“...when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit because they believed Satan’s lie that it would make them ‘like God’ (Gen. 3:1-4), all their relationships soured. They were banished from the presence of God and the curse of sin brought death through aging, sickness, strife and natural disasters. As soon as man ceased to submit to the will of God he became captive to the forces of disharmony: to Satan, sin, and strife. The great message of the gospel, therefore, is that God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to deal with this enmity and conflict by reconciling us first and foremost to Himself. For fellowship with God cannot be restored simply by God saying to sinners: ‘I forgive you.’ Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4), and the penalty for breaking God’s holy law is death (Rom. 6:23; Ezek. 18:4, 20). Either the sinner has to die or an innocent substitute has to die in the sinner’s place if God’s law is to be satisfied and justice upheld. There is no other solution.”—Brian A. Russell, The Greatest Prayer Ever Prayed: A Devotional Commentary of John 17
Posted on: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 11:32:47 +0000
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