The way to redemption
"So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom."
(The Bible: Psalm 90, verse 12)
Everyone knows that at the end of their life there is death. This fate sooner or later affects every person in the world; no one is exempt from this. For most people, the idea of death is associated with fear, sadness and pain. For many people, the loss of a loved one robs them of the courage to live. For some, the fear of dying is asso-ciated with the assumption that death is the end of everything and that a life will be irretrievably lost; for others with the uncertainty of what comes next.
For this reason, people try to avoid this unpleasant topic as much as possible. But sooner or later everyone will be confron-ted with it. While some come to terms with their seemingly hopeless fate, others look for ways and means to keep themselves young, to prolong their lives or to perpe-tuate themselves in some way. But no matter whether young or old, whether small or tall, whether rich or poor, whether famous or not - the fact is:
Everyone has to die one day.
THE ORIGIN OF DEATH
"For the wages of sin
is death (...)"
(The Bible: Romans chapter 6, verse 23)
Many people believe that death is something natural and part of life from the beginning. God's word, the Bible, explains to us that death has its origins in man's fall into sin. The first people - as the Holy Scripture re-ports - lived in paradise, where neither suf-fering, illness nor death existed and where neither man nor animal lacked anything. In everything that God has created, man should recognize God's love for him.
God formed man from the dust of the earth. When God breathed his spirit into him, the man came to life. Later, God formed woman from man's rib. After God created the first humans, He gave them one commandment. This com-mandment should be the test of whether peo-ple remain loyal to their Creator. But despite all the love that God had shown them, people acted faithlessly by violating God's command-ment and thereby despising God's love. God calls the violation of his commandment “sin.”
The Fall led to a rift between man and his Creator. Because of the violation of the divine commandment, man lost his innocence before God and thus the right to eternal life. Thus death came into the world through the sin of the first people. Furthermore, people had to leave paradise, the place of complete bliss. And so man, whom God had once created for eternity, became mortal and his life fleeting.
His disobedience left a tendency to sin in man's heart. As a result, every person became a sinner. This confirms the fact that every per-son does things in their life, that do not correspond to the will of God. The further man moved away from God, the more arro-gant and stubborn he became, until he final-ly lost almost all connection to his Creator. To the same extent, suffering and injustice on earth also increased.... (see: God and suffering)
THE DIVINE STANDARD
"Everyone who sins breaks the law;
in fact, sin is lawlessness."
(The Bible: 1st John chapter 3, Verse 4)
Lies (also so-called “white lies”), theft (in-cluding illegal downloads), bingeing and drinking, adultery and pornography, sexu-al immorality and prostitution up to mur-der (which also includes abortion), selfish-ness and malice of all kinds are effects of man's division from God. Even if some things are tolerated and even encouraged by the public, by God's standards they are and remain sin and the consequence is death. In contrast to our society, neither our own opinions nor our personal values, according to which most people live, count before God. The only decisive thing are God's commandments and regulations, which God as Creator has made binding for all people and which serve the benefit of all people. On this basis alone, every person's actions are judged.
Jesus Christ says:
"But I say to you that whoever looks
at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
(The Bible: Matthew chapter 5, verse 28)
God's Word makes it clear that all evil that a person does comes from his heart and begins in his thoughts. The Bible thus equates anyone who hates or insults their fellow human being with a murderer. And anyone who looks at another's wife with lustful eyes has already committed adul-tery with her in his heart. These two exam-ples show that we are dealing with a com-pletely different standard than we are used to judging our lives and actions. In addition, it becomes clear that fallen hu-manity today is far from meeting God's holy standard.... Since we humans often compare ourselves with others, trivialize our own actions or think we are better than reality, we often do not recognize the extent of our guilt. People usually look for reasons and excuses to justify or ex-cuse their behavior. But God's Word makes it unmistakably clear:
Everyone is guilty before God.
THE WORLD JUDGMENT OF GOD
"The Lord comes with tens of thousands
To be the judge of all, and to give a
decision against all those whose lives
are unpleasing to him, because of the
evil acts which they have done."
(The Bible: Jude chapter 1, verses 15-16)
Many people believe that the sins they commit have no consequences for them. But this is a fatal mistake. For God has appointed a day when he will judge all people, living and dead, for their sins in righteousness. Nothing is hidden from God, who knows the hearts and minds of all people. That is, there is nothing that people think or do that God does not know; Our life is fully revealed to God. God's Word also reveals the deepest secrets of the human heart. Most people are afraid to face the truth about their lives. Instead, they try to avoid the truth. But by denying or distorting the truth, they lie to themselves. At the latest on the Day of Judgment, all of people's deeds will come to light; even those that are still hidden....
Jesus Christ says:
"For nothing is secret that will
not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known
and come to light."
(The Bible: Luke chapter 8, verse 17)
Unlike in the world, neither strength nor beauty nor intelligence nor wealth nor special abilities count before God. For all these things are gifts from God that do not make anyone better or more respected before God. The decisive factor is our way of life on this earth. Likewise, a person cannot use his knowledge, power or money to buy himself out of his guilt and thereby preserve his life. Even a person's greatest wealth cannot save him from death or from God's judgment.
There are certainly many people who do good things, support worthy causes or protect the environment. Very few of us have robbed a bank or killed someone. Yet none of us is able to live up to God's holy standard because we all fall short of God's righteousness because of our imperfect lives. The consequence is:
Man needs redemption.
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
(...) And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire,
this is the second death."
(The Bible: Revelation chapter 20, Verses 11-15)
The Bible mentions books in which the ac-tions of every single person are recorded, as well as their motives and intentions. On the Day of Judgment, every person will be confronted with their sins and convicted of them, so that no one will be able to deny their guilt before God. Then neither apo-logies nor excuses from people will count anymore, but everyone will receive the judgment that corresponds to their ac-tions. So man will have no choice but to bow his knees before God, fall on his face and confess that he is guilty and God's judgment is just.
Since we have all sinned, each of us must die the first, natural death, from which there is a resurrection. But there is a second death. In contrast to the first death, the second death means eternal separation from God and thus from life; without the possibility of ever returning to life again. The Bible uses the image of a lake of fire as a symbol of eternal damnation. It is inten-ded to make it clear that the second death is final and irreversible. This is the judg-ment that awaits every person who has sinned against God. That means....
Without redemption
man is lost.....