I have recently been struck by the amazing power and supremacy of God--His holiness and awesome power! The more I think about how incredible He is, the more I am in awe of Him! The problem is that you and I forget! We read His word, sing songs to Him, even talk to Him, but how big is our God? I think that, at least for me, out prayers reflect our understanding, not knowledge but our real grasp, of His power and majesty.
When the Creator-God revealed Himself as the Redeemer-God through the incarnation of Jesus, some people didn't get it. Remember the story of the demon-possessed boy? Well basically Jesus had just got back from the mount of transfiguration and when He returns to His disciples He sees this big crowd standing around His disciples and they are arguing with the scribes. So He asks what is going on and the father of the demon possessed boy relates how he had come to the disciples, probably to find Jesus, and begs them to cast out the demon. The disciples couldn't, and so this argument arose.
Here's what's interesting here, "And He *answered them and *said, "O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!"
They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth.
And He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. "It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!"
And Jesus said to him, " 'If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes."
Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, "I do believe; help my unbelief."
(Mar 9:19-24)
Have you ever prayed that prayer? I know I have. Of course I haven't said the words, "if you can," but I have definitely doubted God's power. Not because I don't believe in God, but because I have let this world and it's problems and stresses shrink God in my mind.
Jesus must have wanted to yell out at this crowd, "Are you serious? CAN I? Of course I can! Haven't you seen what I've done? Weren't you there when I healed the leper? Weren't you there when I calmed the sea? Weren't you there when I raised Lazarus? Weren't you there when I fed the five thousand? I AM!"
I think that God looks down on me sometimes and just shakes His head. "Weren't you there when I got you that job when you needed it the most? Weren't you there when you didn't know how you were going to pay the bills, but I provided. Weren't you there when I provided the relationship that you've always wanted? Weren't you there when I saved you and redeemed you? Of course I can take care of you! Of course I can make your budget work out! Of course I can provide her with a job! Of course I can take care of your future! I am God! I am the One who made Heaven and Earth! I spoke and those fluffy clouds came into existence; I spoke and those trees sprouted; I spoke and those massive stars popped out! I breathed into you the breath life! Why do you doubt me, the One who knows you so intimately and loves you so completely?"
Who am I to doubt his power in my life? Doubt His redeeming power? Doubt His Divine forgiveness? Doubt His transcendent purpose for my life? To doubt that He will accomplish what He wills? I am not worthy of such Divine attention, but I am eternally grateful that the One who made the Heavens and Earth would care for me so intimately and bless me so incredibly!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Punishment of Sin: Why did it have to be Jesus?
We all know that, because of God's very nature, sin had to be punished. God's holiness and justice demands it. His love, though, demands grace. This is the divine conflict within the very nature of God. Heck, just trying to decide between paper and plastic can be difficult for me sometimes, good thing I'm not God! We understand, though, that Jesus is the fulfillment and satisfaction of both equally dominating relational character traits of God. Basic theology, right?
Here's where it takes a little twist, though. Why did it have to be Jesus? Good question. I mean on the surface we kind of take this concept for granted. We accept it at face-value. If you really think about this subject, and really dig into it, I believe that you will have a greater appreciation for the grace of God and the necessity of the death of the incarnated God, Jesus.
Let's first look at some alternatives. I mean, did the God who made us REALLY have to come die for us? Maybe God could just punish us for a little while, like put us in time-out or something. Or maybe public service, where we could "pay back or debt to society."
Ok, if death was necessary, what about animals? I mean they were doing that for a while in the Old Testament, right? I kind of like that idea. I mean we kill fluffy, and we all walk free. Or maybe it could be a human. We could "appease the gods?" People have been trying this for ages with human sacrifice. We could just find the best person ever and kill him. Even the best and the brightest among us dying is still a better option than all of us dying, right?
The reality of it is, that none of those could ever work. It did HAVE be Jesus. No one, and nothing else could take our place in the ultimate satisfaction of God's justice and mercy.
1. Sin had to be punished.
As we talked about earlier, this is a requirement of the holiness of God. The reason being is that God's holiness is the standard for the law. And in order for a law to really be a law, it must have consequences if broken.
