The Greatest Gift

What was the greatest gift ever given? In my opinion, it is forgiveness of sins which leads to eternal life.

Every human needs to understand that we would KNOW nothing about God if it were not for the Bible. The Bible is the only information we have about God our creator. How to live a life pleasing to God and how to have a personal relationship with God. It is referred to as specific revelation.
We do have general revelation. We can see the birds and bees, the mountains, the clouds, the oceans and all of the animals, large and small. But general revelation only leads us to the conclusion there is something bigger than ourselves. It give us evidence of creation. But it does not tell us the reasons for creation. Only the Bible does that.

If you asked 100 people to explain their understanding of God, you might get a wide variety of answers. He is all powerful some might say. Loving, all knowing. Some might say He is just, merciful and mighty. You would get a range of answers. But I rarely hear the word Holy attributed to God, perfect maybe, but rarely Holy. What does Holy mean? The angels said God was Holy, Holy, Holy. He is so Holy, they said it three times. Holiness is a state of being. You either are or you are not holy. Much like being pregnant, a woman is either pregnant or not. You can't be a little bit pregnant. Holiness does not come in gradation. God is Holy. He is perfect, without sin. He is incapable of lying, stealing, etc. He is also incapable of being in the presence of sin. The Bible tells us all of this.

Because God is Just, He cannot allow sin to exist, especially in His presence. Yet, God made man for fellowship. We see this in Genesis. Adam walked and talked with God. When Adam and Eve fell from the garden, they were no longer able to fellowship with God. As the progenitors of the human race, their sin is imputed to all their heirs, us included. We are born sinful. But of course, if that were not enough, we add to our original sin by committing sins of our own. We are jealous, covetous. We lie and steal. The Bible says ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
In order to show how sinful man is, God gave Moses the Law. The law was given to the Israelites so they could become a group of people who were set apart by God for holiness and so they could worship Him. The law showed them what sin is. According to the Bible, this was done so the Hebrews would realize they were not perfect and needed salvation from their trespasses against the law. God was gracious and gave man a way to cover their sins before Him. It was done through the blood of animals. By sacrificing bulls and rams and burning their bodies on the fire, the law taught the Israelites how to cleanse themselves every day so their worship would be acceptable to God. Unclean worship was a waste of time. God only accepted clean worship - worship that was offered after bodily cleansing and the blood of the animals had been offered.

Again, the Bible showed how futile this was. The Israelites could not keep up their cleansing. They were drawn off by other gods, less demanding gods. Gods that were made of wood and stone. But gods that were more accepting and forgiving. These gods were the formation of other religious systems. But those were dead gods. They were gods with no power because they did not really exist, except in the mind of the leaders who said they existed. Religious systems were manufactured and taught. But the Bible shows that all of those cultures feared the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, because they knew He had parted seas, prospered the Hebrews in the land He had given them and protected them. But even so, many of the Hebrews could not sustain their love for God and fell away.

Did the law fail? Hardly! The Law was only a statement of God's holiness. It showed the Israelites that without the daily sacrfices and cleansing there was no access to God. It was the people who failed and they failed miserably.
But God is a loving God and His plan for reconciliation and redemption was much greater than the blood of bulls and goats and rams. His plan was a plan that would save the world. But it demanded perfection. Because God is Holy, His plan had to match His holiness, otherwise He would be compromised and then He would no longer be just. God is BOTH just and merciful. God must stay true to His character or else He has failed. God cannot fail.

What to do?

God's plan was formulated at the beginning of the world. Because God is all knowing, He knew Adam and Eve would sin. He knew the blood sacrifices could not be sustained. He knew the Hebrews would fail and follow other Gods. If God is truly God, could He ever be surprised? I don't think so.

The Bible tells us "life is in the blood." It tells us "Sin must be punished by death." The Bible says "the wages of sin is death." So God's plan had to include both the blood and death to satisfy His justice. His justice demands full payment for the sins of the world by death. Only blood and death can pay the price. Enter into the world Jesus.

Because Adam and Eve sinned, any baby born in the future would be sinful from birth. Yet, Jesus had to be fully man. He had to live a life without sin to qualify as the perfect sacrifice for our sin. If He started sinful, He failed before He began. This is why there had to be the immaculate birth. There could be no earthly father. Jesus was born of a woman, but with not husband, only God. He then had to live a life without sin. The Bible says that He who knew no sin became sin for us. He is the lamb who took away the sin of the world.

To fulfill God's plan of reconciliation and redemption, Jesus had to do two things. He had to live a perfect life and He had die for our sins as a sacrifice under the law. He did both. When Jesus died on the cross, He was accused of many things, but was guilty of none. His death fulfilled 350 prophecies that were made directly about Him in the old testament. The Hebrews knew that Jesus (the Messiah) was coming to save them. They just did not know the details, even though the details were spelled out clearly in the prophecies.

Jesus' death on the cross was the payment in full for the sins of mankind. (Atonement) His death was the reconciliation of man to God. It was God's plan all along to provide ONE way back to Him. Whosoever believes in Him WILL HAVE eternal life. Jesus said, "I am the WAY, the truth and the life, no one gets to the Father but through me."

So for anyone who wants eternal life, they have two choices. They can attempt to lead a perfect life that is pleasing to God and be judged on how well they did this on the judgment day. Or they can accept the gift of redemption and reconciliation through the atonement Jesus provided and KNOW they have eternal life. One is a hope and the other is a CERTAINTY.

So can another religion provide THE WAY? The question that must be answered is why? If God, in His mercy and justice provided a clear, undeniable way to be reconciled to Him, why would He confuse matters by providing alternative ways that actually contradict THE WAY? That does not make sense. God did what He said He would do - He provided a payment for all the sins of man through the death of Jesus on the Cross. The then showed that death had no power over Christ by resurrecting Him from the dead - thus proving to all the world that Jesus was the victor over both sin and death.

Why now, would God confuse that message with other messages that neither pay the price for sin nor have victory over death. The Bible says the satan is the great deceiver. He is the one who hates everyone on earth and wants to destroy them. If he can draw them away to an inferior substitute and deceive people into believing that substitute is equal to or superior to the plan of God, he has won.
Just before Jesus died, He said, "It is finished." He was saying He had accomplished His goal. He had completed the job God had sent Him to finish. He had been faithful and fulfilled the 350 prophecies, to the letter. Satan tried to stop Him, but was unsuccessful. In fact, satan was an unwitting accomplice in his own destruction. Jesus says that not one of my own will be plucked from my hand. He says that the sheep know my voice and will respond to it. No one comes to the Father unless He draws them.

Jesus did NOT see our plight here on earth and decide to do something about it. Jesus Christ is the plan God had for mankind from the foundation of the World. God is not a reactor to men. God is the First Cause. We react to God.
God is in total and complete control. Satan is not in control and has no power over God's plan of redemption. Yet, he continues to try. One of his methods is confusion. He shows a variety of alternatives to God and says they all work. But that makes no sense. If God truly loves His creation, why would He confuse them with multiple ways that contradict His plan?

Once a person becomes a believer in Jesus, they are exhorted to live a godly life. Every believer is indwelt with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works in the heart of every believer to cleanse them and turn their hearts towards God. God does the work and gets the results.