sort of world monetary system, just as the Bible predicted would be in place during the end times. The Apostle John made it clear that the leader of the revived Roman Empire, whom Scripture calls Antichrist, would control the global monetary system by forcing everyone to swear allegiance to him. The Apostle John said, “He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:16, 17 (NKJV). Now it’s impossible to see at this point in time exactly what that mark, name or number is, but it certainly appears that we are seeing the conditions for a one world currency to become a reality.

     There are also many other things happening in our world that appear to fit Biblical prophecy, such as an increase in natural disasters and disease, mockers of Christianity, and in fact an absolute hatred of Biblical Christianity even among churches that claim to be Christian. See Luke 21:11, 2 Peter 3:3, 4, Jude 1:17, 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 2 Timothy 4:3, 4.

     However, it has now been almost 2,000 years since Jesus said He was coming quickly. What’s going on here? Are we to expect the return of Christ is imminent, like being on watch for a thief coming in the night, or does coming quickly mean some sort of code for thousands of years? Furthermore, what if we really are nearing the end of time, what are we supposed to do about it? In short answer, God wants us to live as if those days would come upon us at any minute, and we are to constantly work at spreading the Gospel message until we either die, or the Lord returns.

     Nevertheless, God clearly wants us to know when the end is at hand or He would not have given us so many warning signs of that time in Scripture. I believe that there are two main reasons why prophecy is not always super clear before and until it unfolds. First of all, prophetic Scripture has definitely been more understandable at different times throughout history. However, I don’t believe any of Scripture was written in code. All of Scripture is written to all people alive since each book of Scripture has been handed down to us through the prophets, yet it is intended to become clearer beginning with and for the people who are alive at the time it unfolds. This helps the people alive in the midst of the prophetic event understand what’s happening, and proves to those who come later that God’s word is true since it was able to foretell the future.

     Consider this, Jesus was first predicted in Genesis when God said, “And I will put enmity [b]etween you and the woman, [a]nd between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, [a]nd you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15 (NKJV). Adam and Eve could not have understood that this promise meant God in human form would crush the curse of death by taking the punishment we deserve upon Himself and eventually putting an end to evil. However, more than 3,000 years later, the Prophet Isaiah gave a description of the Messiah that was quite a bit clearer, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; [t]he chastisement for our peace was upon Him, [a]nd by His stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV). By the time Jesus was born into this world, there were enough prophecies of His first coming, that the people who were alive at the time have no excuse for failing to recognize Jesus as the promised Messiah.

     Similar to the example of Adam and Eve, the Apostles could not have imagined that 2,000 years (and maybe much more) would pass before Christ would set Himself up on Earth as King. On what we know as Palm Sunday, when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (just as prophesied by Zechariah and on the exact date prophesied by Daniel, both more than five hundred years before the time of Christ), the crowd proclaimed, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!” Luke 19:38b (NKJV) (quoting Psalm 118:26); see also Zechariah 9:9, Daniel 9:24—26. They clearly thought that Jesus was coming to be their King and rescue them from the Romans. Even after the resurrection, immediately prior to Christ’s ascension into Heaven, the Apostles still did not understand that there would be a second coming of Christ when they asked, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:6b (NKJV). To which Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” Acts 1:7b (NKJV).

     Why was it not for them to know the times or seasons? Isn’t that what prophecy is for? Yes and no. I don’t believe it was for them to know because God’s Kingdom on Earth would not come for at least 2,000 more years. However, I do believe that God gave us the prophecies of Christ’s return so that those who are alive just prior to that event would not only be more prepared to expect Him, but also so that they will be encouraged in the face of the dismal outlook they will see around them. Just as the people alive at His first coming should have expected Him, we will know to expect Him too.

     When Daniel was given his apocalyptic vision, he was told, “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Daniel 12:4 (NKJV). As a side note, that description alone sounds much like today, doesn’t it? Although Daniel was given many prophetic details of the future, God obviously felt it was necessary to only allow Daniel to record a portion of what he saw concerning the end times. By the time that the final revelation was given to the Apostle John, nearly 600 years after Daniel, John was told, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand.” Revelation 22:10b (NKJV).

