“The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and freedom to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor” (HCSB Isiah 61: 1-2).
“He [Jesus] then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled” (HCSB Luke 4: 20-21).
Now, that’s one bold claim from a wise man like Jesus!
Remember Job’s cry of despair? Remember how broken his heart was from the oppressive circumstances, the personal attacks from his friends, and the abandonment of his wife immediately after he lost his wealth, children, and health? Remember Isiah’s cry of woe as he realizes the magnitude of his people’s and his own moral poverty? Remember Christian, in
The Pilgrim’s Progress, and his search for liberty from imprisonment, burden, and judgment? Remember how none of the secular or pantheist worldviews or Islam were able to provide an adequate remedy to human brokenness (See the previous three posts for details).
Now, we turn to the Christian faith.
Christianity Has the Right Diagnosis
The Bible adequately diagnoses the problem of human evil without diluting any facts about how terminal our moral state is.
In Christianity, the problem of human evil is much more than an illusion, social construction, a marred psychological state. The problem requires more than excuses dressed in victimizing the sinner, eternal reincarnations, or rebranding sin.
Accordingly, none of these worldviews have a redeemer. Each of these worldviews aims to numb its followers’ hurting moral conscience until it is completely silenced.
Christianity Offers the Only Available Remedy
That’s God giving Himself to us! Only the Christian worldview offers a qualified redeemer, God who took the form of a human but remained undefiled by human sinful nature or sins. Jesus redeemed (restored) our relationship with God. His redeeming work on the cross treats our alienation with God, others, and self, our guilt, and shame. Because of His redemption, a channel of spiritual blessings has opened up to heal, liberate, and restore the morally and spiritually dead.
Among these blessings is, surprisingly to many, the church. Jesus established the church, not the institution, but a united people despite their diversity and the sinful past they are recovering from. He did it by placing His eternal life in us, a life that is capable of loving God and others. He did it by giving us the ultimate example of sacrificial love for the sinners as a model for us to follow with each other and giving us a new life capable of such love if allowed to express itself. By that Jesus redeemed our broken relationships with each other. Despite the many failings of the church, the church has all the potential to fulfill that design if she repents of her sins and if she prays for the power of the Spirit to restore her. But, this is a story for a different time.
Conclusion
Once our eyes are opened to see the gravity of human evil, we realize that the redeemer we need to restore us cannot be found in any pantheist, atheist, or Islamic worldview, any guru, or prophet. All men face the same problem. All men are morally and spiritually dead. The best that a man can do is to discover his predicament and pray for a savior. God has already answered the prayer. He gave Himself for us as our Redeemer. It does not matter who you are or what your past was. Every time someone uttered a cry of woe from the realization of his/ her depravity, God Himself immediately revealed this saving truth.
Can the dead be redeemed?
Not by human wisdom or deeds,
But a child-like cry in need
Not by man-power or reciting creeds
But by Jesus, we’re redeemed.