Good News About the Messiah

Our only hope of salvation is Jesus the Messiah.

God loves mankind and wants to bless all. It is not God's intention to be separated from mankind. God is a God of relationships, and He wants nothing more than to exercise this relationship with His creation:

"You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever."

"How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. O continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart."

Mankind is separated from God because of sin, which results in spiritual death.

Original sin

"But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die."

Even despite this separation, God desires to have a relationship with man. Being the perfect and just God that He is, we are separated from Him by our sin. The chasm is insurmountable in our own effort, but God has made a way for us to be restored.

Our sin nature

His word makes clear, our sin has separated us from a relationship with God. His word also explains that the punishment for our sins; that is, our trespasses. A punishment that is the same for all - Jews and Gentiles alike - if they indeed remain separated from God:

"Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins."

"The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?"

"For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away."

"Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine, the soul who sins will die."

"But everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge."

"But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear."

There is nothing we can do by ourselves

The word of God is very clear on this point as well; there is nothing we can do to save ourselves and be reconciled to God. Additionally, there is nothing that a man can do for us to reconcile us to God:

" 'Although you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your iniquity is before Me,' declares the Lord God."

"No man can by any means redeem his brother or give to God a ransom for him."

God has provided us a way to be reconciled as a free gift

Do not be discouraged! God loves us and He did provide a solution to what seems to be an unsolvable problem. God sent Jesus the Messiah to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. The Messiah, whom the Scriptures teach is God, died and atoned for our sins.

We should pay particular attention to the Scripture from the prophet Isaiah who predicted the humiliation, suffering, death by crucifixion, resurrection, and exaltation of the Messiah in the book of the prophet Isaiah. The following is a part of that section of the Hebrew Scriptures:

"Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors."

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.

I, even I, am the LORD, and there is no savior besides Me.

Jesus' atoning death for our sins gives us salvation

The barrier between God and us created by sin has been knocked down by the Messiah's selfless sacrifice on our behalf. It is our choice to accept this free gift by faith.

"Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness."

"Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith."

Repentance toward God and trust in Jesus reconciles us to God

The solution is readily available for those who desire an eternal relationship with God. Only by changing our mind about the value of our own efforts to make ourselves righteous before God and instead trusting the atoning death of Jesus the Messiah - only then can we be reconciled to God. Jesus bridged the gap between God and us. Faith is our response to His gift of salvation for those who put their trust in Him:

"Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith."

"[...Abram] believed in the Lord, and [the Lord] accounted it to him for righteousness."

"How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit!"

"He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion."

Contrary to all man-made religions, our faith in God that is based on the Christian Scriptures is simple: we realize there is nothing we can do to reconcile ourselves to God, except believe by faith in the atoning death of Jesus the Messiah. You have no hope apart from Him. Change your mind and believe. He is waiting! Anyone can trust Jesus by faith, and thus be forgiven of their sins, have Him make His home in their heart of hearts, and start walking in newness of life.

Jesus was born of a virgin in Bethlehem of Judea!

Faith alone in Jesus the Messiah of Nazareth saves. While a prayer is not required, you can still say to Him...

Dear God, I agree that I am a sinner, and I am separated from You. I desire a relationship with You, but I cannot do it on my own. I thank you for sending Jesus the Messiah to die for me, and I accept His death as my atonement. By faith I trust Jesus to forgive me for my sins and make me a child of God.

Please rejoice with me and declare in your heart and with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.

Those who love God are loved by Him! Jesus is the Son of God.

The words in red are much better than mine, and that is putting it lightly.

For a more perfect understanding, please enjoy time reading the book of Hebrews given to the Lord's faithful servant.