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Jesus Wept
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What would you say to someone who said:
"It is not just for a judge to accept the death of the innocent in place of the guilty."
and
Does he have a valid argument? Has Satan sown a false doctrine in the Church so others will mock and turn away from the only one who can save them from their sins?
We have to get to the bottom of this and see if there is some truth in what he is saying.
'"See where it leads to", St. Augustine advised in dealing with falsehood. Follow it out to "the absolute ruddy end," C.S. Lewis remarked with characteristic Englishness. Push them to "the logic of their presuppositions," Francis Schaeffer used to say' (Os Guinness, 2000, Time for Truth).
Before considering the strengths and weaknesses of the Muslim's objection (If God can do everything why doesn't he just forgive?) we will look at the Islamic position. Are we, like the Muslims, to trust in our own righteousness? Muslims believe that our bad deeds will be weighed against our good deeds. Can we be good enough to earn our way into heaven?
We must do the thing we must
Before the thing we may;
We are unfit for any trust
Till we can and do obey. --George MacDonald
Can I honestly say that I have obeyed God in the way he wants me to? Who can? I'm not perfectly innocent, I'm guilty. How does a guilty person deserve to be treated? Does a criminal deserve the same treatment as an innocent person?
I want people to trust me. Do I deserve their trust?
I want people to respect me. Do I deserve their respect?
I want people to
listen to me, believe me, and take me seriously. Do I deserve that?
Why do I sometimes get angry when people do not treat me as I desire to be treated? It's because I think I deserve better treatment. What a fool!
Jesus said:
"So you also, when
you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy
servants; we have only done our duty' " (Luke 17:10).
Who can honestly say that they have done "everything" they were told to do by God?
An Anglican prayer of communion goes as followers,
"We do not presume
to come to your table, merciful Lord,
trusting in our own righteousness,
but in your manifold and great mercies.
We are not worthy
so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table..."
I dare not trust in my own righteousness. I am completely dependent on God's mercy. But what do I mean by that?
Many Christians think that believing something about God will save them. When I read the Bible I see two things necessary for salvation, a person must believe in their heart that God raised Jesus physical body from the dead and also confess that He is Lord (See Rom 10:9). What is often overlooked in Romans 10:9 is that if we believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead we will treat Jesus as the Lord. If we do not treat Him as Lord we do not believe He is Lord. There are many verses which clearly show that my faith in God is reflected by what I do (See James 2:24).
Dietrich Bonhoeffer rightly said,
"...faith is only real when there is obedience, never without it, and faith only becomes faith in the act of obedience" (The Cost of Discipleship).
Can I trust in my faith? No. My faith is fickle. Can I trust in God's forgiveness? This seems like a sure way out of the problem yet God has said that if I do not forgive He will not forgive me (Matt 6:15), so God's forgiveness on judgement day (not his love) turns out to be dependent on my forgiveness. (See also "Forgiveness" in C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity) How then can I be sure of my salvation? I cannot trust in my faith and I cannot be certain that I have forgiven everyone as God would have me forgive them. What then can I be certain of?
The only thing I can be sure of is God's character. I can be sure of how much He loves me because He became a man and lived and died to prove it. He became a man for me. He lived for me. He died for me. He rose from the dead and continues to live for me. I know He will never give up on me. His love is eternal. If there is someone I have not forgiven He will soften my heart and bring me to the point where I forgive as He wants me to.
So what of the Muslim man's objection?
In the Muslim man's mind any judge who accepts the death of the innocent in place of the guilty cannot be just. In fact God says that human judges should "not put an innocent or honest person to death" (see Exod 23:7).
It seems as though God is saying that He will not accept the death of the innocent on behalf of the guilty, whether that death is voluntary or involuntary. And that is the Muslim's charge; he is saying that only an immoral judge would accept the death of the innocent in place of the guilty.
The verse which follows Exodus 23:7 says it is wrong for a judge to accept a bribe.
These verses tell us what a good judge will do. If God is a good judge, why does He allow an innocent person to die and acquit the guilty? It seems as though God is breaking His own rules.
So how do we explain Jesus death?
He was innocent.
We are guilty.
Jesus voluntarily died for us.
Therefore the innocent died for the guilty.
This is sound doctrine. But is it just?
Would it be wrong for an innocent person to choose to die for someone else? No that would not be wrong. "But," you might say, "it would be wrong for a judge to acquit the guilty and punish the innocent." True. So why did God allow Jesus to die? What was the purpose of Jesus death?
