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Man rejected God’s relationship so he could rule himself.
God made humans valuable and to be in relationship with him.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27
This incredible truth is that we are made to be like God. We are valuable and able to relate to Him. And He has asked us to love each other. Plus God desires for us all to be connected to Him as we would be to a loving father.
God defined those relationships in 10 rules.
From Exodus 20:1-17
- Don’t put any other gods in My place; love Me alone.
- Don’t misrepresent Me by serving an idol in My name.
- Don’t misrepresent Me by saying you’re Mine and not doing as I would do.
- Don’t miss spending time with Me.
- Respect and obey your parents.
- Don’t murder another human.
- Don’t commit adultery.
- Don’t take that which belongs to someone else.
- Don’t lie.
- Don’t desire in your heart what someone else has.
Jesus would later boil these ten laws down to two. See Mark 12:30-31.
- Love God.
- Love man.
Basically humans didn’t want that kind of a relationship with God or with others. Instead they wanted to what they wanted. They broke the first rule and put themselves before God. As they sought what they wanted, humans began to hurt other men instead of care for them. This is called sin and we all have done it.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Romans 3:12
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
Adam, from whom all mankind comes, began this when he ignored his relationship with God, and did as he wanted by eating of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3). Since then, all mankind has desired to do his own thing.
God cannot have a relationship with those who have sinned.
It’s weird to think that God can’t do something. But it's more like He will not have a relationship with someone who will not have a relationship with Him. Plus God has to punish sin because it’s against who He is.
Rule three above said, “Don’t misrepresent Me by saying you’re Mine and not doing as I would.” In our world this is slander and gossip. No one wants to be slandered, to be misrepresented. People sue for that. It is punishable by law. God also will punish it because we represent Him by in our lives. Remember we were made in God’s image so if we don’t care about His image, why would we care about Him?
Why is God concerned how we treat each other?
Man is made in God’s image and so we represent God. How we treat His image is how God sees us treating Him. If we hate God and put ourselves first we end up hating Him image as well. This is why some people struggle with not liking themselves. If God is not valuable, neither are we.
This world says we are animals, so we devalue ourselves. Some of us define our lives by our sexual impulses and we devalue what a human is. We are more than our sex drives, our skin color or our instincts. God says we are His image, His representative on earth. We are to report to the One whom we represent.
So when we treat other people badly, God takes that as a personal offense. You are treating His image badly. And worse, we do this many times every day.
God then will judge sin.
God must punish these sins because we have insulted and defamed the King of the universe. He owns it all, including us. Therefore God must punish us who have insulted Him. And everyone has. First, we will all die.
The soul who sins shall die… Ezekiel 18:20a
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
After our natural death, brought by Adam (Romans 5:12), there will be a judgment day on which God will hold us all accountable for our actions: actions toward God and actions toward each other.
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. Hebrews 9:27
But God doesn’t want to punish our sin. He loves us and wants a relationship.
God still loves us and wants a relationship with us so He did something amazing: He sent his Son to take that punishment for us.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
His Son Jesus walked on the earth 2000 years ago. According to those who walked the closest with Jesus, He never sinned. He lived a perfect life with God.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
God desired that we would be near him so Jesus took our sin on our behalf so we could have a relationship with God.
But how do I know it’s true?
Answer: Jesus rose from the dead. Eyewitness documents state that Jesus rose from the dead. He overcame death! Jesus was seen by hundreds of people (1 Corinthians 15:3-10) and even an enemy of Christians who was killing them saw Jesus and became a believer (Acts 9). This enemy ended up writing much of the New Testament in the Bible.
The facts are that the church grew in the same city in which Jesus was buried, there are eyewitness testimonies and His enemies admitted that the tomb was empty (Matthew 28:11-14). All of this points to the resurrection of Jesus. No other explanation fits the historical evidence.
You are promised this life too.
The life Jesus resurrected to is a life that is given to you if you would like it. It is a life in relationship with God. In this life God fills you with Himself and leads you to live a life for Him (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:10-11
You are promised the resurrection life of Jesus which will never end, since He already overcame death. All who put their trust in Christ will have this eternal life because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved (Romans 10:9-10). As you live with God as your focus and not yourself, God will begin to heal you as well. Our soul is designed to be in relationship with God and that heals the injuries we’ve done to ourselves by pushing Him away and hurting ourselves. Ultimately, when we are before God and totally well, all evil will be gone. This is called the kingdom of God and you have access to it through Jesus Christ’s work.
So what should I do?
All you have to do is trust that God has told you the truth about Jesus in His word. You can be forgiven of sin if you trust Jesus took your place on the cross. Jesus was judged with the punishment that was meant for you.
Simply pray to God and say:
I know I’ve sinned.
I know that I have lived a life for me and pushed You out.
I’m sorry and I don’t want to live that way anymore.
Please forgive me of my sin.
I trust Jesus took my punishment for me and gave me access to Your kingdom.
I see now that He has been raised from the dead.
Please fill me with Yourself.
Lead me to live for You.
Thank you, in Jesus name, let it be so.
Now what?
Email us that you’ve received Christ. We would like to help you to begin that relationship with God and begin to heal from the wounds of your past life.
What if I still have questions?
Email us at answers@olive-branch.org. We would to help you find answers.
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