2003 Winter - Higher Things Magazine (with Bible Studies)

Page 4

L

ife is all about relationships. That’s the way God created us—to live in communities. That’s because God Himself is one God, a community of persons. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit both created the world and redeemed it. One of the core values at the time of our Lord was holiness—the holiness of God.The most holy place in Israel was the temple, particularly the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem. Here is where God dwelled, which is why all the people yearned to come to the temple. Many people were not worthy to enter into God’s presence, and God’s presence was not

Ag

Together H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 4

something to mess with. It could be both the source of great blessing or the cause of great harm. People had a healthy fear about entering into God’s presence. They wanted to be worthy before they ventured into the place of God’s holiness. God’s presence gave people freedom from bondage to a fallen world infected with the virus of sin. They knew that what God created good had suddenly gone wrong and needed to be made right. Only God the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ, was able to make right what had gone wrong, to restore humanity’s broken relationship with God. Human beings were not able on their own to overcome sin, death, and the devil. Only God could make new what had been infected by sin. God made right what had gone wrong when He sent His Son into this world. Jesus invaded our world, coming from heaven as the Creator to enter His creation as one of us—bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. Jesus was made man to redeem us from our sins and show us what God had created us to be—free from sin as His forgiven people. God made right what had gone wrong once-and-for-all through the suffering and death of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Only through the shedding of His blood is Jesus able to make right what is wrong—to grant us the forgiveness of sins. Only through the shedding of blood is the broken relationship between God and man restored to what God intended it to be. God made right what had gone wrong through the resurrection of Jesus Christ who brings all of creation with him when He rises from the dead on the third day. Jesus’ resurrection declares to the


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.