The Beginning: Where It All Started

In the beginning, God created everything. The plants, the animals, and humans, too! There existed a perfect world created by God for us to enjoy. Isn't that exciting? God spent six days creating everything living and creating the landscape for us to enjoy, before He rested on the seventh day. God created Adam, the first human being and man, in His Image (cf. Genesis 1:27). On this Earth, God made everything right and gave man logic and reasoning. God created Eve, the first woman, as a helper and friend to Adam, so that he would never be alone. Adam and Eve lived together in the vast garden that God created for them to enjoy.

The Fall

God instructed Adam and Eve to enjoy every kind of fruit in the garden -- except the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (cf. Genesis 2:17). God told them not to eat from it because then they would know not just good, but evil, too. God wanted to protect Adam and Eve from experiencing the harshness of sin. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve disobeyed. They were convinced by Satan to eat from the tree. As a result, sin (which is going contrary to what God wants) appeared. When Adam and Eve both ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they both saw each other as naked. Sin entered the world, bringing all kinds of evil -- hate, malice, corruption, lust, disease, warfare, greed, selfishness, dishonesty, and the like. The punishment for sin, however, is death. God saw Adam and Eve disobeyed His commands and kicked them out of the beautiful garden of Eden. Because God is perfect, sin cannot be in God's presence. Because of Adam and Eve's disobedience, they now had to suffer more hardships. And because of sin, human brokenness got worse over time.

Redemption

For thousands of years, humans lived in sinful behavior. Sin permeated human life, with entire nations living in  sin. But God saw a need in humans, and waited for the perfect time to reveal what would be the Greatest Act of Redemption in all of history (cf. John 3:16). God sent His Son Jesus to be the sacrifice for all of our sins. Jesus was born and lived on this earth for 33 years. During that time, Jesus established the Kingdom of God and proclaimed the Gospel -- the Good News -- to everyone He met. Unfortunately, His teachings drew uproar, and He was sentenced to die on the Cross. Jesus died on the Cross, taking on the punishment for sin. He who knew no sin (Jesus never sinned) became sin for us on the Cross (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21). His death on the Cross freed us all from the power of sin. Now there is forgiveness and grace in Jesus. Jesus rose again to life three days later and conquered death, walking around to do ministry before He ascended back into Heaven.

Because of Jesus' death, we are able to experience freedom from sin. Not freedom to sin, but freedom from the power of sin over us. When we choose to make Jesus our Lord, King, Savior, and Friend, we are rejecting the world's way of doing things. When we choose to follow Jesus, we no longer have to worry about the power of sin. Jesus has forgiven us through the power of the Cross and He has made us right with the Father. 1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9, WEB). We have died to our 'old' sinful self and become alive in a new self. We are born again when we choose Jesus instead of the world. And because of Jesus' death on the Cross, we are now able to experience eternal life with God. When God enters our life, this is called salvation.

When we are saved, we automatically receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God, who guides us in everything we do. We may not be perfect and may stumble at times, but the Holy Spirit guides us to do God's perfect and pleasing will. God has a plan for us when we accept Him as our Lord and King. We must choose to do good and not evil (sin), but that is where the Holy Spirit comes in; He guides us to make the right choices. And, when we die, our saved souls will continue to live on with God for all eternity.

The Future

After His time on Earth, Jesus ascended back up to Heaven, His Home. But, He will come back. While we don't know when He will come back, it is promised to us that Jesus will return again to make all things right (cf. Acts 1:11). When Jesus comes back, we will be raised up back to life (resurrected) in new bodies. We will have God to love us and we will live on a newly-reformatted earth. Revelation 21:4 then reveals this promise: "He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more" (Revelation 21:4, WEB). All will be made new and all will be made right.

This is the freedom that Jesus offers.

You are deeply loved and you are deeply valued by God. God desires to have an intimate, valuable relationship with His creation, and He has called everyone to Him. Do you want to have a relationship with Jesus today? He will make your life brand new, and all you have to do is just trust in Him.