The doctrine of salvation

The Holy Scripture proclaims that "God is love" (1 John 4: 8). He loves humanity "with everlasting love" (Jer 31: 3). The God offering salvation is omnipotent, but His love is such a property that He allows each person to make a free choice: accept or reject His invitation (Revelation 3:20, 21). Coercion is not compatible with the character of God and can not be used in His plans. When Adam and Eve sinned, God first sought them out. The guilty couple, hearing the voice of their Creator, did not run with joy to meet Him, as it used to be, but disappeared from Him. But God did not leave them. He insisted so persistently: "Where are you?" With a pain in his heart, God showed them the consequences and disobedience - tribulations and difficulties that await them ahead. However, to them, absolutely helpless people, He also revealed His wonderful plan with the promise of a complete victory over sin and death (Genesis 3:15). All of humanity is involved in the great struggle between Christ and Satan. It began in heaven due to the fact that God's character, His law and the justice of God's rule in the universe were questioned. One of the created angels, endowed with freedom of choice, in his self-elevation became Satan, the enemy of God. This led to the rebellion of some of the angels. Satan aroused the spirit of disobedience to God in our world when he involved Adam and Eve in sin. As a result of this sin, made by people, the image of God turned out to be distorted in humanity. For the same reason, the created world lost its order and was devastated during a worldwide flood. In the sight of the entire creation, this world has become the arena of the universal struggle. The climax of this universal struggle reached on Calvary. Satan made new and new efforts to nullify the mission of Jesus as it approached its end. He especially succeeded, using religious leaders of the time. They envied the popularity of Christ, and this created such difficulties that Christ had to end his public ministry (John 12: 45-54). One of the disciples betrayed Jesus, false witnesses slandered him, and as a result, Christ was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death (Matthew 26:63, 64, John 19: 7). Jesus remained faithful to death, showing complete obedience to the will of His Father. The life and death of Christ brought blessing not only to our world of human beings. Speaking of the cross, Christ said: "Now the prince of this world is cast out" (John 12:31); "The prince of this world is condemned" (John 16:11).