Nobody Gets Out Alive

Nobody gets out alive. Have you ever heard that phrase before? Don’t take life too seriously, because nobody gets out alive. Heck, Samuel L. Jackson even sings a song by the same name.

When You Look At Life

When you look at life on planet earth, nobody really does get out alive. Everything and everybody dies. Every person, every animal, every reptile, every bird, every plant, every microscopic organism, everything that has life, eventually dies.

What’s The Point

If that is the case, then what is really the point of life? I mean, we live for a little while, and then die, then what happens? Do we face an eternity of nothingness? Or maybe we hope we will go to a better place when we die, but we’re not exactly sure what that is, or how you get in. Maybe it’s heaven, or maybe it’s something else. How do you get there? By being a good person? You think, well I’m a good person. I treat people right, I work hard, and I don’t cheat on my taxes. That makes me a good person, doesn’t it?

It’s Sort Of Confusing

The whole thing can be sort of confusing. Is the whole time we spend on this earth, just so we can get into a place like heaven, or do we slip into the eternal nothingness, or maybe even something else? Either way, it can seem like this is all for nothing. Why the heck are we even here? What is our purpose?

Saved? From What?

If you have ever been to a church service, or watched a televangelist, you have probably heard the term, salvation, or getting saved, or maybe even the term, born-again. These are popular terms in the Christian faith, but what do they mean? What is salvation, and why the heck would I need it? I’m a good person. Why would I need to be saved? Even more importantly though, what am I being saved from? Well, let’s start from the beginning.

The Creation

Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In the Bible, the first two chapters of Genesis lay out God’s creation scheme, detailing the steps to the creation of the universe, the daytime, the night, the atmosphere, oceans, dry land, vegetation, the sun, moon, and stars, fish, and other sea creatures, birds of the sky, land animals, and then finally, humans.

The Reign of Humanity

Genesis 1:26 says, Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.” Being made in God’s image means humans have the ability to know God, love God, worship God, serve God, and fellowship with God. Continuing with verse 26, it goes on to say, “They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God gave humans the responsibility to rule over all other life that he created on the earth.

And God Saw That It Was Good

It is interesting to point out that seven times in Genesis 1 while describing God’s creation, it says, “And God saw that it was good.” It goes on to say in Genesis 1:31, after God created humans in his own image, and told them to be fruitful and multiply, and gave them dominion over every living thing on earth, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” Just something I noticed.

The Man Needs A Helpmate

Now God created the man first, and put him in the Garden of Eden, where the man had everything he needed. God saw though, that the man should have a helpmate, so he then created the woman. Now the man and the women in the Garden of Eden had everything they needed. Everything was cool. Now before he created the woman, God had told the man, he could eat from any tree in the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warned the man he would die if he ate the fruit from that tree.

Temptation

Well, the man and the woman were tempted by satan, through the serpent, and disobeyed God, and ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This changed everything. Why? It brought sin into the world. What is sin? Simply put, it’s going against God and his ways. Disobedience to God. Making the decision to choose our will over God’s will for our lives. God had told them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and they disobeyed him.

Disobedience Changed Everything

Why is this such a big deal? What changed, you may ask? Well, a few things changed. Up until that point, they had a perfect relationship with God, and there was no death in the world. From that point on though, sin was in the world, and sin separated us from God. Those of you with children, think about when your children have disobeyed you. Were they punished? If they did not apoligize for their disobedience, how was your relationship affected?

The Wages Of Sin

It is impossible to have a relationship with God while living a life of disobedience to God. In addition, death was now introduced into the world, for the man and the woman would now eventually die, just as God had said. The first part of Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” The second part of Romans 6:23 shows God’s grace and mercy towards humanity, but we will get to that in a little while.

Two Kinds Of Death

There are two kinds of death in the Bible. There is physical death, where the spirit seperates from the body, then there is spiritual death, which is separation from God caused by sin.

Kicked Out

Also, now, after being disobedience to God, the man and woman realized they were naked, and were ashamed, God clothed them with garments of skin, like it says in Genesis 3:21. For God to clothe them in garments of skin, that meant an animal, or animals had to die to provide the skin. God then kicked them out of the Garden of Eden. In the garden, they had it made, but now they were forced to work the ground, which God cursed because of their sin, for their food. Now sin was in the world, and humanity was now sentenced to death, physical and spiritual, and also to hard labor for their food. “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return. Genesis 3:19.

Sin Grows Worse

The sin of humanity grew worse, and worse, and we grew farther, and farther away from God, as now sin was part of our very nature, as we decided we wanted to do things our way, and not God’s, until eventually God, like it says in Genesis 6:5-6, was sorry that he had ever made us. If you are not familiar of the story of Noah, and the Ark, you can read it in Genesis 6-8.

Adam And Eve

One interesting point is that we didn’t actually find out the name of the man, and the women, Adam and Eve, until God banishes them from the Garden of Eden.

Separation From God

Anyway, sin now, was part of our very nature, and because of that sin, there is a huge gulf between God and humanity. Remember, spiritual death is separation from God because of sin. God is Holy. Psalm 99:9 says, “Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain in Jerusalem, for the Lord our God is holy!” The Holiness of God means, exalted and worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness. We have to be Holy to come before God. “Without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14. Well, because of sin, Humanity was not holy, but sinners, so on our own, we could never be reconciled to a Holy God.

The Shedding Of Blood

What could we do? Hebrews 9:22 says that without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sins. In the Bible, blood represents life. The only way to be reconciled to God and pay the price of our sin, was through the shedding of blood, but that was a price that was far too great for humans to pay. Why is that?

