Now, you should know enough about God, Satan, and this battle to understand the answer to this question. The true answer is a story about love, justice, and sacrifice.
Satan
God created angels with a nature that is distinct from humans. They are powerful, filled with light, and lack the ability to feel regret like we do. Satan, who was once known as the Son of the morning because of his brightness, became prideful.
How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north (Isaiah 14:12-14)
Satan understands God’s exalted nature, immense power, and majestic presence. Satan’s thoughts reveal his awareness of God’s dominion. However, despite this knowledge, Satan’s heart remains consumed by pride.
Satan’s actions didn’t align with God’s greatness and humble heart. As a result, Satan was punished and fell from heaven like thunder.
And He said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. (Luke 10:18)
Since God made angels immortal, Satan has to endure punishment without changing in his nature, so he fell from heaven enduring eternal punishment..
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Adam and Eve
God desired to create humans in his image, reflecting his humble heart. He wanted them to love and rely on him as a father. God, with his justice, didn’t want to force himself on them, so he gave them a choice: trust him and live or disobey him and die.
Satan, aware of the consequences of disobedience, aimed to deceive the humans. His goal was to subject them to God’s punishment, just as he had been. Sadly, he succeeded.
To understand God’s justice, we need to consider why He couldn’t just forgive Adam and Eve. Unlike Satan, who knew God’s exalted nature and infinite power before his fall, God created humans from dust. Their knowledge was limited. Before eating from the tree of knowledge, their eyes were closed. It only opened after they ate.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened (Genesis 3:7)
Before sin, they were like children in God’s kingdom. They didn’t fully understand the seriousness of their sin against God. They saw God as someone who cared for them. Similarly, if you talked to a toddler about death, they wouldn’t fully grasp its meaning like an adult would. Also, lying under oath to a higher authority is punished more severely than lying to a friend. The same principle applies to sinning against God, whose authority is infinite, resulting in infinite consequences.. But this lack of understanding doesn’t negate the need for justice. Adam and Eve ate from the tree and disobeyed God.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12)
We all know that Adam and Eve didn’t physically die that day, so what is death that God warns them about saying, surely you will die?
Death:
when Adam and Eve sinned death enter the world as mighty warrior separating human from God, not just separating the soul from the body, but that powerful enemy has the power to capture the soul too and drag her to where the shadow of death reign
A land as dark as darkness itself, As the shadow of death, without any order, Where even the light is like darkness. (Job 10:22)
The state of separation from God was the true death of the soul. When humans sinned, they suffered on Earth every day. When their lives ended, Death captured them and took them to the shadow of death. Ultimately, humans felt God had turned his back on them, whether they were alive or dead, and as a result, they felt forsaken by God.
God’s Redemption
God’s redemption does not simply involve forgiving Adam and Eve. Satan might claim that God was biased in forgiving Adam and Eve, but not him, so justice must prevail.
When human sinned, Death entered to the world as a punishment, because of God’s infinite justice and his love for human he began his redemption the moment Adam and Eve sinned, promising them salvation.
His salvation must be delivered through his infinite justice system. human must be punished for sinning against God. The death that entered the world because of their sin must be dealt with.
Salvation
God’s salvation required three steps through his infinite justice system.
- First, humans must understand the magnitude of their sin. This understanding is necessary for them to accept fair punishment.
- Then the human nature needs to endure the full punishment but without perishing
- Then Death, the ultimate enemy born of sin, must be deprived of its power.
Death is the last enemy to be destroyed. (1 Corinthians 15:26)
only then God can restore everything to its original status before sin enters the world
Step 1
God solved the first dilemma by taking humans on a journey that lasted thousands of years. The purpose was to help them understand that sin being directed towards God’s exalted nature result in the ultimate death punishment. also he wanted to prepare them to accept the idea of his salvation.
He taught humans to offer sacrifices. They learned that human sin can be transferred to the sacrifices. The sacrifices die in their place. This idea planted in their minds that salvation requires sacrifice so they can be saved from death.
Humans eventually realized that sin is a prison. They were trapped, and their attempts to break free only led to further imprisonment. They needed a savior to bail them out of jail, and the bail was through his sacrifice, but the savior himself cannot remain dead; otherwise, subsequent sins would be unforgivable.
Eventually, they realized that the Gods they once relied on could not save them. They knew there must be another way, but they were unsure what it was. As a result, they started building temples dedicated to an unknown God, similar to the one St. Paul encountered.
For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD (Acts 17:23)
Step 2
Humans now understand the need for salvation through sacrifice and start looking for a savior. That takes us to the second part of the puzzle to satisfy God’s ultimate justice.
Satan, as an angel, was punished without changing his angelic nature. Therefore, humans must also be punished as a human. therefore, humans must die.
If this happens, Death, which is described as the last enemy in the bible, will win, claiming all the souls to himself dragging them to the darkness. It would have been better for humanity to never be created than to be created just to face death.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
God sent his only son to take on a body like ours and became human. In this body, God could perform his justice. He allowed humans to crucify him, guided by Satan, who tricked them.
If they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:8)
It’s no wonder that Jesus, filled with love, cried out on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know.”
But Jesus is not here to explain his actions; he leaves that up to your heart to see and believe. Instead, he was focused on carrying the punishment in his human body.
Surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:4–5).
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus, on the cross, received punishment from God for all our sins. This act gives us eternal salvation as it delivered by Jesus, the eternal son of God.
During those moments on the cross, Jesus experienced the punishment of God. This punishment included physical pain and suffering, but that was the visible part only.
When Adam sinned, he felt the ultimate punishment. The death penalty caused humanity to grow distant from God. Their sins led to death, and death claimed their souls. They had a promise of salvation, but it took thousands of years to prepare for it. Meanwhile, Death continued to capture more souls, as if they were forsaken. God could intervene and instantly redeem them, but His justice demanded that the full punishment be served.