Did He die to take our punishment or did He die to turn us from our sin and turn us to God?
"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God..." (1 Pet 3:18). He died to bring us to God. (Didn't Jesus say that His death would draw men to Him? see John 12:32)
Coming to God means coming to him on his terms. It means giving one's life to him, which is a turning from sin (sin is, and is always the result of, turning one's back on God). Because Jesus died for me I started to believe in him (trust and obey him). Belief in God is always expressed as obedience. Where there is no obedience there is no belief. Many people claim to be Christian saying: "But God will do what he says he will do. I am saved by the blood of the lamb." He spilt his blood for you, that's true. But where does he send those who do not begin to trust and obey him on account of his shed blood? Belief in is the way of salvation. No belief about Jesus or his blood can save a person. "Oh, but what about verses like Ephesians 2:8,9 and Romans 10:9?" What about them? The majority of scripture must be used to interpret the minority. The hundreds of verses which say "unless", "if" and "as" should be used to interpret those verses, not the other way around. 'If you love me you will obey me.' 'Unless you forgive you will not be forgiven.' 'As you judge...' According to Jesus believing some theory about him will not save you. According to Jesus there is no salvation outside of attempting to put his words into practice; for there is no other way to come close to him. "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be ..." [Emphasis added]. Start putting his words into practice so "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." (Note the words: God is still a person's Father even if they ignore him. But no one is on the road to becoming a true son or daughter until they start to trust God, their good, kind and loving Father.)
Salvation begins when we are convinced that God truly loves us and so turn and begin to follow Jesus. This step of trust (if genuine) leads to belief. What exactly do I mean?
Suppose you have been sick for many years and no doctor has been able to help you. Out of despair you have come to believe that all doctors are useless. However, upon the urging of your friends and because you are feeling pretty awful, you decide to see a particular doctor, a doctor that some of your friends have started to rave about. You don't believe in the doctor but you decide to do what he says because you are in a bad way. To your surprise, a few weeks after seeing the doctor you are feeling a lot better. You go back for your follow up appointment and he tells you to do somethings and avoid others. You follow his advice and within a month you find that you are feeling better than you've felt for years. If someone tells you they are feeling sick do you think you will tell them about this doctor? Of course! Why? Because you have begun to believe in the doctor. This happened because you trusted your friends and so decided to trust the doctor. When we trust someone who is trustworthy we start to believe in them. (Notice how evangelism flows from a heart that has come to believe.)
When a person decides to follow Jesus they are claiming that they will attempt to do what he says (follow him), whether they do or not is another question. According to Jesus there is nothing more important than attempting to do what he says, no plan of salvation or belief about him is more important than attempting to put his words into practice. The Holy Spirit will help anyone who makes an honest attempt, and if a person is serious, when they fall, they will get up and try again. When small children are learning to walk they fall many times. But they learn to walk through trying to walk. What child gives up simply because they fell? Sadly, many people who say the sinners prayer give up just when they are beginning to make progress. And many so called mature Christians gave up long ago because they mistakenly called a serious attempt at putting Jesus words into practice legalism. (Legalism is when one tries to earn God's love. What I'm talking about here is no such thing.) Now some will say, "What about confession?" Confession is important, but we cannot make ourselves feel sorry for something if we are not. However, if we are serious about putting Jesus words into practice we will come to love the things he loves and hate the things he hates. Now some will say, "But Jesus is the mediator between God and man, how is he the mediator if salvation is about bringing a person to the point where they seriously attempt to put Jesus words into practice?"
Imagine a small child, who has to get a needle from a doctor she has never met. She does not like needles and she does not know the doctor. But that child does know her Mum who is with her, she trusts her mother. Because of her mother she allows the doctor to give her the needle. The doctors problem is getting that child to trust him. This is a perfect illustration of how Jesus is the mediator between God and people. We are like the small child, the doctor is like our heavenly Father, and the mother is like Jesus. When we do what Jesus asks us to do God is able to do with us what he needs to do to begin setting us free. (Dallas Willard tells us what Jesus meant when he said, "The truth will set you free.") God, the Father and creator of us all, is always reaching out to us. Nothing we have done or nothing we can ever do will stop Him loving us. It is we who have turned our back on him.
We do God a great disservice by saying that there is a chasm which he will not cross until we accept some theory about his Son. There is a chasm which seperates but that chasm is due to our own hard heartedness, our own indifference. It is a chasm which exists because we refuse to trust God, because we refuse to cross it through repentance. (The rich man was not repentant; he only wanted to end his suffering.