     Therefore the prophecies contained in Revelation are intended for people alive since then to be aware of. In fact, Revelation begins saying, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.” Revelation 1:3 (NKJV). By that statement, it’s clear that God wants us to be aware of prophecy, and in fact those who hear it and do the things Jesus commands in it are blessed.

     This brings me to the second reason why I believe prophecy is not always clear before it unfolds. We are to live the Christian life as if we are running in a race, because if we stop and get too comfortable in this world, we will take our eyes off of the world to come, causing us to fall into sin more often than we already do and to neglect the work that Christ commanded, which is to spread the Gospel message. The writer of Hebrews explained:

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 Hebrews 12:1—2 (NKJV). The Apostle Matthew’s Gospel concludes with the command regarding what we are supposed to be doing as we run this race, which is what we call the Great Commission:

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

 Matthew 28:18—20 (NKJV).

     The Great Commission is a command to all Christians, that we spread the Gospel message, which is that although we deserve God’s wrath for all the wrong we have done, Jesus, God’s Messiah, came to take our sins upon Himself, and if we would only repent and put our trust in Him, God will transfer all of our sins upon Christ and in exchange give us Christ’s righteousness. God uses faithful witnesses to spread His message throughout the world, so as Jesus said to God the Father while praying, “that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:21b (NKJV).

     The Bible gives some incredible promises to those who have been saved from the penalty they deserve over their sin. However, when we become complacent in those promises, and fail to engage the non-believing world to repent from sin and trust in Christ alone before it’s too late, we become not only disobedient to the Great Commission, but we also become far more susceptible to falling into sin ourselves. The way to avoid becoming complacent is to keep our focus on the prize in Heaven that awaits us at the end of this race in life. The Apostle Paul explained it like this:

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12—14 (NKJV).

     Jesus wants us to run this race of life as if His return is about to happen any second. At the conclusion of what we call the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus told His disciples specific signs that would precede the end, Jesus warned, “Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming — in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning — lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping.” Mark 13:35—36 (NKJV). Therefore, we are not to be found asleep, but awake doing the work that Jesus commanded.

     After all, regardless of whether we are alive when Christ returns, or we die before that time, one way or the other we are all living within a lifetime of being confronted face to face by God. That thought alone should be enough to keep you awake! Therefore, whether we are nearing that time or not, there are only two things to ultimately be consumed with. First, you must get saved by repenting from sin and trusting in Christ alone for salvation; and secondly, you must run the race of a Christian life doing the work that Christ commanded, sharing the good news of the Gospel to those who have not yet been saved from the just penalty they deserve.

     We are all no doubt going to stand before God Himself one day and give an account of our lives. We will be judged for every single thing we have ever done, and every motive of our heart. Because all of us have fallen short of God’s holy and perfect standard, every single one of us will be found guilty of violating God’s law. You will not be able to argue that you didn’t know, because God gave you His creation to know that He exists, and put a conscience in your heart to alarm you every time you violated His law. However, because God loves His sinful and rebellious creation so much, He sent His only begotten Son to this earth so that He would live a perfect life and die an undeserved sinner’s death; and that if we would reject sin through repentance and trust Jesus through faith that He was our substitute, God will pass over our sins on that day, cloaking us in Christ’s perfect righteousness and letting us enter eternal life in His presence.

     These things are coming to pass. It seems to me that in fact we are the generation that is seeing the beginning signs of the end times. As Jesus said in His own words, “So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near — at the doors!” Mark 13:29 (NKJV). Jesus wants us to know when these things are coming so that we will be prepared. Do not doubt they are coming just because they were predicted so long ago. The Apostle Peter warned, “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:8, 9 (NKJV).

     Are you ready to stand face to face before Christ? I fear that some people I know and love will have to live during that great and terrible time called the Great Tribulation. Nevertheless, even if I’m wrong, all of us will stand before God at the very moment we exit this life. Don’t be caught sleeping! Without the righteousness of Christ applied to your soul, God will not pass over you, He will judge you for your sins! We don’t deserve Heaven, we deserve judgment. Jesus is the only One who deserves Heaven, but in His incredible kindness, He offers you what you do not deserve, His righteousness! The writer of Hebrews asked, “For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation[?]” Hebrews 2:2, 3a (NKJV). Don’t neglect this great offer of salvation. If you hear His voice, do as Jesus commanded, “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15b (NKJV).

