"God has shown us how much he loves us-it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us!" (Romans 5:8)
God, in his great love for the human beings he created, saw that his beloved had chained themselves with the shackles of mortal sins. "Everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence." (Romans 3:23) But they were unable to get free by their own efforts. As Jesus said, "Will you gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your life? Of course not! There is nothing you can give to regain your life." (Matthew 16:26).
So God decided that he himself would perform the act of redemption needed to atone for man's sins. He took on a human body like ours and came as a man, like us in everything but sin. John tells us: "We write to you about the Word of life, which has existed from the very beginning. We have heard it, and we have seen it with our eyes; yes, we have seen it, and our hands have touched it." (1 John 1:1).
Hence God, through his incarnation, was able to redeem human beings, setting them free from the oppression of sin. He himself paid the redemption price for his beloved, and then he offered this redemption as a free gift to those he loves.
Through his incarnation Jesus offers a message of freedom and liberty. In Jesus God set people free from the chains that bound them and kept them from God. Jesus gave his life on the cross as a ransom for many. Those that accept his redemption he restores to the state of holiness which God intended for man from the very beginning. "Christ is the one who arranges a new covenant, so that those who have been called by God may receive the eternal blessings that God has promised. This can be done because there has been a death which sets people free from the wrongs they did while the first covenant was in effect." (Hebrews 9:15)
- 13 APRIL -