 I’ve heard many times the truth that God’s judgment is related to His character. In other words, because God is holy/just He cannot tolerate or overlook our sins; and for Him to overlook and not judge sin, would be for Him to cease to be holy/just and therefore cease to be God. So, the judgment of sin is a character/nature issue for God.
While it makes sense (and is also true) that God’s love in salvation is also essentially connected to His character, I don’t think I had ever made that sweet connection until tonight. In other words, while we sometimes marvel (with thanksgiving) that God didn’t do what we probably would have done when Adam and Eve blew it — that is, wipe them out and start over — God would not have even considered that, because since His nature is loving, He had to reach out to us and provide a way for us to be close to Him that satisfies His holy/just nature. For God to have done other than that would have been for Him to deny His love and to cease to be the God of the Bible. So, the salvation from sin is also a character/nature issue for God. I’m sure though that God doesn’t think of these things the way we just expressed. I’m sure He didn’t reason after the Fall, “Well, I wish I could start over, but I have to be consistent with My nature of love, so I’ll initiate this plan of redemption.” And I’m sure He doesn’t think about “having” to judge sin because His nature demands it. Since, in the words of Tozer, “all of God does all that God does,” God simply responds to sin with judgment and responded to the Fall with love because in His indivisible nature He is a God of consistent justice and love — that’s just who He is. So, God was not merely “being” loving when He initiated salvation; He, as “love,” was simply being Himself. What a unique Being our God is! What a different Person He is! Hallelujah! He doesn’t change! And His unimproveable nature naturally results in predictable responses from Him toward us — thus, we know that He will both judge sin and extend love, because His nature demands that! His uncompromised holiness, inescapable justice, and incomprehensible love are all simply who He is — thus, both the penalty of sin and the need for salvation are dealt with by the God who is simply being Himself. With this in mind then, if all we knew of the Bible was Genesis 1:1-3:7 (i.e., the Creation and Fall), then we could still loosely predict what would come after — for, knowing that God would simply respond as who He is, we would recognize that both judgment upon sin (which is the response of His holy justice) and a plan of redemption (which is the response of His gracious love) would follow. To God, His holiness is not unique, His standard is not high, and His love is not amazing…at least not in the comparative perspective from which we consider them. The Great One who is outside of time and space is alone “the Great Norm/Constant,” and it is we who are not normal, constant, or predictable. Thus, the appropriate response for us is to stand amazed in His presence and to humbly say, “Thank you, Almighty God, that you are simply Yourself, and therein we have inexpressible joy and steadfast hope!” Comments are closed.
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