For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3: 16, NKJV
I will make you and the woman enemies to each other. Your descendants and her descendants will be enemies. One of her descendants will crush your head, and you will bite his heel.”
Genesis 3: 15, NCV
“God the eternal Son became incarnate in Jesus Christ. Through Him all things were created, the character of God is revealed, the salvation of humanity is accomplished, and the world is judged. Forever truly God, He became also truly man, Jesus the Christ. He waqs conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived and experienced temptation as a human being, but perfectly exemplified the righteousness and love of God. By His miracles He manifested God’s power and was attested as God’s promised Messiah. He suffered and died voluntarily on the cross for our sins and in our place, was raised from the dead, and ascended to minister in the heavenly sanctuary on our behalf. He will come again in glory for the final deliverance of His people and the restoration of all things” (Fundamental Beliefs, 4)
The God who became man is Jesus Christ. He is the God prophesied in Genesis 3: 15 after man sinned through disobedience. To the guilty paid, God preached His sermon about hope and redemption. Sin separated man from God. No longer could Adam and Eve talk with God face to face. That was why they hid in the bushes when God came a-calling in the cool of the day. They were ashamed to face God because they became naked, their God-given clothes were stripped from them, so they resorted to covering themselves with fig leaves.
“After sin entered, God instituted animal sacrifices to illustrate the mission of the Saviour to come. This symbolic system dramatized the manner in which God the Son would eradicate sin. Because of sin — the transgression of God’s law — the human race faced death … What an incomprehensible act of condescension! God the eternal Son, Himself pays vicariously the penalty for sin so that He can provide us forgiveness and reconciliation to the Godhead.” (P. 38, SDA Beliefs: A Biblical Exposition of Fundamental Doctrines)
We say the character of God the Father is the same as His Son. What are they? God proclaimed before Moses. He said, “6 The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34: 6, 7 NRSV)
The Bible says that God sent His Son to the earth in the “fulness of time. When was He supposed to come? Five centuries before, Daniel prophesied the coming of the Messiah. Gabriel explained to Daniel the meaning of his vision. 24 ‘Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city: to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. 25 Know therefore and understand: from the time that the word went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the time of an anointed prince, there shall be seven weeks; and for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with streets and moat, but in a troubled time. 26 After the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing, and the troops of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. 27 He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall make sacrifice and offering cease;
Jesus made a promise that General Douglas MacArthur echoed in the early days when the fortunes of the Filipino people were overwhelmed by the power of the Japanese Empire that began in December 7, 1941. A few months after General MacArthur promised “I Shall Return”. Two thousand years ago, Jesus told his disciples, 14 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14: 1-3, NKJV)
If a human being, like General MacArthur, can make a promise he was able to keep, how much more can Jesus make His promise to come back true? He can do that because: 1. He is truly God. He has all the divine attributes (Matthew 28:18, John 17: 2.); 2. He is Omniscient (Colossians2:3); 3. He is Omnipresent (I am with you always, (Matt. 28: 20)); 4. He is immutable, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), and Jesus is love. (John 3: 16) Jesus can feel with us because is Truly Man: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1: 14, Matt. 1:1), Son of David, Son of Abraham. (Romans 5:15), Jesus was tempted like as we are but without sin. (Heb.4:15)
Finally, we read, 39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. (John 5: 39)
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL
By Ben Berto
To contact us: Our website is www.abundantlifeadventist.ca. Worship with us every Saturday Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. Genesis 2: 2, 3, Exodus 20: 8-10, Isaiah 58: 13, 14; Isaiah 66: 22, 23; Matthew 5: 17-19; Revelation 22: 14, John 14: 1-3, Rev. 6:6-12
