Christ died for us

https://odb.org/2024/01/08/willing-savior

The theology behind our faith is founded upon Adam, the first man and also his name representing mankind, having sinned when he and his wife Eve disobeyed God at the Garden of Eden. Eden is a heaven-like place on earth with God living among His creation and having daily and constant interaction and communion with Adam and Eve. There is peace and harmony in Eden, and no blood is shed because food is from fruits in trees and green herbs for mankind and every living creature. You may see this in Genesis 1:29-30.

Satan, in the form of the serpent, changed all that when he successfully tempted and deceived Adam and Eve to sin by disobeying God’s only rule, then – you may eat of any fruit except the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That is probably why many years later, when God in the form of Jesus appeared on the scene, He taught that in order to enter the Kingdom of God, we need to have the faith like that of little children. Little children are pure and innocent beings and do not really know good and evil. Mankind was like that before.

In order to restore mankind to its rightful place as God originally created mankind back in the day in Eden, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, to die for our sins. As a result, our souls, which live forever, shall not perish but have eternal life. But note that in John 3:16, it is written that only those who believed in Jesus shall not perish, not everyone. Eternal life is to live in the new heaven and new earth at the end of time together with God, thus recreating Eden at the beginning. Peace and harmony will once again be on earth.

The redemption of mankind requires the shedding of the blood of a pure, innocent, and sinless man, similar to the unblemished lamb offered to God as per the law of Moses for the sins of the Israelites. While those unblemished lambs need to be sacrificed annually, Jesus, as the Lamb of God, dies for our sins once and for all.

As much as Jesus has done the work for us and as much as salvation can not be earned, we have to do our part in the life given to us here on earth. We may be passing through, but we have a job to do, that is, to reflect His glory. Faith without works is dead. We have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We have our calling before God. There are God’s plans and purposes for our lives that we need to meet. Let’s get on with the work and prepare ourselves for our lives in eternity. I believe a lot of who we are and have become here on this earth will be useful to us when we start living in the new heaven and new earth.