1.2 Restored with a New Relationship

The Bible teaches that God is a God of love. He wanted to save man—to free him from the brokenness and curse of sin, and repair the broken relationship. But how could He do it? How can God be just and yet justify or excuse sinners?

The only solution was for an innocent one, without sin, to volunteer to pay for our wrongdoing. There was only one possibility. Since we all are guilty, God Himself was the only one in the universe able to bear the sins of the whole world.

The Bible teaches that God became a man in order to do just that. His name is Jesus Christ, and we celebrate His birth at Christmas.

Jesus said of Himself, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13). Jesus was saying He had no beginning—that no one created Him. He “is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), both divine and human.

During His life on earth, Jesus faced the same temptations we do, yet remained sinless. Even though He was blameless, He willingly suffered the punishment for our sin. In an ultimate act of love for us, He died in our place.

When Jesus gave His life, He covered our sin. He made it possible for God to look at us and no longer see our sin, but see Jesus’ perfect obedience and holiness instead. Without Jesus, our sin keeps us separated from God. But with Jesus, we are cleansed from our sins and our relationship with God is restored, saving us from spiritual death.

But that’s not all. After His death, Jesus was buried in a tomb and three days later was alive again! (His rising from the dead is what we call the resurrection.) He had told His followers that’s how it would be. By rising from the dead just as He said He would, He showed the truth of who He claimed to be—the Giver of Life, God made man. He also defeated physical death, making it possible for us to be resurrected like He was and live forever with Him.

All that Jesus paid for with His life— forgiveness, redemption, eternal life— are all a gift from God to us. This gift of love is available to all who repent (or turn away) from their sin and believe in Jesus. He calls us to trust Him as our Savior and give back His rightful place as God of our lives.

If you already believe in Jesus, all guilt is gone. The sin that separated you from God is removed. As the Bible says, instead of standing against Him, you have become His friend: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).