There are many ways to remember and to tell the great story of redemption. One simple way is to recall the major characters in this matchless drama. At times during the development of this divine plan, we can sit back and watch it unfold. We are at first looking back through the centuries of time from the beginning. Then, as the story draws nearer in time, we see ourselves directly involved. We are called from the audience up to the stage. We are a part of this eternal story of God seeking the lost. There is nothing more meaningful or important in life than to embrace the Gospel of God’s Holy Son and play a significant role in God’s work while you live. We are all called to participate, to receive, to give, and to worship the God of the universe as he continues to call his own unto Himself.

It is interesting and instructive that the Bible begins its story with God. The inspired writer penned these words, "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." The beloved apostle likewise wrote, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men." (John 1:1-4.) "This is he that came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness because the witness is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one." (1 John 5:6-7.)

There is much that we do not fully understand about God, but we believe that he is. (Heb. 11:6.) "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." (1 Cor. 2:16.) God has revealed his mind, his heart, and his will to us. There are many things that we do know about God. We are finite beings trying to understand our Creator. We are like grains of sand on a vast seashore, but much more than that. We have been made in the likeness or image of God. (Genesis 1:26.) We can ponder our existence and meditate upon the meaning of life. We can discern purpose, value and morals. We can know God. His qualities or traits in Scripture are described in human terms so that we can identify with God. We call using human terms to describe another an anthropomorphism.

The Bible describes God in very direct terms like the following: "God is Spirit," (John 4:24), "God is love," (1 John 4:8), "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all," (1 John 1:5), "He is holy," (1 Pet. 1:16), "Our God is a consuming fire," (Heb. 12:29), "the goodness and severity of God," (Rom. 11:22), "Who only hath immortality," (1 Tim. 6:16), "Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite," (Psalm 147:5), "His greatness is unsearchable," (Psalm 145:3), "Where shall I go from thy Spirit, or where shall I flee from thy presence?" (Psalm 139:7).

The Bible says that no man has seen the Lord at any time. (John 1:18, 1 Tim. 6:16.) But we can learn much about God by observing the things that he has done. The Psalmist said, "The heavens declare thy glory and the firmament shows his handiwork." (19:1.) Paul wrote that we can observe his eternal power and Godhead from the creation. (Rom. 1:20.) We can see how sin displeases God so much that he severely punishes those who rebel against him. (Gen. 6:5.) The Flood of Noah’s day tells much about the nature of God. (Gen. 6-8.) The deliverance of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage was told again and again as a demonstration of the great power of God. We tremble at the holiness of God shown in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. We are encouraged at the patience of God working our His great scheme of redemption over centuries of time using man, nations, and even angels to bring it to pass.

There is no clearer picture of God than the life of Jesus of Nazareth. (Matt. 1:23, John 1:14.) God has come down to us to make himself known. He takes a towel to wash man’s feet. He willingly takes on himself the role of a servant. He touches the untouchables and heals the sick. If that were not enough, he takes up a cross and dies on Mount Calvary. "Greater love hath no man than this than a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13.)

It is God, the Spirit, who guides the apostles to remember what Jesus taught them. He guides them into all truth. He dwells in those who believe. Our bodies have become the temple of the Holy Spirit.

"What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God’s." (1 Cor. 6:19-20.)

The most important character in the scheme of redemption is God--- God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit! He initiated it, planned it, developed it, and patiently brought to fulfillment. Without God, there could be no such story of hope and good news. Religion would be just the blind groping after a god that we could never hope to discover or know. But Christianity describes God as the One who has made himself known to us. We know God, not because of our searching, but because of his self-revelation.

Man, what shall we say about him? About us? Made in the image of God? Yes. (Gen. 1:26, 9:6.) Man came from the ground and from heaven. He was fashioned out of the clay of the earth and given a spirit from God.

"The Lord, which stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him." (Zechariah 12:1.)

This beginning foreshadows our nature; seemingly contradictory. Good and evil, earthy and heavenly, man is a creature destined for eternity. God honored man with the ability and freedom to choose how he will live, whether he will accept God as his Father, and whether he will live according to his physical nature or according to his higher calling.

Here is a brief summary of some things said about man in the Bible that we know are true about us.

"O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walks to direct his steps." (Jer. 10:23.) "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9.) "For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away." (James 4:14.) "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of they hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" (Psalm 8:4.)

"Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men and needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man." (John 2:23-25.)

We can learn a lot about man by observing what a man does. Man is capable of some of the most honorable deeds, helping his fellow man, and some of the most horrific acts of evil. See the Good Samaritan and at the same time watch the priest and Levite pass by on the other side. Take note of the behavior of Joseph’s brothers plotting his demise. His oldest brother, Ruben, half-heartedly tried to do right. Watch Potiphar’s wife try to seduce the young Joseph and lie to cover her behavior. Watch Joseph weep and forgive when his brothers bowed before him. Note the depraved Sodomites brazenly seeking to know the men sent from God. Rejoice that a young man like David respects the anointed of God so much that he refuses to seek revenge against the mad King Saul.

Listen to the mob yell, Crucify Him, crucify Him, we have no king but Caesar! When you think that you have seen all the wicked things that a man can possibly do, watch him spit in the sinless face of Jesus, beat him without mercy knowing that he was innocent, and nail him to a tree. Nothing tells us more about God and more about man than Calvary! No greater love from One; no greater sin from the other. This is the only way that this thing called sin can be removed from us. It took divine power to reconcile man. How dare puny, sinful, mortal man now turn and act as if he has some merit, some goodness, some virtue upon which he can base his own salvation! Man and God. One, only one, is the Savior; the other is the lost in need of salvation and mercy.

A third major character in the scheme of redemption is the Devil. Modern, sophisticated man rejects the idea of Satan as superstitious, medieval, and ignorant. But his existence and presence is everywhere assumed and stated in Scripture. Note the significant places where the tempter occurs.

God, man and the serpent are the three characters in the Garden. Some scholars have noted that the Devil has three major speaking engagements in the Bible: in the Garden where Adam and Eve were tempted to sin against God, in the story of Job where he accused the good man Job that he was serving God for the wrong reasons, and in the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. Revelation 12 describes his downfall by the man-child who grew up and defeated Satan. The Evil one is called, in this text, the red dragon, the old serpent, the Devil and Satan which deceived the whole world. (Rev. 12:9.)

We are in good company if we believe in the existence of this Evil one. He is known from Genesis to Revelation; no valid argument is ever offered against his existence. Jesus Christ believed that the Devil existed. He said to some Pharisees, "You are of your father the Devil and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth." (John 8:44.) The elder and apostle Peter wrote, "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking he may devour. Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." (1 Peter 5:7-8.)

Even though Satan is a powerful enemy, there are some things that we should remember. He is not an evil god (that is a false system---Dualism). Satan is not everywhere, all-powerful, or all knowing. If so, he would possess the attributes of God. He is not so described in the Bible. We should remember that he has been defeated by our Lord. Jesus has conquered Satan; thus, solving the problem of sin and death.

Satan is known also by his deeds. Just look at what he has done to the human race. Look what he has done to many today by man’s submission to him.