This Is Epic II: An Epic Quest

Because of his own folly, Mankind found himself in the most dire of circumstances.  In Eden, God had given Mankind everything he needed to be happy.  Beauty.   Companionship.  Purpose.  Freedom.   Provision.  Life.  Yet God also took an extraordinary risk by bestowing upon Mankind one more gift-the gift of choice.  A choice to obey God and enjoy these gifts forever or to disobey and lose everything.  Pretty simple choice, right.  God even made it easy.  There was only one thing that Man could not do-just don’t eat the fruit from this one tree.  I mean, how could Mankind mess this up?

And yet, somehow, Mankind did.  For the evil one, cunning and ever so subtle, convinced Mankind to doubt God and take of the forbidden fruit.  He ate it, and immediately knew that things would never be the same.  At that moment, as God had promised, all of creation began to die, including Mankind.  According to the Holy Book, the world fell under the power of the evil one.

   

And Mankind became a slave to sin, a slave with no hope of gaining freedom.  He could not buy his freedom; he had nothing of value.  He could not escape; his taskmaster was always present.  He could not earn his freedom; no amount of good work could cancel his debt.  He was bound by a chain of his own making.  And there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.  

This was God’s judgment upon Mankind, for Mankind had disobeyed the commands of a holy, righteous King, who could have no fellowship with evil.  And yet, oh how God loved Mankind!  He was, after all, the pinnacle of God’s creation.  God had created him for His own pleasure, to enjoy forever. Now a great gulf stood between them. And so God gave a promise, that one day a Deliverer would come to redeem Mankind and restore that relationship between Mankind and God.

And in the fullness of time, God, the Father, sent His own Son, Jesus, into the world to free His people.  And as the story has been told for centuries and is forever captured in the Holy Book, the Bible, Jesus paid for Mankind’s freedom with His own blood, as He died on the cross for all of our sins.  He then rose again, destroying the power of the evil one, opening the prison doors that held Mankind captive, and providing the way for Mankind to once again have fellowship with God. 

After His resurrection, Jesus called His faithful followers, now free, to Him.  They had hoped that he would now set up His eternal Kingdom.  And yet He told them that the time was not yet.  Instead He was returning to the Father for a time, and though He did not know when He would return, He would indeed return.  But until then, He had an extraordinary mission for these brave warriors.  He told them that they must go and proclaim the good news to the world, to preach the gospel to every creature. The world needed to know that freedom was now available to all, for many were now sitting in prisons with doors wide open. And yet, they could not see it because they were blinded by the evil one. They were to push back the frontiers of darkness with the glorious light of the gospel, thus allowing those in darkness to embrace the freedom that is so graciously given.

 Jesus had previously warned His warriors that their quest would be perilous.  They would be misunderstood, hated, persecuted, possibly even killed.  They were now beginning to understand the gravity of His words.  However, he had also promised that great honor and reward awaited those who do not falter.  Furthermore, He had told them that the gates of hell could not prevail against them, for He was their Captain.  And he bestowed upon this noble band a name, a name that would set them apart as the army of the living God.  He called them “the church.”

THIS IS EPIC!!!