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WHO IS JESUS?
The gospel story in five minutes by Gwen Shaw 
 
CREATION

Thousands of years ago God created the heavens and the earth. He created the sun, the moon and the stars. All the trees, flowers and grasses were made by the God of Creation. He made the birds, the fishes and the animals. But the most beautiful of all of God's creation was man.

God made a man, and when He saw that this man was lonely by himself, He also made a woman, from the rib of the man, to be a companion and comfort him. He called the man Adam. The woman was named Eve by her husband.

A beautiful garden called Eden was prepared by God as a home for Adam and Eve. For how long they lived in happiness we do not know; but we know that as long as they obeyed God, and did not sin, they were very happy.


TWO SPECIAL TREES

In the Garden God placed two very special trees. These trees did not belong to Adam and Eve; they belonged to God. One was the Tree of Life; to eat of it meant that one would never die. The other tree was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was Adam's duty, as husbandman, to care for all the garden. He and Eve could freely eat from the Tree of Life; but they were forbidden to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. As long as they ate from the first tree they would never die. But if they would disobey God, and eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would commit

a great sin, and this would mean that they must die.

God did not want man to know evil, so He didn't want His children to eat from that tree. Even as we do not want our children to learn what sin is and to partake of the evil things in the world, God did not want Adam and Eve to lose their sweet innocence. Innocence is pure and clean and holy.

ANGELS

There was, many years before God created the world, a place which God had prepared in the heavenlies, which is called Heaven. God had made thousands upon thousands of heavenly beings who served and worshipped Him. These heavenly creatures are known to us as angels. There was perfect order amongst these great hosts. The captains in charge of them were chief angels, which were called archangels.


LUCIFER

Some time during those bygone ages one of the chief angels, whose name was Lucifer, became proud and rebellious. He won to his side a large number of angels, and together, they began an underhand struggle to seize the power of the throne which belonged to God alone. The outcome of this was that God punished Lucifer, and the angels who had rebelled, by casting them out of Heaven. God prepared a place of punishment for them.This place of punishment is a terrible Lake of Fire in a place called Hell.


DECEPTION

As a result of his downfall, Lucifer, who is the devil, hated God and sought a way to "pay Him back" by attempting to destroy God's beautiful work of creation. He came into the Garden in the form of a serpent, and by subtlety and guile he deceived Eve into eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve gave of the fruit to Adam, who also ate of it.


PUNISHMENT

God punished them by commanding them to leave the garden. He did this because He knew they would be tempted to eat of the Tree of Life and thus live forever in their sins. And God would never be able to have fellowship with man whom He had created for fellowship with Himself.

The curse of God came upon the first family because of their sin of disobedience. Since then, all their descendants, the people of this world from then until now, are born with a desire to sin. This sinful nature manifests itself not long after a child is able to talk, and sometimes even before then.

The sorrow of Adam and Eve, when driven by God out of their beautiful home, was very great. God, however, promised them that He would send a man-child who would deliver them from the curse of sin.


PROMISE OF HOPE

For many thousands of years this promise was told and retold from father to son. Generation after generation waited for the coming of the Son who would take their sins away and make them free from the judgment of sin. Every time the people became discouraged in their waiting, God sent His messengers, the prophets, to encourage them to have faith and to hope and wait a little longer.


PROMISE FULFILLED

During the time of the Roman Empire's world rulership, over some two thousand years ago, God fulfilled His promise. The promised man-child was called Jesus, which means "Saviour." God had said that this babe, who was to be born of Mary, a virgin, was the promised and long-awaited Saviour of the world. The angel of the Lord visited Mary and prepared her for the babe's arrival. The angel told her that it would be a miracle birth, for the baby had no earthly father. Mary was not married at the time of the baby's conception; nor had she had any sexual relationship with any man. This was no ordinary child, for He was God's very own Son, who had been wiling to take on the form of man, and to be born as a babe.


JESUS' MINISTRY

Jesus lived for 33 years in the Land of Israel. He showed the people the love of God by loving them. He healed the sick; the blind were made to see; the lame walked; the deaf heard, and the dumb spake. He cast the evil spirits out of those who were possessed by them; raised to life some who were dead, and did many other wonderful miracles. People loved Him; and many believed in Him and followed Him; but the religious rulers were jealous of His great power over the people, and they sought to kill Him.


JESUS CRUCIFIED

One day they seized Him in the early hours of the morning, brought Him before the religious and political rulers; and after an unfair trial, with false witnesses testifying against Him, condemned Him to death by crucifixion, which was the Roman method of execution for their worst criminals.


JESUS RESURRECTED

They rejoiced at their great victory; but not for long. For, three days after His death, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World, arose from the dead, came out of the grave, and showed Himself for forty days to His friends and disciples who later bore witness of this to others. After this He was taken up into Heaven, where He is today. As Jesus was being taken up to Heaven, two supernatural beings suddenly appeared and said to those who were watching that Jesus would return in the same way that He had left them. Christians all over the world believe that the time of His coming is very soon. We must keep our hearts ready as though He could come today.


WHY HE DIED

Why did He die? Was it because He had no power to save Himself? No! He could have called the angels of Heaven down to set Him free. He was the mighty Son of God. But He died for a purpose. He died to suffer the punishment of sin for us. He was judged by God, His own Father, with the judgment which we should have had. He restored the fellowship between God and man which sin had broken.

This is no fairy tale. It may sound strange to you, if you have never heard it before; but to us who have believed it has become our comfort, our joy, and our peace. If you will believe that Jesus is the Son of God , and that He died for you, you too will receive forgiveness for your sins, and everlasting life. Jesus will become your Saviour. He loves you. He died for you. He wants you to love Him, and to live for Him and tell others this story which I have told you.

If you reject it, and turn away from God's love you will be punished. What will your punishment be? You will be punished in the Lake of Fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. But if you believe, you will be saved from this terrible fate after you die. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life" (The Gospel according to St. John 3:16).


RECEIVING LIFE IN JESUS

If, after reading the above brief account of the life of Jesus and His death, you too want to become His follower and belong to the great family of God, then bow your head now, and pray this simple prayer:

"Father in Heaven, I come to You now. I confess that I am a sinner. I know that I have done many wrong and sinful things. I cannot change myself, but you can change me. I ask you to help me. Thank you Jesus, for dying for my sins. Thank you for taking my punishment for me. Please forgive me now. Please take my sins away. Make me a child of God. I accept You now as my own Saviour. I will love You. All my life I will live for You; and if necessary, I will die for You. Change my life, and make me pure and holy as You are.

 In Jesus' name. Amen."