Three authors I’ve read recently have said similar things:
“He
would rather go to hell for you than go to heaven without you” (Max Lucado, And the Angels Were Silent, 155).
“To
lose us was too great a pain for God to bear, and so he took it upon himself to
rescue us” (John Eldredge, Waking the Dead, 61).
“Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the
joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2 ESV).
Have you ever thought about the fact that the joy of granting us salvation
and reconciliation to God made the cross bearable for Jesus? He endured hours
of unimaginable torture in order to give us eternal life. God didn’t have to
give us the ability to choose sin, but He did. God didn’t have to send His Son
to die for us, but He did. God could have left us as mortal creatures with just
one short life to follow Him.
Dennis Jernigan wrote:
“He gave His Son, Jesus, to bear the punishment and pay the
debt we owed because of our sin. He rose that we might rise from the death of
sin in our own lives. He gave us a free will and man sinned. It is we who separated
ourselves from God. He did not separate Himself from us. We are the lost ones.
He is the One Who finds us!” (Daily Devotions for Kingdom Seekers, Sept. 7).
If I were God, I don’t think I would have done it this way. I would
probably have made a perfect paradise from the beginning and skipped all the
drama of sin and redemption. I have to assume that God’s plan maximizes the
glory He receives. Perfect, sinless creatures have their place, but they can’t express
gratitude for salvation if they have nothing to be saved from. As the old song
says, Amazing Grace is one song the angels cannot sing.
I don’t know why He did it like He did, though as one of the creatures in
this fallen world I’m certainly glad that this is not the end of our story. I
can’t begin to fathom a love that says, “This is the perfect way to create this
world. All this pain and trouble will be worth it all just so My chosen people
can be made worthy to dwell with Me forever.” Somehow, in His sovereign wisdom,
God decided this was the best plan. All we can do is give thanks.
“How precious is Your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind
take refuge in the shadow of Your wings” (Psalm 36:7).
“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb! …Blessing
and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our
God forever and ever” (Rev. 7:10, 12).
© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless
otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.
