The Bible teaches that God made everything. He made the skies, with the sun, moon and stars. He also made the earth, with its plants and animals. And, he made people. You are alive because God made you.
The Bible says about Jesus: 'Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.' (John 1:3 NIV). The Bible also says, 'In him all things hold together.' (Colossians 1:16b NIV).
Scientists might argue about how the world was made. Some scientists do not believe in God. They try to explain that our world was created by natural processes and chance occurrences. But their theories cannot alter the truth. They ought to study what the Bible says. Nobody can be wise if they refuse to consider important evidence. The world is a wonderful world. The Bible teaches us that this is because we have a wonderful God.
We can see that God is good. No person can create his own food. Factories can manufacture many useful things, but we are still dependent on natural things (plants and animals) to provide our food. And these are things that God made. So, God provides our food. He even provides food for the animals. Jesus said, 'Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?' (Matthew 6:26 NIV).
The Bible teaches that God loves us. 'And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love.' (1 John 4:16a NIV) God cares for us. But this is also a problem for many people. You might ask, 'If God exists, why is there all this trouble in the world?' The Bible says that these troubles are because men and women rebelled against God.
God is holy and pure. He always does the right things. But we are not like him. We reject his laws. We oppose one another. And we oppose God. Some people, of course, are very evil indeed. But everyone disobeys God's law.
God said, 'You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.' (Deuteronomy 5:20 NIV) But we tell lies, when we think that lying will benefit us.
Again, God said, 'You shall not covet...' (Deuteronomy 5:21). But we are envious of other people. When we see someone with a better home, or a better job, or more wealthy, we want to be like that person.
We might not break all of God's laws. We might be much better than other people. But nobody is up to God's standards. The Bible says, 'For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.' (James 2:10 NIV). Nobody can honestly say that they have never broken any of God's laws. So, the Bible concludes, 'There is no-one righteous, not even one; there is no-one who understands, no-one who seeks God.' (Romans 3:10-11 NIV).
This matters, because God is our judge. The Bible teaches that one day, after we die, God will judge us all (Revelation 20:11-15). And no-one can defend himself, because we are all guilty.
This is terrible news. But the Bible is not a book of bad news. It is a book of good news. We speak about the Gospel. The word 'Gospel' actually means good news. The good news is that God loves us. The good news is that, when nobody else could help us, God himself chose to help us. God says, 'I looked, but there was no-one to help, I was appalled that no-one gave support; so my own arm worked salvation for me...' (Isaiah 63:5 NIV). So, God himself acted to save us.
The Bible says, 'But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.' (Galatians 4:4-5 NIV). God sent his son, Jesus, to redeem us. The word 'redeem' means to pay the price. Jesus paid the price so that we can be free from the punishment for our evil deeds.
How did Jesus pay this price? How did he redeem us? The answer is that he died for us. He suffered the punishment that we deserve. Jesus did not deserve to die. Jesus is the son of God. And he lived a perfect life. Two of Jesus' closest friends while he lived on earth were Peter and John. Peter wrote that Jesus was, 'without blemish or defect.' (1 Peter 1:19 NIV). John wrote about Jesus, 'In him was life, and that life was the light of men.' (John 1:4 NIV).
Jesus' death was not an accident. It was not a mistake. It was God's plan to save us. The Bible speaks about '...the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.' (Ephesians 1:11 NIV). In other words, God made this plan. And the proof that this was God's plan is that the Bible described Jesus' death, long before it happened. See Isaiah 53 or Psalm 22.
We should not ignore what God has done. God loves us. He wants us to have a right relationship with him. He does not want us to suffer the punishment for our evil deeds. We must turn from our evil ways, and trust in God.
If we take no action, then we cannot receive the benefit of what God has done for us. Consider these verses from the Bible:
'He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.' (Proverbs 28:13 NIV)
'Yet to all who received him (that is, Jesus), he gave the right to become children of God.' (John 1:12 NIV)
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