The Gospel in a Nutshell
All mankind was created for the glory of God and can know no rest until every man and woman, boy and girl knows loves and serves God.

Man was created pure, happy and content to know, serve and enjoy God forever. God made a covenant with him, which man disobeyed. When he did so, man was acting on behalf of all of mankind. As a result, death, suffering and alienation from God spread to all mankind. The nature of man was changed and a tendency to rebellion became part of human nature.

No human can change his nature – only God can change it. Man is now a natural rebel against God, condemned to bear the consequences of his rebellion in death, suffering and alienation from God. That death, suffering and alienation will become eternal if man if not helped.

God is rich in mercy. In spite of man's sin, God loves him. He reveals himself to man through creation, through his kindness in the course of man's life, through the Bible, including the history of Israel and the coming of Messiah, Jesus.

The sacrifices in the temple were images of the Ultimate sacrifice that God offered for us by sending his son, the Messiah, to suffer the consequences of man's sin, call man to repentance, change man's nature and give him faith, salvation and renewed holiness, happiness and hope. Our natures are so thoroughly affected, that even that we cannot do without a work of God in our hearts.

Jesus came to this world as one of us according to the promises of the scriptures. He lived the life we should have lived, died the death we all deserve and won a salvation that is sufficient for all mankind and that is fully efficient for all who turn to him.

The only right response to such amazing kindness is to admit our rebellion, turn from it to God in sincere repentance, asking him to forgive us because of what Jesus has done and to change us by the power of what Jesus has done and is able to do in us.

God promises that all and any who make such a request will be freely forgiven, changed and restored to his favor. They will begin – there and then! – to enjoy eternal life, a life that will flow ever stronger, ever more abundant, without end or weakening.

There is nothing more wonderful than to know that God loves us, to live in the light of his kindness and to serve him according to his command.