A Sign For You Now

Aim of this step: To put it all together and make logical conclusions based on the evidence.

 

God is caught in a dilemma between his justice and his love. Since we’ve all sinned at one time in our lives, God’s infinite justice demands that he punish that sin. But because of his infinite love, God wants to find a way to avoid punishing us.

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What’s the only way God can remain just but not punish us for our sins? He must punish a sinless substitute who voluntarily takes our punishment for us (sinless because the substitute must pay for our sins, not his own; and voluntary because it would be unjust to punish the substitute against his will). Where can God find a sinless substitute? Not from sinful humanity, but only from himself. Indeed, God himself is the substitute. God came down from heaven to save you and me from punishment. And we all deserve punishment. I do. You do.

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God’s standard is moral perfection because his unchanging nature is moral perfection. Perhaps you are “good” but we have all fallen short.

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The greatest myth believed today when it comes to religion is that “being good” will get you to heaven. According to this view, it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re a “good person” and your good deeds outweigh your bad. But this is false, because a perfectly just God must punish bad deeds regardless of how many good ones someone has performed. Once we’ve sinned against an eternal Being (and we have) we deserve eternal punishment, and no good deed can change that fact.

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Jesus came to offer us a way out of that punishment and to offer us eternal life. Paradise lost in Genesis becomes paradise regained in Revelation. So when Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6), he was not making an arbitrary claim but a statement that reflected the reality of the universe. Jesus is the only way because there is only one way God can reconcile his infinite justice and his infinite love (Romans 3:26). If there were any other way, then God allowed Christ to die for nothing (Galations 2:21).

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God satisfies his justice by punishing himself for our sins. All we need to do in order to be set free is to accept the gift. There’s only one problem. God can’t force you to accept his gift either. God loves you so much that he even respects your decision to reject him. You can reject Christ because he has left your free will truly free.

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If he overwhelms us with his power we may not be free to love him (love and power are often inversely related). And even if we retain our freedom, we may not love him but merely love what he gives us. What can God do?

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He descended to the human level (in fact to one of the lowest social levels possible) to that of a servant. Imagine, the creator of the universe humbling himself by coming to serve, suffer, and die at the hands of the very creatures he created! Why would he do this? Because his infinite love compels him to offer salvation to those made in his image. And taking the form of a human servant was the only way he could offer us that salvation without negating our ability to accept it.

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It is very hard to fathom the magnitude of his suffering on the cross.

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The five greatest questions that confront every human being are answered by Jesus and the Bible. Since we know beyond a reasonable doubt that the Bible is true, the answers to those five questions are:

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1. Origin: Where did we come from? – We are created beings, wonderfully made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27; Psalm 139:14)

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2. Identity: Who are we? – Since we are made in the image and likeness of God, we are creatures of supreme worth. We are loved by God and endowed with certain God-given rights and responsibilities (John 3:16-18; 1:12; Galations 4:5)

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3. Meaning: Why are we here? – Adam and Eve were created in a state of innocence, but their choice to disobey condemned the human race to punishment in accordance with the infinite justice of God (Genesis 3:6-19). Since that time, each of us has confirmed the choice of Adam and Eve through our own disobedience (Romans 3:10-12; 5:12). We remain in this fallen state so that we can make free choices that will have implications in eternity. This temporal life is the choosing ground for the eternal one.

 

Choices we can make that will bring glory to God (Isaiah 43:7; John 15:8), and may bring us eternal rewards, include:

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a. accepting the ransom Jesus paid in order to free us from eternal punishment and welcome us into his eternal presence (Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:6; Hebrews 9:15; Luke 16:19, John 14:2)

b. serving as ambassadors for Christ to help others make that same choice (2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Matthew 28:19); and

c. learning from our own sufferings to comfort others who suffer (2 Corinthians 1:3-4), and realising that our sufferings enhance our own capacity to enjoy eternity (2 Corinthians 4:15-5:1); Peter 1:5-11)

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4. Morality: How should we live? – Since God first loved us, we should love him and others (Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:19-21). In fact, the “whole duty of man” is to “fear God and keep his commandments” (Eccles. 12:13-14). This includes making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19) and enjoying the good things God gives us (1 Tim. 6:17).

