When we are far from God, how does he restore us?

Acts 13:38-39“Listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him is made right in God’s sight—something the law of Moses could never do.”

Romans 5:10-11, 19Since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. . . . Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.

1 Corinthians 15:21-22Just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.

Ephesians 2:13Now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

Colossians 1:19-22God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

Colossians 2:13-14God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

1 Timothy 2:5There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.

Sin separates us from God, and everyone has sinned. Scripture is also clear that as long as we remain separated from God, we cannot experience a relationship with him. And if we die on this earth without a relationship with him, we will be separated from him forever in hell. This is called eternal death, and it is the consequence of sinning against a perfectly holy God. That is why God sent his Son, Jesus, to die in our place. He took the punishment for our sins, in our place, and gave us the opportunity to be forgiven, restoring our relationship with him. Forgiveness and restoration come when we believe that Jesus died for our sins and was raised from the dead, and we confess our sins and commit ourselves to obeying him.