Friday, February 01, 2008

an understanding of grace Pt. 8

The Cross

The cross has always been a stumbling block. Paul wrote of the offense of the cross. This is God's solution to the problem of man's sin and rebellion??? God in the flesh, dying a gruesome death at the hands of those He came to save? Without the help of the Spirit's revelation, that could be a pretty tough idea to swallow. But... with His help, we see the awesome wonder of God's wisdom.

God had a problem. Yea... that's right. He was in a quandary.

(Okay... He was never wringing His hands in worry, but there was a difficulty to be resolved.)

His mercy moved Him to forgive us and restore us to the relationship He created us for, but His justice had to be satisfied for the good of all creation. If He just forgave us without regard for the consequences of violating His ways, He would undermine the integrity of His own word and of the very concept of justice. The revelation of the absolute evil of sin would be greatly diminished. If God could just shrug His shoulders and “Aw shucks” at our selfishness and rebellion, well then it must not have been that big of a deal in the first place. No... the seriousness of the crime required that the righteous punishment must follow. God had a plan that not only satisfied the righteous requirement of truth, it underscored it. It magnified it. Justice would have been met if we simply had spent eternity separated from the One who loves us, but His mercy and compassion would have been dishonored. The cross satisfies both.

When Jesus became a man, and lived a perfect, sinless life, and then voluntarily allowed Himself to be tortured and finally crucified, He made the boldest of statements that will echo throughout eternity. He showed us how deadly serious sin is, and how absolutely committed He is to upholding righteousness and justice. He will not simply “look the other way.” And He showed the height and width and breadth and depth of His love for us. He satisfied justice and opened the way for a mercy that is beyond comprehension. Every dimension of His love was demonstrated for all to see. Our appreciation for what He did will grow for all of eternity. A billion years from now we will be more thankful than we are today. And a billion years later we will be more thankful still. It's amazing. Amazing grace. If we will turn from our selfishness and believe that the sacrifice of His life on the cross satisfies the justice of God, He will forgive us of all our sin, declare us to be righteous, and restore us to full relationship with Himself. We are reconciled to Him. We receive the gift of eternal life. We become children of God. We experience “unmerited favor.”

It's called the grace of God.

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