Do you ever wonder why the world is so messed up?
Headlines tell of disasters, people face violence, there is injustice, and horrible things happen like cancer in children. Everyone carries some emotional scars. Everyone has problems.
In the beginning God created everything. Creation was perfect. The problems started when people disobeyed God. They tainted all creation with the effects of sin. To make matters worse, we all have disobeyed God. No one is innocent.
From the beginning, God answered sin with grace. When the first people disobeyed him, he said that he would send a descendant of the first woman to take care of the problem. Later, God chose Abraham, promising him that everyone would be blessed through a certain descendant of his. Moses knew that a special prophet would come after him. King David knew that one of his descendants would be the rightful ruler. The prophet Isaiah saw a time coming when God would send someone to take care of sin. The prophet Micah said that he would come from Bethlehem.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a descendant of Abraham and of David. When the time was right, he began his public ministry. He was a prophet like Moses; but greater than Moses. Jesus never disobeyed God. At the end of his public ministry, Jesus died a sacrificial death, paying the penalty for the sin of the world in his body. On the third day Jesus was resurrected. He defeated death.
Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection can restore people stained by sin to a right relationship with God. If you want to find your place in this story, then you need to trust Jesus. Turn from your sin and turn to Jesus as Lord. Submitting to Jesus in faith means that a person is set free from the condemnation of sin. God’s Holy Spirit lives in a person who follows Jesus, making the person new from the inside out.
Now we live in an in-between time. Jesus already has defeated death; but we do not yet see the full effects of that defeat. Jesus has freed his people from the condemnation of sin; but we still live in a world stained by sin. Jesus’ cross and resurrection make a difference in people’s lives today; but we still are waiting for the last step in God’s plan to restore creation.
When Jesus returns, he will set everything right. In the last chapters of the Bible, we see a picture of the original, sinless creation being restored. The effects of sin will be gone. Injustice will be gone. God himself will make everything new. The problems that weigh us down will disappear. The people of God will enjoy God’s presence and the new creation forever. This is the gospel, the story of God’s master plan to restore his creation through Jesus.
