Day 4 – Jesus Comes

After Adam and Eve fell, all mankind lived in a state of separation from God – spiritual death – for thousands of years. And that separation led to all of the pain and suffering that is on the earth today. God is the author of life, and that includes peace, joy, and goodness. But when a person is separated from God, those are hard to come by.

To understand the difficulty of this situation, we need to see that man was unable to reach God. God is holy, and nothing unholy can stand in His presence.

We see a clear example of this in Isaiah 6:1-8. In this text, Isaiah found himself in the temple – in the very presence of God Almighty. He was immediately aware of his own unholiness or uncleanness. His first words were, “Woe is me, because I am a man of unclean lips…my eyes have seen the King…” (v 5). He knew he could not stand before this holy God.

But God had a plan for Isaiah. In Isaiah 6:6-7, we read that an angel took a flaming coal (fire representing God’s holiness), and touched Isaiah’s lips, purging his sin. Essentially, God made Isaiah holy. Only God can do this – we cannot make ourselves holy.

But God wanted all mankind to be holy so we could enjoy fellowship as it was at the beginning. So in the course of time, God’s plan of redemption came to earth in the form of His Son Jesus. Jesus was a unique person – he was perfect in conception (through the Holy Spirit – Luke 1:34-35), and He was sinless in His life.

While He was on the earth, Jesus showed us the true nature of God. If you ever want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. He spent a lot of time teaching about the love and the goodness of God. He talked about peace and joy. And He showed everyone what these were like. All the while, He also talked about the holiness of God and the truth of the Scriptures.

His teaching was second to none, and the miracles He performed affected hundreds of people. But it was what He did at the very end of life that changed the world forever.

Consider:

What mental images do you have when you think of God’s holiness?

Does this thought make you uncomfortable? Why or why not?