God is Guiltless

We live in a day of relativism.  Yet even with the relative state of morality in the various societies in the world, there are crimes so heinous they deserve prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.  Even in prisons there is a code of ethics, where felons punish violators for the crimes committed outside prison, as well as breaking the code within.  In each of us there is a morality based upon our beliefs.  A drug dealer may have no problem with dealing illegal narcotics to adults, but believes it would be wrong to sell bad dope to kids.  Everyone has within them a conscience that causes us to experience guilt or shame when we know we've done something wrong.  There's a lot of people in prison who believe they have been hard done by and don't deserve the punishment they have received.  In some cases there is injustice, but it doesn't mean that concept of prison is one of them.

Can you imagine a serial child rapist and murderer complaining to the judge of the injustice of being sent to prison?  There are many who would say, "Prison is too good for that murderer."  Prison serves as a deterrent to those who consider committing a crime, to protect the innocent by removing criminals from society, for restitution, and personal reformation.  Now I do not want to imply that all prisons are fair or injustice hasn't occurred in some cases.  In our justice system people are involved (witnesses, jurors, solicitors, judges, wardens, guards, etc.), there will be mistakes, errors in judgment, and weakness common to men.  My point is to say the concept of a judicial system and imprisonment after a fair trial is understood in itself not to be the problem, but is among the most acceptable ways to uphold justice and mete it out to lawbreakers.  Jail is not a bad thing in itself, but a place built for people who have done bad things to go.

Some people struggle with the idea that God created hell, a place of eternal incarceration and torment in outer darkness.  It is truly a place more horrible than any can imagine.  It is commonly said, "The punishment should fit the crime."  Hell is the punishment for a single sin committed against the righteous Laws of God.  Sin is really a terrible thing, so awful and wretched, that God created hell as a place of torment for the devil and his demons.  Years ago in some of the United States the punishment for the worst crimes was the electric chair, hanging until dead, or the firing squad.  The severity of the punishment was matched to the most severe crimes.  This severity of hell shows us the greatness of sins from God's perspective which appear so small in our eyes today.  A single lie, stealing, committing adultery, even coveting something is sin!  When we serve gods other than the One True God who reveals Himself through the Bible, have idols in our lives, or even use God's name to swear, we commit the most serious of offenses before the Just Judge of the Universe.

God is loving.  He knew that man in his current condition is doomed to eternal damnation, because all have sinned.  So God in His grace provided a way for men to be forgiven and saved from death and hell.  God took human form in the person of Jesus Christ and did many signs to show His divine nature.  He was falsely accused and condemned unjustly and murdered on the cross.  But three days later, He rose from the dead to prove His victory over sin and death in accordance with scripture.  John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." God has made a provision for all our sins to be expunged by the blood of His Son.  When we repent and trust in Him as King and LORD, we are born again by God's grace.  After our debt of sin against God has been paid, we avoid hell fire and are promised a place in heaven forever.

In the current system of justice, for someone to be "bailed" they must meet certain conditions.  It is the same way with divine justice.  We do not pay with money, but it is the blood of Jesus applied to our lives through faith which sets us free.  There are many examples of this in the Bible.  One instance was when the two men of Israel were spying out the city of Jericho and were harboured and protected by a harlot named Rahab.  She asked them to repay her for the kindness she had showed them when they eventually sacked the city.  The men agreed they would spare her and her family but held forth specific conditions.  Joshua 2:17-21 reads, "So the men said to her: "We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, ¹⁸ unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household to your own home. ¹⁹ So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. ²⁰ And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear." ²¹ Then she said, "According to your words, so be it." And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window."  The men would not be held accountable for their promise to Rahab or her family members if they did not meet the prescribed conditions.  Rahab was required to hang a scarlet rope from her window, and her family could leave her home at the risk of their lives.  She was to remain quiet about their agreement.  Should Rahab hang up the red rope but choose to go out for a walk, she did not meet the conditions.  They would be guiltless should harm come to her because she had not heeded their warning.  If she decided to betray them, the promise of safety for her would no longer apply.