The Love of Christ

     We often talk about how strong the love of God is, but do we really understand what that means. It’s almost a cliché to talk about it. In fact, it’s likely that the most well known Bible verse is, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 (NKJV). The other one that is quoted often is, “for God is love.” 1 John 4:8b (NKJV). Those verses are absolutely true, but do we really understand what they mean?

     To know what God’s love really is, we need to understand how great His anger is over our sin. Many people think of the God of the Old Testament as the angry God, but the God of the New Testament as the loving God. We need to understand that they are one and the same! The Old Testament sets the stage for God’s love to play out through our Savior Jesus Christ, by showing us how angry God is with sin.

     In fact, the full magnitude of God’s love can only be seen when contrasted against the full extent of our sin. Not as we see our sin, but as God sees it. We don’t usually see our sin as being that big of a deal, but God certainly does.

     The well known verse from John’s Gospel quoted above continues, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:17 (NKJV). If God is all love and in full control of everything, what do we need to be saved from? Are we in danger of something? Well God is in full control, so whatever this danger is, God would be in control of that too. It would appear then that if the Bible is saying there is some danger that we need to be saved from, and God is in control of it, we should probably figure out what God’s word says about it, right?

     The verse from John’s Gospel continues, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:18, 19 (NKJV). Then John explains further down in the chapter, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:36 (NKJV). But wait a minute! The second verse quoted above, from John’s first epistle says, “for God is love.” 1 John 4:8b (NKJV) (emphasis added). If God is love, why does He have wrath? Wrath certainly doesn’t sound loving!

     The Bible teaches clearly that we are all sinners, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 (NKJV). Jesus told us God’s standard when He said, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48 (NKJV). But how can we be perfect when we are also told that we have all fallen short of God’s standard? The bad news is that we can’t. The good news, however, is that Jesus can on our behalf!

     John’s first epistle continues, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:9, 10 (NKJV). God is love, but His love is magnified when we see how His love is revealed through the atoning act of Jesus Christ, the propitiation for our sin. We have fallen short of God’s standard, and the Bible says that “God is a just judge, [a]nd God is angry with the wicked every day.” Psalm 7:11 (NKJV). Jesus, however was 100% God as He is the second member of the Trinity, and He did not fall short of that standard. He lived a perfectly righteous life, and was offered up on the altar of the cross to be our substitute, our propitiation for sin.

     The term “propitiate” is defined as to “gain or regain the favor or goodwill of.” Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary. That’s simply amazing! God’s wrath abides on us and He is angry with us every day because of our sin, yet He sent His Son into this world to regain His goodwill for us by taking God the Father’s anger upon Himself? It almost doesn’t even make sense because that kind of love is so foreign to our nature. Despite God the Father’s anger toward us, He sent God the Son into this world to be our substitute. That alone should make the verses about God’s love look far better than you have ever imagined them to be. However, when you look at the suffering Christ did on our behalf, it magnifies His love beyond comprehension.

     Know this too, there were two separate parts of Christ’s suffering. That which was visible, and that which was invisible. Eyewitness accounts to Christ’s crucifixion were recorded in Scripture so that we could read about what Jesus endured for us. What we could not see, however, was that part of the punishment that was poured out upon God the Son by God the Father to satisfy His anger toward our sin.

     Thursday night of Passover week, the night before Jesus was crucified, He took some of the disciples to the Garden at Gethsemane to pray. The Apostle Matthew recorded:

And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

Matthew 26:37—39 (NKJV). Luke added in his Gospel, “Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Luke 22:43, 44 (NKJV).

     Do you really think your sin is not that big of a deal? Christ’s sweat contained great drops of blood because He was agonizing over the suffering He was to endure for our sin! Are you kidding me? If the One who created the entire universe in six days was in such agony that He actually was sweating blood, our sin is a big deal.

     Immediately following that prayer, Temple soldiers arrived to arrest Jesus for blasphemy, that He claimed to be God. He was brought to the Temple to be tried before the High Priest under the cover of night so that few if any of Christ’s followers would know about the trial. The Temple leaders set up a mock trial to quickly find Jesus guilty, “Now the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none. For many bore false witness against Him, but their testimonies did not agree.” Mark 14:55, 56 (NKJV). They mocked Him and beat Him, “Then some began to spit on Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him, and to say to Him, ‘Prophesy!’ And the officers struck Him with the palms of their hands.” Mark 14:65 (NKJV). Luke added, “And many other things they blasphemously spoke against Him.” Luke 22:65 (NKJV).

