God cre­a­ted the world and all was well. The si­tu­a­ti­on chan­ged when the ene­my of souls temp­ted Eve in to ta­king fruit from the tree of good and evil. The wo­man did not have the strength to re­sist the temp­ta­ti­on. Ins­te­ad she took the fruit and ate it. Then she gave it to her hus­band and he ate it al­so.

God cal­led the fal­len ones and spoke to them. The Lord cur­sed the snake and put en­mi­ty bet­ween the seed of the snake and seed of the wife. At the same time, God in­for­med that the wife’s seed would crush the head of the snake.

This was the pro­mi­se of sal­va­ti­on and re­demp­ti­on of which the Fat­her and Son had spo­ken about from the be­gin­ning of time: “You are my son; to­day I have be­co­me yo­ur fat­her. Ask me, and I will make the na­ti­ons yo­ur in­he­ri­tan­ce, the ends of the earth yo­ur pos­ses­si­on.” (Ps. 2:7-8). The son wil­ling­ly pro­mi­sed to ful­fill the Fat­her’s will (Ps. 40:9).

In the fal­ling, God’s ima­ge in man was cor­rup­ted and man found fa­vor in evil. He did not love God, on­ly him­self and the world. The Apost­le Paul sta­tes that there is no good in him, be­cau­se sin li­ves in his flesh and blood.

Many pe­op­le have se­arc­hed for pe­a­ce in their cons­cien­ce wit­hout un­ders­tan­ding that man is sa­ved on­ly through faith, grace and Je­sus Christ. Wit­hout this un­ders­tan­ding, they may have se­arc­hed for the gra­ci­ous God through their own work, pra­yer, re­a­ding the Bib­le or prac­ti­cing good deeds.

On­ly through Christ

The he­a­ven­ly Fat­her’s love, God’s grace and li­ving faith are in­se­pa­rab­ly con­nec­ted to Je­sus, who is our sal­va­ti­on. Paul wri­tes to the Co­rint­hi­ans: “that God was re­con­ci­ling the world to him­self in Christ, not coun­ting pe­op­le’s sins against them. And he has com­mit­ted to us the mes­sa­ge of re­con­ci­li­a­ti­on.” (2 Cor. 5:19).

God’s grace ap­p­ro­ac­hes man through the par­do­ned sin­ner or pre­ac­her of the Holy Spi­rit. The sin-dist­res­sed one is di­rec­ted to the re­dee­mer of all sins: Je­sus. In the pre­ac­hing of the gos­pel, God bes­tows faith with which He cle­an­ses the he­art. The ser­vants, be­lie­ving pe­op­le, put on the fi­nest clot­hing of the be­got­ten child. It is the wed­ding gar­ment, righ­te­ous­ness, which Je­sus has pre­pa­red for eve­ry per­son.

We watch in faith

Je­sus’ birth is the lar­gest event in the his­to­ry of the world. But it is even more than that. If Je­sus hadn’t been born, no per­son would ob­tain ever­las­ting life. “For the wa­ges of sin is de­ath, but the gift of God is eter­nal life in Christ Je­sus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23).

The prop­hets’ pre­dic­ti­ons of the Mes­si­ah came true li­te­ral­ly in the birth of the Re­dee­mer on the first Christ­mas, in his pub­lic work, in suf­fe­ring on Good Fri­day and dying on the cross, and in the vic­to­ri­ous re­sur­rec­ti­on and as­cen­si­on in­to he­a­ven.

The New Tes­ta­ment child­ren of God wait in faith, watc­hing, for that day when Je­sus will come a se­cond time to Earth. Then he will not re­deem any­o­ne any­mo­re. Then he will give each one their fair jud­ge­ment. The Fat­her’s bles­sed ones will be cal­led to ever­las­ting glory in he­a­ven, but the cur­sed ones will end up in eter­nal dam­na­ti­on. On­ly God knows when the last day will come.

Born of the vir­gin Mary

God had cho­sen the vir­gin Mary to mot­her His own son. The an­gel told the yo­ung Mary: “You will con­cei­ve and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Je­sus. The Holy Spi­rit will come on you, and the po­wer of the Most High will overs­ha­dow you. So the holy one to be born will be cal­led the Son of God.” (Luke 1:31,35).

The be­lie­ver Jo­sef, who had sec­ret­ly plan­ned to aban­don his preg­nant fi­anc­ée, re­cei­ved a mes­sa­ge from the an­gel: “Do not be af­raid to take Mary home as yo­ur wife, be­cau­se what is con­cei­ved in her is from the Holy Spi­rit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Je­sus, be­cau­se he will save his pe­op­le from their sins.” (Matt. 1:20-21).

Many deny that Je­sus was born of a vir­gin. Man’s re­a­son can­not comp­re­hend the myst ery of faith. Faith opens up un­ders­tan­ding. God’s Son was wit­hout sin, holy and pure from the time of con­cep­ti­on. Je­sus Christ’s re­demp­ti­on work co­vers the whole life of a per­son: from the be­gin­ning mo­ments in the mot­her’s womb to the last mo­ment be­fo­re de­ath. Life is a uni­que mi­rac­le and gift from God, for which man is res­pon­sib­le to this gi­ver of life.

Je­sus re­dee­med our sins

On Good Fri­day, Je­sus Christ was be­fo­re God and cried out in pain: “My God, my God, why have you for­sa­ken me?” With his last words the Re­dee­mer said: “It is ful­fil­led.” With love for all pe­op­le, Je­sus suf­fe­red, died on the cross, shed his blood and ful­fil­led on their be­half God’s de­man­ding law. Wit­hout the shed­ding of blood there is not for­gi­ve­ness of sins.

Paul taught the Ga­la­ti­ans: “But when the set time had ful­ly come, God sent his Son, born of a wo­man, born un­der the law, to re­deem those un­der the law, that we might re­cei­ve adop­ti­on to sons­hip.” (Gal. 4:4-5).

God en­cou­ra­ged his own al­re­a­dy through Isai­ah: “Do not fear, for I have re­dee­med you; I have sum­mo­ned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the wa­ters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the ri­vers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be bur­ned; the fla­mes will not set you ab­la­ze.” (Isa. 43:1-2).

On the third day Je­sus aro­se from the dead to make us righ­te­ous. Through the re­sur­rec­ti­on he won over the po­wer of sin and de­ath. In this way Je­sus made us ac­cep­tab­le to God and ope­ned the way to he­a­ven to those who be­lie­ve the word of sal­va­ti­on.

Pek­ka Ter­vo

Trans­la­ti­on: An­ge­la Hän­ni­nen

Pub­lis­hed: Vuo­si­kir­ja Tu­le­vai­suu­teen ja toi­voon, SRK 2000. This text is shor­te­ned.