Perfection. Paradise. Man and God, walking in sweet fellowship in the cool of the garden. Created in the very image of our Abba, man and woman walked with and knew God in a place free of pain or death or suffering.
But even in the seat of perfection man was given a choice. And with that choice they sinned. Craved for themselves the knowledge of good and evil. Desired to be equal with their Creator. Ushered in sin and all of its rebellion and corrupting power. (Romans 5:12)
And the very creatures formed for light and love and eternal life experienced darkness and hate and death.
The hard facts are, during our pilgrimage on this earth, we will inevitably be crushed and wounded by our own sin and the sin of others. Sin is an insidious, unavoidable fact and scars even nature with its presence. (Romans 8:18-25)
Sin is nothing more and nothing less than the antithesis to all that the God of the Bible is. Hate versus love. Lies versus truth. Selfishness verses self-sacrifice. Lust versus purity. Greed versus contentment. Cruelty versus kindness. Bitterness versus forgiveness. Anger versus patience. Pride versus humility. And the list goes on…corrupting our thoughts, our desires, our relationships, our actions and reactions. Perverting every beautiful and perfect gift of the God of goodness and love into a weapon to harm and wound. (James 1:13-15)
Thus, we walk in shadows…in the foul presence of death seeking its prey…seeking us. Suffering, pain, fear—each the footsteps in sin’s wake.
But though lost, we are still not alone. The Good Shepherd came to seek us (John 10:7-18). To rescue us from the enemy who hunted our never-dying souls. To deliver us from the price of our rebellion (Romans 6:23). Christ gave His life, pouring out His own blood and soul on an old rugged cross and bearing the eternal consequences of sin in the stead of every soul He created (Romans 3:20-26). He, the God of Life, subjected Himself to death. Jesus, the sinless Son of God, became sin that He might bear its curse and punishment for us (II Cor. 5:18-21) that whosever called upon Him, would be saved. (John 3:14-18)
Delivered.
Justified.
Bought back.
But Jesus didn’t stay dead. He went down into the grave and stormed Hell itself and conquered satan and took back the keys of death and Hell (Rev.1:18), rising again on the third day.
Why? So He would have the authority to break death’s final hold and release us from the power of sin (Col. 2:13-15).
He came to restore. To heal. First, our fellowship with Himself, and then the wounds in our souls. And one day nothing will separate us from His beautiful Self and all the marvelous things He’s prepared for us. We will be safe and whole—body, soul, and spirit—in our Forever Home with Him.
Therefore, the journey to freedom begins and ends with Him. Always. It’s His-story. The revelation of His love in the pages of Scripture and time. His words of life give a sure hope to all who come to Him.
It’s His nature that’s strong enough to shatter the darkness, not just here, but forever (John 1:1-5+9).
It’s His transformative power that takes the worm that we are, cocoons us in His love, and releases us to fly.
So, without Christ, there is no journey. Any other source of light is like denying the sun to light up the world and trying to use a lightning bug instead. Only the Good Shepherd knows how to restore our souls (Ps. 23).
And He is that good. So let the journey begin!