     Eventually during this unsuccessful false trial filled with beating, spitting, and mocking, the Temple leaders came right out and said, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Matthew 26:63b (NKJV). Jesus answered saying, “You rightly say that I am.” Luke 22:70b (NKJV). This threw the crowd into convulsions because in addition to answering the question, using the phrase “I am” proved that Jesus claimed to be God. When Moses spoke to God through the burning bush, Moses asked God who He was so that if asked by the children of Israel Moses could say who sent Him, “And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.”’” Exodus 3:14 (NKJV). The Jewish leaders understood that not only was Jesus claiming to be the Messiah, He was also claiming to be the God of the Jewish Scriptures.

     That was all the Temple leaders needed to convict Jesus, “Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, ‘He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! What do you think?’ They answered and said, ‘He is deserving of death.’” Matthew 26:65—66 (NKJV). However, because the Jews were under Roman occupation, they no longer had the ability to carry out a death sentence, so they brought Jesus to the Roman governor Pontius Pilot.

     It was now Friday morning when Jesus had already endured His first trial and was about to go through His second. Pontius Pilot found that Jesus had done no wrong, and sent Him to Herod, the lame duck king put in charge of that part of Israel by the Roman Empire, to decide what to do with Jesus. Despite Herod finding that Jesus did no wrong, the third trial did not go any better than the first, “Then Herod, with his men of war, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate.” Luke 23:11 (NKJV).

     Now at Christ’s fourth trial that day, Pilot wanted to release Jesus because He was innocent. Pilot asked the crowd, “What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?” Mark 15:12b (NKJV). But the crowd “shouted, saying, ‘Crucify Him, crucify Him!’” Luke 23:21b (NKJV).

     Pilot then had Jesus scourged prior to His crucifixion, which according to historical descriptions was one of the most excruciatingly painful forms of punishment ever inflicted next to the crucifixion itself. Jesus was stripped, bound, and beaten with various weapons that were fixed with shards of animal bones intended to rip the skin off of Christ’s body and shred His muscles and organs apart.

     The Gospels record that the pain to be inflicted on Jesus had only begun:

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him. And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.

 Matthew 27:27—31 (NKJV). Consider that all of this was happening after Christ’s body was completely shredded apart from the scourging. 

     After all of this, most people would have long since died. However, the real punishment that Jesus came into this world to bear was still ahead. As weak as He was, Jesus was made to carry His cross from the place where He was scourged to where He would hang on that cross at Golgotha, which was outside of the city walls. The Roman soldiers forced an onlooker to assist Jesus because of the absolute physical exhaustion. Once they arrived, stakes were driven through our Savior’s feet and hands, nailing His bloody and shredded body to the cross. We can only imagine the utter pain that this must have caused His already severely tortured body.

     Now for the real punishment. As God the Son hung on that cross where He had to push Himself up on the stake in His feet just to breath, and after receiving what is possibly the worst beating any person throughout history has ever received, God the Father poured out wrath on His Son, the very wrath that was intended for you and me. It was the very wrath that abides on and is stored up for all who refuse to repent from sin and put their trust in Jesus alone as their atonement for sin.

     Do you remember the agony Jesus went through the night before His arrest in the garden at Gethsemane? This wrath was so great that when Jesus was contemplating this moment while praying, just the thought of this moment caused the very rare medical condition of hemathidrosis, where great drops of blood poured out of Him as sweat. This was God Himself in human form experiencing such agony.

     As God the Father punished His innocent Son, Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Matthew 27:46b (NKJV) (see Psalm 22 for the prophecy written by King David of this moment). The Bible tells us that during this time, darkness was covering the entire earth for three hours. See Luke 23:44. Then Jesus cried out again “with a loud voice, He said, ‘Father, “into Your hands I commit My spirit.”’ Having said this, He breathed His last.” Luke 23:46b (NKJV). The Apostle John added that before giving up His spirit, Jesus declared, “It is finished!” John 19:30b (NKJV).