God has done the same thing for all people.  It is not His will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  He does not desire that any man or woman be doomed to hell for eternity.  He has graciously set forth conditions for our release and forgiveness.  We first must plead guilty and repent for our sins.  Then Romans 10:9 explains God's conditions for salvation succinctly: "...that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."  One thing is for certain:  if you choose to be judged according to your works, you will receive justice.  You will receive a fair trial when the books are opened and your life is measured according to God's perfect standard.  Every word, deed, thought, and attitude of your heart during your entire life will be brought under divine judgment.  Psalm 130:3 says, "If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?"  The implication?  Absolutely no one.  Another condition is we must choose to repent and trust in Christ during our short time on earth.  If we wait until our bodies die and we face God's judgment, it will be too late.  Psalm 130:4 tells us, "But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared."

Hell isn't the problem:  sin is.  God is guiltless; man is guilty.  While there is a little time left, choose to meet God's conditions for salvation and new life in Him.  He has paid the price at great cost.  Don't appeal to justice when God has already given grace and great promises.  1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

A New Master

One of the wonderful aspects of the One True God is He makes all things new.  When a person is born again by grace through faith, the Holy Spirit transforms us from the inside.  We are freed from the bondage of sin and spiritually brought from death to life.  It is like coming out of a darkened grave into the light of God's love.  What warmth and joy we experience!  What a relief, to be free from the burden of sin and to have a new Master.  It was Satan and sin that once oppressed and ruled us.  We were prisoners in a chain-gang serving a life sentence headed to hell with the whip of guilt laid across our consciences.  But in Christ we have been made free and a whole new life for eternity stretches before us like a luscious meadow before a flock of sheep.  Jesus is our Good Shepherd and we love to hear Him call our names.

Though God makes all things new, we continue to live life on earth in a body of flesh.  All the experiences in our prior life can haunt us, and Satan's biting words can still wound.  We can be like dogs abused by their owners who are adopted by a loving new owner from the RSPCA or the pound.  Some dogs have experienced a tragic life which involved torture, starvation, being made to fight, neglect, or disease.  When they are brought into a new home with new masters they can still be fearful from past experiences.  Memories of their old master do not immediately disappear.  It takes love, care, and time for abused dogs to trust anyone again.  Though the dog is in a completely new situation, the creature only sees through the old paradigm.  With a big dose of love, patience, with new freedoms and established boundaries, over time the dog will thrive in the new environment under a new master.

Spiritually speaking, the transformation in a person through the Holy Spirit is far more pronounced.  What is impossible with men is possible with God.  God is able to redeem the tragedies of our past for His glory and our good.  Ephesians 4:21-24 gives us an exhoratation we are called to embrace:  "...if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: ²² that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, ²³ and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness."  Many people do not obtain dogs from rescue shelters because they want a "clean slate."  They want a dog that has not been abused or that has learned "bad habits" which they must be broken of.  But not our God.  He takes us from the equivalent of death row, having rebelled against God as his enemy.  We have greatly suffered in isolation from fellowship with God.  He does not simply "reform" us but transforms us through the renewing of our minds.  He doesn't just clean our slate, but takes away our slate and gives us a living, feeling heart.  We are given a new Spirit within us.  We are taught to put off the old man - the old way of thinking and living.  We are to have our minds renewed through the truth of scripture, and then to put on the new man "according to God, in true righteousness and holiness."

Let us not cower under the bed or run away in fear when our good Master calls out to us in love.  We have a new Master now, One who loves us with undying love.  Jesus demonstrates His love for us that while we were yet sinners, He died for us.  When the old wicked master comes calling, accusing and abusing you, do not believe a word he says.  Do not listen to him; pay him no mind.  He no longer has power or authority over us.  We answer only to our new Master, the LORD of All, KING OF KINGS.  He makes all things new.

C.S. Lewis Quote: The Problem of Pain

The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis is an intellectually stimulating book.  In it he does not so much seek to prove the existence of God but to reconcile His good, perfect character with the painful experiences we face during life on earth.  C.S. Lewis was once an atheist but reason compelled him to abandon that view.  He was no fool.  In the introduction to his books, he says this:

"There was a man born among these Jews who claimed to be, or to be the son of, or to be "one with", the Something which is at once the awful haunter of nature and the giver of the moral law.  The claim is so shocking - a paradox, and even a horror, which we may easily be lulled into taking too lightly - that only two views of this man are possible.  Either he was a raving lunatic of an unusually abominable type, or else He was, and is, precisely what He said.  There is no middle way.  If the records make the first hypotheses unacceptable, you must submit to the second.  And if you do that, all else that is claimed by Christians becomes credible - that this Man, having been killed, was yet alive, and that His death, in some manner incomprehensible to human thought, has effected a real change in our relations to the "awful" and "righteous" Lord, and a change in our favour.

