God's actions were mysterious and unpredictable. The Lord wanted to bring his people back to Jerusalem from Babylon. This plan of God was nothing short of a historical miracle. God invited a Gentile, Cyrus, who did not know God at all, to be the anointed one to carry out his plan. This indeed was is a turning point in the history of salvation. ( Isaiah 45：1-4﹚

The surprise of this turning point is the expectation of the people from God- Salvation. This is the beginning of the era of Grace which marks the end of the authoritarian era. As John said: " What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life— for the life was made visible; we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us— what we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing this so that our joy may be complete. ( 1 John 1：1-4﹚ What people expected in the past is now seen with their eyes and touched with the hand. “Through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race.” ( John 1：4﹚

The gospel bears witness that Jesus is the Messiah. (that means Christ in Greek) " We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed.” ( John 1：41﹚ Ancient scriptures have also recorded: " We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” ( John 1：45﹚ Jesus also enlightened them and asked them to study the scriptures and explained to them what was written in the Scriptures that the Messiah must suffer and die. But on the third day he will rise up from the dead. It all must begin in Jerusalem. They must preach repentance to all nations in his name to obtain salvation and forgiveness of sins. ( Luke 24：45-47﹚ In fact, God's salvation is available to all mankind. "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved”.﹙ Mark 16：16﹚ Therefore, Jesus commanded the apostles: “you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ( Acts 1：8﹚ Acts 13：47﹚ The good news of God’s salvation was first given to the people of Israel, but from Jesus onwards, " Whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him: as he proclaimed peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all” ( Acts 10：35-36﹚

God seeks people
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Jesus' words and lifestyle clearly show that God takes the initiative and he is the Father who always takes the first step. This father never sits around waiting for sinners to return. He often takes the initiative to find sinners, like a shepherd with a hundred sheep, will leaves behind the ninety-nine sheep in the wilderness, to go and look for the one that is lost. ( Luke 15：4-6﹚ Jesus repeatedly declares: “I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners." ( Luke 5：32﹚ "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” ( Luke 19：10﹚ To this end, Jesus likes to go together with publicans and sinners. ( Mark 2：15-17﹚ These actions of Jesus often stun those who do not understand what mercy is. They will not understand what Jesus said: "I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.” ( Luke 15：7﹚ In fact, before sinners confessed and repented their sins God has already given them mercy. ( John 8：10-11， Mark 2：5﹚ At the Last Supper, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples who were completely bewildered ( John 13：1-11﹚﹔ Even if Judas did not show remorse, Jesus would show him compassion. ( John 13：26﹚ Jesus did not demand atonement, fasting, or self-denial in order to be forgiven. All they need is to give a simple request: "O God, be merciful to me a sinner." ( Luke18：13﹚ Just like, the thief who was nailed to the cross beside Jesus, said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” ( Luke 23：42﹚ In fact, when Jesus was nailed to the cross, he asked the Heavenly Father to forgive everyone: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” ( Luke 23：34﹚

In Chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke, in the parable of the lost son – this younger son after squandering all his money and living a wasteful life, wanted to go home. He apologized to his father: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son." ( Luke 15：21﹚ The father did not care whether his son’s repentance was genuine or not, he was anxious to order his servant to prepare a feast to celebrate the return of his son. The father’s behavior made the elder son dissatisfied and he said to his father, "Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. "( Luke 15：29﹚ He was reluctant to participate in this banquet. Here, Luke only described the dissatisfaction of the elder son and did not criticize him, and emphasized that he should understand his father's compassion, and should with peace and joy take part in the feast to welcome back the return of the prodigal son. ( Luke 15：31-32﹚ The elder son represents those who believe that the heavenly father's mercy should only be bestowed on the righteous people who follow the rules, exercise self control, do good deeds. They do not understand the mercy of the Heavenly Father.

All prophecies about the Messiah were fulfilled in Jesus, reaching an irreversible level. If we read again the prophecies or parables just on the superficial level, we will feel how exaggerated these prophecies or parables are. "The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times greater, like the light of seven days, On the day the LORD binds up the wounds of his people and heals the bruises left by his blows." ( Isaiah 30：26﹚， "No longer shall the sun be your light by day, Nor shall the brightness of the moon give you light by night; Rather, the LORD will be your light forever, your God will be your glory. “ ( Isaiah 60：19﹚ This is to express the overflow of grace just like the salvation brought by the Messiah : the healing of the sick, the resurrection of the dead, the calming of the storm etc. One must not only look at the power of these happenings but rather look at the gift of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, that penetrated deeply into the human heart.