     At that moment, the veil of the Temple was torn in two from the top down, and there was a great earthquake. See Matthew 27:51. The veil was the divider within the Temple that secluded the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple, where specially selected priests would be allowed at very significant times to meet with God and seek forgiveness of the nation’s sin. When God instructed Moses on how to construct the veil, He explained, “The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy.” Exodus 26:33b (NKJV). This was the symbol of our separation from God because of our iniquity, our sin. To add to the symbolism, it’s important to note that this was all taking place during Passover. At the very same time that Jesus was being slaughtered on the cross by His Father, the Passover lambs, the prophetic image of Christ, were being slaughtered by the priests at the Temple.

     Now the veil was torn by God, from the top down, because the work of our Savior, atoning for our sin, was finished! He had regained the favor of God toward us. The Apostle Paul explains this amazing event saying:

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

 Romans 5:6—11 (NKJV).

     The next time you consider the verses first mentioned above regarding God’s love, please remember the cross. Without it, we cannot understand God’s love. It’s in fact completely foreign to us. God Himself became a human being and died for sinful men and women who rejected and defied Him, so that we could regain God’s favor toward us. All He requires from us is to turn from our way through repentance, which is seeking forgiveness from God and forsaking our sins, and then putting our trust in Jesus alone, that He reconciled us to God the Father. God the Son suffered at the hands of His own creation and of God the Father, for you!

     Please consider these things today. God is angry with your sin and mine. However, He has provided a way for us to avoid His wrath through the atoning work of His Son, Jesus Christ. Read the Bible and see if the things I write about are true. Don’t be a casual Christian, take this seriously. If what I’m saying is true, you cannot afford to dismiss this message. If you hear His voice, do as Jesus commanded, “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15b (NKJV).

Who is the Lamb, and What is His Law?

     Who is the Lamb? The Lamb is the most important person you could ever hope to know. He is Jesus Christ, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29b (NKJV). When a religious leader asked Jesus what the greatest commandment of God was, “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37—40 (NKJV). That is His law, summed up in those two statements. Why Jesus is called the Lamb of God can only be understood by first understanding why He was born into this world.

     So many people think that Jesus was just a good teacher, possibly even actually sent by God, who taught us how to live a better life and make this world better for all mankind. That even sounds nice, doesn’t it? Fortunately, that’s nonsense! I say we’re fortunate because of the one thing that all of us have in common, every single one of us will die one day and enter eternity. What will a better world here matter when we are living apart from this world throughout all of eternity? Wouldn’t it be better to know what eternity has in store for us? You don’t get to enter this world again, so if you trust that your good works making this world better will help you in eternity, you will have wasted the opportunity God gave you to repent from your way and trust in His way.

     Jesus was not merely some gifted teacher, who taught how to make this world better. Talking about Jesus, the Apostle John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1 (NKJV) (emphasis added). He was God in the flesh, who came to show us the way to a better world, not to fix this world. Jesus came to save us from death, the curse of this world, and open the door for us to enter a world where we could be with God, enjoying all of His glory for all of eternity.

     From a human perspective, Jesus was killed by the religious leaders of Israel (yet through the Romans) because Jesus claimed to be the God of the Jewish Scriptures, what Christians call the Old Testament. The Romans were convinced to carry out the execution based on the argument that Jesus claimed to be the true King of the Jews, and thus was a threat to insurrection against Roman sovereignty.

     From God’s perspective, however, Jesus was the sacrificial Lamb of God, sent to take away the sins of the world. He was the fulfillment of the prophetic image of the lamb sacrificed at Passover, the sacrifice Abraham told Isaac that God would provide, and the first sacrifice in the Garden following the fall of Adam and Eve that was to cover the shame of their nakedness. Jesus was 100% man and 100% God, the second person of the Trinity. God the Son lived a perfect life, free of all sin. At the hand of God the Father, God the Son voluntarily died an undeserved sinner’s death in the place of all those throughout history who would turn from sin and put their trust in Him, trusting specifically that they will be declared righteous before God the Father because God the Son took their sin upon Him.

     Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” Matthew 10:34 (NKJV). Of course God cares about what we do in this world, and what we do with the blessings that He gave us, including the world He created for us. However, He did not come to bring peace on earth. Putting your trust in what you do to improve this world will not matter to you when you are dead. The Bible says, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” Hebrews 9:27, 28 (NKJV).