2. Death is the only acceptable punishment.
The Bible affirms this in multiple places. "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins" Hebrews 9:22. "The wages of sin is death" Romans 6:23. So the Bible says that this is so. But the question remains... Why? The answer is found in the definition of death. What is death really? Death, ultimately, is separation. That's why we hate it so much! When a loved one dies, we are separated from them. One aspect of God's holiness is complete separation from sin. If we contain sin, we must then die, or be spiritually separated from the relationship we were created to be in. Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, but spiritual death is the separation of our spirit from God's. It's a tearing and breaking in our relationship with God.
(There is a difference, though, between spiritual death on this earth, and the ultimate spiritual death that comes at the end of time. While on this earth, we still are beneficiaries of the blessing of God and his general presence. At the end of time, when we have finished exercising the ultimate choice of our free will, if we don't choose to love and worship God, we will be completely and irrevocably separated from God. "These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." 2 Thessalonians 1:9)
So, we discover, our punishment can't just be a divine time out or a work camp to pay off our debt. Death is necessary.
3. Innocence is necessary for there to be substitutionary atonement.
This leap of logic might not readily make sense to you. But think about this, if the punishment for sin is death, and you can't die twice, (you can't be separated more than once), then how can you take anyone else's punishment for them, die in their place, if you already deserve it yourself?
And again we are disappointed, putting fluffy out of her fluffy misery will satisfy the justice of God. "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." Hebrews 10:4
Fluffy isn't innocent because fluffy isn't capable of sin. Innocence is the absence of any transgression of God's laws. Animals can neither keep nor break God's laws, because, for example, they can neither really love nor hate in the full sense of those words. Therefore, fluffy is neither innocent nor guilty. Fluffy is irrelevant. In reality, animal sacrifices were more of an object lesson then anything else in the Old Testament. They rolled the sins of man forward to the death of Jesus because God said that they did, not because they were actually effective in dealing with sin. (Baptism is a similar concept. We are saved at baptism because God says so, not because water takes away sin as 1 Peter 3:21 reminds us. It is the appeal to God for a clean conscience.)
Mother Theresa also cannot satisfy the wrath of God because she wasn't perfect. No one capable of sin, except Jesus, was ever, or could ever be, perfect. The Bible affirms this in many places when it says that all have sinned in Romans, and there is none perfect in Isaiah.
4. The person who becomes the atonement must freely choose to be the substitutionary object of punishment.
It's not justice if you get mad at your wife and kick the dog or hit your children. We don't call that justice, we call that abuse. If God would have randomly chosen someone and killed them to satisfy his wrath, that would have been an abuse of His very sense of justice.
Again we see that neither an animal could not have taken our place. Animals cannot choose this because they have no concept of justice, mercy, or punishment. (Whether or not all dogs go to Heaven, they certainly do not go to Hell, in the same way that babies do not.)
We also see here that human sacrifice doesn't cut it either, they are almost never willing subjects.
Now we can fully understand the necessity of the very God who created us, dying for us in substitutionary atonement that satisfies his very nature. Only the Son of God, the divine incarnation of Him, could ever truly satisfy His wrath.
The Cross: the most beautiful paradox, the most complete judgement of justice, the ultimate sacrifice of love, and the most overwhelming out-pouring of grace. I can not helped but to be changed and shaken to the core. I will never be the same.
"But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors."
(Isa 53:10-12)
Now to get back to my theology homework...
Here's where it takes a little twist, though. Why did it have to be Jesus? Good question. I mean on the surface we kind of take this concept for granted. We accept it at face-value. If you really think about this subject, and really dig into it, I believe that you will have a greater appreciation for the grace of God and the necessity of the death of the incarnated God, Jesus.
Let's first look at some alternatives. I mean, did the God who made us REALLY have to come die for us? Maybe God could just punish us for a little while, like put us in time-out or something. Or maybe public service, where we could "pay back or debt to society."
