Jesus is God
coming in love to save us
Who is Jesus?
Jesus Christ was born to a poor family in Israel around 2000 years ago. He was a human and, in many ways, he lived an ordinary human life with a family, a job, joys and fears just like us. But he was also God’s son, so he lived a life radically different to ours. He healed people. He calmed storms. He raised the dead and called people to follow him. Above all he loved people and showed this by the way he lived his life.
Why did He come?
Here in the Spey valley we are surrounded by fantastic people and great natural beauty, and we know it’s just a tiny corner of the breath-taking world we live in. But something is not right. People suffer pain and die. We all so often choose the selfish thing, rather than what is best for others – the destruction of our planet is just part of this. It feels like it shouldn’t be this way.
This is because we were made to have a relationship with God as our loving Lord, but we prefer to call the shots and have turned away from him. The Bible calls this sin. Sin separates us from the perfect, life-giving God and is why death and pain reign in our world. Ultimately, unless it is dealt with, our sin will separate us from God forever. Jesus calls this eternal separation ‘hell’.
Jesus came to save us from this! None of us are able to live a life of perfect love, but Jesus did it for us. When he died on the cross, he took the death and separation from God that we, because of our sin, deserve. Three days after his execution, his tomb was found to be empty. Over the next few weeks hundreds of people saw Jesus alive! Many spoke with him, some even ate a meal with him. Jesus the King could not be contained by death. He had risen!
What does it mean?
So today, right now, Jesus invites people to come back to God through him. He calls us to repent and believe the good news that our broken relationship with God can be restored. Repent means to turn around, to live with Jesus in charge instead of ourselves. Believe means to trust that Jesus has done everything we need to give us a place in his kingdom.
Living with Jesus as Lord isn’t easy. But he gives a life of deep security, satisfaction and joy. A way of knowing God and his forgiveness, being helped by his Spirit, and looking forward to his return, when he will finally remake this world the way it should be. Jesus freely offers all this to anyone and everyone who repents and believes.