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Why It Matters

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Let us start out by laying the foundation of why Jesus Christ came in the first place. His purpose was entirely different from the stated purposes of the founders of other faiths.

It has to start with the question: “If there is a God, why is there evil in the world?

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For this study we’re using the Bible. To come to an understanding of why it matters, we have to go back to the beginning. To where the problem originated.

In the beginning of the Bible, there is the account of the creation. It states that after each thing that God created, he said it was “good.” So if God created a good world, what happened?

The Bible tells us that one of the chief of God’s angels rebelled against God, trying to usurp his place. Satan was banished out of heaven and was so humiliated that he carries within himself a violent hatred for God and for all that God loves.

Satan witnessed God creating our first parents on the earth, and he formed a plan to destroy them. He came to the woman and asked her if God truly said they were not to partake of the fruit of one particular tree. God had told them that if they ate of that fruit, they would die. Satan slyly questioned that, asking, “did God really say that?”

“He said to the woman, “Has God indeed said,
‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
Genesis 3:1

He went on to tell the woman that what God said wasn’t actually true, and that if they would partake of that fruit they would become as wise as God. He presented it to her in a winsome way, in a gentle voice, assuring her that nothing will happen to her if she takes the fruit. She took it.

This was the first sin. Not that she ate the fruit, no, the first sin was that she believed the lie.

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The consequence

God had said that the result of partaking of that fruit would be death. But Adam and his wife had never seen death before, so they just went ahead and ate the fruit

Next comes a very important question: did they die that day?

Yes, and no.

They did not physically die that day – in fact, they went on to have children. No, what happened is their spirit died.

Death means “separation.” When someone dies, their soul leaves their body. In the case of Adam and his wife, when they took the fruit they were cut off, or separated, from God with whom they had enjoyed daily fellowship. When their spirit died, they first realized that the part of them that had fellowship with God was no longer there. They didn’t know what to make of it. They were afraid. They hid themselves from God.

Death changed everything

God had given Adam authority over all the earth. When death entered, it affected all living things. All dies. Even animals, even plants. The death principle affected all that lived. Furthermore, the effect it had on Adam and Eve was so profound that all the children that would be born to them would be born in the same state of death. So now, Satan had achieved his goal. Every living thing was now destined to die.

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So what do we have here?

1. The results of sin is the curse of death.
2. Our first parents sinned, so all born to them are born subject to death, both physical death, and spiritual death, just as their fore-parents.

How could God stop Satan from having this victory over his beloved creation? God’s creation of mankind was now under the curse. When their decendants would sin, they would incur the curse of sin, making them unable to be in heaven when they would physically die. Mankind was cursed. All was lost.

But God…

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only beloved Son..
that whosoever would believe in him would not perish,
but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

God sent his beloved Son into the world, to take on humanity and to suffer the penalty for sin. When Jesus Christ was tortured and placed upon a cross, he bore the judgment on the sins of all who would believe on him. The Word of God tells us that when a person comes to Jesus Christ and personally receives the atonement Christ made for him/her, that person living in spiritual death is “born again.” His spirit is restored to life and he is reunited with God.

Furthermore, he is also promised eternal life in heaven with God after physical death. There will be a resurrection of the dead when Jesus returns to this world. All who have believed in him will be raised from the dead and taken to be with him forever.