Perhaps you are like I was, one who was brought up in a lifeless church by parents who gave me the best they knew, but who lacked a living relationship with Jesus Christ. Though I vainly considered myself "religious" and a "good person", all my relationships were blighted by self. My heart was hard and rebellious toward God, who I did not know. For He says in his Word, "Your iniquities have separated you from God; your sins have hidden his face from you." 1
Not until I experienced a nervous breakdown and came to a place of utter despair did I discover that Jesus Christ was seeking all the while to reveal himself to me, to forgive and heal me. Through the sacrifice He made for me on the cros, He wanted to give me a new birth and a new heart. Never had I experienced or understood the great love that undergirded the cross of Calvary. Little did I realize what my sin had cost the godhead: Jesus Christ, God's only-begotten Son, had bled and died for me. As with flickering hope in the midst of despair I yielded my life to him, asking him to forgive me, to be my Lord, to take control of my confused heart and mind. He did just that.
In the days and year that followed, God gave me an intense love and hunger for his Word, the Bible. My insight and faith were increased by the Holy Spirit, the precious Guide who leads the seeker into all truth. In God's patient dealings in the Old Testament with the wayward children of Israel I cold see many times the story of my own life. But in the New Testament I saw the heart and the saving power of the Godhead laid bare at Calvary, where the blood which flowed from the broken body of Jesus Christ became the love-bond and the life-lione between our Creator God and fallen and doomed creation, man. "For it is the blood that makes atonement [for man's sins] 2
The Old Testament covenant based upon the blood of animal sacrifices could not restore mankind to lasting fellowship with a holy God, for it could not change the heart of man. But Jehovah promised this through the prophet Jeremiah: "The time is coming...hen I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel...I will put my law in their minds and write it in their hearts...They will all know me from the least of them to the greatest."3 And through Ezekiel He said, "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you will be clean....I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.4
What we were not able to do for ourselves the Godhead has done for us on the cross of Calvary. On the night of His betrayal, Jesus said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood." 5 Speaking of that covenant, He said, "whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." 6
The Spirit of the living God secures this covenant in the heart and life of a true believer, for He reveals Jesus Christ to him as the Son of God and raises him in a new birth, washing him in Jesus' blood sealing him as Christ's own purchased possession.7 The Spirit of Truth, He unfolds the mysteries of God's Word to the believer and empowers him to grow in a love relationship with the Father that will last through all eternity. Jesus said, "This is eternal life; that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." 8
If the Christ is unknown to you or only a figure head, my He become your Savior and the Lord of your life. Read on with your heart as well as with your mind, for this booklet has been written at the Father's request: "Tell people that I love them, that I long for them to turn to me and know me. Show them that I have entered into a covenant of grace, let them understand that there is no barrier to separate them from me, for the blood of the cross had made us one. I loved them enough to give my best, my only-begotten Son, to redeem them and restore them to myself forever."
