The Bible tells us that it is God who is our judge and lawgiver (Isaiah 33:22) and that He will judge the ends of the earth (1Samuel 2:10b); that He’s the judge of all (Hebrews 12:23b).  And get this, He’s going to judge the secrets of men (Romans 2:16). Ouch!  And being a just judge God can’t be bribed; His arm can’t be twisted.  And He’s no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). Your wealth, position, reputation will not impress Him. He’s a judge who will call it like it is and punish sin to the fullest extent of the law. 

There was a time when I didn’t take this seriously.  Rather, I had an imaginary scoreboard erected in my mind that tallied up my “good deeds” and weighed them against my “bad” ones, and I just hoped that at the end of the day the balance would be in my favor and leave me in good standing with God.

What I forgot was that He is the lawgiver. He makes the rules.  He says what’s right and wrong. He keeps the record His way.  Not us.  And what He says is this: If we break just one part of the law (it’s called sin), we’ve broken it all.  And that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).   And what is this death? Nothing less than separation from God, in hell. 

No one likes to talk about hell these days.  It’s seems unsophisticated, narrow, intolerant. It’s even become fashionable for some Christians to say things like, “Oh, God won’t send anyone to hell, He’s too loving.” Still other Christians say, “there are many paths to God and all lead to heaven.” Really? Then why did Jesus talked about hell?  And when He did, He left no doubt how terrible and real it is.  In Mark 9:43-47 Jesus says it’s better to cut off (symbolically speaking) your hand or foot, or pluck out your eye if they cause you to sin rather than be sent to hell.  He goes on to describe hell, calling it a “fire that never shall be quenched” where “worms dieth not.” He also tells us in Luke 12:5 that the One we should fear is the One who has power to cast us into hell. 

So if God is a just judge and He can’t be bribed and He’s such a stickler on sin, what is a person to do?  Well, Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I (God) have given it to you upon the alter to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” That’s why, in the Old Testament, the Israelites sacrificed spotless animals to atone for their sins.  But in the New Testament we see that Jesus became a spotless lamb for us and was sacrificed for our sins; that He is our atonement. And all we have to do is accept Him and what He has already done. But the choice is ours.  He won’t force Himself on anyone.

If you consider the terrible light in which God views sin, and the terrible price He paid so He can forgive us our sins and at the same time satisfy His requirements as Judge, can we call Him unjust if we don’t accept His prepaid free gift and He sends us to hell?  Hardly!

Until next week,

Sylvia

Volumes could be written about the nature of God and still not cover the whole of it. But for the next several weeks I’d like to touch on at least a few of the descriptions of God, and I’d like to start with the one most known. The Bible says that “God is love.”  But what does that mean, exactly? What does His love look like?

Growing up, I went to church on Sunday.  I even had “religious instruction”. But my faith was shallow and not well grounded.  I never read the Bible.  What I knew of God’s Word came from snippets of the Gospels or Epistles read from the pulpit, and from movies like The Ten Commandments and The Greatest Story Every Told.

When I began reading the Bible for myself, I came face to face with some pretty raw facts that didn’t line up with my preconceived ideas.  For one, the Bible says, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (Hebrews 9:22) Now there’s a shock! What did that do to my theory of just trying to be a “good person”? A theory that worked better for me especially since I thought I was pretty good.  After all, I went to church, hadn’t killed anyone or robbed a bank. 

The next shock came when I read that, in God’s opinion, no one on the face of the earth was good (Matthew 19:17/Psalm 53:3). Wow! Now I was really in trouble. How was I going to earn my way into God’s heart and into His heaven? Well . . . perhaps by doing “good deeds.” I thought it sounded reasonable enough until I read that all my good works were like “filthy rags” to God (Isaiah 64:6). Now this was getting depressing.

Finally, God took pity on me and helped me connect the dots.  Jesus already shed His blood and satisfied the blood criterion.  The only thing I needed to do was accept what He had already done and apply it to my life, my sins, my inadequacies. Oh, how simple!  And oh, what freedom!  God had done it all.  His love paid the price, satisfied His justice.  It was like a rich benefactor—someone I, a poverty-stricken debtor, had disappointed, abused, insulted with my acts, and many times discounted—had put a large deposit into my bank account and said, “Here, live life on me.  I have paid your debts, and will supply all your future needs. All you need do is draw on my deposit.”

What does God’s love look like?  It’s a love that has given everything without the promise of getting anything in return.  It’s a love that sees the vilest part of us and still wants us, still yearns for us, still pursues us, still wants to call us by name, still wants to make us His own. It’s a love that though we spurn it, spit on it, mock it, will never stop trying to win us while at the same time never violate our free will. It’s a love that my mind can barely comprehend.

Until next week,

Sylvia