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| JESUS, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. Image via google.com |
"God so loved the world
that he gave his only-begotten Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life."
When God created man, He already destined man to live for all eternity with Him [see Ephesians 1:4; Matthew 25:34]. First of all, God already made man special by infusing in man His ruah, His breath, His very Spirit [see Genesis 2:7], which gave man the unique identity of being made in the image and likeness of God [see Genesis 1:26]. Of all God's creatures only man was given such privilege and only man was given the special responsibility of being the steward of all creation [see Genesis 1:28]!
Man's unique place in God's eternal plan is demonstrated by the fact that among His creatures, only man, being made in His image and likeness, has the capability to respond to His initiative of sharing His great love. This is the gift of freedom. But one consequence of such gift of freedom to respond to His offer of love is the sad reality of man's capability to reject His love also. However, man's rejection of God's offer of love leads to the loss of eternal bliss for only God can provide it and no one and nothing else. As St Augustine declared it is only by being in union with God shall man find rest.
When man sinned against God by disobedience, God sent man out of Paradise [see Genesis 3:23] but did not leave him on his own. He still guided them even if they have already rejected His love and became slaves to sin [see Genesis 3]. He even promised to send a Savior to free man from this bondage to sin so that he may be reunited with Him once again [see Genesis 3:15].
Even when man reached the pinnacle of sinfulness, He saved one family headed by Noah when He decided to destroy the earth with a great flood. Through this family, He filled the earth once more with people. Then from among Noah's descendants, He chose Abram, consequently renaming him Abraham, meaning the Father of many nations, so that through him all nations shall be blessed and from his seed the Savior may one day come.
This Savior, though in His human genealogy was Abraham's descendant, was in fact before Abraham [see John 8:58] for it is through Him that everything came to be being the Word of God [see John 1:2], God's only begotten Son, and which has become flesh [see John 1:14], became man, in order to save man from his bondage to sin, so that man may once more enter Paradise, and gain access to the Father's kingdom. And man may only gain full access to the Father's kingdom by believing in His Son [see John 3:16].
For the Son is the Way, the Truth and the Life [see John 14:6], the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of all creation [see Colossians 1:15; John 14:9]. Only in Him can man achieve eternal union with the Father and enjoy eternal bliss with Him in heaven. As the Apostle Paul wrote, through no one else but Christ alone shall we enter the Father's house [see 1 Timothy 2:5; Acts 4: 11-12; John 14: 1-2].
Let us therefore look for no one else in our search for God. Let us seek no other way but Christ [see John 10:9; 14:6]. Let us not be deceived for only Christ bears the truth [see John 14:6; 18:37]. Let us never forget that only in Christ shall we have the fullness of life [see John 10:10; 14:6].
God so loved man that He sent His only begotten Son to become man in order to reunite man to Him again for all eternity [see John 3:16; 17:3]. What a great initiative by Him who has loved us first [see 1 John 4:19] and through His Son made us His own children [see 1 John 3: 1-2; Galatians 3:26] and heirs of His kingdom [see Romans 8:17; Galatians 3:29; Acts 20:32 ].
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