No sooner had Adam and Eve sinned and God set in motion his plan to redeem the fallen humanity that was constituted in Adam and Eve.
It was God's plan to bring forth a nation and a people from whom the savior of the world would come. The Jewish people were elected by God to be the people from whom the savior of the world was to come. All of the Patriarchs were elected by God to be the line from which Jesus was to come. All of the patriarchs that God had chosen all had one thing in common, they all believed and had faith in God's promise of a savior. You can read about them in the 11th chapter of Hebrews.
They looked forward to seeing and believing in the savior that was to come and were justified by faith, Romans 4:1-3. They looked forward to seeing the savior, while we look back. It is easier to look back to when Jesus was here than it is to look forward. We have the Bible that reveals Jesus Christ and all that he did, all they had was the witness of the prophets. Many died without ever seeing the savior, Hebrews 11:39.
The Old Testament is a record of man's sinfulness. All through the Old Testament fallen man is not able to please a holy God. Even some of the prophets and holy men confessed that they were unworthy sinners. Isaiah wrote, "But we are all as an unclean thing and all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and all of our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away" Isaiah 64:6.
In the New Testament we have record of God breaking into the human race in the person of Jesus Christ and in doing so fulfills all of the promises that God made to the Jewish people. Their promised Messiah had finally arrived. But he was not exactly what they wanted, but God's plan was much larger than what they had anticipated. Jesus came into the world to be the savior of the whole world, 1 John 2:2. As God's new Adam and our new humanity, 2 Corinthians 5:17. He offers to God the Father a life of perfect obedience according to his holy law. He does this in our name and on our behalf, just like we did it ourselves. It was his life that was lived for our justification, Romans 3:26.
Jesus was not only God with us, he was also God for us. All that Jesus was and all that Jesus did was for us. He is the pearl of great price that a man sells all that he has so that he can own it, Matthew 13:46. By his death on the cross he destroys sin, death and the devil and reconciles a world of lost sinners unto God, 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19. Jesus has perfected our humanity in himself and has taken it back to heaven. Our salvation is in a very safe place.
The whole Bible is about Jesus Christ and his Gospel. Because of this everything should be interpreted in the light of the Gospel. Jesus didn't come into the world to show us the way, Jesus came into the world to be the way, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no man can come unto the Father but by me" John 14:6. Not by the way of man conceived religions or man conceived doctrines, but by Jesus Christ and Christ alone.
It was God's plan to bring forth a nation and a people from whom the savior of the world would come. The Jewish people were elected by God to be the people from whom the savior of the world was to come. All of the Patriarchs were elected by God to be the line from which Jesus was to come. All of the patriarchs that God had chosen all had one thing in common, they all believed and had faith in God's promise of a savior. You can read about them in the 11th chapter of Hebrews.
They looked forward to seeing and believing in the savior that was to come and were justified by faith, Romans 4:1-3. They looked forward to seeing the savior, while we look back. It is easier to look back to when Jesus was here than it is to look forward. We have the Bible that reveals Jesus Christ and all that he did, all they had was the witness of the prophets. Many died without ever seeing the savior, Hebrews 11:39.
The Old Testament is a record of man's sinfulness. All through the Old Testament fallen man is not able to please a holy God. Even some of the prophets and holy men confessed that they were unworthy sinners. Isaiah wrote, "But we are all as an unclean thing and all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and all of our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away" Isaiah 64:6.
In the New Testament we have record of God breaking into the human race in the person of Jesus Christ and in doing so fulfills all of the promises that God made to the Jewish people. Their promised Messiah had finally arrived. But he was not exactly what they wanted, but God's plan was much larger than what they had anticipated. Jesus came into the world to be the savior of the whole world, 1 John 2:2. As God's new Adam and our new humanity, 2 Corinthians 5:17. He offers to God the Father a life of perfect obedience according to his holy law. He does this in our name and on our behalf, just like we did it ourselves. It was his life that was lived for our justification, Romans 3:26.
Jesus was not only God with us, he was also God for us. All that Jesus was and all that Jesus did was for us. He is the pearl of great price that a man sells all that he has so that he can own it, Matthew 13:46. By his death on the cross he destroys sin, death and the devil and reconciles a world of lost sinners unto God, 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19. Jesus has perfected our humanity in himself and has taken it back to heaven. Our salvation is in a very safe place.
The whole Bible is about Jesus Christ and his Gospel. Because of this everything should be interpreted in the light of the Gospel. Jesus didn't come into the world to show us the way, Jesus came into the world to be the way, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no man can come unto the Father but by me" John 14:6. Not by the way of man conceived religions or man conceived doctrines, but by Jesus Christ and Christ alone.