Dear Gregory:
I know what is in my heart to tell you; if I can it will have to be by the Holy Spirit. You have a perspective, I have another. How can I have the audacity to say that from my perspective that God was foolish for what He did for mankind. Not that I think it, or believe it but when my old nature thinks about it; that old flesh thinks about it yes, that is what the old me thinks.
It comes from 30 years of Christian life and from serving a God that is Holy and righteous. It comes from a daily walk that corrects me when I am wrong, encourages me when I am right or in right standing.
This Holy God; who is He.? A God that tolerates no sin; but yet is patient and willing to let sin have it's season in the hope that repentance will follow and therefore judgement will be stopped. This Holy God that will punish sin and account a person equally guilty for breaking one law out of 1200 laws with the same guilt as the person that broke all 1200 laws.
To say that I do not understand what Jesus did for me at Calvary is akin to saying I do not understand the Holy God , the sinless god , the righteous God.The perfect God in every meaning of the word.
The real divergence starts when you begin to understand the nature of our Holy God. And, what does this have to do with Jesus. You see, it wasn't that God required the death of Christ. It was the fact that the sins of the world had to be PAID FOR. Paid in full, each and every individual sin. Each adultery, each murder,each theft, each fornication, each bribery,each covetous act,each SIN PERIOD. One man and one sin can get 15 years of hard time ON EARTH. Multiply this by billions and billions of sins.
Gregory, it wasn't that Christ simply died. It wasn't that Christ hung and suffered for 8 or 10 hours. Somehow in a way that we can never understand Christ PAID THE PRICE IN FULL for all the billions of crimes and sins that mankind has committed . All the rapes, the abortions, the arsons, the frauds, the cuss words, the pornography.
God poured out his wrath on that day. Mentally, physically, emotionally,spiritually. God showed a side of himself that day that He will never show again. A disgust and repulsion for sin was shown that day that all of creation has never seen nor will ever see again. Why did heaven fall silent that day. Wrath was being poured out. There was no mercy shown that day, no compassion, no love, on that day, shown to Christ.
So when the worldly side of me thinks Christ was foolish to experience that extreme punishment for the human race. I think to myself, why sure. 80-90 % + of humans don't appreciate it and would rather burn in hell. What good did it do for all those people. They could care less. And then you can counter very piously," oh yes brother but if there was only one sinner on earth God would have still done it". You have heard that statement a 1000 times, right.
Well my comeback to that thinking, in the flesh like I do a lot, would be. Now that poor sucker is going to burn in hell. No way would I take that punishment, for that one stupid sucker that sinned. Amen.
In Christ.. gregor |
