A GREATER DANGER

With justifiable alarm, we are witnessing a new and dangerous disease race around the globe.   As fatalities increase, we take measures to try to protect ourselves and others.  There is, however, a danger far greater and more pervasive than COVID-19.

Many years ago, a woman approached a king to ask a favor of him.  We don’t know her name; she is described only as a “wise woman”.  Her words to the king were indeed wise, and among them was this short statement, “We must all die”.  

Of course, you already know this. The question is not if we will die; the question is only when, and how.  Why must we all die? The Bible gives us the reason, boiled down into a few words:  “Sin came into the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12)   A simple way of understanding this is to look at sin as a disease.  No amount of hand washing or disinfectant can halt the spread; the entire human race is already infected, and what’s worse, the mortality rate is 100%.

Physical death, however, is only part of the result of this “disease” we all carry.  We cannot help that we are born with an inclination to sin, but each of us has become guilty of deliberate acts of sin.  The Bible says that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)   God is absolutely holy, and any sin is unacceptable to him.  Anyone who dies with their sin unforgiven is forever separated from God, and consequently from all that is good.  Jesus himself repeatedly warned about the great danger of eternal punishment.  Dear friend, this is real!  God has provided a remedy, but if you haven’t received it yet, you are at this moment still in tremendous danger.

A BETTER CURE 

COVID-19 had experts racing to develop an effective vaccine in order to prevent the loss of many lives.  But I’d like to point out that God has a plan in place to combat and ultimately cure the sin pandemic. Below is a quote from John 3:16 in the Bible:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Another Bible verse says “the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” (1 John 4:14)   How does this work?  

As the Bible says, this is “good news of great joy”.  Jesus Christ came to this world with a mission, and that was to provide a cure for our sin.  His miracles and his gracious life were not the solution.  Our sin requires death, and so He intentionally went to a Roman cross, and there willingly died.  As he suffered there, we learn from the Bible that God was punishing him for our sins.  “The Lord laid on him the sins of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6, NLT)   He never sinned, but took our place to endure the judgment we deserve.  He died; he was buried; he rose from the dead.  

“Whoever believes in him”, John 3:16 says.  God loves you and longs to save you from your sin and from eternal death.  He offers every honest, guilty, repentant sinner the gift of salvation, simply through fully trusting Christ alone.  Trusting yourself or any other way of salvation will never work. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”  (1 Timothy 1:15)  Yes, the danger of judgment for our sins is very real. But you can have forgiveness and cleansing from all those sins through the Lord Jesus Christ.  

Note:  All Bible references are from the ESV translation, unless otherwise noted.