“30 So the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God! 31 Listen: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.’“ (Luke 1:30 – 31 NET). In the beginning God said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Disobedience [sin] results in death. Spiritual death occurred at the first disobedience with physical death occurring sometime later in life. Unless spiritual life is somehow restored, physical death ends in a conscience state of eternal death, an existence apart from God. If, however, spiritual life could be restored then physical death would simple usher the person into an eternal existence with God. But how is spiritual life obtained?
Throughout the Old Testament of the Bible, God reveals how a life would have to be sacrificed to overcome death due to sin. This concept was introduced with animal sacrifices leading up to the need of a perfect man who would die in our place. Prophecies throughout the Old Testament point to a virgin birth with a human mother and God as the father. This would result in a child that was truly God but also truly man, except he would be spiritually alive. This child is known as Jesus, who lived a perfect life and then died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice to cover the penalty of our sin. The death of Jesus as the perfect sacrifice met the requirements of God’s law providing justice. This opened the way for God to show mercy to us as sinners and opened a way for us to seek forgiveness and thus be able to receive spiritual life through God’s grace.
This lesson provides a basic outline of the plan God had for making it possible for us to receive eternal life. Future lessons will expand upon this.
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