Why Does Salvation Come Through Jesus Christ?

In one of my previous articles (“Is God good?”), we talked about the fact that man was created in the likeness of God, to take care of the Earth and to rule and to govern over all animals here. That way, we can see that there was something divine in this creation. Man was created to communicate in a divine manner with God, His Creator. He would rule over the Earth through a Godly inspiration; his actions would be inspired by God through that communication. That relationship would consist in God understanding the desires of man, and man understanding the heart of God.  

After being created, man was put in a beautiful Garden with full provision and richness – The Garden of Eden. There was just one simple rule: man could not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. There was a penalty for that disobedience: if man ate the prohibited fruit, he would certainly die (Genesis 2:15). However, you may ask: “If God is good, why did He put that tree in the Garden?” Because God did not want man to behave like a blind servant. God wanted a genuine obedience; He did not want man to eat from that tree, but He was looking for an obedience coming from the heart. However, man disobeyed and sinned. He ate from that tree; he let himself be persuaded by a serpent. First, the serpent persuaded the woman, Eve, to eat the prohibited fruit; then, the woman persuaded Adam. 

The serpent persuaded Eve, by saying that, after eating from that tree, their eyes would be opened, and they would be like God, being able to know good and evil. However, after eating the prohibited fruit, the acquired knowledge of evil brought them fear and guilt – And, as consequences of sin, this fear and guilt brought instability to the soul of man. As a result, they ran away from the presence of God, because they knew they had sinned. They knew they had broken the amazing relationship they had with God, and that brought affliction and deception to their heart. Sin is against God, against His established principles and His character. Sin is a violation of rules, the rules established by God, as written in 1 John 3:4 – “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness”. Man was not created to die; however, because he sinned, death crossed man’s path. Adam and Eve did not physically die immediately, but, because they became spiritually disconnected from God, it was like they had died spiritually. After many years, they also died physically.   

Man is a tridimensional being – man is a spiritual being, that has a soul and inhabits a body. And, being perfectly connected to God, his spirit would be open to receive this perfect connection, receiving God’s instructions. Through that, his soul and body would be kept in check, full of Godly thoughts, feelings and actions, ready to think, to feel and to act accordingly to God’s character. As I had said, connected to God, man would be entirely inspired by God throughout his life. However, sin is a violation. Sin perverts relationships, as the sin committed by Adam and Eve perverted the perfect relationship they had with God. God could not connect perfectly with man as before. Once man willingly sinned, that purity was no longer in him, and he yielded space to evil to coordinate his soul and body. 

As Adam was the first man, he would transfer that inclination to sin to his generation; and, as a result, the human race would be forever stained. That was no humanly way man could go back again to his original state; the damage was already there. God is perfect and good, as it is written in James 1:17 – “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows”. And, since He does not change His character, He could not share the same space with evil; therefore, man and God were to be forever apart. However, also because He is good, God decided not to destroy man. He could have chosen to destroy man, since man sinned, but, instead, God made a plan. A salvation plan!

It was a long and elaborate plan to bring man back to His perfect presence, back to that perfect connection. However, as I said, God does not force anything and surely He did not want to force salvation. Man had to yearn for that salvation; man had to desire that restoration genuinely with his heart. Through the ages, God revealed a little more of His character to man, revealing His goodness and mercy. And, facing this wonderfulness, man started to genuinely desire to be connected to His goodness again. And, upon that desire, man started to fully realize the failure in his character; man started realizing that, by himself alone, he would never be perfectly connected to God again. He needed God’s help. Only a divine intervention could fully save man. 

And the perfect salvation came through Jesus Christ, the son of God. The one that created man, by breathing into his nostrils the breath of life, recreated him through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In order to eliminate sin from man’s character, it was necessary a sacrifice, but there was no man pure enough to shed his blood, in order to eliminate sin permanently. So God, in His amazing mercy, sent His Son to Earth, to live as a man for a period of time and to die hanging on a cross, taking with Him the sins of mankind. And, since He was not a sinner, He could not be dead (since death is one of the penalties for sin); therefore, He resurrected, bringing with Him a new life to every one who believes in Him.

In the book of Colossians, chapter 3, verse 10, it says: “And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator”. Christ came to make it possible for man to have a complete restoration to the likeness of God. With Adam, mankind lost his likeness of God, but Jesus restored that. Through Jesus, we can be reconnected to our Creator forevermore. If through one man, Adam, sin entered into the nature of mankind, through Christ, salvation came to all men, as it is written in John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. Whoever believes can be saved; there is no distinction. Whoever believes can be perfectly connected again with God. Whoever believes can be forevermore spiritually inspired by God, having his actions, feelings and thoughts also inspired. And not only that! Whoever believes receives the fatherhood of God; God is not only your Creator, but also your heavenly Father. He sent His Son for you to become His son as well. Now, we get to be connected not only with our Creator, but also with Our Father. God can restore us to the point of receiving us into His family – That is the grace of God!    

We can find the purpose of our lives in God. Our lives are not in vain; each one of us was born to accomplish something amazing – we were created to fulfill God’s plan on Earth, partaking of His nature. We were created for something divine. I have to tell you something, to who is reading this message right now: you are loved by God! You have a purpose for your life. You were perfectly designed by the Creator of the universe. Your life matters, because Christ already came to save you! Your salvation is in Jesus; you just have to believe and to accept Him into your heart. The price was already paid for your restoration, much before you were even born. 

Man did not deserve salvation because he willingly sinned. Man could not get restoration by himself, but God came with His amazing favor. Undeserved favor. That is the grace of God; that is His genuine goodness! Grace does never incur debt; we can never pay back the sacrifice of Jesus. Actually, Jesus paid a debt that we could not ever pay – the debt of sin. This sacrifice is a portrait of God’s everlasting love for us. Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s character, the exact representation of His being (Hebrews 1:3). Through Jesus, God completely revealed Himself. Jesus Christ brought the reality of salvation to us, bringing the reality of a new life, a restored life. A much better kind of life inspired by God. We have purpose with God!