Love and Justice
Dear Champions,
The short excerpt is by James Dobson, and the Scripture is included.
By granting us freedom of choice, God gave meaning to our love. He sought our devotion but refused to demand it. However, the moment He created this choice, it became inevitable that He would eventually be faced with man's sin. I've heard Christians speculate on what might have happened if Adam and Eve hadn't disobeyed God. The answer is obvious. If they had not sinned, a subsequent generation would have. After all, if no one ever made the wrong choice, then there was no true choice to be made.
But Adam and Eve did sin and thereby confronted God with the most serious dilemma of all time. His love for the human race required that He forgive. But in spite of God's great love, His justice required repentance and punishment for disobedience. So herein was a serious conflict with God's nature. If He destroyed the human race, His love would have been violated: but if He ignored our sins, His justice would have been sacrificed. Yet neither aspect of His nature could be compromised.
God proposed a solution. If he could find one human being who wasn't worthy of damnation-a man or a woman who was not guilty-then the sin of every other person on earth could be laid upon that one and He could suffer for all of us. The solution was for God to send His own Son to bear the sins of the entire human family. Jesus harmonized the conflict between God's love and justice and provided a remedy for fallen mankind.
Thus Jesus said as He was dying, "It is finished!" meaning, "I have carried out the plan of salvation that God designed for sinful man." And that's why God turned His back on Jesus when He was on the cross, prompting Him to cry in anguish, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" ( Matt. 27:46, KJV ). In that moment, Jesus was bearing the punishment for all human sins down through the ages, including yours and mine."
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining
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