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5. Destiny: Where are we going? – God’s infinite justice demands that he punish our sins, but because of his infinite love he has taken the punishment on himself (Isaiah 53:4, 10, 12; Romans 3:26; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter2:24). This is the only way he could remain just and still justify sinners (John 14:6; Romans 3:26). His gift of salvation from eternal punishment is free to all the world (John 3:16; Eph. 2:8-9; Rev. 22:17). It cannot be earned through good works or any kind of merit. And God wants everyone to be saved from the eternal punishment we all deserve (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). But since he cannot force us to love him (forced love is a contradiction), each one of us must choose for ourselves whom we will serve (Josh. 24:15; John 3:18).

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Your Destiny

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Whom will you serve? God leaves that choice in your hands. Love knows no other way. You can reject Christ, but you cannot honestly say there’s not enough evidence to believe in him.

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All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there would be no hell. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened.

 

The door is being held open by Jesus Christ. How can you walk through it? Paul wrote, “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:9).

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You say, “I believe that Jesus rose from the dead”. Good. But merely believing that Jesus rose from the dead is not enough. You need to put your trust in Him. You can believe that a certain person would make a great spouse, but that’s not enough to make that person your husband or wife. You must go beyond the intellectual to volitional – you must put your trust in that person by saying “I do”. The same is true concerning your relationship with God. Trusting him is not just a decision of the head but one of the heart.

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What happens if you freely choose not to walk through the door Jesus is holding open? Jesus said you will remain in your condemned state: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18). In other words, you’ll remain condemned and separated from God forever. God will respect your choice by saying to you, “Thy will be done”.

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You say, “God doesn’t send anyone to hell!”. You’re right. If you reject Christ, you’ll send yourself there. Jesus spoke more of hell then he did of heaven. God will not annihilate unbelievers because he will not destroy creatures made in his own image. That would be an attack on himself. What would you think of an earthly father who killed his son just because his son chose not to do what his father wanted him to do? God is too loving to destroy those who don’t want to be in his presence. His only choice is to quarantine those who reject him. That’s what he does – it quarantines evil, which is contagious.

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Jesus is the only way to reconcile infinite justice and infinite love. If that’s not true, then God sent Jesus to die a brutal death for nothing.

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God doesn’t torture anyone. Hell is not a place of externally inflicted torture, but a place of self-inflicted torment (Luke 16:23, 28). Those in hell certainly don’t want it, but they will it. Hell is a terrible place, but its doors are locked on the inside. Second, people may choose hell whether or not they’ve heard of Jesus. Everyone knows of God because of the starry heavens above and the Moral Law within (Romans 1:18-20; 2:14-15). Those who reject that natural revelation will reject Jesus too. However, those that truly seek God will be rewarded (Hebrews 11:6). Since God wants everyone to be saved (even more than you do – 2 Peter 3:9), he will ensure that seekers get the information they need. And since God is just (Genesis 18:25; Psalm 9:8; Romans 3:26), no one will go to hell who should go to heaven, and vice versa.

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Christians are not trying to scare anyone, but maybe they should. I certainly don’t like what the Bible says about hell. We wish it weren’t true. But Jesus, who is God, taught it, and for good reason. If there is no heaven to seek and no hell to shun, then nothing in this universe has any ultimate meaning: your choices, your pleasures, your sufferings, the lives of you and your loved ones ultimately mean nothing. We struggle through this life for no ultimate reason, and Christ dead for nothing. Without heaven and hell, this incredibly designed universe is a stairway to nowhere.

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But we don’t just want life to have meaning – we have evidence that it has meaning. Your choices do matter. Your life does have ultimate meaning. And thanks to Christ, no one has to experience hell. Every human being can accept his free gift of eternal salvation. It takes a little bit of faith but since the evidence shows beyond a reasonable doubt that the Bible is true, accepting Christ is the choice that requires the least amount of faith. The choice is up to you.

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You say, “I still have doubts and questions”. I do too. Everyone does and as finite creatures why shouldn’t we. We will never have all the answers because as we go into the universe these would be infinite.

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Have you ever thought about questioning your doubts? Ask yourself, “Is it reasonable to doubt that Christianity is true in light of all the evidence?”. Probably not. In fact, in light of the evidence, you ought to have a lot more doubts about atheism and every other non-Christian belief system. They are not reasonable. Christianity is. So start doubting your doubts and accept Christ. It takes too much faith to do anything else.