The world began when a loving, holy God spoke it into creation. Then, He created man and woman – not because He needed us, but because He wanted us. God loved us so much that He gave us a perfect world to enjoy. He also loved us so much that He gave us a free will. He wanted us to choose to reciprocate His love through obedience. However, mankind was not satisfied – we wanted more. So, we sinned – we disobeyed the one and only command He gave us, and that disobedience made us impure. Because of the darkness in our hearts, our relationship with a perfect God was severed, and the penalty was death and eternal separation from God.
The only hope for a sin-filled human race to be restored to a perfect God was to pay a price – to buy back our purity. Mankind worked hard and tried to keep all the religious rules required for living a perfect life, making sacrifices along the way to pay for continued sin, but it was not enough. God saw a better way. Because of His love for us, He created a way for restoration that would be absolute and that would free us from the weight of unsuccessfully trying to live a perfect life in our own power. His plan was to give us the gift of a holy, righteous, and perfect sacrifice that would once and for all pay for our sins – making our hearts once again clean. This gift was His son, Jesus.
Jesus did what we could not. He lived a perfect and sinless human life. He was the ultimate and perfect sacrifice. Through His death, there was hope for mankind. Jesus willingly sacrificed his life, spilling his blood through a brutal and gruesome death on a cross to pay for our sins and buy back our redemption to God. Jesus was buried, and three days later, He was resurrected from the grave, overcoming the power of death and resolving the penalty of our sin. He is sitting at the right hand of God, waiting to return and gather His people, His Church.
By believing what Jesus did for us and choosing to accept His sacrifice as the payment of our sins (not depending on our own efforts, works, or goodness), we receive the gift of a restored relationship with God and the promise of eternal life spent with Him.