The bridge to God

In the first pages of the Bible (Genesis 2) we read how God created Adam and Eve, the first man and the first woman. They lived in a beautiful garden, and best of all, they lived in close fellowship with God. But then in Genesis 3 we read, that man disobeyed God and sin entered the world. Since then every person is born as a sinner, and the fellowship with God is broken.

God is light. He is a holy God. There is no sin and no darkness whatsoever in God. He is perfect, just and righteous. Man, on the contrary, disobeyed and rebelled against God and his holy laws. The Bible says, “Your sins have cut you off from God” (Isaiah 59:2). As you see in the first picture, there is a deep ditch between man and God. This separation has brought man into a sad condition of spiritual darkness where life is meaningless and unhappy. Not only so, but unless the big pit can be bridged, eternal suffering and punishment in a place of terrible pain, called Gehenna or Hell, is certain.But man fears God’s anger and he wants to escape it. He wants to be certain of eternal life, a life where he is happy and eternally safe.

Here we see man trying his best to make a bridge over this deep ditch between himself and God. The planks of wood represent man’s own efforts. Some people behave very well and do a lot of good deeds. They think that good deeds can counterbalance their sins and the wrong they do. Other people live in fear of evil spirits and try to avoid their bad influence by offering gifts and sacrifices or by performing religious ceremonies. Some deny themselves food, drink and other things; others cut or burn themselves and hope to win forgiveness by it. But God’s word says clearly that “there is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).

The planks of wood, however painted and polished, are too short to bridge the gap. Man’s good deeds do not win God’s favour or allow him to draw near to God. God says that even “our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). They have no power to make us worthy to come close to God. In the same way man’s religious practices are an outward show and do not change his sinful heart. Also keeping a set of moral laws cannot bridge the deep ditch between man and God or save him from the pit of eternal punishment and suffering.

The Bible says: “There is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 16:25). Man has no way by which he can make a bridge to God.This picture shows how God, in his great love, decided to bridge the gap from his side. He did not want man to be lost so he made a safe and sure way for man to cross over into his kingdom.

God gave us his one and only Son, who was himself eternal God, but who was born into this world as a human baby, in the land of Israel, nearly 2000 years ago. The name given him was JESUS which means SAVIOUR because he came to save men from their sins. His birth was a miracle. The life he lived was sinless and perfect. His teaching and healing showed God’s great love and power. He died to free men and women from their sins. On the third day after his death he was risen. This was the final proof of God that Jesus Christ was sent to be the Saviour of mankind.

In this last picture we see the bridge completed and men and women crossing safely to the other side. The bridge is shaped like a cross because it was on a wooden cross that Jesus died, taking our place in punishment. “He was wounded and bruised for our sins” (Isaiah 53:5a). “He bore our sins in his own body on the cross” (1.Peter 2:24). “The just died for the unjust that he might bring us to God” (1?Peter 3:18), for only one without sin could pay the sinner’s debt. If we come to the cross in repentance and faith we receive forgiveness through Jesus Christ. What He did for us is summed up perfectly in John 3:16: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that WHOSOEVER believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Whoever repents and trusts in Jesus as the way to God passes “from Death to Life”.

Wonderful! God bridged the deep ditch by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.