I will present you with some uncomfortable questions:
- Who is the injured party in man’s sin and sins? If you say God (which I judge to be correct), then,
- The Law says that the injured man exacts retribution (Deut.19:12). Thus, God should be the “avenger”
- The Law says that the “Witness” of the crime shall be the first upon the criminal unto death (Deut.17:7). God was the Witness to all men’s sins
- If Jesus takes our place in retribution, shall not it be God’s hand upon Him that He die?
What say you?
__________________________________________
No, not uncomfortable at all my friend!
1. Then we are in agreement. God would be the injured party.
2. But then we would be considering God as man and we can’t. Unlike sinful man, God’s vengeance is balanced with His love. Therefore His vengeance by His choice doesn’t outweigh His Grace one single bit. The Lord God does have preferences though. He promised it to us… 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Therefore His promise does outweigh his vengeance, again by His choice. So He will not send said vengeance on those He gave a way to escape it. However those that don’t take the way to escape it abide in His righteous judgement.
3. See answer 2!
4. It was Jesus’ choice to give His life, and man was the predictable instrument to take it. Not God the Father.
Timothy
Just two weeks ago, we had a Sunday School lesson entitled Salvation based on Romans 3:20-28. The lesson pointed out that we all have sinned, but that God did provide a way to salvation. Our writers encouraged us to think on the tremendous suffering that both the father and the son endured while Jesus was on the cross. The Father had to turn his eyes away and the Son cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Yet they both were willing to endure the placing of all our sins on Jesus as the Lamb of God made the ultimate sacrifice , the once-for-all sacrifice of His life for us. Thank God, their separation was not permanent. The heart of the lesson was that even the faith that saves us is a grace gift from God! We can do nothing to earn or merit it. But it is available to all who will believe and receive it. God is a holy God of judgement, yes, but He is also a God of infinite love to all who believe in His precious Son, Jesus Christ.