Lesson 104 - Junior
Memory Verse
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
Notes
Man's Perfect Beginning
God created man to worship and praise Him. He planted a beautiful Garden for man to live in, and gave him everything he needed to be happy. God Himself came down in the cool of the evening to walk with the people He had created. But someone else came, too. Satan entered that happy Garden and caused God's children to sin. Satan had once lived in Heaven as an archangel but he had become very proud and wanted to be equal with God; so he and his followers, one third of the angels in Heaven, were cast out and doomed to eternal punishment. He did not want man to honour and obey God, but rather wanted to build up a following for himself; so he set about to win the favour of Adam and Eve, and to turn them away from God.
In the form of a serpent, Satan entered the Garden and told Eve that they would not really die, as God had said, if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Instead, they would be wise like God. We have learned that unbelief of God's Word is the root of all sin, and we can see here that it was Eve's unbelief about what God had said that caused her first disobedience. Adam listened to the enemy, too, and they both ate of the forbidden fruit. That was the end of their bliss. For their disobedience they were sent out into a lonesome world to make their own way, and their fellowship with God was broken.
The sin of Adam and Eve is known as "the fall." Man fell into sin, and lost the image and favour of God. And because Adam and Eve sinned, every person who has ever been born into the world is born with the nature of sin in him that makes him do the wrong thing when he is old enough to know right from wrong. Then when he commits sin, he deserves to die, because God's law states, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4).
God's Mercy
But God still loved Adam and Eve. He was very disappointed that they had not loved Him. as He wanted them to, but He was willing to forgive them if they would repent. God had a plan whereby man could regain the image and favour of God. No man, woman, or child need suffer eternal punishment, because Jesus came to redeem mankind and make him holy as he was before the fall.
As soon as God had driven Adam and Eve from the Garden He promised to send a Redeemer who would conquer the enemy and give man power to "go, and sin no more." The first prophecy concerning Jesus is in [GEN:3:15], where God promised that a Child would be born who would grow up to be the Saviour of the world. He would not be an ordinary child, but the Son of God Himself, who would come to live with men and die in their stead, that through His shed Blood they might be saved.
God's Law, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die," still stands; but Jesus was willing to die in our place. Jesus, the Son of God, known as the fairest Jewel of Heaven, God's Beloved, was willing to leave His beautiful Home and come to earth to suffer and die that God's Law might be satisfied without man suffering for his own sins. And because Jesus died we may have eternal life if we come to Him in repentance and ask Him to let His Blood be applied to our hearts.
God's Meaning of Death
Perhaps you think that Adam and Eve did not really die as God said they would if they disobeyed because they went on living outside the Garden. What does God call death? After Lazarus had been what we call dead for four days, Jesus said, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth" (John 11: 11). And in Daniel 12:2 we read: "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." We say that those people were dead, but God calls it sleeping.
Then what is the death of a sinner? It is that state in which he is doomed to eternal punishment if he does not repent. Jesus told the people at the feast, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25). He was speaking of the living people who were sinners, and He called them dead. Paul said to Timothy, "But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth" (I Timothy 5:6).
Prophecies of Jesus
We learned in our lessons on the tabernacle worship in the wilderness that men could be saved even hundreds of years before Jesus came, if they looked forward to His coming in faith. All the lambs and other animals whose blood was shed in sacrifices typified Jesus. The Israelites alone learned the will of God through the prophets, because they were God's chosen people. God called Abraham to leave His homeland and be set apart as a servant of the Most High, and it was through, His descendants, who eventually became the Jewish nation, that God taught the world the plan of salvation.
Abraham knew that Jesus was coming, because Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56). Job, too, who lived about the same time Abraham lived, believed that Jesus would come. He wrote, "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth" (Job 19:25). All the prophets talked about Jesus, as God inspired them to speak. The purpose of their preaching was to point men to Jesus, the Saviour of all mankind who would believe on Him.
