an understanding of grace Pt. 7

How does grace work?

I want to take a few minutes to explain my understanding of how grace works. I am not going to expound on the dozens of scripture passages that God has given us to enable that understanding. I trust that my ideas are rooted in biblical thought, but for the moment I just want to lay out what I believe.

God created mankind to live in a real and intimate relationship with Himself. When man rebelled against God in the garden of Eden, there was a break in that relationship. Adam and Eve were now separated from God, spiritually and legally. They had violated the one rule or law He had given them. They had sinned. And that sin has spread like cancer to all of mankind. God is love, and love has many attributes that are described throughout the Bible. One of those is His justice. He is the righteous Judge over all of creation. His desire from the beginning was to forgive and restore man's fellowship with Himself, but He had to do it in a way that also upheld the integrity of His justice. If He were to simply forgive us without the just penalty of our sin being paid, it would undermine that integrity. It would violate the absolute truth and wisdom of His ways. But God had a strategy to provide a way where He can forgive our rebellion and satisfy the just requirement of His truth about what is right and good for mankind.

God's teachings for our lives are not arbitrary. They are not some good ideas He came up with one morning over coffee. They are His perfect wisdom and understanding of the way man should live. The Lord knows that violation of these truths will result in pain and suffering and destruction. And seven thousand years of life on planet earth have proven that conclusively. In His righteousness and justice, He had to set a penalty for violating those laws that would reflect the absolute evil and danger that is set in motion when they are broken. In this penalty, all of creation, both now and throughout eternity, would have to understand the seriousness of sin and rebellion against His ways. In true justice, the penalty has to fit the crime. In His perfect wisdom, that penalty is spiritual death, separation from the One who created us. As the King of the universe, He cannot allow sin to go unpunished. It would be unrighteous. It would violate the perfection of love that is His heart. So, from before the foundation of the world, He had a plan. He had a plan that would allow Him to justly forgive our sin, while upholding the integrity of His justice.

It was the cross.