SALVATION

With this page, I intend to:

1. Show God's plan of redemption and its application.

2. Tell people how to make sure they want salvation and how to receive it.

Why did God have to send Jesus to die for our sins?

     The death of Jesus was necessary to reconcile God and man.  Because of the fall, man was in emnity with God.  Man was full of evil and sin; in fact, humans were and still are born in iniquity.  God sent his Son to fix this separation, and thus, the plan of salvation as well.  In the Old Testament, people were saved by faith, not by works.  This is often the perception though. 
     The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, Question: "Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?" Answer: "God having out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliever them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer."
     Now to a scripture::

     Galatians 3:21-22
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. (KJV)

     I know know many of you are thinking, "But why didn't God just leave things perfect in the beginning?"  Well, my answer to this is that we do not understand God's ways and we should not pretend to know why God does what he does.  Now, I believe that essentially man brings glory to God.  Does not a creature bring glory to its creator just by showing the power and ability of the creator????  Think of the Creation, when God said, "It is good!"  God was pleased with his creation, and when his creation gives him praise, God enjoys it.  Moving away from this point, it should be noted that while man is fallen, it was in God's plan.  Similarly, God has planned everything out from the beginning.  It is important to recognize the fact that the fall was planned by God....EVERYTHING that has happened from the very beginning of the world is in God's plan.  Now, it is recorded in the Old Testament that God made Israel the covenant people of God.  However, it is different in the New Testament.  While if any Israeli accepts the truth of Jesus Christ, they can be saved, now the gentiles are opened into the covenant. 

    
     Matt 26:28
28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
(KJV)  
     (Note: "testament" is synonymous with "covenant," as some of the other translations use that term.)

    
Eph 1:4-7
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
(KJV)

     Now, if you examine this verse, this is speaking to the Christians.  If you look at verse four, you will see that God has chosen the people who were going to be saved.  Thus, it must be concluded that God knew he would need to do it because something bad happened, i.e. The Fall!!!  This is not to say that God chose any person because of what he saw in them, however.  Also, in verse six you will notice it says "To the praise of the glory of his grace."  God is praised when we are saved...we praise him because of his glorious grace.  This goes back to an earlier point of mine. 
     Make sure you understand that while God could have just done things perfectly from the beginning, it was in his plan to have the humans become estranged.  While we don't understand why he did it...believe me, this was a very hard section to do because it was a tough question to answer, but I am sure many people ask it.
     If I would give an ultimate answer to the question of why God didn't do things perfectly from the beginning, I would have to say the reason is that it is just what he did and God knows what is right and wrong and knows how things will work out much better than our feeble minds.  In the end, the plan that God has for the world is perfect, not what we think is perfect, though it may not seem like it to us.

This graphic at the left is an excellent visual summary of salvation and redemptive history.  I thought I would give you this before heading head-long into writing about salvation more.