On the day the heavens burst out in spectacular light and the earth took form with waters and gases and rocks and plants and life, God knew us. More than that, He loved us. The moment He said "Let there be light" He knew he would create mankind, and He loved us.
He also knew that Man would choose to denounce the love of God and follow after the lure of Sin. Sin is a spiritual "deity" in the sense that it is not a physically seen thing. Satan is a pawn of Sin and not Sin himself--because Lucifer was lured away from God's love, too, by the power of Sin. Sin, therefore, is the opposite of God. God is holy, God is pure, God is light. However, Sin is unholy, Sin is darkness, Sin is all impurity. And God knew Man would be lured away by the power of Sin. And still He created us and loved us.
That love for us is what prompted Him to prepare for that day we chose darkness over the Light. He ordained His son to die as a sacrifice for Sin. Not to push it off as would happen on altars throughout the days of Adam and Noah and Jacob and Elijah, but instead remove it from our hearts completely. Because He loved us.
So Man was lured. Man declined. Man became tainted with darkness. Because darkness cannot exist in the light, man was banished from the presence of God. And instantly sacrificing became the norm of life. Adam taught his sons the way to make amends for their sins by sacrificing innocent blood of a lamb. After a while, Cain was lured by Sin and offered a displeasing sacrifice. Perhaps he thought he was doing fine by offering his first fruits by his duty of the land just like Abel was offering of the fruits by his duty of the livestock. But Cain didn't do fine. God wanted the burning of animal to permeate the air, not plants.
Sin was vicious and demanded every opposite thing of God: darkness, death, pride, anger, hatred. So Mankind was lured again in recorded history and Cain murdered his brother in an act of hatred and anger. And yet God loved us.
God continued to reveal ways for His creation to follow after Light. He knew the end of Sin's way was death and that the end of God's was life. He gave laws: Do this, but don't do that. He gave priests to help people live right. He gave prophets to send messages on how to follow God. But Man continued to be lured by Sin, deeper and deeper into the darkness. But He loved us.
So finally God acted upon what He ordained the moment He created all. He sent His son to Earth to live with mankind. To experience human life. Christ ate like a man, communicated like mankind. He learned and taught like humans did. He felt pain both emotionally and physically. He grew up alone. He began His ministry and chose 12 followers as He became their Rabbi. They grew close, but soon He was betrayed. He was stabbed in the back by a kiss on the cheek. And then in a (not-so-fast) blink, Jesus was offered as the sacrificial lamb, putting an end to Death's reign and Sin's dominion. Because God loved us.
And that moment we allow Christ to forgive our sins and clean us from the darkness and implant His light into us, we can never regress. Never again will our hearts be stained by Sin and thus would cause us to be condemned from the presence of God. But we now have His Light abiding in us.
And thousands of years ago God knew we would struggle. He knew we would be lured again even after being given the Light. He knew we would trip and fall. He knew we would cry as we neared abandoning His Light. He knew we would deny His grace and give up. He knew we would cling to death and hatred. And yet He loved us and cleansed us.
And now He loves us. He looks on our weakness and our failures. And He whispers to us Life and Love. He informs us that even though we fail, we are not failures. Even if we follow after the darkness, His Light has not departed from us. Even though we are weak, He is strong.
God knows Sin has great power. Sin has had its grip on mankind for centuries and centuries. Sin even ripped out angels from Heaven. Sin is powerful. God knew we would give in to our weakness. But God is stronger. God can overcome that in which we wallow in defeat. God can show us Love so we can deny the false pleasures of sin. God can set ablaze a Light in our heart to ward off the darkness of Sin.
Because God loves us, He doesn't want to see us walk in darkness. Therefore He has given us His Light.
May we embrace that Light and denounce the darkness.
May we encounter His love so we can abandon Sin's hatred.
May we experience His Life so we can reject Sin's death.
Because the power of God's love is stronger than the power of Sin, we can overcome by the love of God.
He also knew that Man would choose to denounce the love of God and follow after the lure of Sin. Sin is a spiritual "deity" in the sense that it is not a physically seen thing. Satan is a pawn of Sin and not Sin himself--because Lucifer was lured away from God's love, too, by the power of Sin. Sin, therefore, is the opposite of God. God is holy, God is pure, God is light. However, Sin is unholy, Sin is darkness, Sin is all impurity. And God knew Man would be lured away by the power of Sin. And still He created us and loved us.
That love for us is what prompted Him to prepare for that day we chose darkness over the Light. He ordained His son to die as a sacrifice for Sin. Not to push it off as would happen on altars throughout the days of Adam and Noah and Jacob and Elijah, but instead remove it from our hearts completely. Because He loved us.
So Man was lured. Man declined. Man became tainted with darkness. Because darkness cannot exist in the light, man was banished from the presence of God. And instantly sacrificing became the norm of life. Adam taught his sons the way to make amends for their sins by sacrificing innocent blood of a lamb. After a while, Cain was lured by Sin and offered a displeasing sacrifice. Perhaps he thought he was doing fine by offering his first fruits by his duty of the land just like Abel was offering of the fruits by his duty of the livestock. But Cain didn't do fine. God wanted the burning of animal to permeate the air, not plants.
Sin was vicious and demanded every opposite thing of God: darkness, death, pride, anger, hatred. So Mankind was lured again in recorded history and Cain murdered his brother in an act of hatred and anger. And yet God loved us.
God continued to reveal ways for His creation to follow after Light. He knew the end of Sin's way was death and that the end of God's was life. He gave laws: Do this, but don't do that. He gave priests to help people live right. He gave prophets to send messages on how to follow God. But Man continued to be lured by Sin, deeper and deeper into the darkness. But He loved us.
So finally God acted upon what He ordained the moment He created all. He sent His son to Earth to live with mankind. To experience human life. Christ ate like a man, communicated like mankind. He learned and taught like humans did. He felt pain both emotionally and physically. He grew up alone. He began His ministry and chose 12 followers as He became their Rabbi. They grew close, but soon He was betrayed. He was stabbed in the back by a kiss on the cheek. And then in a (not-so-fast) blink, Jesus was offered as the sacrificial lamb, putting an end to Death's reign and Sin's dominion. Because God loved us.
And that moment we allow Christ to forgive our sins and clean us from the darkness and implant His light into us, we can never regress. Never again will our hearts be stained by Sin and thus would cause us to be condemned from the presence of God. But we now have His Light abiding in us.
And thousands of years ago God knew we would struggle. He knew we would be lured again even after being given the Light. He knew we would trip and fall. He knew we would cry as we neared abandoning His Light. He knew we would deny His grace and give up. He knew we would cling to death and hatred. And yet He loved us and cleansed us.
And now He loves us. He looks on our weakness and our failures. And He whispers to us Life and Love. He informs us that even though we fail, we are not failures. Even if we follow after the darkness, His Light has not departed from us. Even though we are weak, He is strong.
God knows Sin has great power. Sin has had its grip on mankind for centuries and centuries. Sin even ripped out angels from Heaven. Sin is powerful. God knew we would give in to our weakness. But God is stronger. God can overcome that in which we wallow in defeat. God can show us Love so we can deny the false pleasures of sin. God can set ablaze a Light in our heart to ward off the darkness of Sin.
Because God loves us, He doesn't want to see us walk in darkness. Therefore He has given us His Light.
May we embrace that Light and denounce the darkness.
May we encounter His love so we can abandon Sin's hatred.
May we experience His Life so we can reject Sin's death.
Because the power of God's love is stronger than the power of Sin, we can overcome by the love of God.
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