A LONG TIME AGO . . . God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them. Then He created man and woman and placed them in a beautiful garden to live. God walked with them in the garden as a true friend. And He gave them all the fruit of the trees to eat. Yet, there was one tree they were not allowed to eat. If they did, they would die.
The man and wife were tempted by a fallen angel and ate from this tree and it’s as if a huge earthquake took place and the man and wife were on one side of the deep ravine, and God on the other. Yet God promised a Savior would come one day and bridge that chasm.
The man and wife had children and the earth became filled with people. They were violent and thought about evil continually, this is, all but one family, Noah, his wife and three sons and their wives. God commanded Noah to build a huge boat and to collect male and female of all the animals. The heavens rained and the earth flooded for 40 days.
When the land was dry, God made a covenant with Noah and all the people of the earth that would be born from him in the years to come. This was, that God would never again destroy the world by a flood. The rainbow was God’s sign that He would keep His promise.
Again, people filled the earth, and like before, they were evil. They were all in one place and had one language. God saw how much destruction they could do and came down to scramble the languages and this caused the people to move all over the world.
Many years passed. From the line of Shem, one of Noah’s sons, God called a man named Abraham out of his native land, to another country to the west. He made the journey with his family. God spoke to Abraham as a friend and told him that his decedents would live in this new country and thrive and that one day a Savior would come. Abraham believed God and was called a righteous man because of his belief.
Three generations pass and there was a famine in the land called Israel, and the Hebrews moved to a land to the south called Egypt where they lived for 400 years. During that time they had become slaves. God then raised up a deliverer named Moses, a humble man before God.
When they returned to the land God gave them, they had become a great nation. On the way home, God gave them laws to live by, and a way to be forgiven for their sins with animal sacrifices. God gave them judges to guide them, but the people wanted a king, and so a king was chosen among the people and many, many kings ruled the land of Israel in the years to come. Some were good kings, many were bad kings. Prophets were appointed by God to bring the people back to God and to forsake idol worship. But the people refused. Yet, God never forgot the promise of a Savior.
Many years passed and the nation of Israel was swallowed up by other nations. Then a bright star shown in the sky and wise men from the east saw it and followed it. Angels appeared to shepherds in the field and were called to see a baby that was born in the nearby town. Yes! The Savior had been born of a virgin and His name is Jesus.
Jesus showed the way to God to His people. The land was owned by another nation, but the people had stayed together. Some recognized this man as the promised Savior, but most did not. Jesus did not come to be a king that would rule His people like other kings. No, His kingdom was hidden inside of a man or a woman or a child. They were going to be given the power to defeat the devil and to know God like the first man and woman did. How did this happen?
Jesus was sent to earth as a baby to grow up and teach the people God’s ways. Then to everyone’s surprise, He was killed by those who were jealous of Him. Yet even this had been predicted from the prophets of old. His disciples were grieved forgetting that Jesus had promised He would rise from the dead.
And three days later, He did! He arose from the dead! He appeared to His disciples for 40 days and then ascended to Heaven to be with His Father. But He made a promise to His disciples, this was the promise of the Holy Spirit who would give them the power to live a righteous, God-pleasing life, and be forgiven for their sins. And the power to defeat the devil. When Jesus was killed, He Himself became the last sacrifice for our sins. When He rose from the dead, the sacrifice was fulfilled! He was the very Savior that was promised to the first man and woman on earth.
The disciples of Jesus spread across the entire world to tell people of this good news. How to Know God, how to live life, and then when life ends, the promise of seeing God face to face and living with Him forever.
We came to you today as disciples of the One True God and to tell you His Story.
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