What was God’s ultimate purpose in creating us and the world? 

Throughout Scripture, God’s glory is at the center of everything. God’s purpose in creation is to supremelymagnify his glory. But where has he magnified his glory the most? In the redemptive realities of the death and resurrection of the incarnate Son of God. Nowhere does God’s glory shine brighter than at Calvary and the empty tomb. 

You and I need the death and resurrection of Christ. Why is that? Because this work of Christ is God’s supremely glorious plan to rescue sinners like us. The crucifixion and resurrection of our marvelous Savior is the only way God could redeem such a malevolent world. To defeat evil and thereby supremely magnify God’s glory, Jesus needed to take the mantle of evil—our evil—and bear the full weight of it on the cross. 

By his death, Jesus defeated death and evil. But he did not remain on the cold stone slab of his tomb, for then death would be the victor. Rather, praise God Christ rose again so that one day we too will rise to life—and experience the end of all sin and evil.

—Scott Christensen, author, Defeating Evil