Ezekiel 33:11 “ As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!”

II Peter 3:9 “ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. ”

I Timothy 2:4-6 [God] “ … wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men… ”

Yes, God has set up a precise plan for the salvation of the sinner! God loves each one of us and wants to save us: He ardently desires that we become His children, just like before the fall of man. However, God’s perfect justice requires the death of the sinner, the transgressor of the divine law. “ For the wages of sin is death ” (Romans 6:23). How will God’s plan satisfy the demands of both divine justice and the outpouring of divine love for each one of us?

I John 4:9,10 “ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ”

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. In order to make possible the pardon of guilty man, it was necessary that one who was sinless take upon himself the condemnation deserved by the sinner, that is, death. God’s only begotten Son, who had never sinned, offered Himself to be this innocent sacrifice, the One who would die so that we might live.

John 3:16-19 “ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. ”

This message is the central point of the Word of God, and the reason for this set of lessons. By giving His only Son, God has sacrificed Himself, taking the sins of men upon Himself, so that each one of us, who were sinners and condemned to death, might inherit eternal life by accepting this great sacrifice for our own sins. This is the greatest message of hope ever given to mankind!

I Peter 1:10-11 “ Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. ”

As we will see during this lesson and the next ones, the whole Bible revolves around this message of salvation by grace, that is, by the gift of God’s only begotten Son. All the prophets have preached this message!

Genesis 3:14-15 “ So the LORD God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. ”

Satan inflicted great sufferings on Jesus, thus bruising His heel. But by His death on the cross, Jesus triumphed over Satan and evil, thus crushing the serpent’s head. Matthew 1:20-21 “ … an angel of the Lord appeared to [Joseph] in a dream and said, Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. ”

Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten Son, who offered Himself to die for each one of us, so that we may be saved from our sins.

The whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, tells us about the promise of a Savior, and the fulfillment of this promise in the person and the work of Jesus Christ who died and rose again for lost mankind. John 20:30-31 “ Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. ”

God was not forced to come down and save the sinner. He did it because He loves us with an infinite love. The salvation He offers us, by the gift of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, is the only way to be forgiven for our sins, so that we may have access to eternal life. God did all that was required for our salvation: why not accept His offer right now, while there is still time to do so?