The Serious Face of God

"Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God; God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us." - Oswald Chambers

God doesn't forgive us because He loves us. Even as perfect and holy and HUGE as God is, His nature does not allow Him to forgive us of our sins. Even though He created everything, even though everything is under His command, if He just forgave us because He wanted to, He would cease to be God. Christ had to give up His place in heaven. He had to drop off the things that make Him God so that He could become human like the rest of us. He had to endure 33 years of human trials without using the powers available to Him to combat or alter the experience. Essentially He went to battle without His armor, His weapons, or His army. He had to rely totally on God, just like us. And He did, every second of His life.

And then, after He had already sacrificed everything to show us how to live for Him, He took on everything we have ever done so that we could be eternally and completely free. Not only did He die when He could have lived forever, but He also took all sin and evil with Him. He was an innocent, killed by the hate of His people. He did nothing wrong, but did not raise His voice to defend Himself. Instead, He welcomed death because He knew the ultimate victory would be God's. Not just a physical death, but a spiritual one as well.

And God the Father had to stand and watch as His beloved Son, His flesh and blood and Spirit, die a physical and a spiritual death, both of which He was never supposed to experience. Christ was never supposed to have a physical body that would decay and eventually die. Christ was never supposed to take on the weight of the billions of people's sins. Christ was never supposed to bear the guilt of the rapist, of the dictator, of the thief, of the adulterer, of the liar, of the serial killer, of all the twisted and sick people who ever lived or who ever will live. And He wasn't supposed to bear the guilt of the "good" ones, of the proud, of the righteous, of the holy, of the religious, of the selfish.

All so that you can be saved. All so that you can be sanctified. All so that you can be free. All so that you can be armed against Satan's attacks. All so that you can experience true intimacy. All so that you can love God.

"Once you realize that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God" - Oswald Chambers