Last week we talked about the fact that there is indeed an Upside Down, a place where there is darkness personified—someone who wants to destroy us. The Bible says that God made us in his image, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). We were literally made to be like Him. To love, laugh, build and create. So when Satan, God’s sworn enemy saw us He went for God’s heart—His children. His lying, killing stealing and destroying was aimed at us, God’s children. He managed to get our eyes off of God and on ourselves. He lied to our ancestors and told them that if we did life his way instead of God’s way that we would be like God. The enemy got us to think like him - to choose pride and independence. And as soon as we did that we were now slaves of that sin — stuck in the Upside Down.
Once a human being is stuck in the Upside Down of sin there is only one way to get out. We can’t get out ourselves. We are well on our way to eternally “dead” once we are in there. We are born into. This slavery to sin. We are physically alive but spiritually dead and unable to get ourselves unstuck. Some try. Many use religion to get out of the upside down way of living. But it doesn’t work because religion cannot change our heart or give us the power to be able to break free. What we need is help from the outside. Someone stronger than ourselves who can free us who enters the fray and saves the day.
In Stranger Things the powerful girl Eleven is the only one who had the ability to defeat the demogorgon who was about to kill Mike and Dustin and Lucas. If Will Byers was going to get rescued from his prison of darkness he needed Hopper and Joyce to come and rescue him. That’s what LOVE does. Mike and Dustin and Lucas were powerless to defeat the demogorgon. All they had was a wrist rocket. Will was helpless to save himself. The good news is that Hopper and Joyce entered the Upside Down to find Will and Eleven destroyed the demogorgon. Romans 5:6 says that, “at just the right time, when we were utterly helpless, Christ died for the ungodly.” In the final episode of Season 1 (spoiler alert) Eleven says goodbye to Mike just before she destroys the demogorgon because she knows that she is going to have to give up her life with her friends to destroy the monster. In the same way, Jesus knew that He would die to free us from the power of death. Death is the consequence of sin. So Jesus took the consequence of hell on himself so we would not have to pay that price. He took all the pain on himself to save us. Eleven did what she did out of love. The Bible tells us that God so loved the world that He gave Jesus, His one and only Son that whoever would believe in Him—that He gave his life to save us—would not perish in hell but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
The death of Jesus killed the monster of death. The Bible says that, “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—Jesus also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death (Hebrews 2:14). Now everyone who believes in Jesus will live forever, freed from the powers of death and hell. Now, because of Jesus, death is just sleep for the one who believes in Christ.
In Stranger Things 2 we saw Eleven break free of the Upside Down after she had entered it to save her friends. In the same way Jesus entered death to free us from the power of death and He came back to life. That’s what Easter is about. On Good Friday Jesus died for us and on Easter Sunday He rose from the dead.
On of my favorite songs speaks of Jesus, the Hero:
Death could not hold You
The veil tore before You
You silenced the boast of sin and grave
The heavens are roaring the praise of Your glory
For You are raised to life again
This is the Good News, or another word for it is the Gospel! Jesus came to save us. The Bible says, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:9-10,13).
Is it that simple? The Bible says it is. Jesus did it all. He came after us, in Love, to save us from sin and death. This is the mercy and grace of God shown to us in Christ.
You can pray this prayer: Dear God, I believe that Jesus is my Saviour, that He died to pay for my sin and that He rose from the grave. Thank you for saving me. Amen.
‘Nuff Said
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