God's Holiness, the Penalty of Sin and Our Assurance of Salvation

 

I have been engaging with people in discussions about God for decades. It began with conversations with coworkers and, with the advent of social media, those conversations moved online with strangers. A common argument that I have heard from unbelievers is that a loving God would not send His creation that He claims to love to Hell, so either God does not exist or He is not loving. Of course, in the hearts and minds of those who do believe in Him, neither of these is the case. 

I am not sure if these two arguments are a reason for someone to not believe or simply a convenient excuse for their unbelief. I have long believed that the main reason that people choose not to believe in God is simply that they do not want to submit to someone outside of themselves. This is obviously not the case for those who are caught in the lies of other religions; they have just chosen to submit themselves to the demons who created the doctrines that those people have chosen to believe.

I have mentioned before that there is a God-shaped hole in each human heart. People will throw anything that they can think of into that hole to try to fill it up and eliminate that void. We want to feel whole. But because that hole is God-shaped, only God can completely fill that hole. Anything other than God that we throw in there will be too small, will not fit in the corners and will leave gaps and voids.

Many, and arguably most, people in the world will try to fill that hole with gods that are not the same size or shape as the hole. They seem to understand that the hole needs to be filled with a higher being, but due to their culture or their lack of exposure to other ideas, the god that they think will fill that hole falls far short of it. It may not be their fault, per se. While the Word of God is getting closer to being available throughout the world, there are countries where that Word is banned or where the dominant religion demands recognition above all other religions. So the Word will not reach every ear on earth even though the Word tells us that all nations will have access to the Good News.

I stand to be corrected on this, but I believe that every religion in the world has some notion of good and evil, and some process by which one can attain to favour in the eyes of that religion's god. There is also, therefore, some punishment or falling short of whatever form that religion's 'paradise' may take. I think in Buddhism, the ultimate reward is for one to reach nirvana or the ultimate evolution of humanity, and until such time as one attains nirvana, they are subject to infinite reincarnations after death. They move up or down the ladder of evolution depending on their performance in their latest life.

In Islam, it is known that one who dies the death of a soldier for the cause of jihad, or holy warfare, will be given 72 virgins to meet his every desire in the afterlife. This is the proclaimed future for the men who die in battle. What of those men who die peacefully in their bed? What of children who know nothing of violence? What of the 'righteous' women? I don't have most of those answers, but I have heard recently that 'righteous' women get to become one of those 72 virgins and serve the warriors who died. Does that sound like paradise for those women? Is this really something for them to strive for?

The sad truth that Christians understand is that there is only one way to paradise, and that is belief in Jesus Christ as God's Son and the acceptance of His gift of salvation from our earned penalty of sin. All other faith systems are false. There is no equality with Christianity. Under the New Covenant that Jesus initiated, even the Jews must recognize Him as their Messiah and accept His payment of their sin debt in order to enter paradise and see their God. The God of Judaism is the same God as Christianity, but one can only see that One God through the Son, and this is where Judaism falls short.

There can only be one God. If God is the ultimate being, logically there can only be one. If there were even two "Gods", then there is no ultimate. They would be, at best, equal to each other. This actually simplifies the religious sphere immensely. If we look at religions with multiple gods, how does one know which god to appease? Can someone truly appease them all? Which one gets the priority and when? Can one know when one has actually appeased the gods?

Most religions teach that there is no assurance of appeasement of the gods. Mankind is subject to personal works for their entire life with no idea of the outcome. Christianity is the only faith system that I know of that actually offers assurance of our future.

Christianity has one God to appeal to, and He has made the way for us to be with Him. We cannot earn our eternal life through our own efforts. The way to eternal life has already been opened up to us if we just believe in Jesus and His payment of our debt. Then we spend the rest of our lives getting to know Him better and drawing closer to Him.

But make no mistake about it, God is Holy, and the price to be with Him is steep. Sin cannot exist in His presence. Anything or anyone who is unclean will not survive in the presence of His Holiness. This is why the Levitical laws of the Old Testament were very specific about how the priests were to approach God. There were sacrifices that had to be made for the sins of the priest before he could minister before God on behalf of the people. The robe of the High Priest even had bells sewn into the hem of the robe and a rope around his ankle when he entered God's presence in the Most Holy Place of the Temple. The priests outside the Most Holy Place would know that the High Priest had not been struck dead in God's presence due to unrepented sin by the ringing of the bells due to his movements. But if the ringing ceased and the High Priest would not answer calls or exit the Most Holy Place on his own, the other priests could pull on the rope and remove the High Priest's body from the Most Holy Place.

Recognition of God's Holiness is nothing to take lightly.

This is why God had to institute a penalty for sin. What is important for humanity to realize is that this penalty was not designed for humans, but for those demons who rejected God's authority. Jesus indicates this in His words found in Matthew 25:41b where He refers to Hell as "the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels". The devil and his angels are those who initially rebelled against God and rejected His authority and this eternal punishment was created for them, not for mankind.

God created the angels as His emissaries in His creation, to do His bidding and fulfill His will. God created mankind as His children with whom to have a relationship and upon whom to shower His love. The intention has always been that humanity would accept and love God; that there would always be a relationship there. Mankind was never supposed to leave the Garden of Eden and God's presence. Satan's deception and humanity's failings put an end to that, and mankind has been largely rejecting God ever since. In the Introduction to Christian Theology book that I often refer to, it is put this way; "Sin in the human race was due to the voluntary self-separation of man from God." (pg169). We initiated this. God set it up for us to have close communion with Him for all time, but mankind's desire to be like God rather than to be satisfied with being with God created the circumstances of self-separation from Him.

This is the condition of humanity to this day. God is pursuing us in myriad ways. It is us that reject Him. God does not send anyone to Hell; we choose that for ourselves. He has made a way for us to avoid that end and it is easy. It does not rely on our own efforts or own own works; in fact, there is nothing that we can do to earn it. It couldn't be easier.

How wonderful is that?! We don't bear the weight of earning paradise in the same ways that other religious systems demand. Our God did it for us. And what is more, His word tells us that we can have assurance that we will be with Him.

John tells us this in the fifth chapter of his first letter. 1 John 5:11-13 says, "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." And John tells us in his gospel what it takes to have the Son. In chapter 1 verse 12, he says, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,". Believe that Jesus is God's Son; believe that He came to earth and died on the cross for the payment of our sin debt; believe that He rose from the dead and advocates for us before God right now, and we will be called the children of God with assurance that He will gather His children that He loves to Himself in the end.

These are the actions of a loving God. His Holiness demands honour, so to deny Him that honour is an offence against Him that cannot be overlooked. But in His mercy He made a way to come to Him once we realize that we have fallen short of His glory, and His sacrifice to accomplish this came at a great cost that none of us could have borne.

That is ultimate love. That is ultimate sacrifice. And that is the ultimate gift. All you have to do is accept it.