Ok, if death was necessary, what about animals? I mean they were doing that for a while in the Old Testament, right? I kind of like that idea. I mean we kill fluffy, and we all walk free. Or maybe it could be a human. We could "appease the gods?" People have been trying this for ages with human sacrifice. We could just find the best person ever and kill him. Even the best and the brightest among us dying is still a better option than all of us dying, right?
The reality of it is, that none of those could ever work. It did HAVE be Jesus. No one, and nothing else could take our place in the ultimate satisfaction of God's justice and mercy.
1. Sin had to be punished.
As we talked about earlier, this is a requirement of the holiness of God. The reason being is that God's holiness is the standard for the law. And in order for a law to really be a law, it must have consequences if broken.
2. Death is the only acceptable punishment.
The Bible affirms this in multiple places. "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins" Hebrews 9:22. "The wages of sin is death" Romans 6:23. So the Bible says that this is so. But the question remains... Why? The answer is found in the definition of death. What is death really? Death, ultimately, is separation. That's why we hate it so much! When a loved one dies, we are separated from them. One aspect of God's holiness is complete separation from sin. If we contain sin, we must then die, or be spiritually separated from the relationship we were created to be in. Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, but spiritual death is the separation of our spirit from God's. It's a tearing and breaking in our relationship with God.
(There is a difference, though, between spiritual death on this earth, and the ultimate spiritual death that comes at the end of time. While on this earth, we still are beneficiaries of the blessing of God and his general presence. At the end of time, when we have finished exercising the ultimate choice of our free will, if we don't choose to love and worship God, we will be completely and irrevocably separated from God. "These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." 2 Thessalonians 1:9)
So, we discover, our punishment can't just be a divine time out or a work camp to pay off our debt. Death is necessary.
3. Innocence is necessary for there to be substitutionary atonement.
This leap of logic might not readily make sense to you. But think about this, if the punishment for sin is death, and you can't die twice, (you can't be separated more than once), then how can you take anyone else's punishment for them, die in their place, if you already deserve it yourself?
And again we are disappointed, putting fluffy out of her fluffy misery will satisfy the justice of God. "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." Hebrews 10:4
Fluffy isn't innocent because fluffy isn't capable of sin. Innocence is the absence of any transgression of God's laws. Animals can neither keep nor break God's laws, because, for example, they can neither really love nor hate in the full sense of those words. Therefore, fluffy is neither innocent nor guilty. Fluffy is irrelevant. In reality, animal sacrifices were more of an object lesson then anything else in the Old Testament. They rolled the sins of man forward to the death of Jesus because God said that they did, not because they were actually effective in dealing with sin. (Baptism is a similar concept. We are saved at baptism because God says so, not because water takes away sin as 1 Peter 3:21 reminds us. It is the appeal to God for a clean conscience.)
Mother Theresa also cannot satisfy the wrath of God because she wasn't perfect. No one capable of sin, except Jesus, was ever, or could ever be, perfect. The Bible affirms this in many places when it says that all have sinned in Romans, and there is none perfect in Isaiah.
4. The person who becomes the atonement must freely choose to be the substitutionary object of punishment.
It's not justice if you get mad at your wife and kick the dog or hit your children. We don't call that justice, we call that abuse. If God would have randomly chosen someone and killed them to satisfy his wrath, that would have been an abuse of His very sense of justice.
Again we see that neither an animal could not have taken our place. Animals cannot choose this because they have no concept of justice, mercy, or punishment. (Whether or not all dogs go to Heaven, they certainly do not go to Hell, in the same way that babies do not.)
We also see here that human sacrifice doesn't cut it either, they are almost never willing subjects.
Now we can fully understand the necessity of the very God who created us, dying for us in substitutionary atonement that satisfies his very nature. Only the Son of God, the divine incarnation of Him, could ever truly satisfy His wrath.
The Cross: the most beautiful paradox, the most complete judgement of justice, the ultimate sacrifice of love, and the most overwhelming out-pouring of grace. I can not helped but to be changed and shaken to the core. I will never be the same.
"But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors."
(Isa 53:10-12)
Now to get back to my theology homework...
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