“Good morning, Olivia” Father God
said as Olivia, a beautiful angel in heaven walked into the throne room. “What
is your question for Me today?”
“Good morning, Father God. I have
been thinking about when Jesus was about to go to the cross and He was praying
in the garden of Gethsemane. He asked You to take this cup from Him if it was
possible. Then He asked for Your will to be done. It sounded like He was
afraid, but I can’t believe that would be true. What did He mean?”
“Well, Olivia, as you know, when
Jesus went to earth He became fully man as well as being fully God. As a man He
felt pain just like everyone else. He knew how much pain was ahead of Him.
However, that is what He went to earth for. He wasn’t looking forward to the
pain, but He was not deterred by that at all. We love people so much that they
are worth whatever We had to do to redeem them.”
“What was causing Him anguish was
the fact that He knew He would be taking sin into Himself. Because We have no
sin, sin is very painful to Us. It separates humans from Us and that was not
Our plan when We created humans.”
“Jesus knew that when He took sin
into Himself, not only would it be extremely painful, but it would also
separate Him from Me. We had never been separated before and never will be
again. Because I am perfect, I cannot even look at sin. That meant I actually
had to turn My back on Jesus while He was carrying the sin, and that was
devastating to Him as well as to Me. He knew there was no other way, so He was
submissive to it.”
“The reason there was no other
way was because the wages of sin is death, and could only be paid by the
shedding of perfect blood. When Adam and Eve sinned they took sin into their blood
and it has been passed on to every human being since. There is nothing people
could ever do to cleanse themselves of sin. Only God can do that. Human beings,
since they all have sin in them, can die because of their sin, but it does not
redeem them from their sin. When Jesus died He went to hell with all that sin
and fought against death. He did not fight against physical death because since
sin came into the world it is appointed unto man once to die. The death that is
referring to is the death of the relationship between man and God. When a
person goes to hell they are completely cut off from God forever, and that is
true death.”
“When Jesus died for sin, it was
not just for the sin of the people who were on earth at that time, but for each
sin that had ever been committed, and each sin that ever would be committed by
anyone. Jesus died for each and every sin that each person will do in their
entire life, and consequently any person can be forgiven for every sin in their
life. However, to receive that forgiveness, they must understand that there is
nothing they can do to save themselves. They must accept Jesus’s death on the
cross as their redemption from sin, accept His salvation, and give Him their heart
for the rest of their life.”
“When people decide they will be
saved and go to heaven just because they live a good life, it shows they do not
understand salvation at all. How can they be so foolish as to think that God is
intelligent enough to create the entire universe, including the earth and
everything on it, and yet not realize that man can save himself just by being a
good person? If that was true, how could an intelligent God have been so
foolish as to not realize that He didn’t need to come to earth and suffer such
agony if men could save themselves? To try to bypass Jesus’s sacrifice for
their sin is a total slap in the face to God.”
“For any soul to lost is a
horrible thing, and does not need to happen. We wish all people would accept
the salvation We have provided for them. It is their decision and theirs alone.
We will not force anyone to serve us. They all have free will. What many people
do not realize is that everyone serves someone. If they do not choose to serve
Us, then they are choosing, by default, to serve Satan. When their life is
over, they will spend eternity with the one they served.”
Olivia sat quietly, thinking
about all God had just told her. “Why would anyone not choose to serve You,
Father God? The reward of spending eternity with You is amazing beyond anything
they could possibly imagine.”
“Yes, Olivia. It is the most
important decision, by far, that each one of them will make in their entire
life. We hope they choose Us.”