Drink from The Well

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8

I have always been interested in hearing the stories of people who leave their home country and come to the United States. As you can imagine, there are many reasons why this happens. Most of the time, the reason is for the hope of a better life. There is one story that will always stick with me, and that might be because I am close to it. This story is about how my best friend and some of his family members ended up in the United States. They came here as refugees escaping an ongoing civil war in their country. Finding their lives in danger and death being their only immediate option, they lost hope of a rescue. They would need a miracle to make it out alive. By the providence of God, there were some people who worked for an organization similar to the Red Cross, who were able to come and rescue him and some family members out of the war zone. God eventually brought them to the United States, and has allowed me to be a part of their lives. This brief story, minus all the details, always reminds me of the state of the world after sin entered it, and how God’s plan to send Jesus to be born into the world about two thousand years ago was the perfect plan. As you grow in your relationship with the Lord, you come to learn that you will not always understand everything, but you come to realize that his timing is always perfect. After all, he is an all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere present God. Oh, and don’t forget he exists outside of time. 

The war between light/dark, and good/evil that ensued since the Garden (Genesis 3) had far more devastating implications than Adam and Eve would have thought. In Genesis 3:15, we are introduced to what scholars call the proto-evangelium, or the first gospel. This verse introduces two elements previously unknown in the Garden of Eden, elements that are the basis of Christianity—the curse on mankind because of Adam’s sin and God’s provision for a Savior who would take the curse upon Himself. This verse also refers to the promise that God made Adam and Eve after their sin in the garden. God promises that the seed of the woman will crush the serpent. This passage in Genesis is the first recorded promise of God to send a Redeemer. After the garden, we have numerous accounts of story after story pointing us towards this Redeemer. We see the language and picture of a substitute starting with Abraham and continuing through with Isaac, Moses, David and others who foreshadowed the Messiah. Eventually, the Messiah would give himself as a substitute for his people (1 Timothy 2:5-6), and become a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). The life, death and resurrection of Jesus fulfills this prophecy. As Christians, this good news of Jesus as our savior is the basis for our faith. Look around you today and you will see that not very much has changed since sin entered the world in the garden. The effects of sin and its consequences reverberate down to us, and the same promise that God made to Adam and Eve in the beginning, he makes a similar one to us today. Paul sums it up well by pretty much saying that what Adam messed up, Jesus has now fixed for us (Romans 5:12-21). God has provided us with a Rescuer, his own son. The invitation is for us to put our trust in him to do what he was sent to do – rescue us. Therefore, becoming our Lord and Savior. The Bible teaches that God desires all to be saved, but all must accept his free gift of salvation that he offers through faith in his son Jesus Christ (John 14:6, Acts 4:11-12). If you are in Christ, you too are part of this rescue mission. You may not be in a war torn country or even be a global missionary, but you are part of the redemptive rescuing work that God is doing on a daily basis. Paul calls us ambassadors of Christ who are part of His ministry of reconciliation. God is reconciling the world to himself by making his appeal through us (2 Corinthians 5:11-21). We get the privilege of participating in this redemptive kingdom work. May we go and influence others for the kingdom in all our relationships. Wherever your sphere of influence is, God is sending you and we have the responsibility of being salt and light.

Remember how the serpent would strike the heel of the Seed? Well, he did that at Calvary, but this wound was not the final act. Jesus rose on the third day, having paid the price for the sin of all who would ever believe in Him. The ultimate victory was His, and He crushed the head of Satan, removing forever his rule over man. The power of Christ would destroy Satan and all his principalities and powers, confound all his schemes, and ruin all his works (Ephesians 6:10-18). The power of the cross would crush Satan’s whole empire, strip him of his authority (particularly his power over death), and his tyranny over the souls of men. All this was done by the incarnate Christ when He suffered and died for the souls of men (Hebrews 2:14–15). Because of what Jesus did on the cross, he “crushed” the devil’s head, defeating him forever. The proto-evangelium shows us that God always had the plan of salvation in mind, and informed us of His plan as soon as sin entered the world. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8). 

Have you trusted Christ for your salvation yet? If not, today is the day for salvation, do not harden your heart. The Bible teaches that, “if you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) The invitation stands: Come to The Well and drink from his endless supply of living water!

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”” – Romans 1:16-17

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” – Ephesians 2:8-9

“And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” – Revelation 7:10

O Come to the Altar by Shane & Shane