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Of God

We’ll start with the premise that there is a God. And there is only one God (which by definition must be true for God to be God). The Bible says the sky and starry heavens show His glory, and it also says that we are responsible for seeing Him in the creation around us.

Also by definition, God must be infinite in everything He is — infinitely powerful, infinitely holy and pure, etc.

We can look around at His creation and realize He is good and gracious in providing for our needs — sunshine, water, food, etc.

And, everything is completely ordered — the sun always comes up, the years always pass the same way, etc.

Now, God created all of the creatures as well. We see in animal and insect behavior that they have programmed instincts that drive them in their behavior. Bees do bee things (very amazing things too if you study them!), goats do goat things, cows cow things, etc.

Of Man

Now, when God created man, He did something a little different — He created mankind to also have rational thought (things like the ability to wonder or ask why), and most importantly, to have fellowship with the Creator. The animals don’t have that. He also stamped on the first people His image of goodness, love, holiness, and the like — making us similar in nature to Him although not in quantity (His is infinite and ours finite). Man had his own sort of “instinct” to love God, to be good, to do good, and to choose these things.

Of God & Man

With God being infinitely majestic, and the creator of man, He also has a right over His creation. If you create a vase, you have right to decide how to create it and what it’s used for, because you made it. Well, God has that right, and thus authority, over man, as well as over all of creation.

Now, one in authority requires fidelity from those around them. And how is fidelity shown? Even in our versions of authority, the king sets rules, and his subjects follow the rules. And breaking a rule of the king or any authority requires a penalty. We see that in our own justice system.

So, God set a rule for the first people to follow. And it was a relatively easy one — it was a “don’t do” something. All that had to be done was do nothing, which is theoretically easier than performing some action. It could have been an action which would have been impossible for man to keep, but it wasn’t, so His rule was very fair.

Of Disobedience & Its Consequences

But, the first people didn’t keep the rule, so God became the offended party in the relationship with man. This offense was an infinite one because it was against an infinite Being, leading to some extraordinarily bad results.

Man incurred the guilt of breaking the rule and incurred the penalty, and also became dirty and diseased in his being in the eyes of God, the Bible likening it to leprosy. There was now a complete breach in the relationship between God and man because man was now not holy any more, and now filthy, and God, who is perfectly holy, could no longer have man in His presence.

Because the offense was infinite, the penalty must also be infinite. So, it was a just sentence (that is, it served justice) that a sentence of eternal punishment was placed on man.

Man also lost that stamp of God’s image, and the love and goodness that man possessed was now dead and gone. With those God-imaged “instincts” gone, and man having acted in rebellion, man now only has an “instinct” to choose not to follow God’s rules, and that disobedience is also called sin. Now as a sinner, man does what sinners do — he sins, like the bee does bee things. Man now by nature is constantly in rebellion to God, with the Bible even saying he is at enmity with (actively opposed and even hostile to) God. And all people are now born only with this instinct, which is passed on from generation to generation.

Because of that, and because the offense was infinite, there’s no way for man to pay the penalty, because he is finite.

The result is that man now, even from birth, faces an eternal punishment and eternal separation from his loving Creator.

Of the Remedy in God’s Son Jesus

However, it doesn’t end there. In order for God to be in relationship with anyone again several things are needed: forgiveness for all of the sin, a cleansing from the disease and dirtiness of sin, and a pure holiness restored to a person.

But how can this be done, if man cannot do it? Well, the plan was to have a Mediator — one who could represent the two parties, and one who could pay an infinite price for the penalty, one who could cleanse from the disease of sin, and one who could provide a perfect holiness to people. And this could only be done by a mediator who is both God and man. God’s Son, Jesus, who is also God Himself, added to Himself the substance of a man in being conceived in a virgin woman named Mary by a miracle of God. Jesus was born into this world, without the sin nature being passed onto him as would be in normal human births.

Now as both God and man, a fitting Mediator, He would breach the gap between God and man by paying the penalty, providing for the cleansing, and bringing the perfect holiness.

First, Jesus kept all of God's rules perfectly throughout His entire life, doing what the first people did not do. Otherwise, any punishment given to Him would be for His own sin, and then He could never take away anyone else’s sin penalty, or bring any cleansing or perfect holiness.

