From eternity past God preordained all that would ever take place. In His absolute sovereignty even now He orchestrates His eternal decree with excellent precision. In the beginning He created the world and all that is in it. "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). God was good, man was good, life was good. Man walked with God in sweet fellowship. But all this came crashing down when, being tempted, man disobeyed the commandment given him by God. Man was no longer good. The perfect relationship was severed resulting in man being driven out of the presence of God (Genesis 3:24). Our God is a holy God (1 Samuel 2:2; Isaiah 6:3). Mankind is now wicked (Romans 3:10,23). The holiness of God does not permit evil in His presence, for "nothing unclean...shall ever come into it" (Revelation 21:27). How ever could we be reconciled to Him and have that relationship that we once had? We must be restored to that sinless state man was in before the Fall. But how do we gain that righteousness? Deuteronomy 6:25 claims that "it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us." The law reveals the holy character of God, therefore keeping it in its entirety will prove our own holiness. So all we have to do is perform all of God's judgements and statutes and live according to them (Leviticus 18:4-5). In other words: be perfect. Never break any commandments and keep the whole law. There's a slight problem with this because, as we've already established, man is wicked and incapable of keeping the law perfectly. Even if we've messed up just once then we've already blown it (James 2:10). But God knew the sinful state that we're in and how we could never meet the demands of the law. That's why He sent someone who could. Jesus. From birth He remained perfect. Throughout His life He was "tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). He lived the perfectly righteous life thus satisfying the demands of the law. That's wonderful but this in and of itself won't save us. That righteousness still belongs to Him. Our wickedness still belongs to us. This can be exchanged at the cross. God "made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Even though no blemish was found in Jesus when compared to the law, He was the One who suffered the penalty. When we're compared to the law, on the other hand, we're covered in stains, yet we don't have to bear our own penalty. Through faith in Christ our wickedness was exchanged for His righteousness. Our curse for His blessings. God commanded our holiness in order to restore our relationship with Him, while at the same time so graciously providing a way to gain that holiness, though not our own but that of Christ. We have been justified. Once Jesus' righteousness covers us, that's what the Father sees when He looks at us. Just as He saw our sin upon Jesus and crushed Him with His fierce wrath against wickedness. Christ died in our stead, paying the full debt of our sin. But He didn't stay dead. He arose in victory! This was evidence that our justification really took place. Through the blood of Christ we can be reconciled to God. He even allows us to come boldly to His throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). God is still good. Man can now be seen as good through the lense of the cross. Through the work of Christ in salvation we have successfully been reconciled to God! "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).
|
Emily NicoleI'm a twenty one year old Christian saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, for the glory of God alone. Praise the great name of our glorious Savior!! Categories
All
Archives
May 2016
"Until tomorrow...
Go serve your King!" ~Todd Friel |