The Angels' Knowledge of Jesus
The angels in Heaven, too, knew that Jesus would come. They desired to look into the mystery that the Son of God could die for sinners and make them ready for Heaven. It was an angel who announced to Joseph that Jesus would be born of Mary. The angel said, "He shall save his people from their sins." And on the night Christ was born, a host of angels sang over the Bethlehem stable where Jesus lay. They knew that Jesus had come to earth as the Lamb of God to be a sacrifice for sin, and they glorified Him for the price He was willing to pay.
Satan's Servants
When men became sinners they were no longer under the control of God but had yielded themselves as servants of the wicked one. Satan put his evil thoughts and desires into their hearts; and we notice even in very small children the traits of anger, jealousy, hatred, stubbornness and so on. As they grow older these traits grow, too -" more in some people than others -" and sometimes get people into serious trouble, like robbery and murder.
But even if a man has a strong character and may be able to control those evil instincts, still they are there until that man comes to Jesus for salvation. No one will ever go to Heaven who has not had the Blood of Jesus change his nature and take out those sinful instincts. No man is able to remove the nature of sin himself.
A New Heart
No one can describe what happens when a sinner is born again. No one can see the heart that has been changed. When Nicodemus, the ruler who came to Jesus by night, asked an explanation for the great change that takes place when a man becomes a Christian, the Lord used an illustration of the effects of the wind. One can see the trees sway in the breeze; he can see the sailboats driven by the wind. But has anyone ever seen the wind? When we see whitecaps upon the water we know there is a strong wind blowing, but we cannot see it. The result of salvation are just as real. Although we cannot see the heart that has been changed, we can see the happiness in the lives of the people who used to be unhappy. We know that even though they used to tell lies, they will not tell them any more. They will not steal any more, nor get angry, nor hate anyone.
A New Creation
When a man comes to Jesus and asks Him to forgive his sins, he becomes a "new creature" in Christ Jesus, and he loves the Lord more than anything or anybody in the world. A Christian wants more than anything to please the Lord. And more than wanting to, a man is given power through the Blood of Jesus to live like the Bible tells him to.
There are people who talk much about reforming criminals. They argue that the prisoners should not be punished; but rather, they should be shown that there is a better way to live. But very few people live better after such treatment. They may want to quit stealing and doing the other wicked things they have done, yet they cannot quit in their own strength. But when Jesus comes into their heart they do not have to sin any more. All their old sins are forgiven and washed away, and they do not commit new ones.
Some people think that robbers and murderers need to be saved but that they themselves, if they have never done anything very bad, do not need it. But Paul wrote: "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). No one will be able to get into Heaven on his own righteousness, nor will he be able to work his way in by good deeds. We must come to Jesus, asking Him to cover us with His Blood, in order to be saved. And after we are saved we keep the love of God in our hearts by daily consecration and prayer. "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not" (I John 3:6). No one who commits sin will enter Heaven.
Redemption
To redeem means to buy back. After we fell into sin, Jesus bought us back; and we call that redemption. Our redemption includes more than having our sins forgiven. Jesus died in our stead, to wash away our sins; but He also shed His Blood for our sanctification ([HEB:13:12]). The healing of our bodies was also provided when Jesus died: "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed" (I Peter 2:24).
There is even more to the plan of redemption than the salvation of our souls and the healing of our bodies. When Jesus comes again He will also redeem our bodies ([ROM:8:23]). Before man sinned in the Garden he did not become ill, but when he fell he brought disease upon all people. Jesus does heal us now through His Blood when we become sick, but the time comes -" up until the Rapture of the saints -" when everyone must die a physical death. The overcoming Christians who have gone into the grave before us will rise again in glorified bodies when Jesus comes, and "we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (I Thessalonians 4:17).
Questions
1. In what image did God create man?
2. How long did man remain in that likeness?
3. What term do we use to tell about man's first sin?
4. Who become sinners through the sin of Adam and Even?
5. How early in a person's life do we see the traits of sin?
6. When did God first promise a way out of sin?
7. What was God's law about the sinner?
8. How can we satisfy that law without being punished?
9. What did Jesus do for the sinner?
10. What does salvation include?