Then, Jesus paid the penalty and provided for the cleansing when He died on a Roman cross, shedding His blood. The Bible says only blood will cleanse from sin, and He shed His blood. While on the cross, all the sins of His people were transferred in a legal sense to His account, as if He had committed all the sins. It’s not that He had, but God looked at Him as if He had, and therefore could justly condemn Jesus for those sins. He also endured the eternal and infinite anger, wrath and punishment for all the sins of His people. Only an infinite Being could endure that infinite punishment, and He did.

Moreover, on the third day from His death, Jesus was raised from the dead, which shows the Father accepted His sacrificial work. It also was a first-example of His people being raised from the dead to be with Him one day.

The last thing that remained was holiness for His people. In the same way their sins were transferred to His account on the cross, Jesus’ perfect keeping of God’s rules are transferred onto their account, as if they had kept them, even though they had not.

And now God and man can once again be in fellowship!

Furthermore, God takes those for whom Jesus died and actually adopts them into His family, making them brothers and sisters of Jesus Himself! Amazing!

Lastly, God has graciously granted a record of all this in the Bible, so we can know anything about Him, our situation, and His great remedy!

Of Reconciliation Between God & Man

Things have to happen to a person individually for them specifically to be able to be in fellowship with God again. That sin-only instinct that rules in all people has to be handled. God has to create in a new “instinct”, one that is like His characteristics — an instinct of love and goodness, etc. This implanting of new instinct done by the Holy Spirit is called being given a new “heart” (which is the seat of all of our motivations), or called being “born again”.

The Holy Spirit overrules the power of the sin instinct, and then a person is not bound to only sin anymore, being freed from that bondage. They can now follow God’s rules, and they actually have a desire to do so! And while a person before could do what looked like good things, they could not be motivated out of godly love or goodness, but now they can actually love and do good that is motivated by a God-like character.

However, during this lifetime, they still carry around that sin instinct. But over time, out of love to God, more and more they will hate that bad instinct, and look forward to a day when it will be gone. And this only happens after death, when they go to a place called “Heaven” to be with God forever.

When someone dies, they either die having been born again or not. If so, they are free from the penalty of sin, have been cleansed, and have been given Jesus’ righteousness. If not, they are still under the eternal penalty of God and have no righteousness of their own.

Someday, everyone will be judged by God. And either they will have been saved from judgment by Jesus’ work, or not, and if not, then they will have to face what Jesus faced and went through regarding God’s wrath and punishment, by themselves, in a place called “Hell”, for all eternity.

Of God’s Love

What motivated God to even offer an escape, and send His beloved Son to effect it, when He wasn’t under any obligation to do any of it? Love. The Bible says God is love, and He has shown it, partially by sending His beloved and only Son. Think about that — think about how difficult it would be to send your son to not only die, but that so you could pour out an infinite anger and punishment on that son. But God did, even to the point where on the cross there was a brief sense of separation between them.

But what great love of the Father to do this! And then the great love of Jesus Himself in willingly doing all of these things, including enduring the wrath of the One He loved dearly and has been with from all eternity past! And then the great love of the Holy Spirit to bring all of these things about and apply them and nurture God’s people as they live out their new lives here!

Of an Individual Being Reconciled with God

So, how does a person participate in all this? The first step is: Understand that you are indeed a sinner, and that you can do nothing about it yourself. Then, go to the only One who can do something, and ask for mercy. Ask God to apply this work of new birth to your heart. Ask Him to forgive and cleanse you from your sins. Ask that He grant that you hate and turn from your sin in a desire to follow His rules and commands in obedience. Ask that He would apply Jesus’ perfect obedience to your account and that you would look to it alone instead of any of your own righteousness before God. And ask that He would grant you that same love that He showed in providing this great plan of salvation and being restored to fellowship with Him. Even ask Him to help you believe all of this if you find it difficult to do so.

He promises those who come to Him in sincerity will not be cast away. He says seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.

If you have never done this before, we pray this day, that He will call you to this. We are not guaranteed our next heartbeat, and once we die, the whole thing will have been decided. We pray you will come to Him today, and seek and knock. And we pray He grant you new life, a love for Him, and a desire to be with such a loving Creator, God and Savior Jesus forever! Amen!

—David

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