God's Plan of Salvation
Summary
Most people believe that we must do good deeds to try to earn our way to heaven. The plan of salvation that God teaches in the Bible is very different from this. We are expected to do good works, but not to reach heaven, rather because we are thankful for what God has done for us.
The Bible teaches us that our sins cause separation from God. But God loves us so much that He Himself came down to earth to save us from our sins and bring us back to Him. He took all our sins upon Himself and chose to die on the cross to bear the punishment for the sins of the world. He also rose from the dead after three days to show us that He has power over life and death. He said that anyone who believes in Him and follows Him will rise from death to life with Him and live forever with God in heaven.
Our Need
It is clear when you look at the world that something is not right. The world is broken, and people are filled with evil. This is not God’s original intention when He created the world. We live in a place filled with sin, death is everywhere, and the majority of people are far from God. Some people try to do good works to balance out their evil thoughts and actions, but that doesn’t work. The world is still broken. The world needs to be saved.
We need a Savior… but the good news is found in the first chapter of the Bible. God tells us about the coming of One who will overcome the curse of death and restore us to a right relationship with God.
So how exactly will this happen? And why? The story begins in the beginning.
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve sinned when they ate the forbidden fruit. God cursed them and cast them out of the Garden of Eden. Their close relationship with God was shattered. From that day forward, sin entered the world. Our sins separate us from God. God hates sin and says that everyone who sins will face His wrath. (Romans 6:23) God said that the punishment for sin is death. This is a huge problem! It means that we will all face death because we have all broken God’s law. (Romans 3:23) In order to be free from our sins, our sins must be punished with the penalty of death!
The Law of Moses
But God still loves us and wants to save us, and so God gave the law to Moses for us to follow, saying if we followed it completely, we would be righteous before God and accepted by Him. The law required a sacrificial lamb to be presented to God for our sins; the death of the lamb took the place of the punishment of death that we deserve… but still, people continued to sin, and the sacrifice of sheep was not enough.
The Prophets
But God’s plan to send someone to save us was still in place.
All the prophets testified that the Messiah would come, and that He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) and would be called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.” The prophet Isaiah also said He would be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
The prophets also spoke of where He would be born (Micah 5:2), and throughout about 400 other prophecies, they said that the Messiah would be perfect, the Lamb of God without sin, to take away the sins of the world (Isaiah 53). When the prophet John the Baptist (Yahya) saw Jesus, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
The prophets taught people that just as God provided a ram for Abraham when he was to sacrifice his son, God would send the perfect Lamb to come and die in our place. God would provide.
The prophets knew who the Messiah was and what He would do. So when God saw humanity and realized they could not save themselves, God Himself came down and saved us.
Jesus
God came in the form of Jesus as a man to teach us and help us in ways we could understand. He walked among us, taught us, and performed miracles to show us who He is.
He never sinned and always obeyed God’s complete law. He was the only one who lived a life accepted by God. He fulfilled the law. He said He came to die for us: “And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” And He said this openly. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Mark 8:31-33)
We can easily see from the above passage how Peter was upset. He did not want Jesus to die, but Jesus knew who He was and why He came. Jesus came to do the work of God: to take the punishment of the sins of the world upon Himself so that we can be freed from sin and death.
The Cross
Jesus took the sin of the entire world upon Himself when He went to die on the cross. He was not killed. He gave His life. On the cross, Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
Just before He died, He declared, “It is finished.” (John 19:30)
Jesus died to be the Lamb of God who takes the punishment for our sins. Since Jesus is God, His death had infinite and eternal value. Jesus’ death on the cross completely saved the sins of the entire world. But the story doesn’t end there. God has power over life and death, and Jesus rose from the dead to life after three days and restored the relationship and saw His disciples.
More than 500 people saw Him after His resurrection. The Bible says that because He lives, we can live too; if we believe in Him and follow Him, He will give us eternal life! The word says: “They said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household!’” (Acts 16:31)
After His resurrection, Jesus spent 40 days with His disciples before ascending back to heaven.
Jesus came from heaven, spent some time with us here on earth, and returned to His dwelling place in heaven. Jesus said that He is preparing a place for everyone who believes in Him to live with Him in heaven with God forever.
The Bible teaches that nothing unclean or impure will be permitted in the heavenly kingdom of God. But God teaches us in His Word that if we put our trust in Jesus and what He did for us, God will accept us just like He accepted Jesus! When God sees those who follow Jesus, He does not see them as sinners at all. He sees Jesus in them and accepts them because of Jesus’ work on the cross. Jesus is our ticket to heaven.
A Christian is a follower of Christ; God chose one to save us from our sins and take us with Him to heaven.
The important thing to understand about the plan of salvation is that it is God’s plan, not man’s. Man’s plan for salvation is to keep religious rituals, obey certain commands, or reach certain levels of spiritual enlightenment. But none of that is in God’s plan for salvation. God’s plan for salvation is, as Jesus said: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)
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