Forgiveness #2
The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death…” (Rom. 6:23). It also says, we “…were by nature children of wrath, just as the others” (Eph. 2:3). What these passages mean is that our rebellion and sin was primarily against God and his authority in our lives. Our sin produced a rift between us and God, and because God is righteous, and righteousness hates sinfulness, we became God’s enemies. And when you are an enemy of God Almighty, you are not only in serious trouble, you are dead. So, we were by nature, children of wrath and the wages of our sin was death.
A short aside here: whenever you don’t want to do what God plainly says to do (e.g. trust him for your circumstances, submit to your husband in all things, love your wife like Christ loved the church, or do not provoke your children to anger, etc.), that is rebellion and sin. And if you’re wondering why your life is a train wreck, well, duh!
One interesting thing about both of these passages is that they are not necessarily talking about us individually. The context in both places is that of humanity in general. In other words, mankind sinned and thus receives wrath (Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22). Mankind has rebelled and thus is death in our trespasses and sins. And because we are part of mankind, we are rebels by nature (as the verse said) and we all sin as soon as we have the strength and the opportunity.
This is only half the problem, however. The other half is, as I mentioned above, we are sinning against a perfectly holy and righteous being when we sin against God (Ex. 15:11). That means that while we are finite and small, God is infinite and huge. Sometimes we like to talk about “harm done” when we talk about how others have hurt us with their sin. But talk about harm done when we’re talking about God and you’re in a whole different sphere. Harm done against an infinite being is serious trouble (Psa 130:3).
Did I mention that we’re in serious trouble? We’re sinners by nature, sinning all day and sinning primarily against God himself (Ps. 51:4). And God is infinite and angry. What’s to be done?
Look around and you’ll see that every tribe and nation on the earth has some kind of sacrificial system. This is always meant to appease the gods or god, whoever it is for that nation or group. What they have in common, however, is a sense down in their bones that things are not right in the world. God has placed knowledge of himself in their hearts (Rom 2:15) and because of this they know that they have sinned (whatever that means) and they know that they are in serious trouble because of it.
Christianity is the only one that claims that God himself came to earth to be the sacrifice for the remission and forgiveness of sins. And it is, in fact, the only group that has a permanent, because he was a sufficient sacrifice, sacrifice for sin (Heb. 10:10). We don’t need to keep going back to the mound and sacrifice another bull or goat or pig or whatever. Because Jesus killed sin on the cross once for all for all time. He also turned God’s wrath away for all time. (1 Jn. 2:2)
I mentioned a minute ago that all people groups have some kind of sacrificial system to appease the god/gods and allow the people to go on with their lives. How do I know that Christianity is any different? How do I know that it is true? There are several things: First, Christianity is the only group that has love at the base of everything going on. I know, I’ve only talked about wrath and death so far, but in the same way that we all know that justice exists, we also all know that love exists and for the same reason—God is the God of justice and he is the God of love. We know that justice exists in the universe because the God of the universe is a just God. We also know that love exists because God is love (1 Jn. 4:8). And this is exhibited in the fact that he came to earth so that we could be cleansed from the stain produced by our sin, take away our sin, forgive us for our sin, and set us free. Because of love (1 Jn 3:1). No other religion or people group does what they do to try to “fix” themselves in the name of love.
The second reason I know this is all true is more objective. Not only did God come to earth in the form of the man we call Jesus, and not only did this Jesus lay down his life as a sacrifice for us but…and here’s the thing… he rose from the dead (Eph. 1:20). Jesus was crucified, died and was buried and then, three days later, he rose from the dead. No other religious system or people group has a God who died for them and then rose from the dead to prove it. I believe the Hindus believe that Krishna came back from the dead, but his resurrection was nothing like Jesus’ resurrection.
Some folks might argue that because this happened 2,000 years ago that it isn’t objective. Objective, to some, means we can go and put our hands on it and look at the thing that is objective. But I believe that George Washington was the first president. I believe that Napoleon caused a ruckus in Europe. I believe that Constantine legalized Christianity. These things, it seems to me are objective facts of history even though I’ve not touched George, Nappy or Constantine. We all believe these folks existed and did what they did because others, who did live at the time and could touch them said so. And in the case of Jesus’ resurrection, several women saw him, his twelve apostles, and over 500 others saw him and touched him and listened to him talk (1Cor. 15:3-8). Not only that but the vast majority of those folks were killed because they claimed to have seen him. I don’t think I would believe in Jesus had three or four of his followers had denied his resurrection, but when they all died horrible deaths because they saw him and wouldn’t deny it, that’s a much better proof for the objectivity of the event than we have for the existence of anyone who never wrote anything down (like Socrates).
Where are we then? We, by ourselves, are by nature sinful and rebellious. God, because of his great love, became a man in Jesus, died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sin, and rose from the dead to prove it (Eph. 2:4-6).
What was the result of the sacrifice? The sacrifice, like all sacrifices, took the place of those who offered the sacrifice. In other words, the worshippers were in trouble and in danger of dying for their sin, so God sent Jesus to die in our place so that we wouldn’t have to die. So, the sacrifice took our place in death. He died for us.
His death for us also took God’s wrath away from us. So, when God looks at us he is able to look kindly at us, to not be angry with us anymore. He isn’t interested in destroying us or causing us to have a really hard time because of our sin. Now, he is kindly inclined to us, he loves us and showers us with loving blessings. He doesn’t remember our sin anymore and treats us as if we had never sinned at all (Psa 103:12). Hallelujah!
Okay, so that’s the good news. It is good news, isn’t it? I think so too.
Here are a couple of practical ramifications of all this to think about. When you feel depressed, worried, anxious, sad, blue, low like you are all alone in the world, no one loves you, life is really bad, what do you know? Jesus died on that cross so that you could have a vibrant, godly, holy, joyful, peaceful, glorious relationship with the God of all creation. The God who loves you sent his only begotten son into the world so that he could have a walking talking, singing, dancing relationship with you. Think about how you got to being depressed, etc. Was it when you were dancing off the ceiling in joyful prayer with God? Or was it when you closed your book and started thinking about you and your situation, thinking you were the most important person in the world and no one else seems to agree? Put your eyes back on Jesus. As the hymn says, “look full in his wonderful face.”
Here’s another question for you: Who wants this relationship more you or God? Well, who sent his only son to die in your place? Would you send one of your children to die for someone else? Especially when the someone else hated you and are the ones who did the killing? That’s what God did for you because he loves you. So, don’t doubt that he wants to spend time with you. He does. He died so that you could have that time.
So, run to Jesus. Spend hours in the Word. As you read, talk with God. Let your reading be him talking back to you. Ask him to transform you into the image of his son as you read (2 Cor. 3:18). And as you read ask him to give you a new mind and a new heart (Rom. 12:2). Ask him to make you think of yourself like he thinks about you (Eph. 5:1).