Creation • Fall • Rescue (Redemption) • New Creation (Restoration)
WEBSITE/VIDEO: The Story of Reality - JESUS & CROSS
ARTICLE: Redemption Means... (Bible.org)
ARTICLE: 99 Bible Verse about Redemption (OpenBible)
ARTICLE: What is the Meaning of Christian Redemption (GotQuestions?)
"Sin separated man from God, but God was not going to let it win out. He created a mechanism to reverse the effects of the fall. We must understand this in order to take advantage of God's provision." - Freddy Davis
Promise Made - God removed Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden as a result of their sin but left them with a promise of a rescue and hope. He promised them one of their descendants would someday rescue mankind from sin. Over the next centuries, God prepared the way for this person who would become the Savior of the world. Exact details of His birth, life, and death were recorded in the Bible many centuries before His coming. In fact, the whole Bible ultimately points to this one person as the focal point of all human history. His purpose in coming was "to seek and to save what was lost" (Luke 19:10). So who was He?
Promise Kept - The promised Savior, simply, was God. God became human in the person of Jesus Christ almost 2,000 years ago, fulfilling all the predictions in the Old Testament. Jesus' birth was miraculous since His mother was a virgin. His life was unique: He perfectly enjoyed and obeyed God without sin. This ultimately led to His agonizing death on a cross as He willingly, obediently, and sufficiently dies to pay for the sins of mankind, according to God's plan. In the greatest display of mercy and grace the world has ever known, Jesus' life and death became a substitute for all who would trust in Him. The perfectly innocent died to rescue the hopelessly guilty from sin and Satan. But the grave couldn't hold Jesus. Three days later, Jesus emerged from His tomb, fulfilling His earthly mission to defeat sin by dying on the cross and to defeat death by rising from the dead—just as God promised. Forty days later He returned to Heaven where He reigns as the rightful King. But the story doesn't end there... (1 Peter 3:18 & Galatians 1:4)