Children of Light

Authored by Abraham Mejia

^{Have you ever been in a situation that didn’t go exactly as you planned? Maybe your date got cancelled or a rainy day ruined what was supposed to be an eventful evening. Have you ever worried too much about what the future might hold? Well one day sin entered God’s perfect world and ruined His perfect creation. What was meant to be beautiful got corrupted by sin. All seems dark, bleak, and hopeless, is there a plan for us?} 

^{In the beginning, God created a perfect world and it was all good. Then God created man and it was all very good. But the serpent being more crafty than any other animal in the garden deceived mankind bringing forth sin into this world. But God had a plan from the very beginning.} 

^{Genesis 3:15}

^{I will put an enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring, he shall bruise your head but you will crush his heel.}

^{In this verse we see a prophecy, a child from the line of Eve shall come forth and put an end to death and sin.} 

^{Genesis 3:21}

^{And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skin and clothed them.} 

^{At first glance we see God making Adam and Eve garments of animal skin. But looking deeper into this, we can figure out that this was the first sacrifice ever made. Before Jesus would come down as man to take away our sins, the law stated that an animal without blemish or defect shall be in your place.}

^{Romans 6:23}

^{For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.}

^{Hebrews 9:22}

^{Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sins.} 

^{Now let’s move on to the flood that destroyed the land.} 

^{Genesis 6:9, 11-13, 17-18}

^{These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God…Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold , I will destroy them with the earth. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’s wives with you.} 

^{The Bible says that the end of days will be like the days of Noah. (Matthew 24:37) This sentence alone can be a great discussion, however I want to focus on Noah who was spared for being righteous. God’s judgement will destroy the earth and He will make a new Heaven and a new earth. God won’t destroy all. He will save those who are righteous, set apart from Him, covered by the blood of Jesus.} 

 ^{Let’s fast forward to the time of Moses, specifically the last plague on Egypt, the death of the firstborn.} 

^{Exodus 12:1-3, 5-7}

^{The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month you shall be for you the beginning of the months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their father’s houses, a lamb for a household…Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.} 

^{Here we see another example of a sacrificial lamb. This would be God’s last judgement against Egypt. The Angel of Death would come forth and kill the firstborn, but there was a way to protect yourself from the Angel of Death. As you saw in the previous verse, the Israelites were supposed to paint the doorpost of their homes with the blood of a spotless lamb. This symbolizes Jesus.} 

^{Isaiah 53:5} 

^{For he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed by our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.} 

^{His death and blood covers and forgives us from sin, freeing us from the punishment of death. The blood of the spotless lamb represents Jesus’s blood and how He covers us.} 

^{Let’s get to the laws of sacrifice and how to perform them. In the laws of Moses, an animal without blemish or defect would be sacrificed to the Lord as an atonement for one’s sin. One law states that the blood of the lamb be sprinkled on the tent and people. This points back to the blood of Jesus and the covering we have from it.} 

^{Hebrews 10:19-25}

^{Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.} 

^{Because of Jesus’ great love and sacrifice, we can be reunited with Him in paradise, but we need to have a relationship with Him.}

 ^{Animal sacrifices would continue on even after Jesus’ death. Hebrews chapter 10 states that animal sacrifices are pointless now that Jesus laid His life on the cross.} 

^{In Psalm 51, the Bible says that even in the wombs we are sinners.} 

^{Psalm 51: 5}

^{Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.} 

^{Even though David wrote this, it still applies to us all. We are all sinners, even in the womb, for we are brought from a sinful nature by sinful people. We live in a world of generational curses.}

^{Exodus 34:7b}

^{…Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”}

^{Deuteronomy 5:9b}

^{…Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation…}

^{Just like sickness can be passed down genetically, so can the curse of sin. But Jesus wasn’t conceived from man but by the Holy Spirit, who is blameless. Thus Jesus is blameless, free from the curse of sin, for nothing with blemish can atone for sins. Let’s move on to the parable of the Wedding Feast.}

^{The parable of the wedding feast is found in Matthew 22. To summarize, the King sent out his servants to invite the nobles of the land to attend his Son’s wedding. But the nobles refused the invitation, making excuses and killing the servants. The King was furious that they rejected His proposal and killed His servants. He sent out troops to kill the nobles and burn down the city. Once again the King sent out servants to invite anyone they could find to the wedding, whether good or bad.  The King handed out wedding garments to the guests so they could attend. But some refused to wear the wedding garment and they were cast out into the darkness, where there was gnashing of teeth and weeping .} 

^{Matthew 22:14}

^{For many are called, but few are chosen.}

^{The wedding garment represents the blood of Jesus and being covered by it. Everyone is called to follow Him, everyone is welcomed, but not everyone is chosen. Not everyone wants to follow Him. This is a grand invitation, to reject it is foolishness. There are many other great parables that showcase Jesus’ love for us: The Parable of the Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin, all show great examples of His love for us.} 

^{When Jesus died, Matthew 27 states that the temple veil was torn in two. This means that we are no longer slaves under the law. We are no longer separated from God because of sin, but now we can have a relationship with Him. He can forgive us of our sin, freeing us from the curse of death. Then we can be reunited with Jesus in Paradise.}

^{No matter what happens in life, God always has a plan for you, just like He had a plan from the very beginning. So, just because you aren’t sure whether you’ll get married, or what life would bring you, God always has a plan for you. He loves you very much and demonstrated that love for you, so that we can always be with Him in paradise.}