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“For God so loved the world, that he gave
his only Son, that whoever believes in
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THE CURIOUS SIGN OF THE MANGER
Review copy only—not for distribution.
It’s a book that is chock-a-block full of signs
and warnings and prophecies, and for me during
my early years as a Christian the Bible was like
a huge million-piece jigsaw puzzle that I was
challenged to solve. Of course, I didn’t have anywhere near the tools I needed to find all the solutions, but the basic big message was clear, and I
cottoned on to that one pretty quickly.
In the part of the Bible known as the New
Testament, the writers make it clear that God has
sent his one and only Son to us. He sent him to
live a life of obedience that I could never live. More
than that, he sent him to die in my place. God sent
his son as a sacrifice to secure the forgiveness I
needed because of my self-obsession and my
rejection of the God who loved and created me.
The Son of God was sent to live among us with the
task of repairing my broken relationship with God
the Father, and to rescue me from the judgement
that I genuinely deserved from him. The biography (or Gospel or ‘good news’) of Jesus written by
John in the Bible is crystal clear on this point:
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