God's Plan for Salvation

“How can I find meaning and purpose in life?” is a common question and worth considering. So what is life all about—and how does this relate to God, me, and eternity?

It’s about how we got here.

People on this planet didn’t get here by some cosmic accident. At creation, God said “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26). God created men and women and placed us here on the earth.

It’s about why God put us here.

God loved what He created and created us to truly know and enjoy Him. He loved us and wanted to live in fellowship with us. In the beginning, we lived in harmony and happiness with God and one another (Genesis 1:31).

It’s about how we responded.

In our early history the first humans turned away from God and went their own way—and fellowship with God was broken. Now, all people are born with a sinful nature, and without exception all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23). The consequence of this is that we are separated from God and deserve punishment for our sins.

It’s about how God rescues us.

Out of His deep love for us, God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to rescue us from our dilemma by dying on the cross (John 3:16). By sacrificing His life on behalf of sinners He took the punishment we deserve in order to provide salvation. Then God raised Jesus from the dead, confirming the work of Jesus on the cross and establishing His power over death.

It’s about our response.

Jesus has sufficiently paid the debt for all of our wrong-doing, and we are called to turn from our sin, rebellion, and isolation and trust what Jesus has done on our behalf.

God makes very clear the conditions by which the salvation Jesus offers can be ours. In Mark 1:15 Jesus said, “Repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

First, God says we must repent. The word repent means a change of direction. This means when we turn to God, we are turning away from sin and giving up on the attempt to make ourselves right before God.

Second, God says we must believe. The word believe as it is used in the Bible means trust. The object of our trust is the One who paid the price for our wrong-doing. We must trust Jesus to remove our guilt and the penalty of all the wrongs we have done. The Bible says when we put our faith in Jesus, God takes our sins away and gives us the gift of eternal life.

How will you respond?

The Bible says that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord” will be rescued (Romans 10:13). If you’ve not trusted in Christ as Lord and Savior, why not stop right now, turn from your sin, and believe in Him who alone can save you and give you new and eternal life?

What does it mean to have faith?

In the Bible, faith is always tied to an active trust in God and his Word. For the believer, there is no such thing as “blind faith.” Faith is the sensible response to the revealed will of God and the privileges he has promised his people. Biblical faith does not mean that people can believe in any unlikely thing and God, in response, must bring it to pass. In other words, faith that is not directly attached to God’s Word is merely positive thinking.

At its core, faith — trusting God — is how people access the salvation God has provided in Christ Jesus. Abraham, the father of all who have saving faith (Ro 4:16), believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness (Jas 2:23). Faith is not righteousness, but it is how we access Jesus’ saving righteousness — something we could never access on our own (Eph 2:8).

Faith, God’s gift to his followers (Eph 2:8), is fortified by paying careful attention to the Bible and practicing the spiritual disciplines. Romans 10:17 says, Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. Throughout the Christian life, faith continues to be how believers receive the privileges and necessities for serving Christ. We trust God to give what he has promised — whether it is gifts and abilities to do the work of Jesus in the world and in our own hearts (Jn 14:12 – 13) or whether it is carrying us through our spiritual journey and into our eternal home in heaven.

If God Made the Universe, Then Who Made God?

Our universe is governed by a set of physical laws and principles that are constant. The law of gravity, for example, describes the fact that, “Whatever goes up must come down.” If I hit a baseball into the air, I can assume that the ball will return to earth (most likely only a few feet away). Why? The law of gravity tells me so.

Another law of the universe is known as causality . Causality tells us that everything in this world comes from something else. When I was a kid, I would come downstairs on Christmas morning and see a mountain of presents underneath the tree. Never once did I stop drinking my hot chocolate with marshmallows to ask, “How did these gifts appear out of nowhere ?” I assumed that these gifts had come from someone, and I was right … even though I was wrong about the whole Santa Claus thing. My parents were the cause of my pile of presents. Examples of causality are all around us: Paper comes from trees. Lung cancer comes from smoking. Good grades come from studying. Strong muscles come from lifting weights. The chicken comes from the egg (or is it the other way around?). Babies come from … well, you get the point!

In short, everything in the physical universe is the effect of some other cause . Nothing we can see, touch, taste, hear, or smell just pops into existence from nowhere. If everything in the universe has been caused by something else, then we must look outside the universe to find the cause of it all—the first and uncaused cause. After all, the chain of causes has to end somewhere in the past, else it would stretch back forever. We know that’s impossible in a universe that had a beginning to its existence.

The Bible teaches that the Uncaused Cause of our universe is God. Colossians 1:16 says of God the Son, “For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through him and for him.” God is the ultimate Cause that sets all other causes and effects into motion. He is supernatural , meaning he exists outside the natural universe and isn’t governed by natural laws. Hence, God doesn’t need a cause for his existence. Asking the question, “Who made God?” is similar to asking the question, “What does an invisible man look like?” By definition, a man who is invisible cannot be seen. If I ask what he looks like, I’m asking a question that changes his nature of invisibility. Once I change his nature, he is no longer the thing I’m asking about. In other words, if an invisible man looked like anything , he would no longer be invisible. By definition, God is uncaused. If I ask, “Who made God?” then I have changed God’s nature and am no longer asking about God—the Uncaused Cause.