In this day of “Love and forgive yourself. You are only
human. None of us are perfect. God is love and doesn’t want you to suffer,” we
need to revisit how God regards sin.
God has always been so repelled by sin that He had to
separate Himself from His beloved people so that He would not destroy them.
Although the Bible tells us that Yahweh had led the children of Israel (Exodus
12:51), the reality is more nuanced:
·
And when we cried to the LORD, he heard our
voice and sent an angel [also translated as “Messenger”] and brought us out of
Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. (Numbers
20:16)
·
“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you
on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful
attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not
pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. But if you carefully obey his
voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an
adversary to your adversaries. When my angel goes before you…” (Exodus 23:20–23)
Why a “Messenger?” Why wouldn’t God go with them? His holy
nature could not tolerate the presence of sin:
·
“I will send an angel before you, and I will
drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the
Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I
will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a
stiff-necked people.” When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned,
and no one put on his ornaments. For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the
people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I
should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your
ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’” (Exodus 33:2–5)
W ould you be in the presence of those who raped and killed
their victims! Why then would God create and endure us if we are so repugnant
to Him? Because He had a grand plan to overcome this problem:
·
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his
blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness,
because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might
be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-26)
He gave us His gift of forgiveness, righteousness, and
eternal life. However,
God’s righteous nature had to be “propitiated” (satisfied)
by the only adequate payment (atonement) for evil. In love He temporarily endured
Israel’s sins by merely passing over and covering them through the Israelite’s
sincere repentance and the Temple’s sacrificial system. However, the blood of
the sacrificial animals was not an adequate payment for our sins. Instead, God
endured our sins until the only sufficient payment could be made – the
substitutionary death of God the Son, which worked retroactively to forgive
even those sins before the Cross (Hebrews 9:13-15).
Not only did this sacrifice satisfy the Father, but it also
sends us a powerful message: Our sins are so grotesque, even nauseating, to
God, that only the death of the God-man Jesus was sufficient to satisfy the
Father. If God hated our sins to such a degree, we too must hate them and not
comfort ourselves with the thought, “All sin; I’m just being human.”
This might seem harsh and even threatening to us, but this
is only because of our spiritual immaturity. Instead, it is liberating. I am
glad to understand that God is grieved by my sins. This makes me more diligent to
fear God, avoid sinning, and to confess my sin to Him as soon as I do sin,
knowing that He forgives and cleanses me from the filth of my sin. This enables
me to feel cleansed and free from the internal struggle to justify myself that
I had done the right thing when I sinned. To know the forgiveness of my Savior
gives me peace and assurance to come to Him (Hebrews 10:19-23).
Besides, God has implanted within us the same hatred of sin
so that we might appreciate His hatred of sin and injustice. Therefore, we will
realize that we too require justice when offended, even if only a sincere and
humble apology. Even the saints in heaven cried out to God for justice:
·
“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the
altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the
witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord,
holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who
dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a
little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers
should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.”
(Revelation 6:9-11)
Evidently, God had been pleased by their request and did not
deny it by saying, “Instead, you should forgive.” Rather, He told them to wait.
Yes, we are to hate our sins, but also with the assurance
that they are completely forgiven and eradicated. Therefore, we are now enabled
to confidently call upon Him and to grow in adoration of the One who loves us
so much that He paid the price for our sins.
Amen
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