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Earlier this year, during the worst of the Covid lockdown, like me, you were probably very grateful to have large transparent windows, to see out to the wider world, and to fill your house with daylight.
And we had phones and the internet to stop us being isolated, so we could maintain relationships with other people.<\/p>\n
But think of what it was like for people during the great plagues of centuries ago, especially the Black Death of 1349.
Transparent glass hadn\u2019t been invented. Wealthy people had small windows of coloured or white glass in small pieces joined together with lead; that let in some light, but they couldn\u2019t see out clearly. And poorer folk just had shutters and boards for their windows.
So, most people were isolated in darkened rooms, unable to see the wider world, and disconnected from relationships with other people.<\/p>\n
We face a plague far worse than the Black Death.
It started with Adam. It\u2019s the plague of rebellion against God, of seeking independence from him, and trying to place ourselves in the role where God should be.
That rebellion brought death, chaos, and darkness to our world. It broke our relationship with God our creator. It isolated us from the one who gives life and provides for all our needs.<\/p>\n
But God has acted to save us from this plague.<\/p>\n
He has given us the Holy Spirit, who gives understanding of God\u2019s word, and insight into the wider world beyond our fallen world.
John 16:13 reads, \u201cBut when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.\u201d
In a similar way to those large glass windows during the lockdown, the Holy Spirit allows us to see beyond the dark room of our plague stricken world into God\u2019s Kingdom of light and life, where we see how God has acted to save us, and to heal that broken relationship with him.
And just like those large windows, the Holy Spirit fills the dark room of our world with light and hope.<\/p>\n
For God sent his son Jesus to fulfil the requirements of the Law on the cross for us.
Jesus took the penalty of our death upon himself, that we may be declared righteous before God.
And through his resurrection, Jesus has destroyed the power of sin and death over us, that we may be raised with him, into real and everlasting life.<\/p>\n
This is a free gift to all who believe in him \u2013 a belief from the heart, involving a personal relationship of faith.
John 1:12, reads, \u201cYet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God\u201d
Through Jesus, we are restored to our dependent relationship with God.<\/p>\n
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