To ask whether the universe as we see it looks more like the work of a wise and good Creator or the work of chance, indifference, or malevolence, is to omit from the outset all the relevant factors in the religious problem.  Christianity is not the conclusion of a philosophical debate on the origins of the universe:  it is a catastrophic historical event following on the long spiritual preparation of humanity which I have described.  It is not a system into which we have to fit the awkward fact of pain:  it is itself one of the awkward facts which have to be fitted into any system we make.  In a sense, it creates, rather than solves, the problem of pain, for pain would be no problem unless, side by side with our daily experience of this painful world, we have received what we think a good assurance that ultimate reality is righteous and loving."  (The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis, pg. 11-12)

I have never heard anyone curse evolutionary process, but I have heard many people curse God - a God they do not even believe in.  Darwinian evolution is a mindless, purposeless, random process without remorse.  Our depth of feeling, consciousness, freedom of the will, and ability to reason must have come from a feeling, conscious, purposeful, intelligent Source.  I believe the scriptures, the order of nature and the universe, the testimony of information crammed into every self-replicating cell, the conscience, and reason work together to confirm that God did indeed create all things.  The more we learn through the sciences about the deep complexity of the seemingly simplest things reveals there is more to life than Darwin ever imagined.

Those who believe life on earth just happened should have absolutely no complaints about anything.  What are rights without established morality?  There is no force greater than man to appeal to, and no one cares!  Living is no different than dying.  Everyone has been dealt a hand by no one.  Everything is arbitrary.  There is not even any true justice, for right and wrong is at best a construct fashioned in each person's mind.  Yet even the suggestion that there is a God is enough to make blood boil with hatred.  Why such an emotional reaction over something a person believes to be false?  C.S. Lewis is right.  The only way pain can be a problem for you is if you believe there is a God who is good, an all-powerful Being who has the power to end your pain should He choose.  It is a "problem" reconciled through the revealed Word of God and His infallible character.  Otherwise, shaking your fist against the "injustice" of your life or pain is an empty exercise.  Take your issues up with Random Chance, not that he ever checks his inbox.

Your Shield and Exceedingly Great Reward

Abraham was a man who believed God, and his faith was accounted to him as righteousness.  As he walked in obedience to God's directives, he had many opportunities to grow in faith.  One of these time is after his brother's son Lot was taken captive by four kings who had just defeated five other kings.  Genesis 14:14-15 says, "Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. ¹⁵ He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus."  From a military viewpoint, Abraham faced long odds - he and his 318 trained servants against four victorious kings!  God granted Abraham a most improbable victory and recovered all as we read in Genesis 14:16:  "So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people."

The next chapter begins, "After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward." (Genesis 15:1)  Place yourself in Abraham's position.  He did not live in a castle with thick walls or a state-of-the-art security system.  He did not have an army or military-grade weapons.  He could not dial triple zero or 9-1-1!  He had no motion lights affixed to his tent, no locks, bunker, or moat filled with crocodiles.  Abraham lived in a tent with his family!  All his possessions were out in the open without any of the security we are used to.  Having just defeated and plundered four kings, needless to say Abraham didn't make any friends.  He was a target, a sitting duck for an enemy ambush.  Or was he?

Abraham didn't need to be afraid because God was his shield.  Abraham, his family, and goods were in the safest of hands!  I'm sure Abraham thought to himself later:  "I wonder if pursuing and destroying those kings was the best idea.  Then I gave a tenth to the King and Priest of Salem Melchizedek, and returned all the spoil save what my men ate to sustain themselves.  Was that the best course of action?"  God did not leave Abraham in doubt but spoke comfort and promises to him.  God was his shield and exceedingly great reward.  God was all he needed.  God would take care of fulfilling His word that Abraham would have a son though his wife was barren and he was old.  Abraham's future was secure in God, and God was all he needed. 

May this be a good reminder to us when we face insecurity and an uncertain future.  If Abraham's God is your God, He is your shield and your exceedingly great reward.  He will protect you and bring to pass what He has promised.  He will never leave or forsake you.  Instead of giving place to fear and doubt, resolve to be strong and courageous as you trust God.  Take to heart the words of Christ in Matthew 6:30-33:  "Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."