Ever since Adam and Eve’s fall into sin and their banishment from the Garden of Eden, God has been busy at work carrying out a plan to redeem mankind and reestablish the relationship they had enjoyed with Him. He had created man for fellowship but since He is holy, He could not have fellowship with unrighteousness.
And so the story of God’s plan begins with His choice of Abraham. Through Abraham, He would establish a people to whom He would reveal Himself and through whom He would reach the fallen world. The story of the Old Testament is one of God’s desire for covenantal relationship and man’s inability to overcome his fallen nature and enter into it.
It is also the story of a faithful God who would not give up on His people nor on His eternal plan to redeem them. Through it all, God had been setting the stage for an amazing moment when He would come to man and initiate a new covenant. This new covenant would provide for the forgiveness of sin and would thereby allow the power of God to reside in cleansed hearts through the Holy Spirit.
God did not create man to have a distant relationship but one of family. Just as a loving father awaits the return of the prodigal son, so the Father longs for us to turn from our sin and come into His loving embrace. He wants to shower upon us all the blessings and abundance of His kingdom.
It was this loving Father that, when the time had fully come, sent angels to announce the birth of two babies—one the Messiah and the other His forerunner. And that is the amazing moment all of history had been waiting for.
Join me for this week’s Out of Zion podcast on “One Amazing Moment.” Susan’s Walk Thru the New Testament is the final quarter of her year-long Walk Thru the Bible series. Get started right away by downloading our Bible reading plan! Invite your friends and family to join us! {eoa}
Dr. Susan Michael is USA director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem and host of the Out of Zion podcast.
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