Creation to Christ (Short Version)
I would like to tell you a story of some things I found in the Bible. Would you like to hear it? As you know, I am a follower of Jesus. We believe that the Bible is from God so we call it God’s Word. He used many different men to write it over hundreds of years. It tells us that in the beginning God created everything.
God created the heavens and the earth and everything on the earth and in heaven. He created the angels in heaven to serve Him. He created the flowers and trees and animals here on earth. Everything he created was good and there was no sin in the world.
On the earth He created a special place called the Garden of Eden. And in the garden was every kind of plant and everything that man would need. The he created the first man and He called him Adam. Then God created the first woman to be a wife for Adam and she was called Eve. And God had a close relationship with Adam and Eve and he would come into the garden and walk and talk with them. And everything was good there.
But remember, I said that God had created angels in heaven to serve Him? One of those angels was very powerful and a leader of other angels. He decided that he wanted to be like God. This was wrong and it was a sin. God cannot live close with sin, so He cast that evil angel out of heaven. He is the angel we call Satan. Satan hated God and wanted to do whatever he could do against God.
One day, Satan entered that garden where everything was good and Adam and Eve lived. He tempted Eve to eat fruit of a tree which God had told Adam and Eve not to eat from. He tempted her and she ate the fruit. Then she tempted her husband, Adam, and he ate the fruit. This was sin because they had done the thing which God had said they should not do.
Later, when God entered the garden to walk and talk with them, they hid from God because they were ashamed. God knows everything and He knew what had happened. Since God cannot live close with sin, He could not allow them to stay in the garden so God put them out of the garden into the world where it was very difficult to live. Adam and Eve’s relationship with God was now broken. They had to struggle to live in the world and to farm and gather food for themselves. God continued to love them and wanted that relationship to be restored with man. Adam and Eve had children and their children had children and they had children. The population of people grew and grew. Yet God continued to love mankind and wanted the relationship to be renewed.
Because He loved mankind, God sent many prophets to man to tell men how to have that renewed relationship with Him. He sent Moses and through Moses God gave mankind the Law to follow to come back close to Him. We call part of that law The Ten Commandments. In them God showed us how to live at peace with Him and our fellow men. God also gave mankind a system of sacrifices for our sins. If men would follow the Law and make the sacrifices and repent of their sin, they could have a renewed relationship with God.
But men are evil and though many followed some of the law and made sacrifices, their hearts were still evil… they didn’t repent. So God sent other prophets to tell the people that they should come back to Him and have forgiveness for their sins. He sent Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah and others. These prophets called the people to repent and come back to God but instead they continued in their sins. Then some of the prophets began to say that another Way was coming for man to have a renewed relationship with God.
I have a question for you. Is God all powerful? Of course He is. God can do whatever God wants to do in the world. God sent an angel to a virgin woman named Mary to tell her she would have a son, then God through His power caused that woman to become pregnant…no sex involved. She had a son and she named him Jesus. He was perfect in every way and when He grew to be a man, He began to tell us how to have a new and better relationship with God.
Jesus taught us many things. He showed us the power of God in many ways. He stopped a storm from sinking some boats and through that showed us the power of God over creation. He healed the sick and raised a dead man to life. He drove demons out of people and showed us God’s love for us. And He taught us that we must repent of our sins if we want to live in heaven with God.
Many people began to follow Jesus and listen to His teachings. So many people were following Him that the religious leaders of that time grew jealous of Him and wanted to do away with Him. They planned how they could kill Him. They falsely accused Him of things and had Him arrested and beaten and tortured. Then they had Him killed by nailing Him to a cross which was the way they killed criminals in those days. He was buried but then, three days later He arose and was seen by many people. He stayed on the earth for some few days teaching His followers and telling them that one day He would come back to take all of those who believe in Him to heaven. Then He ascended to heaven.
During the time before Jesus was nailed to that cross, He said,” I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man can come to the Father except through Me.” By this He showed us the way to God.
What do you think of this story? Do you want to hear more?