Yesterday we explored the idea that Jesus, as the Messiah, fulfilled Israel’s calling to deal with the problem of Sin by taking God’s righteous judgment into and upon himself so that we might receive the free gift of salvation. Paul, in his letter to the church in Rome, says that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because Sin was condemned in him (Rom 8:1-3). He also says that the payment for sin is death but God offers us the free gift of eternal life in Christ instead (Rom. 6:23). The question is whether we will receive this gift!

On the surface it might seem a bit of a no-brainer, who wouldn’t want to receive this amazing gift of forgiveness, freedom, and life that God offers us? But the catch comes when we realise that in order to recive this gift, we first need to humble ourselves and acknowledge that we need it. For instance, In order to be healed we need to accept the judgment that we are sick, to be forgiven we need to accept the judgment that we have sinned; to be given grace we need to accept the judgment that we don’t deserve it.

‘The gospel will never tell you that you are innocent, but it will tell you that you are loved’

Rowan Williams – Archbishop of Canterbury

Being honest about our own shortfallings and brokenness is not an easy thing to do though and we often want to think that the problems in the world are always external to us, always out there somewhere, in other people. The gospel, however, confronts us and calls us to acknowledge that we too are in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness like everyone else. The good news about all of this though is that God’s righteous judgment toward us becomes the very doorway into salvation for when we humble ourselves and recognise our own sin we are positioning ourselves to receive the grace of God.

‘The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart’

Hebrews 4:12

God’s plan to repair and restore the world means ridding it of all its corruption, darkness, cruelty, jealousy, injustice, prejudice, lust, racism, envy, hatred, oppression etc., but a key question is how God can do this without destroying us in the process? How can God remain in a relationship with the people that he loves when those whom he loves are the ones causing a lot of the problems in the first place?

The answer is the cross!

For it is there, at the cross, that our sins are dealt with and we are restored into a right relationship with God!

We would love to hear any thoughts, reflections, or questions that might have arisen from today’s post so please do leave us a comment in the section below!