God wants to help us. He has helped us. And He continues to help us.
2 Corinthians 1:9 Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, 10 who delivered us out of so great a death, and does deliver; on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us;
The biggest issue in regards to understanding God, history, world history, your history, everyone’s history is the question of free will.
God’s greatest gift was the question of free will.
God offers to us the right to become sons of God. He does not force it.
John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him. 12 But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name: 13 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Think about your own relationships. Those who come to you and freely say, “I love you,” doesn’t this mean the most to you?
If you had to threaten them to say “I love you” would it mean anything to you? If they grumbled and complained every time they were with you would that make you happy?
God wants people who freely love him. Those who do not, who do not wish to be with him, mistakenly prefer a different choice that ends in the afterlife in hell. God gives people free will to choose in this lifetime. It is a testing ground. God wants people who freely love him throughout eternity. God doesn’t send anyone to hell. They choose that of their own free will. Today you will choose certain things. Other people will choose other things. People make choices in this life that have consequences in the next.
Luke 16:19 “Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. 20 A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores, 21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried. 23 In Hades,[d] he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom. 24 He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’
25 “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted, and you are in anguish. 26 Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no one may cross over from there to us.’
27 “He said, ‘I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house; 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, so they won’t also come into this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’
30 “He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.’”
So who is God? God is revealed to us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. To understand the history, you need to find a Bible. You need to read the New Testament.
What about the Old Testament? The Old Testament is connected to the New Testament in the same way your grandparents are connected to you. Without your grandparents, you never would have arrived on the scene.
Without the history of the Old Testament, and all that went on, Jesus never would have arrived on the scene.
But Jesus did come. His purpose was to close the gap, to eliminate the breach between God and man that occurred due to sin and disobedience.
When God made the earth, He also created man. He placed man in the garden of Eden and called him Adam. Adam was given a job, to be fruitful and have dominion over the earth.
Prior to this, there had been a rebellion in heaven. A high angel wanted to be God. God threw him out to the earth. He became satan.
Satan, having lost his place in heaven, wanted to take over the earth. He tempted Adam and Eve, Adam’s wife, to disobey. He actually started with Eve and it spread to Adam.
Adam disobeyed God and lost his place. He was fired. And Adam lost his authority. Before then, Adam had authority over the earth.
So until Jesus came there was sin, sickness, suffering, and death. Sin is the transgression of the law. From a perfect Eden, the world descended into the breaking of the law and violence and murder and theft and all sorts of bad things.
When Jesus came, He took upon himself legally what was broken in the garden, paid the price for that transgression, and now all men can be born again, back into the kingdom of God, back into a relationship with God that was lost in the garden.
Ye must be born again.
John 3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 The same came to him by night, and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.”
4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ 8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?”
10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things? 11 Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness. 12 If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. 14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 18 He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. 19 This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God.”
This is more than setting foot inside of a church. This is repenting for sin. It is recognizing every person on earth is lost without a relationship with God through the blood of Jesus and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is recognizing that individually for ourselves as well. It is repenting. It is asking for forgiveness for sin. It is asking for Jesus to come into your heart. It is confessing that Jesus is Lord.
If you want to learn more about this from the Billy Graham Association, click here. Billy Graham explained the new birth to many people. The organization that he left behind continues to do that work. Here is a page with more explanation.
So you may ask, why if Jesus paid the price for sin, sickness, suffering and death do we still see those things happening? Satan is still on the earth to steal, kill and destroy.
John 10:10 The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
However, there is a day coming when he will be bound.
Revelation 20:1 I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 He seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were finished. After this, he must be freed for a short time. 4 I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as didn’t worship the beast nor his image, and didn’t receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Until then, individually, people can come to God and begin to receive help. There is a way out, but it starts with confessing Jesus is Lord and being born again.
Right now, individuals can find a way out and begin praying for family, friends, neighbors, others, and their nations to find the way back to God.
It starts with the individual. It grows.