Tuesday, April 14, 2009

why


Why? (Part 1)
Have you ever wondered why God had to bring salvation in the way he did? After all Jesus, his very son, said “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” (John 22: 42) He also said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14: 6) If there was any other way for God to free men from Sin why didn’t he take it. That means that every claim of Buddha, the Hindus, Muslims, Atheist, or Agnostic throws out is either a Lie, or what we believe is a Lie, and I assure you that is not the case. That means God has no tolerance for any other belief system, because if those could lead to him, then he wouldn’t have tortured and killed his own Son. He wouldn’t have put him through the worst pain imaginable if there was an alternative. I know this because God says Jesus, The Holy Spirit, and The father are one and the same. (1 John 5: 7) There is no logical reason for God to torture himself if there is any other way.


Another question would be why Did God even care to free us from our Sins. We know there is no other way that we can be saved except through Jesus Christ, (Acts 4:12) but that doesn’t explain why he did it.(this is must be understood to understand the first question) The only reason I can find is Love (John 3:16). I find no reason why, but only the effect of it. You see we disobeyed and rejected God from the beginning, many of us have cursed him, and forgotten him in most every area of our lives, but the fact still remains God loves us. (Psalms 103: 11, 17).
The only way that it makes since is God is Love, God is the author of Love, Gods very nature is love. In fact the two greatest commandments that fulfill all the law are built on the foundation of Love.( Matt 22: 37-40), and all the law is fulfilled by the law (Rom 13:10). Then In Gal 5:22 is describes the Fruit, or Character of The Holy Spirit (God himself), and the first on the list is Love. There is no other reason for Why God would go to such lengths to save those who would reject him, who would curse him, who would ignore him, and place other gods in his place, other than Love. “Greater Love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” God was willing to Die for those he loved, for those who would come to him, for he calls them friends. He didn’t care that they weren’t his friends yet, but he knew what would happen if he went through with his plan.


So back to the original question Why Did God have to bring salvation in the manor that he did? Some have said its because “Sin is so strong that God couldn’t speak it out of existence” and others have said “So we can choose”, but both answers are wrong in essence. For one Scripture says that God is capable of doing most anything so long as its not against his nature. (Jer 32:17,27, Heb 6:18) So why couldn’t he just speak it out of existence. We know that Sin causes all suffering because Sin leads to death ( James 1: 14-15) So Since God is loving (Psalms 103: 11, 17) Why doesn’t he just take the easy way out and stop having us suffer?


The answer to that is God is just (Deu 32:4), but that within its self probably doesn’t make since. First off lets define what the word Just means. “To receive what is deserved”. That means If I’m owed 100 dollars then I get 100 dollars nothing more and nothing less. That is perfect essence. So lets apply that to another every day situation. Say a man is caught speeding at 55 MPH through a blind children’s convention at the park with a set speed of 15 MPH and with it there is a 25,000 Dollar fine, and there is no way you can pay that fine. Well if the Judge is doing his Job then he would say sorry buddy, but you have to pay the price, and we would have to pay that 25,000. If the Judge just says well ok I’ll let you off this time, or change it at a whim then he is no longer a good judge. We would say to him he deserves to pay the same price as that the murder, rapist, or who ever else he let off should have Got because he’s just as bad as that person.


Of coarse God is merciful and Mercy means to be given more than we deserve in a positive way For example you’re a snot nosed brat who doesn’t respect anything, but your daddy buys you a corvette for your 16th birthday. Well you don’t deserve it at all, but its given to you, and that is a simple form of Mercy. The thing is were not only unworthy of mercy, but to give us Mercy would be unjust and wicked if our price, that has done so much, is not paid for.
God being both Merciful and Just in nature he must fulfill both properties. So how in the world Can a Just Person be merciful to a wicked being and still remain true to their character, because to turn from that character would make them a liar and God is no liar. (Heb 6: 18) So Before the world began, knowing that everything would Go wrong he had it planned out how he could be merciful to those who were wicked and remain Just himself.( 2 Tim 1: 9-10)


It goes kind of like this. A boy is brought before his father, who is a judge, for the crime of involuntary man slaughter, and the price is 10 years in prison with no bail, or 100,000 dollar fine. The boy looks at his father and says “Well, there is no way I can pay that Pa”. He and his father both know that the Judge has to do the right thing and that means the fine or the time must be paid. If The father doesn’t do as he’s supposed to then he’s just as guilty of the crime as his son. So with the great love and mercy of a father he comes down from his place of authority and coming before his Son he say’s “I can pay it son” and the son accepts it. The debt is paid, the law is kept, the father is still just and merciful, and the wicked receives that mercy. It all works out.


The same thing had to happen with us. The price for Sin is death, and the consequence is Eternity in Hell. I’m sure your aware of this, so please understand I’m not pushing that fact beyond need. So we can either pay the price which is an innocent life, or pay the time which I have already mentioned. The problem is the price is death and so to pay that price we need to live innocently but we only have one life and even if we had an eternity worth of lives we would never come out as innocent, our only option is to pay the time. God knows this and says I’ll pay the fine. I’ll take your crimes and have them paid for, I’ll blot out your transgressions so that you can have eternal life. God gives his life for us, knowing that he himself is innocent he takes the price of the guilty and pays it with his own life. (John 3:16)
It is for the fact that God is the perfect Judge, and is perfectly just, while being perfectly merciful, and the author of love that God has no other way that he can remove our sin.