The darkest day in the history of mankind is recorded in Genesis 3. When Adam sinned, the whole world was plunged into a lost, helpless state: “Sin entered into the world, and death by sin” (Rom 5:12).
Because of his sin, man, now distanced from God, began to seek a place to hide from God, instead of crying to Him for help. Fear flooded in when they realized the consequences of their sin. Sorrow, sweat, thorns, death, (both spiritual and physical), and a flaming sword were words that were added to man’s vocabulary. Since then, every person born into this world can say as did David: “… in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psa 51:5). Regardless of one’s nationality or religion, the Scriptures declare, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23).
Our God did not leave man without a way back to Himself. In God’s Word we have the story of His grace and mercy: We read in 1 Timothy 1:15 of a Savior entering into the world. “…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Most people are familiar with the story of His birth. Of this event the prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 7:14: “Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel (God with us).” God’s great heart of love moved out to fallen man, and we learn from Matthew 1:21, “And she (Mary) shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.” A way back to God was freely provided for all mankind: “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved” (Jo 3:17).
Today, the wondrous message of a way back to God is given clearly in our Bible. Because of our lost state received through Adam, we are “without strength” (Rom 5:6), and are helpless to merit or earn God’s salvation. The Lord Jesus used a simple illustration to show how we can receive this salvation when He said, “I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9). The sinner entering this door passes “from death unto life” (Jo 5:24).
Has the reader entered this door, having first realized that he or she was on the wrong side of the door? In Sunday school, children often sing, “One door and only one, and yet its sides are two; inside and outside, on which side are you?” Salvation can be yours, and the hope of heaven made sure. The Savior said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (Jo 6:37).