“For God so loved the world He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John chapter 3 verse 16, The Bible
“God blessed them [man and woman] and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground’” - Genesis 1v28
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'” - Acts 17v24-28 (Paul speaking at the Areopagus in Athens).
When God first created man and woman - Adam and Eve - in His own image He told them that they were to work the perfect garden that He had put them in, and that they were to rule the earth and all the living creatures in it. He gave mankind the job of being the stewards of His creation. The work they were given to do was not tedious but pleasurable.
That was not, however, the only purpose for which mankind was created. God made man and woman in His own image so that human beings could seek Him and come to know Him, and enjoy a relationship with Him. Mankind was designed to enjoy this relationship with God forever.
However, there is a problem. When you look around the world today it is obvious that something is very badly wrong. Although the vast majority of mankind has a religion of some kind, there are a huge variety of different religions. Then there are a lot of people who do not believe there is a God at all. Finally, this is a world where so much evil happens that we are clearly no longer in a perfect garden, we know that we do not live forever, and it cannot possibly be the way God meant it to be when He created it.
So what went wrong?
The Bible tells us that what went wrong is that Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and the result of that was that their relationship with God was destroyed, because God is holy. They could not be allowed to live forever in a state where their relationship with God had been destroyed, and so death came into the world, and with it came corruption and decay. This is why the world is so full of evil, disasters, disease and death, and the Bible tells us that all creation looks forward to the day when this will no longer be the case. To read this bit of the Bible click here.
This account brings us to the end of Genesis 3, and the rest of the Bible is about how God provided a way for mankind to be restored to a right relationship with Him, and to be able to live forever in a world no longer under the curse of sin and death. Throughout the Old Testament God prepared the way to send His only Son, the second person of the God who is three but one, into the world to provide a way for us to be forgiven. Jesus Christ, who was God in human flesh, lived the perfect life that none of us can live, and then died on the cross in the place of everyone who will confess their sins, ask Him for forgiveness, and follow Him. By doing this God has not swept our sins under the carpet, but instead He has poured out His righteous anger against our sin on Jesus on the cross. Then He raised Jesus from the dead to show that He had accepted His death as payment for the sins of all who will believe in Him and trust Him as Saviour and Lord.
There is a verse that sums this up beautifully in the Bible - “For God so loved the world that He gave His One and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” - John 3v16.
If you have doubts about the truth of this then please take the time to read our page Why Believe in Jesus Christ? If the Biblical account of the life, death and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is true, then the Bible is true. If the Bible is true then you will see as you read on that it is vitally important how you respond to the Bible’s invitation to be reconciled with God through faith in Jesus Christ His Son. There is, contrary to what most people believe, an enormous amount of evidence for the life, death and bodily resurrection of Jesus, and a portion of this is explained in our web page Why Believe in Jesus Christ?
The answer to the question “why are we here?” is that we were created to know God, to obey Him and to bring Him glory, and the wonderful news in the Bible is that we can be restored to this relationship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ His Son, who died and rose again for our salvation. To find out more click here.