COVER SUBJECT | JESUS SAVES—FROM WHAT?
Why We Need to Be Saved
“Man, born of woman, is short-lived and filled with trouble. He comes up like a blossom and then withers away; he flees like a shadow and disappears.”—Job 14:1, 2.
From earliest times, people have dreamed about how wonderful it would be to live youthful, healthy lives forever. Sadly, though, the cold reality is this: We are mortal. The above words of Job, spoken more than three thousand years ago, still hold true today.
The desire to live endlessly is strong, and it is universal. The Bible tells us that God has put in our hearts a longing for eternity as well as a desire to comprehend it. (Ecclesiastes 3:11) That being so, does it seem reasonable to you that a loving God would put a desire in us that is impossible to achieve? If your answer is no, you are right. God’s Word calls death an enemy and promises that it “is to be brought to nothing.”—1 Corinthians 15:26.
There is no doubt that death is an enemy. No sound person would welcome it. When danger approaches, we dodge, hide, or flee. When we get sick, we seek ways to get well. We do everything we can to avoid things that could cause us to die.
Is there any reason to believe that this age-old enemy will be brought to nothing? Yes, there is. Jehovah God, the Creator, did not make humans to live just a few years and then to die. Human death was not part of his original purpose. He intended for humans to live forever on the earth, and what he purposes, he accomplishes.—Isaiah 55:11.
How, then, will death be brought to an end? Throughout history, men have struggled to solve the problem of death, but with no success. In modern times, the quest continues. Scientists have developed vaccines and medications that have subdued some diseases. They have peered into the genetic structure of living things. In many places, people, on average, live longer today than they did a century ago. Yet, death is far from vanquished. As the Bible says, “all are returning to the dust.”—Ecclesiastes 3:20.
The good news is that we do not have to rely on human ingenuity to solve this long-standing problem. Jehovah God has already arranged for us to be saved or rescued from death, and the central figure in that arrangement is Jesus Christ.