Christ the Redeemer

The eyes of the World are presently on Rio de Janeiro where the Olympic Games have just taken place. These games provided a wonderful spectacle of athleticism and entertainment. The televising of the opening ceremony was in itself spectacular, particularly the dominance of the Christ the Redeemer statue illuminated on the skyline, commanding attention.

Wikipedia gives us much information about this enormous statue. For example, including it’s pedestal it is 38 metres tall (two thirds the height of the Statue of Liberty) it’s outstretched arms are 28 metres from finger to finger, indicating the welcome of Christ to Himself.

A direct quote says,‘The statue weighs 635 metric tons (625 long, 700 short tons), and is located at the peak of the 700-metre (2,300 ft) Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city of Rio. A symbol of Christianity across the world, the statue has also become a cultural icon of both Rio de Janeiro and Brazil, and is listed as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. It is made of reinforced concrete and soapstone, and was constructed between 1922 and 1931’

At the illuminated location of the statue it gave the impression that Christ was looking over the city and the stadium where the opening ceremony took place. In reality, and not in concrete, that is true, God sees everything, He is omniscient. For the present, Proverbs 15:3 says, “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” For future judgement Zec 4:10 reads, “For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.”

Television brought spectacular pictures to screens worldwide. What did people see? They saw a brilliant presentation of choreography and colour, breathtaking scenes presenting a journey of life in Brazil from the beginning. Unfortunately the producers of the programme based their storyline on theory and not fact. They embraced the evolution line to present carnival type creatures coming up out of the sea, more like a pantomime fantasy of sea creatures evolving into animals and then to homosapiens.

Millions, possibly billions of people saw this and swallowed the lie of evolution; I trust that you did not! It was a contradiction of the Man whose statue overlooked the proceedings. Jesus Christ is not only the Redeemer; He is the Creator of all things.

Some think that if there is no creation as revealed in Genesis chapter 1, the first Book of the Bible, then there is no God to answer to at the end of life’s journey. One can live as you want, do as you like and when you are dead that is the end of it. But is it?

Some rest their head on the cushion of the Big Bang theory, but this cushion is not flame retardant and has no genuine certification and one is not safe to trust it. Millions of people have bought the Oxford Professor’s book, ‘The God Delusion’ and embrace his view that in the beginning there was a bit of dust on a table and that all matter was in its condensed form in that one piece of dust. That cushion needs hovering and the dust bag emptying. Some scientists find their cushion of ‘Intelligent Design’ more comfortable to live with among their fellows, but the makers name is not n the cushion. One can only rest securely on the Makers name of Jesus Christ, The apostle John wrote in ch.1: 3, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” This is one of many scriptures in the Bible that tell us that all matter and life was created by God, and Jesus is God the Son.

Christ is not only the Creator He is the Redeemer. The statue ‘Cristo Redentor’ (Portuguese) at Rio has outstretched arms, not only inviting people to come to Him and trust Him for their soul’s salvation, but reminding us of the cost of redemption. The arms of Christ were spread out on the cross and it was His death and His blood shed that paid the price for redemption. Peter tells us, Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,” John continues this thought in Re 5:9 “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”

The Book of Ruth tells us a wonderful story of redemption. The widow Ruth had no hope of herself to be numbered among the people of God because she was a Moabite and they were not permitted to come into the nation of Israel until ten generations had passed. The story hinges on the fact of her faith in God, she said to Naomi, “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” Her personal faith in God brought her into relationship with a man who could redeem her. The man Boaz was a mighty man of wealth and he redeemed Ruth. The story does not end there, if you read the first chapter of Matthew’s gospel you will find that Ruth’s name is in the genealogy of Christ. Jesus Christ is the redeemer of all who put their faith in Him; His precious blood is the price of a sinner’s redemption and opens the way as a Belonger among the people of God.

The eyes of the world cannot miss the statue of Christ the Redeemer at Rio. Whatever your thoughts, don’t miss Christ as your redeemer. Receive Him today and you will be a winner, better than gold.

Written by a guest blogger:

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