It was necessary for God to pour on Jesus as a human the feeling that humanity felt for years of being forsaken by God. That feeling is more hurtful to the soul that was created in god’s image. So Jesus cried out on the cross,
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? (Matthew 27:46)
This cry represents the collective cry of all humanity, feeling the weight of the real death punishment being forsaken by God.
Step 3 (The Unseen Battle)
Finally, the seemingly weak image on the cross became the most powerful moment in human history. It was during this unseen battle that Satan briefly rejoiced, thinking that death, the monster born from sin, would finally claim Jesus’ soul. This was the man whom Satan had tried, but failed, to tempt into sinning throughout his entire life.
Just before his death, as death approached the cross where Jesus hung, he heard Jesus cry out loudly.
And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last. (Luke 23:46).
In a sudden flashback, both Satan and Death remembered Jesus was born from a virgin and did not inherit Adam’s sin. He was born without human seed. Jesus also lived a life where he defeated Satan in every temptation, making himself exempt from the death penalty. At that moment, their eyes widen as they realize they cannot claim this soul. They remembered Jesus saying,
No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father. (John 10:18).
Now, they see him laying his soul in his father’s hands. He is not surrendering it to death, as death has no power over his pure, sinless soul.
He accomplishes salvation by sacrificing himself as the pure sacrifice. Then He became the mighty warrior that captured Death, the powerful enemy, and strips him of all his power, fulfilling his own saying.
Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. (Matthew 12:29)
He tied up the strong man, who is death, and forcefully plundered all the goods he had collected for years, releasing all the righteous souls from his capture, since Adam, shining with his light, were darkness once reign.
The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined. (Isaiah 9:2).
Finally, death, the powerful man who used to capture all souls and drags them to Hades, has lost all his power. Jesus has claimed all his goods of righteous souls that Death kept for years and even claimed the keys of Hades and of Death.
I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. (Revelation 1:18).
He took all the righteous souls to paradise. This is where he promised the thief, who was crucified with him, that they would meet again that same day.
Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43.
Therefore, death has no power or place among those who believe in him.
Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. (Matthew 27:51).
The veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom, showing redemption is from heaven above. This shows that humans are no longer forsaken. Before, the holy of the holies held the Ark of the Covenant and represented God’s presence with his people. It was sacred, and only the chief priest could enter once a year after careful preparation. But now, everyone can access and see it.
Death no longer has the power to keep righteous souls imprisoned. They have been released, and some have appeared to many, bearing witness to the resurrection.
Resurrection
Death is a powerful enemy. And will remain powerful if the story ends here. Jesus is still accounted with the dead, and everyone sees him as defeated. To change this, he must rise again.
Here one might argue why God can’t just simply let Adam resembling human die fulfilling the punishment then raise him again without the need of this whole salvation.
Adam’s death alone will not satisfy God’s justice. Adam’s sin against God has resulted in a debt that is greater than Adam or humanity can fulfill, even through death.
Also If God punishes Adam with death, but then raises him again, it means God is not being fair to Death, who claimed Adam’s soul by taking it back to God, the father, by force.
And because we all sin daily, this means God must punish each person with death. However, God doesn’t want to punish the humans he loves in this way. He wanted them to have a forgiveness system that doesn’t cancel out his justice or the need for the death penalty.
Therefore, my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:9-11).
Jesus paid the price for sin and died on the cross. His soul freed all other souls from Hades. Now, his body must rise again to announce victory over death. He must rise from the dead victories on the death with the life that he has in himself as the son of God.
For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ( John 5:26).
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. (John 11:25).
finally the humanity endured the punishment in the body of Jesus Christ without perishing. The holly trinity worked in infinite harmony to deliver humanity from the death they inherited, with justice in each step.
Now, you can see how our heavenly father is both just and caring. He was just with human, and even with Satan and death the last enemy and he did all that because he cares about you, his blood establishes a new covenant. We are not forsaken no matter how bad we are unless if we choose to ignore salvation this much.
how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him (Hebrews 2:3).
God
How great is your love? This endless caring love that protects us all. You loved us when we sinned and loved us when we tried to escape our darkness. Your eyes look at us like a father watching his toddler trying to stand and walk. Your heart wants us to hurry, yet your hand helps us to move slowly because that’s all we can do for now. We can’t run, God, we can barely walk this path. We need your help. You said that even if a mother forgets her child, you won’t forget. You are the one who said that whoever touches you touches my eye. I trust in your love, Lord, that you will help me in my struggles. I trust in your words, God, that you will reach those who are held captive by Satan and need your light. Your word is the light, and it has the power to illuminate every person’s darkness.
God, I am so humble, writing these words, who I am and who is the human for you to do such wonders, I gaze at these words that I’m typing and can’t do anything except to cry with tears filling my eyes and heart
I needed this and can’t ask you to stop but also I didn’t know my lord, didn’t know that my sin can cause damage that much that fixing it make you endure that much, and even if I knew I don’t trust myself that I won’t sin to you, oh God I didn’t know that my salvation required all this suffering and all this preparation
Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he shall never see death. (John 8:51).
How powerful and mighty these events and above my head and who I’m to deserve all that, wouldn’t be easier for you to sentence me to death and create a new creation that know no sin, wouldn’t be easier for you to leave me in my misery forsaken to death I’m the one who love sin more than you
But it’s your loving heart that compelled you to do all that., what did you see in me, my lord?
What did you seek from me?
I’m nothing yet. You make me a son.
I’m worthless, yet you lift me up as a queen in your throne
My soul glorifies you and my heart worships you for you, God, you are my father
Before being my God
I love you