     So what’s this judgment all about? I’m so glad you asked. When God created mankind, Adam and Eve in the Garden, He gave them one command. Most of us know the story, God said that Adam and Eve could eat from any tree in the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Most of us picture it as the forbidden apple, sort of like the poisonous apple of the Snow White fairytale. Most people don’t really take this as a literal true story. Well that perception probably lies in the fact that most people reduce this story to the simplicity of Adam and Eve simply wanting to eat a nice apple that God told them not to eat. That’s not it at all!

     Did God really care about the forbidden fruit? No. Why then did God put it there in the open for Adam and Eve to ogle at, knowing that they were commanded not to touch it? Is God guilty of cosmic entrapment? Absolutely not! God knew that Adam and Eve would disobey Him. So what was the point?

     God knew His creation would reject His authority and fall from the paradise that God created for them. God knew that instead of submitting to God and trusting that God knew what was best for them, mankind would choose to satisfy the sinful cravings of their hearts, exercising the free will God gave them to choose whose authority they would follow. Through our oldest great-grandparents, you and I, every single one of us, chose to follow our own authority so that we could satisfy whatever sinful thing our hearts desired. Without the fall, we would never be able to see just how incredible God’s love is, and that is the point!

     When Satan tempted Eve, he didn’t merely trick her into disobedience. He tricked her into thinking that if she disobeyed God’s command, and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she would be able to become like God, knowing good and evil. The Bible records that Satan said to Eve, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5 (NKJV). The deception lied in what Eve must have thought the outcome would be. She must have thought that she would become all powerful like God. That’s not what happened at all.

     Up until that point in the history of mankind, we only knew what was good. God gave us paradise in His garden at Eden. By disobeying God, we learned evil. Satan was right in his statement to Eve, that once she disobeyed God’s command and ate from the forbidden tree, she would become like God, knowing good and evil. Now she knew both!

     Adam, however, was not deceived. Knowing what his wife had done, Adam chose voluntarily to follow her. The Bible says, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.” 1 Timothy 2:14 (NKJV). Thus through our oldest ancestors, each one of us rejected God’s authority over us, and chose to follow the desires of our hearts. We often think that following the desires of our hearts is a good thing. The problem is that the Bible says so clearly that “The heart is deceitful above all things, [a]nd desperately wicked.” Jeremiah 17:9a (NKJV). Jesus said, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.” Mark 7:21, 22 (NKJV).

     The Law of God is what we refer to as the Ten Commandments. Essentially, however, the law is simply to “… ‘love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37b—40 (NKJV). That is the law of the Lamb, the law of God, yet none of us have followed it:

     There is none righteous, no, not one;

          There is none who understands;

     There is none who seeks after God.

          They have all turned aside;

     They have together become unprofitable;

     There is none who does good, no, not one.

Romans 3:10—12 (NKJV) (see also Psalms 14:1—3; 53:1—3; Ecclesiastes 7:20). God gave us the Ten Commandments so that we would understand what the above Scripture is saying. Not one of us has submitted to God’s authority by following His rules, but rather all of us have chosen to follow our own authority by doing what we want – to follow the desires of our deceitful and desperately wicked hearts.

     Do you not believe it? Do you really think you are good? Think about it for a minute, and don’t let your heart deceive you. Has God always been first in your life? Have you always viewed God as exactly how He is described in Scripture, or have you chosen to follow the imaginary god you created in your mind? Have you never taken God’s name in vain, which is blasphemy? Have you always kept the Sabbath holy? Have you never disobeyed your parents? Have you never been unrighteously angry? Have you never looked with lust at someone not your spouse? Have you never taken something that didn’t belong to you, regardless of its value? Have you never lied? Have you never wanted something that didn’t belong to you, instead of being content with the things God has already blessed you with?

     Those are the Ten Commandments. Answering yes to any of them makes you a law breaker. If you’re thinking right now that no one has kept these laws, you are absolutely correct, that’s exactly what the Scriptures say. That won’t help you though, because when we come face to face with the Lord on our judgment day we will not be judged on a curve. Jesus said, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:36, 37 (NKJV).