Innocent Blood

To pay the price of sin, it was innocent blood that must be shed. Well we were sinners, so our blood was not innocent. So what did they do? Well God offered a temporary solution. In the Old Testament there was a sin offering for when a person broke one of God’s commandments. This was a mandatory sacrifice to atone for sin and cleanse from defilement. There was also what was known as a trespass offering for unintentional sin. These things were just a temporary fix though, for people to have a right relationship with God.

Temporary Fix

What was required for a sin sacrifice? Well, first the animal had to be spotless. Next, the person offering the sacrifice had to identify with the animal. Next, the person offering the animal had to kill the animal. This provided a temporary covering of sins. There were also sin offerings made by the high priests where they would take two two male goats. One would be sacrificed as a sin offering for the people of Israel for the forgiveness of sin, and the other was released into the wilderness, representing the removal of sin. Again, these were only temporary fixes though. They did not solve the issue of the sinful nature of humanity.

Why We’re Here

God made us for himself. Colossians 1:16 says, “All things were created by him and for him.” You see, God created humans, not because He needed us. God is sufficient in himself. God created us, in simple terms, to have relationship with him. His creation is an expression of his Love. The reasoning goes a little deeper than that, but for now, we are just going to keep it simple. Well since God created us for him, don’t you think he already had a plan for us to be reconciled to him?

In The Beginning

John 1:1-2 states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Verses 2 – 4 go on to say, “He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” Verse 14 goes on to say, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father of grace and truth.”

Jesus Christ Is The Word

Well the Word that became flesh was Jesus Christ. God the son. He is the second person in the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I know it is hard to understand, but Christ was fully God, and fully man. Here are some scriptures verses to look at. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21. Or, “You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.” 1 John 3:5. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

What It Means

Ok, so what does all of this mean? Well remember the sacrificial animals had to be without blemish to provide a temporary atonement for sin, but the blood of animals could not take away the sin in human nature. After offering the sacrifice to forgive sin, people still continued to sin, so they would have to come back and offer another sacrifice time and time again. There was no one on the face of the earth who was not a sinner, so no one could pay the price for our sin nature, so what did God do? He sent His son, Jesus Christ. Jesus was the son of God. He was fully God, but he was also fully human. He had the same human nature as everyone else.

Without Sin

He went through the same trials and temptations as everyone else, but He did not give in to sin. He was blameless, or without blemish. So exactly what did Jesus Christ do? Being blameless, and without sin, Christ was the only one who did not deserve death. In other words, he was innocent, so he was the only one who could pay the price for our sinful nature.

The Debt Is Paid In Full

When Christ died on the cross, he took on the sins of the world, past, present, and future. His death on the cross paid the price for our sin. He took on the sins of humanity. It was his innocent blood that was shed. Not the blood of animals, but the blood of Christ. He endured God’s punishment for the sins of humanity. Now the price for the world’s sins had been paid in full. What does that mean for us?

Death On The Cross

Death on the cross was a very brutal form of execution by the Romans. First you are scourged. A scourge is a multi-tonged leather whip with metal, or bone spikes at the end. The spikes sink into the skin, and when pulled, rip off pieces of flesh. It is said that after being scourged, Jesus was unreconizable. The purpose of scourging was to inflick as much damage as possible to weaken, but not kill the victim.

The Place of Skulls

Jesus was then forced to carry his cross to the sight of the execution. Golgotha; The place of skulls. The Roman soldiers pounded spikes through his wrists, and feet, and they raised him up on the cross. On the cross, victims died from exhaustion and asphyxiation. The vicitm would have to push up with their legs, which were at a 45 degree angle, and pull up with their arms to take a breath. Because of the angle of the legs, it was impossible for someone to hold themselves upright. The weight of the body would eventually pull the shoulders out of their socket. This was a long, torturous process, and could take hours, or sometimes even days for the victim to die. If the process was taking too long, the soldiers would break the legs of the victim, so they were unable to push up to take a breath, thus hastening their death.

What Does This Mean For Us?

This is what Christ endured on the cross, for us; humanity. Punishment that we deserved. What does it mean for us? It means that the price of our sin has been paid. Make no mistake. We are all sinners. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Verses 24-26 goes on to say though, “and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forebearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-he did it to demonstrate his righteousness as the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus Christ.” This means, for those who have faith in Christ, the price for their sin has already been paid by Christ on the cross. Now, through Christ, those who have faith in him are reconciled to God.

Victory Over Death

Christ died on the cross. He was also raised from the dead on the third day, thus defeating death, itself. Now through the death and resurrection of Christ, we are not only reconciled with God, but we have victory over death.

Eternal Life

Earlier, I gave the first part of Romans 6:23, which is, “The wages on sin is death;” The second part of this verse though says, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” This is where the word, Salvation, comes in. Before our salvation, or before we put our faith in Christ, we were slaves to sin and destined to death. But through faith in Jesus Christ we received God’s gift to us, which is salvation through Christ, where we are destined to eternal life.

Faith In Christ

What does it mean to put your faith in Christ? First we have to recongize the fact that we are sinners. We are disobediant to God, and as sinners, we are condemmed by God, and only worthy of death, and hell. Next we recognize that God sent Christ to pay the price for our sins on the cross, and that through Christ, and only through Christ, we can now be reconciled to God, since the price for our sins has been paid. Next we put our trust in Christ and obey his commandements. That’s what it means to put your faith in Christ.