Isaiah 40:28-31: So what's the story about God and Jesus?

Monday, June 19, 2006

So what's the story about God and Jesus?

"So Kristy, tell me the story of God and being a Christian."
"Ok!"

God created the human race as perfect beings to begin with. Adam and Eve lived in Eden, which was a paradise. They had a blessed and complete relationship with God and lived in total peace without any worries because every need of theirs was provided for.

But one day in the garden a serpent came along and started talking to Eve. He instilled doubt in her heart and led her to believe that life would be much greater if she did as the serpent suggested, which was to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This of course, would be disobeying God's only command. The snake led Eve to believe that she could do things on her own and it would bring her much greater happiness.

From that point on all of mankind has been given the curse of sinful desires, which is doing things against the will of God, and dealing with the consequences.

In the beginning God provided everything to Adam and Eve and the only thing they did was love Him and obey him. We constantly walk in Eve's footprints thinking that we can achieve true happiness by doing things our own way and listening to the serpent telling us that we don't really need to obey God. From that first sin committed, God has made a way possible for us to still have communion with Him. He required a blood sacrifice to wipe away the sin that was committed so that the person could come before God blameless. He laid out the laws for his people to follow so that they could avoid sin and be in a relationship with Him instead. But their sinful natures always came through and a blood sacrifice was always due for sin.

God promised his people that someday he would send a man that would take care of sin once and for good and that faith is what saved them then. God provided prophets that foretold of Jesus' first coming. Very specific prophecies were made. These Major Prophets included Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah, which are found in the last half of the Old Testament.

God became a man named Jesus. To rephrase that: Jesus was fully God, yet fully man at the same time. (As a side note, many people claim that this is just not possible because it does not fit into our finite understanding of things. A quote I really like says "if God were small enough for us to understand, then he wouldn’t be big enough for us to worship". The fact that we can’t comprehend fully of something doesn't falsify it)

The reason why Jesus had to come as a baby and live the life as a man rather than just appearing old enough to start his ministry was to give himself the authority to give commands for us to follow...for example...Say you have a boss who demands you around and tells you what to do and how to live, yet he himself is a lazy bum or has never done anything he demands that you do. How much credit does his words deserve. How likely are you going to desire to obey him? Not much...So that is why Jesus had to go through everything as a man. So that he would have the authority and experience so that we could trust his words.

He taught love and forgiveness. He fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies that described him which also gave him credit. He lived a perfect life because we could not. He couldn’t sin because he was God. God himself endured a cruel and inhumane torture and died on a cross as was predicted. That was the ultimate blood sacrifice that was required for sins.

Now, all we have to do is believe in Jesus and trust that what he did was because he loved us so much (this goes back to the John 3:16 verse). God demands obedience still as he always have. We will always be sinful creatures, but now that sin is bought and paid for for those who trust in God and follow Jesus' teachings.

In John 10:10 it says, "The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy; I have come so that you may have life and have it to the fullest."

When we die we will be restored to perfection just as God intended in the first place when he created Adam and Eve.

Anyhow, HA, there's a more in depth explanation of becoming a Christian! For me, if I was truly searching...id want to know why. What was the significance of following Christ and being a Christian and why did Jesus have to come as he did and all that. I have been a Christian for a long time but actually understanding these points took a while, so i just want to spare people of what I had to go through with putting all the facts together to make sense. Anyhow...GOD BLESS!!!

-Kristy

PS. If anything I’ve said is questionable to doctrine and the Bible...let me know!

posted by Kristy @ 8:12 PM

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