We are free!

Nothing. 

That's all it was. But soon that nothingness was radically changed, simply by a command. 

"Let there be light," and there was light. Within six days, nothing became something. Something incredible. Sky, earth, stars, sea, animals, fish, insects, plants... and best of all, humans. Made in the image and likeness of their Maker. He looked over His creation, pleased. "It is good."
He walked in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. He had what He wanted most with His creation -a relationship, a friendship that went deep. They knew their Creator and He knew them. 

Their Creator could do anything, He was so powerful that His voice could command anything to happen and it would. But there was only one thing He could not do. He could not sin, nor could He have anything to do with it, for He was perfect.

Evil had been cast out of heaven when Lucifer rose up against his Creator, saying, "I will be as the Most High..." His pride had gotten the better of him, and he'd instantly become the enemy of God, for he sought with everything in his power to dethrone the King of kings. Legions of angels were cast out of heaven with him, for they had chosen to follow Lucifer in his evil, and evil and God could never coexist. 

On the earth that God had made, evil had not yet begun to thrive, for what He made was good and only good. But one day, Lucifer in his evil schemes overtook a serpent and used it to deceive the very ones created in God's image and likeness, Adam and Eve, and tricked them into eating fruit from the very tree their God had commanded them not to eat of. 

Evil entered the world through one man, Adam, and began to thrive and cause the very thing God had warned them would happen; death. Death and decay began to take over every being that God had created. Sin became the greatest influence upon the world. Every being born into the world had one horrible destiny, that being to die. 

Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden of Eden, for there they had known sweet fellowship with God, they'd known His very heart... And now that sin entered into their heart, they had to leave, for God could not coexist with sin.

Grieved, He watched them walk away from His design. He knew what He would now have to do. He would provide a way out of the darkness and death that was overtaking the world. 

He told the people He had made to get a lamb and sacrifice it for their sin. They would have to do this every time they sinned. But it was only a shadow of what was to come, for one day He would send the Lamb. And this Lamb would die for the sins of the whole world. This Lamb would be God in the flesh.

Centuries passed. People continued to live in the dark world. Some despaired that the Lamb would ever come. Some continued to believe and to rest in hope that soon their Maker would send the spotless Lamb whose blood would wash away their sins forever. 

On a night when it was least expected He came, not in the form of a prince, in high kingly robes, not with a shout, nor with great parade. No, He came in the form of a baby, born in a lowly stable of a humble virgin. His name was Jesus, the carpenter's Son from Nazareth. 

Many did not believe He could be that Lamb they'd waited centuries for. He lived in the weakness of human flesh, yet He never did sin. He did not live in a palace, nor did He demand to be worshiped. He did not cling to His deity as something that should be acknowledged by all. He simply lived among the weakest, the lost, the dying, the sinners of the world. 

Only those who truly knew they needed the Lamb recognized Him. His name was Jesus.

And then that fateful day came. They took Him, mocked Him, beat Him, whipped Him, placed a crown of thorns upon His head, nailed Him to a cross and put Him to death. He was betrayed. He was forsaken. He who was perfect and sinless was made to be sin, and punished for it. 

The greatest injustice in all of history took place at the cross, when He who deserved worship and praise instead received mockery, He who deserved to be the Judge was instead judged for our sins, He who had been there from eternity past was now treated like the lowest of human beings. 

Three days later, this Lamb rose from the dead, proving that death had no power over Him. The grave and its master was defeated! He rose to prove that He was indeed the Son of God, the promised Lamb. He showed Himself to His disciples, the wounds still in His hands and side to prove that indeed He was the same Jesus that had been put to death three days earlier. Forty days later, He ascended up into the heavens and they received the promise that one day He would return.

He did this for you and for me... He did this because He loves you. The justice and holiness of our Maker demands punishment, so He took it for you. He took it so that the just requirement of the law could be met with no harm to you, the guilty one.

My friend, all He asks of you is that you receive Him by faith! He promises that you will be His friend. Once you are His, you will never be taken away from Him, not even by your own choice. He made a way -the Only Way- to have His deepest desire fulfilled, to have sweet fellowship with you!

This precious Lamb of God made it possible for you to enter into the Holy One's presence without anything holding you back. Our sin problem is removed, and we are free!

"Herein is love; not the we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." -1 John 4: 10