I would ask you to imagine with me the following scenario.
But imagining it is not necessary. It is the reality.
There is sufficient evidence all around me to leave no doubt
that there is a creator of this universe. The order and natural laws we see in
place leave me no question that the creator would make himself known to his
creation. This is what I believe the Bible is; it is the revelation of God to
his creation.
As God’s creation, it might occur to me that I would have a
relationship with him based on that alone. Though the analogy must not be taken
too far as it potentially applies characteristics of the following people onto a
God that is not like that. But just as in human terms the biological parents
may or may not have a relationship with their children, God’s creating me did
not obligate me to a relationship with him. It is not that he did not want one.
It was not that he is absent, far off, disinterested, distracted, busy or
otherwise occupied. No, God is near. But as others have said, he is a gentleman
and will not force himself upon any man. So he created me and has given me the
choice to have a relationship with him.
As much as it pains me to consider the following analogy,
the pain cannot approach what God has experienced. Consider if one of my sons
decided, once he was able to exert himself, chose to end his relationship with
me – or said better that he decided never to begin a two-way relationship of
his own choosing. That’s a difference; formerly he was obligated by proximity
and dependence on me. But once he reaches an age of emancipation he chooses not
to have a relationship with me. Like the prodigal son, he says in effect “I
wish you were dead, give me what is mine by law and I will be gone.”
That is me. Although I definitely spurned the rightful authority
of my earthly father, it pales in comparison to the willful disdain I have displayed
that demonstrates my choices that not only means I have no relationship with
God, it means there has been fixed a gap as wide as the east is from the west between
the God of the universe and me. My actions are not those of someone standing up
against a tyrant; there is no chivalry or commendable portion to my acts of
rebellion. There is no feat of strength in my figuratively standing with a
raised fist and saying to God “I am the only lord of my life and I will make of
it what I want." No, I am a fool.
I take no pride in the exercise my arrogant self-will. As a
matter of fact, my actions are the only evidence needed in the judgment that I am
to be condemned. God rightfully will not permit a free pass for the actions of
a treasonous rebel. I am without excuse and rightfully to be consigned to the
sad, tragic end that is far from God, for all of eternity. To be without God for
all eternity is far worse an ending than any we can conjure up in our
imagination. Since no one on earth but Jesus has ever encountered the Father,
how could any truly understand what it would be to be separated from him
forever?
It would be easy to see how this situation might be
irreconcilable. If God were a tyrant and intent on punishing me for my every
action my fate would be sealed. The fact is that the moral laws of this
universe designed by God demand that my actions are in fact punished and
someone held accountable for them. The evidence, all of my rebellious and
treasonous acts, must be assigned to someone and that person must suffer the
consequences for seizing the rightful place of God as the sole source of authority
(which is not tyrannical, since God as authority is what’s best because of who
he is).
There is a literal account of all of my actions that spurned
the law of God. The list is long. It is a grievous and extremely weighty
matter. I can no more disavow my allegiance to myself as king as proven by
these things than I could stop the sun from shining. That list is, individually
and collectively, MY sin. It is a result of my choices. No one chose for me. I
was not forced against my will to choose myself over any other. No, all the
evidence is incontrovertible. It will not be disputed and there are no external
factors. There will be a prosecutorial act for my sin. And the conclusion is
foregone: It is upon my shoulders. How could it be otherwise? Who could
rightfully take my guilty verdict? Could a friend, my own parents who would
probably have given their lives to protect mine? My wife? Someone I bribe? What
kind of God would permit another to be forever, FOREVER, punished for my
decisions?
The connection here is between God and me only. There can be
no other that enters into the equation. I am the accused, and I will be
convicted. My actions are hateful, self-serving, betraying, seditious, fully
deserving of the worst punishment imaginable. They are shameful. Hurtful. Purposeful.
Painful. And they are the only evidence needed to secure a guilty verdict.
There are only two options that are tenable in God’s moral
universe. Either I must pay for the penalty of my guilty verdict or God must
pay for my penalty. There are no other options. The conviction stands. The list
of wrongs has been ratified and is fixed. Two options: I pay or God pays. My
payment for willfully choosing not to bow to God’s rightful place on the throne
of my life (recall it’s what is best for me…not self-serving on God’s part), my
payment for that is to be given for eternity what I had chosen for this life: permanent
and eternal separation from God.
Or the other option is for God to agree to pay the penalty
for my guilty verdict. This is no trivial matter. Maybe because I have grown up
in a “Christian” nation, grown up in an evangelical church, my familiarity to
the gospel has stunted my response to the incredibility of it all. This is not
a matter of flippancy. We are not talking about a fine for a speeding ticket. I
am guilty of intentionally assassinating God’s role in my life as king. The
penalty is death – permanent, painful, and beyond comprehension. It is
frightening – it should be. Again, my familiarity of the verses from the Bible,
the story of God’s revelation, the calls of preachers to be reconciled to God
for my sin, it all, in my case, has permitted me, to my own self-satisfaction,
to build up a callous to the reality of these things.
God makes an offer to exchange my sin; no “exchange for my
sin” is not accurate. God makes an offer to substitute another person for the
penalty that is mine and mine alone. The only person not me in this equation is
God. The only person able to act as my substitute, in the moral universe in
which we live, is God. Not to get overly theological here, but that is behind
the necessity of the virgin birth, Jesus must be God and man all at once or
there is no substitution for my penalty. So that is what he does. Jesus enters
our world as God and man. He has no wrong of his own for which a penalty must
be paid. The guilt and shame for the full weight of all of my sin by my willful
rebellion fell on the man who never did any wrong. Not only that, it fell on
the God against whom it was perpetrated. And he paid, with his life on the
cross. He offers me something that I could never achieve on my own.
In this remarkable, incredible, unbelievable, amazing,
extraordinary, awesome, magnificent turn of events God offers me the
opportunity to accept the payment of my penalty by him. He does not force it upon
me. It cost him everything. If I accept, it costs me the option to be lord of
my life. I cede authority in my life and bow my knee to the rightful King. And
I begin a relationship with Him. My relationship with God begins at the cross.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ that I celebrate today is God’s ratification
on the sufficiency of His substitution. As Jesus said, “It is finished.”
God, I am sorry I preferred that You be dead so I could live
the way that I wanted. I am unworthy of Your offer. I am unworthy to washed in
the blood of the perfect substitute for my death, Jesus Christ. It is with a still-not-fully-comprehending,
grateful all of me that I say “Yes, Lord Jesus, You are the only King and I
accept Your gift. Help me to live the way You want me to live.”
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