Coming Back

The Bible reveals the fall of man, the fall that separated us from our Creator God. 

Genesis 3:23 (NLT) 

So the LORD God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. 

Banished from the garden paradise of God’s presence. It began with Adam, but it spread to the entire human seed. 

Romans 5:12 (NLT) 

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. 

How could mankind recover from this deadly fall? How could sin-filled humans ever find their way back to the garden paradise of God’s presence? The answer to those questions is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus is our way back to God. 

The Apostle Paul was called by God to be a preacher of this good news/gospel to the Gentile world. Paul pleads and begs people to seize the opportunity to return to God. 

2 Corinthians 5:20 (NLT) 

So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 

This plea from Paul didn’t originate with Paul. This plea to come back to God came from God himself. God commissioned the Apostle Paul to go and tell the world that there was a way to come back to God. There was a new and living way into the garden paradise of God’s presence. 

But how? How can people who are born into the sin of Adam ever find their way back into God’s Garden Paradise? This next verse from the Apostle Paul is one of the clearest descriptions of how it’s possible for us to come back to God. 

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT) 

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. 

There it is! That’s how God did it! This is how we can come back to God. This is how man can once again find our place in the garden paradise of God’s presence. God the Father took our sins and placed them all on perfect Jesus, his only begotten Son. Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, became the sufficient payment for the sins of man.   

God appointed apostles and sent them out with this wonderful good news. Come back to God. Those who believe this good news and place their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will be forgiven of their sins and find themselves forever in the garden paradise of God’s presence. 

When can we come back? Can we come back anytime? The right time is now, and the call is urgent. Paul warns us and pleads with us not to ignore the call of God to come back now. 

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 (NLT) 

As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. 2 For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation. 

Maranatha, Hosanna, Hallelujah and Amen, 

Terry Cooper 

Lead Minister