No unrepentant sinner can cross that chasm and no one else can cross it
for him (or her). While a person desires anything more than they desire to know God they cannot enter God's kingdom. The rich man wanted to end his pain more than he wanted to know God.) The way to start crossing the chasm is to turn from our sin by
beginning to trust Jesus, which is the path to knowing him who is
eternal life. God loves us, and is always reaching out to us, it is we who do not love him.
Some foolishly say that even if a man or woman turned from sin and led a perfect life they could not be right with God because of their past sins. Such people have never really thought about what they are saying. To live a perfect life means to love God and Jesus with all ones heart, soul, strength and mind and to love ones neighbor as ones self, which would be reflected through perfect obedience. If a person started living a perfect life they would be right with God, to say otherwise is nonsense.
In Ezekiel 18:20-32 God says that if you turn from your sins (and you can't turn from your sins without turning to Him) then He will forgive you. Isn't that what the Muslim man is saying, "Why can't God just forgive us?" Yes He can "just" forgive us if we turn and follow Jesus (and only Jesus). Love keeps no record of wrongs (see 1 Cor 13:5). If a person goes to hell they don't go because of their past sins; they go because they remain an unrepentant sinner. There is a chasm which seperates every unrepentant sinner from God; they cannot cross it while they remain unrepentant and no one else can cross it for them. If a person goes to hell they go because they have not turned and followed Jesus. If we do not follow Jesus we have not begun to love God.
Trusting God is the way to a close relationship with him. If we do not trust God we are treating him as though he does not exist.
"Distrust is atheism, and the barrier to all growth." -- George MacDonald
Since we are saved by faith it is important to understand what faith is. Biblical faith is just another another word for trust. If you have faith in someone you trust them.
Trust in God is a two sided coin. It means trusting that he will do what he says he will do (that's one side); and the other is exercising trust (faith) by attempting to do what he asks me to do. If I am not exercising trust by trying to do what he asks me to do then I am only trusting him to do what he says he will do. What does he say he will do? He says he will send those who do not exercise faith in him to hell. If I am not seriously attempting to obey him (note the quote from Bonhoeffer above) but believing God will do what he says he will do then I am trusting him to send me to hell, nothing more.
There is no salvation outside of active trust which is always reflected by obedience. (Jesus was very clear, there is no salvation without attempting to put his words into practice.)
Perhaps you are thinking, "But how then can anyone be assured of their final destination?" I'm assured of my final destination because I know what God is like.
God is forgiving in his very nature. When anyone turns and follows (begins to obey) Jesus He forgives them, it is as simple as that.
But be careful if you claim to be a Christian. As people who claim to be Christians we must not assume that we will go straight to Heaven when we die. 1 John is clear, many think they have begun to follow Jesus but have not. John was not saying that everyone in the Church he was
writing to was going to go straight to Heaven after they died. He was
saying that those who were living a paricular kind of life were. Following Jesus is a way of life, a way of living which is
plain for people to see. Don't put your trust in where you think you are
going when you die (that amounts to self-righteousness). Don't put your trust in a decision you have made or
something you have done, put your trust in the
fact that God's love is unconditional, unchanging and eternal. And set
yourself to follow Him.
Jesus died to show us how much He loves His Father and to show us how much He loves us. If we genuinley turn and follow Him we don't have to go to Hell. If a person turns from their sins because of Jesus death, He has in effect died in their place. (The old man begins to die now and does not have to perish in Hell.)
Because Jesus died for me I began to follow Him.
He won me; I cannot help but love Him.
Am I rejecting the atonement? Not at all, I am in total agreement with what MacDonald has expressed in the first chapter of Knowing the Heart of God.
If you are serious about seeking and knowing the one who is Life I recommend you read the following.
What does the Bible teach about eternal punishment?
Unspoken Sermons by George MacDonald
The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard
(By the way, Muslims say they believe in Jesus, but if they believe in Him why do they not bother to find out what He says? The Jesus of the Quran says almost nothing and what he says in the Quran is completely different to what the Jesus of the New Testament says. The Quran effectively takes Jesus words from Him and makes Him impotent. Here are some questions worth considering, When Satan asked Jesus to bow down and worship him was he asking Jesus to worship him as someone less than God? What did Satan promise Jesus if He bowed downed and worshipped him as the one true God? See Matt 4:8-11. We are living in the last days, numbers are not evidence of truth. Matt 24:11)
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