Eternal Life

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV).

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. On the sixth day he created mankind in his own image. Do you realize how blessed we are? Created in the image of God. “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31 NIV). God is good and mankind is good. Our Father didn’t have to create us. He has a Holy Son and a host of angels, yet he breathed life into each of us. How amazing is that? Every one of us should be honored and thankful. Every race, nationality, ethnicity, each gender, the poor and wealthy are all worthy of life on this earth. No person or country can change that.

In the beginning, God’s good creations became sinful. The first humans, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God. Therefore, their punishment is death to all humans. God has all dominion, power and authority. “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled” (Genesis 6:5-6). Brothers and sisters, it hurts my heart to know God’s heart was hurting. Through his hurt, he knew we couldn’t turn away from our sinful nature alone. We needed a Savior. God is our only Savior. God said, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV). Brothers and sisters, God is with us. He will never leave or abandon us. He promised to forgive our sins.

God’s forgiveness and deliverance are shown through the birth of Immanuel. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right” (Isaiah 7:14-15 NIV). Immanuel is Jesus Christ, conceived by the Virgin Mary. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. (John 3:17-21 NIV). Do not reject the Light.

Jesus Christ is our only Savior. “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1Corinthians 15:21-22 NIV). Jesus Christ died for our sins. He was raised from the dead by God. He died so that we may inherit eternal life with God. Brothers and sisters, in the end “each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:13-15 NIV). Do not reject the Light.