Notes to Families

God’s book, the Bible, tells us what is true and good. The Bible tells us that God is love. Thousands of years ago, God made our beautiful world and all that is in it.

The last things He made were people – a man named Adam and a woman named Eve. God gave them a beautiful garden where they could do work that they loved together. Adam and Eve were different than the animals. God made the people in His image. They were creative. They could make plans. They could rule wisely over the world He made by His grace.

Before He made people, God had made angels to live with Him in heaven. One of the angels named Lucifer did not love God. Lucifer did not love the people God made. Lucifer did not live to love, but he lived to steal and destroy things. He lured many other angels to follow his selfish plan, but most of the angels stayed faithful to God.

God made Lucifer and the wicked angels leave heaven. Lucifer’s new name was Satan. He is also called the devil. He went to Earth and tricked Adam and Eve. He told them things that were not true. He told them not to believe God. He told them to do something that would bring death into the beautiful world. He told them to sin. Anything that a person thinks, says, or does that disobeys our loving God is sin.

When Adam and Eve believed the devil instead of God, when they did what the devil told them to do and sinned, they became ashamed and hid from God. They had to leave the garden. Their work became very hard. They became tired, sick, and felt pain. They did not get along with each other as they always did before.

But God still loved Adam and Eve. He promised them that He would send someone to save them from all their troubles. The Savior would destroy the bad works of the devil. He would make a way for them to live with God again and to enjoy His love. He would take away the sadness, anger, and pain. He would take away their sin. He would make them new – just as if they had never sinned. The Savior is Jesus Christ. Since Jesus came from God and is God, He is able to save people from their sins.

There would be trouble in the world for a while, but when God’s work was finished, they would be able to live with Him in love and peace forever. This is God’s promise to everyone who believes in Jesus. They will turn away from sin and love God and be with Him forever. You can read all about this good news in the Bible.