     Now think about that for a minute. Every single transgression. Every lustful glance, every time you blasphemed the holy name of your creator and judge, every lie, every theft. You and I will be judged for every time we transgressed God’s law. Nowhere in Scripture does it say that you can overcome those transgressions by being good more times than you were bad. The Prophet Isaiah said:

          But we are all like an unclean thing,

     And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;

     We all fade as a leaf,

     And our iniquities, like the wind,

     Have taken us away.

Isaiah 64:6 (NKJV).

     If our good works are like filthy rags, how could they ever overcome our bad works? If a murderer turns his life around, is he no longer a murderer? Well, coveters and liars and blasphemers are still lawbreakers too, no matter how much they are cleaned up. We will all be judged for the sins we committed in this life, and the Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23a (NKJV).

     We can never blot out our sins, so who can be saved? The Apostles asked Jesus that same question, and He answered them saying, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26b (NKJV). Fortunately for us the rest of the verse from Romans quoted above reads, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 (NKJV).

     This is the Good News! It’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29b (NKJV). He is the ultimate sacrificial lamb who was slain as an atonement for you and I. You and I deserve God’s wrath because of our sins. The Bible says that “God is a just judge, [a]nd God is angry with the wicked every day.” Psalm 7:11 (NKJV). Jesus, however, was innocent. From a human perspective, He died the horrific death of crucifixion. Yet from the perspective of God, Jesus bore the wrath of God the Father that was supposed to come down upon us. Isaiah prophesied about Jesus, describing Him like this:

          But He was wounded for our transgressions,

     He was bruised for our iniquities;

     The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

     And by His stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV).

     Why would God have done that? God is just, and holy, and perfect, and righteous. He will not tolerate sin, so there had to be a punishment. You may ask why God couldn’t just forgive us if we are sorry. How could He? A good judge wouldn’t tell a criminal “you can go now because you apologized.” Only a corrupt judge would pervert justice like that.

     God is not only a just judge, but He is also the essence of what love is. Scripture says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16, 17 (NKJV). However, it also says that not everybody will be saved. That same passage continues, "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." John 3:18, 19 (NKJV).

     Before Jesus went to the cross, He warned, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” John 8:24 (NKJV). We are not condemned for rejecting Christ, we are condemned already for our sins. It’s as if we are all splashing around in the sea about to drown, and someone comes along and says, “if you put on this life preserver, you will live!” We are drowning in our sin, but Jesus, in His incredible kindness and love for His creation, is offering us Himself to be our Savior. All we have to do is repent and trust Him. We must reject the sea of sin, and trust in the true life preserver, Jesus Christ!

     The Apostle Paul explained “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:9, 10 (NKJV). Confessing that Jesus is Lord means we must break our pride before God, agreeing with Him that we are sinners who deserve judgment for the sins we have committed throughout our lives.

     The Apostle Peter said, “God resists the proud, [b]ut gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5b (NKJV) (see also Proverbs 3:34). Jesus did the work of our salvation on the cross, and He will not share the credit for this with anyone, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8, 9 (NKJV). We can only be saved from the penalty we deserve by asking God for forgiveness in humility, casting away all pride, and turning away from whatever sin has a hold of our heart, and then trusting in Jesus alone, specifically that His sacrifice on the cross was in fact our actual individual substitution.

     The Lamb of God did not come to make this world a better place for people to step out of and into Hell from. He came to throw us a life preserver so we could avoid Hell, the punishment we deserve for not keeping His law.

     Through Moses, God told the people, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” Leviticus 17:11 (NKJV). Why would you reject God’s offer to make Himself the atonement for your soul? The only reason to reject this offer would be if you insist on holding to your own authority, rejecting God’s rightful authority over you, because you are unwilling to give up whatever sin has a hold of your heart.

     Jesus Christ made us, and died for us. Please don’t reject this. Read the Bible today, and figure this out for yourself. See if what I’m telling you matches up with Scripture, and then decide for yourself if what Scripture says is true. The writer of Hebrews, echoing the words of King David, implored, “Today, if you will hear His voice, [d]o not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” Hebrews 3:15, 4:7b (NKJV) (see also Psalm 95:7—8). If you hear His voice, do as Jesus commanded, “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15b (NKJV).