God wanted to forgive us, but he could not leave the just punishment for our guilt unpaid. Justice is not an external standard that God submits to. God is the source of justice and God cannot be other than who he is. So, God does not forgive us by sweeping justice aside. He forgives us by fulfilling the demands of his justice. God could not do this, however, by sending someone else to suffer our just punishment in our place, even if that were a perfect angel. No court of justice would allow an innocent man to take the punishment of a guilty man because justice demands that the guilty one must pay the price of his crime. The only one in the universe who can bear the consequences of the law of God in our place is the God of the law. He can do this because he himself is justice. God therefore became incarnate in human flesh to take the punishment that we deserved. If Jesus Christ was not fully God he could not have justly taken away and exhausted the full punishment for the guilt of all mankind. But he also had to be fully man to bear that punishment because only a man can die. You may feel that your guilt is too great for God to forgive. If so, ask yourself this question: Is the worth of Jesus’ death more or less than your guilt? Let me assure you that his death is infinitely greater in worth than the weight of any number of offenses that you may have committed. There is no sin too great for God to forgive.
Thank God for giving you a clean slate today.
Read Hebrews 2
