An important part of my ministry consists of explaining in simple language to children, even those as young as 3 to 12 years old, what Jesus came to do for us on the cross on April 30, AD.
I always feel that if I can explain it to children in a way they can understand, adults may also understand it for the first time.
To do this, I use different pictures. Like…
I use Scriptures like Romans 3:10 to 18 to show why the Lord Himself tells us in Romans 3:19 that the Holy God must punish us all because we sinned and disobeyed what He asks of us.
Romans 6:23 tells us that the punishment with which God must punish every sin and every one of us who sins is death and hellish punishment forever after.
The picture I use is then to hold out my hand and say: God tells us in the Bible that each of us sins and that the punishment therefore rests on us. He must punish us for it because He is a Holy God who cannot tolerate sin in His sight.
I say: Let us represent the punishment of God with which He must punish each of us, as in this book.
The Bible says: Therefore, God’s punishment and wrath rest on each of us, and we must be punished for it.
Then I put the book on top of my hand to illustrate how God’s punishment and wrath rest on each of us.
Then I tell them the content of the Gospel message. For example, as Romans 3:21 to 26 tells us.
Here is one way of telling it:
What the Gospel tells us is that God sent Jesus, His Son, to take on Himself in our place the punishment that rests on us because of our sin. For that, He had to be crucified and die in our place and bear our hellish punishment. So that God can absolve and completely forgive everyone who believes that Jesus did this for him or her.
As I tell this, I then take the book that is resting in my hand with my other hand and transfer it to the other hand. To represent what Jesus came to do for each of us.
Then I say: This is what Jesus came to do for each of us.
The Lord promises in His Word in John 1:12 that everyone who believes that Jesus gave His life and His blood for their sins on the cross becomes God's child and no longer has to be punished for their sins. Jesus was punished in your place once and for all on April 30 AD. Therefore, God can now have mercy on you, forgive your sins, and accept you as His child.
John 1:12 says: “But to all who received him, to those who believed in him, he gave the right to become children of God.”
1 John 5:11-13 says:
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”