"Nevertheless"

 "For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt be Moses." (Hebrews 3:16 KJV)

  "For he divided the sea and led them through, making the water stand up like walls! In the daytime he led them by a cloud, and all night by a pillar of fire. He split open the rocks in the wilderness to give them water, as from a gushing spring. He made streams pour from the rock, making the waters flow down like a river! Yet they kept on sinning against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. They stubbornly tested God in their hearts, demanding the foods they craved. They even spoke against God himself, saying, "God can't give us food in the wilderness. Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out, but he can't give his people bread and meat."" (PSALM 78:13-20 NLT)

 There are several different points that need to be made about the way we should receive this great salvation we have been given, as one that we use the most, as we share God's mercy, is that He saved us from going to hell. Yes, that is wonderful and should be something that gives us great joy and peace; but it is not the main reason that we must appreciate what He has done for us! 

 The first point that is sometimes forgotten about, is the heart of the Father; as it was, He offered His one and only Son, to be a sacrifice for our sins! This was something that hurt, even though He knew that the outcome would be greater than the actual torment; seeing His Son tortured and hung on a cross, is not something that brought Him great pleasure, to say the least! 

 But He did it for us, that we could have our sins removed, and so we could be set free from death! Yes, I said death, because with Adam sinning, we were separated from God and the life we should have had was cut off, because of sin. We were all born in sin, being separated from God! Longing for something to make our hearts whole, without even knowing what we were missing. 

 Then we acknowledge the Son, Christ Jesus! As He suffered and died to allow us to have fellowship with the Father, once and for all; His sacrifice on that cross gave us life, the life that was taken away by Adam's sin in that garden. 

 With that, what is the big deal about being saved from hell? If God really wanted that to be the reason to love Him, He could have just destroyed hell or made another way. But He choose to do it the hard way, making it count! There needed to be a punishment for our sins, in order for justice to be made, because God is just and holy...

"God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love - not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins." (1 John 4:9-10 NLT)