Do you believe that all people born into this world will die? Personally, do you believe that one day you will die? When you die, what happens to you? Where will you go? Do you believe there is a heaven and a hell? If you believe there is a heaven, why would you be allowed to go there to spend all eternity?
When you answer these questions, you will have a sure foundation upon which to build the correct answer to your own question, “WHY?”
Truth: If you believe in place called heaven, to gain entrance there you must believe in a Man called Jesus. If you believe in Jesus, you will also believe in a placed called Calvary where He was executed on a Cross as He gave His life in death so that those who trust Him would be able to live forever with Him in heaven.
Why was it necessary for Jesus to die for our sins? His death was the ONLY WAY possible for fallen, sin-filled men and women could be reconciled back to Holy God into a loving family.
Perfect Justice and Perfect Love was joined at the execution event on the Cross because the perfect sinless Son of God shed His blood in death as our Substitute. Holy God accepted Jesus’ perfect life and death as sufficient to cover our sins and raised Jesus from the grave three days later as proof.
Truth: God DID NOT CREATE this world of evil, injustice, discrimination, pain, suffering, tears and death! Man’s sin and rebellion against Holy God CREATED this current pain-filled world we inhabit. This present world is NOT GOD’s fault, it is the fault of the deadly sin-virus which entered into the world when Adam and Eve chose to “love themselves and their own sinful desires” in opposition to loving their perfect Creator.
We read in God’s infallible words that God created a PERFECT WORLD. He equipped it with every good thing which would be pleasant and provide ALL the needs of His beloved human creation. He made man in His own image and placed eternity in his heart:
- Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts.
All people will live eternally in some place. The Bible explains these two places will either be heaven or hell.
- Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply.”
- Genesis 2:8-9 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
What happened?
Adam + Eve chose to disobey God and commit the ONLY SIN which God declared would separate them from being able to live with perfect Holy God in His perfect Garden.
- Genesis 2:15-17 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die [separation from Holy God].”
God is always true and cannot lie. When Adam + Eve disobeyed God, we read that God, as Perfect Judge, pronounced the just punishment due for their rebellion and disobedience:
- Genesis 3:16-19 To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
This has been true for all mankind since this day. This is why all mankind is constantly moving into and out of pain, suffering and sorrow. We are guilty, just like our original parents, Adam + Eve, of disobedience and rebellion against Holy God.
God, not only is perfectly Holy and Just. He is also perfectly Merciful and Loving. How did God accomplish the rescue of His beautiful human creation? He instituted His Plan of Restoration of fallen mankind back into a perfect holy relationship with Him. This Plan of Restoration we call The Gospel, the Good News of Salvation.
What does this Plan of Salvation look like?
It is simply this: From a perfect Garden to a perfect City by the way of a Cross, upon which the Son of God, Jesus Christ, died for our sins, in between.
- Isaiah 65:17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.
- Revelation 21:1-4 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
- Revelation 22:1-5 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their
foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.
Of course, this brings up the obvious question: “How can I gain entrance into this new perfection creation and the City of God?”
The Bible plainly tells us the entrance CANNOT be gained by ANYTHING we do. We cannot earn or perform any “deed” to appease the just wrath of Holy God against sin. We can only come through ONE entrance, belief and trust in Jesus Christ.
- John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
- Romans 5:6-11 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
- John 1:11-13 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
What does “receive Him” mean? Receive simply means to believe, trust and love Jesus Christ, the ONLY DOOR into God’s eternal perfect kingdom!
The question for every person on earth: Do you believe the Man Jesus, is the Son of God, who came to die on a cross 2000 years ago outside of Jerusalem to pay the death penalty for my individual sins? Will I believe Him, love Him and follow Him into the new perfect world which He will soon create?
Let us return to our opening questions in our Answer: Do you believe that all people born into this world will die? Personally, do you believe that one day you will die? When you die, what happens to you? Where will you go? Do you believe there is a heaven and a hell? If you believe there is a heaven, why would you be allowed to go there to spend all eternity?
If you believe and trust in Jesus Christ, God has declared He will give you a new spirit and spiritually birth you into His family to live with Him in His newly created perfect world forever. It is impossible for God to lie. These words of God are true and fixed forever.
The question before you and every person is simply: Do you believe in and trust in Jesus Christ for your present and forever life?
