Tag: Questions We Ask God

Lord, Is Jesus the Only Way?

Why Jesus? Because our deepest need is not more religion, better rules, or greater effort. We need a Savior. The gospel tells us that God came looking for us through Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and opened the way to the Father.

In a world filled with religions, spiritual teachers, and many different claims about how we can know God, it is natural to ask, “Lord, why Jesus Christ?” Why should we believe that He alone is the way to God? Why is sincerity, moral living, or belief in something greater than ourselves not enough?

The answer begins with understanding our deepest need. Our greatest problem is not that we lack religious knowledge or need better guidance. Scripture tells us that we are separated from a holy God by sin. We have not merely lost our way. We are unable to restore ourselves to Him.

Many religious systems begin with what people must do to reach God. There are rules to follow, rituals to observe, disciplines to practice, and good works to perform. Those efforts may be sincere, but sincerity cannot remove guilt. Good works cannot erase sin, and religious devotion cannot make an unholy person acceptable before a holy God.

The gospel begins somewhere entirely different. It begins with God coming to us.

We see this from the opening pages of Scripture. After Adam and Eve sinned, they hid among the trees of the garden. They did not go looking for God. God came looking for them and called, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9, NKJV). The Lord was not asking because He did not know where they were. His question exposed their hiding and revealed that He was the One taking the first step toward sinners.

That pattern continues throughout Scripture. God called Abraham, delivered Israel, sent the prophets, and repeatedly pursued a people who wandered from Him. Then, “when the fullness of the time had come,” God sent His Son (Galatians 4:4, NKJV).

Jesus did not come merely to show us how to live or to add another religious voice to the world. He said, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10, NKJV). He came because we needed more than instruction. We needed rescue.

Jesus lived the life we could never live. He obeyed the Father perfectly and remained without sin. At the cross, He bore the judgment our sin deserved. He did not die as a helpless victim or merely as an example of sacrificial love. He gave Himself as the substitute for sinners.

Paul wrote, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, NKJV). God did not wait for us to improve ourselves, become more religious, or find our way back to Him. Christ came while we were still sinners.

On the third day, Jesus rose from the grave. His resurrection declared that sin had been paid for, death had been defeated, and eternal life was available to everyone who believes in Him.

This is why Jesus could say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6, NKJV). He spoke those words to His disciples on the night before the cross. They were troubled because He had told them He was leaving. Thomas asked how they could know the way, and Jesus did not point them to a set of instructions. He pointed them to Himself.

Jesus did not say that He knew the way or could show them the way. He said, “I am the way.” Access to the Father is not found through human effort, religious achievement, or moral goodness. It is found in a Person.

After the resurrection, Peter proclaimed the same truth before the Jewish rulers. Speaking of Jesus, he declared, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12, NKJV).

That may sound narrow in a world that prefers many paths, but the invitation of the gospel is wonderfully wide. Salvation is offered to every person, regardless of background, failure, nationality, or past sin. No one is excluded from coming to Christ. Yet everyone must come through Him because He alone has done what was necessary to reconcile us to God.

We do not need another teacher telling us how to climb our way to heaven. We need a Savior who came down to us. We do not need more rules to prove ourselves worthy. We need the grace of the One who took our place.

The good news of the gospel is not that we finally found our way to God. It is that God came looking for us in Jesus Christ. He found us in our sin, carried our guilt to the cross, and opened the way for us to come home.

Truth to Carry

Jesus Christ is not merely one path among many. He is the Savior who came seeking the lost, died for our sins, rose from the grave, and opened the only way to the Father.

When Did Satan Fall and Why Was He Allowed in the Garden?

When did Satan fall, and why was he allowed in the garden? Scripture does not answer every question, but it assures us that Satan was never God’s equal and that Christ’s promise is greater than the serpent’s lie.

There are questions that rise when we slow down and read Scripture carefully. Genesis 1:31 tells us that God looked upon everything He had made and declared it “very good.” Yet only a few verses later, the serpent appears in the garden, questioning God’s Word and drawing Eve toward disobedience.

When did Satan fall, and why was he allowed to enter Eden?

The Bible does not give us the date or circumstances of Satan’s rebellion. It does not tell us precisely when pride entered the heart of this created being or how much time passed before he appeared in the garden. What Scripture makes clear is that by Genesis 3, he was already opposed to God.

Genesis tells us, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made” (Genesis 3:1, NKJV). Revelation later identifies “that serpent of old” as “the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world” (Revelation 12:9, NKJV). Jesus also described the devil as a murderer and “the father of lies” (John 8:44, NKJV).

We can therefore say with confidence that Satan’s fall occurred before the temptation of Adam and Eve. Beyond that, Scripture does not give us enough information to construct a detailed account. There is humility in allowing the Bible to remain silent where God has chosen not to explain.

The serpent’s first recorded words are revealing. “Has God indeed said?” (Genesis 3:1, NKJV).

He did not begin by denying God’s existence. He began by casting doubt upon God’s Word. Had God really said what Eve understood Him to say? Was His command reasonable? Could He be trusted, or was He withholding something desirable?

The temptation concerned more than fruit. It concerned the character of God.

Satan wanted Eve to believe that obedience was keeping her from something good. If he could persuade her to doubt God’s goodness, disobedience would soon follow. That pattern has not changed. Temptation often begins before any outward action takes place. It begins when suspicion enters the heart and we start wondering whether God’s Word can truly be trusted.

But why did God allow the serpent in the garden?

Scripture does not describe a conversation between God and Satan before the temptation as it later does in the book of Job. We are not told why Satan was permitted access to Eden. We should therefore resist explanations that claim more certainty than the Bible gives.

What we do know is that Satan was never equal to God. He was not another creator competing for control. He did not slip into the garden while God was looking elsewhere. He was a created being whose actions remained under the sovereign authority of the Lord.

The garden was filled with God’s generosity. Adam and Eve were surrounded by beauty, provision, and fellowship with their Creator. Among all that abundance, God gave one prohibition. They were not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

That command provided a real place for trust and obedience. Would they receive God’s definition of what was good, or would they attempt to decide good and evil for themselves? Would they live as dependent creatures under the wisdom of their Creator, or would they reach for independence from Him?

The tree was not simply about fruit. It revealed whether they trusted the One who had given them everything.

We face the same struggle in different forms. When God’s Word confronts our desires, we may begin looking for another voice that will tell us what we want to hear. We search for an interpretation that requires less obedience or for wisdom that allows us to live apart from God’s authority.

Honest questions are not the enemy of faith. Scripture is filled with people who brought their questions, sorrow, and confusion before the Lord. The danger comes when we allow our questions to carry us away from what God has clearly spoken.

Genesis 3 does not end with the serpent’s victory. Before Adam and Eve were driven from the garden, God spoke a promise. The Seed of the woman would one day bruise the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). From the first pages of Scripture, God pointed toward Jesus Christ, who came “that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8, NKJV).

We may not know exactly when Satan fell or why he was permitted to tempt Adam and Eve. But we know that evil did not take God by surprise. Sin did not remove Him from His throne, and redemption was not a hurried response to an unexpected disaster.

The serpent spoke his lie, but God spoke the final promise. Satan’s rebellion would not defeat God’s purpose. Christ would come, sin would be judged, and the serpent’s head would be crushed.

Truth to Carry

We may not have every answer about the beginning of evil, but we know its end. Satan is not God’s equal, sin has not defeated God’s purpose, and the promise of Christ is greater than the serpent’s lie.