Why God had to come...
9th July 2019
We get lost at times , because we make a false start and end up at the wrong landing position. We need to discern our reasoning and faith by trying to understand the truth with Clarity .
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This is a very difficult and almost painful thing to say , but the simple truth is that there are no good people . Human goodness is truly relative. I know that we often think of ourselves as being good people when we compare ourselves to others .“No man knows how bad he is ,till he has tried very hard to be good.” --C.S Lewis.. Someone came to ask Jesus once and said , “ Good teacher , what must I do to inherit eternal life ? (Luke 18:18). He was asking what must I do good . Jesus looked at him and said , Why do you call me good?’ and then he added,” No one is good , but God alone ,” Think about this: if you have to be good to go to heaven and only God is good, who is going ? God and …. No one else . We cannot attain any divine nature in this human condition. But it had to work the other way round . The divine had to become human to redeem us from this body of sin . But all at a cost . The debt of sinner cannot be achieved by any of our goodness . It is the goodness of God ( or more accurately the righteousness of God) that can clear our debt of sin. It’s a legal debt we owe when we disobey the law of God.
Now sometimes we find this statement offensive.
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The tragedy of human sin arises, not because we are constitutionally inferior to other creation. Human rebellion against God is a cosmic tragedy only because humans are made in the image of God, in a position of dignity and honor (Ps 8: 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.) to have dominion over the rest of the earthly creation. Sin therefore is a broken ruptured relationship with God.
God is an Infinite , Personal , Relational , Holy, Righteous , Non comprehensible being ,Non-physical(Spirit), timeless, eternal, Intelligent, Moral, Valuable, first cause. When we say God is Holy , it is the state of highest wisdom which is a supreme relationship of Love within the trinity (John 17 : 4 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.. ) . A God in three persons…Father ,Son and Holy Spirit . God is a supreme being and is One .( This is the answer to the question: What is God ?) . If we ask… Who is God? The answer should signify a personality, He is Father , Son, Holy spirit . One God in three persons. I understand , such a thought is not at all comprehensible to our earthly realm or dimensions . But that’s what the word of God indicates . (John1: 1.. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse 14 :- And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth) . We are human beings. Love is a relational aspect which can exists only between persons. Love cannot exist between a person and an Impersonal entity . God is not just a force. The force part would only be one of his attributes. For eg… if we say that the breeze/ wind , we enjoy from the fan is the reason for all the good sleep we had .We are then deducing the role of the creator of the wind , which is the Electric Fan . Wind is the attribute or feature of a moving Electric fan . God is a supreme being with a personality . God is Love , because love was always there within the Trinity of God. God didn’t have to create man to experience Love. Love was already in the God head. What makes us human beings, is the capacity of free relationships, loving each other . We cannot love a impersonal being. We can love only a person or a being which has free will . Obviously we cannot love a robot . Losing our personhood is same as being without Love , even with a God . The engagement of our personality in a lasting and fulfilling relationship- and this is precisely what God has offered in Jesus Christ .
God is Light , there is no darkness in Him . God is the Creator and the rest of the things are all his creation . He is the only entity in existence , the reason for whose existence is in himself, says a writer . God is uncaused . All other entities or quantities exists by virtue of something else. The whole universe & nature are his creations which is the physical realm we see .God is the Creator of both the Spiritual & Physical realm. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made. Rom 1:20
When man sinned , God’s Spirit was taken away from man . With His righteous nature,God doesn’t compel himself on us and He is a God of covenant relationship, unchanging , truthful . When Man rebelled, God’s Spirit no longer resided in man . It was by one man’s disobedience that a rupture was caused in the relationship with God . The relationship was also brought back by one man as a promise given By God the father through God the Son. Jesus is truly God and truly man at the same time . Infinite eternal God becomes finite for a purpose of redemption and mark of his love to humanity to redeem humanity by the Ultimate Sacrifice on the cross. He chose to come in the nature of servant as predicted by prophets centuries back to fulfill the will of God . Phil 2: 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Sin is vertical, inward, conditional. Sin cannot be ignored or done away with. Forgiveness has to be real .
But Forgiveness cannot be just love alone . It also has to be Just at the same time. If Love and justice do not combine, you will have no point of reference for moral rectitude. Justice is the hand maiden of Love. And what God’s love gives to us- His Justice also offers to us. But in our condition of sin, this is uniquely Christian, there was no way to bridge this gap, where we as sinners had rebelled against God. For eg .. if someone has committed a child Murder , the Justice demands capital death punishment .Instead if I release him freely without punishment as a sign of my Love , the justice I implement is not correct and doesn’t back the Love, i try to display . And what Gods Justice demanded, his Love provided and his love sent his son. And so that in sending his son to pay the price:- the pure for the impure , the just for the unjust, the unpayable by the one who could pay it. He comes and pays it in full, so that you and I could be offered, that bridge through his son to come back and be reconciled to the Father. So first in the Christian faith the price had to be paid. And he paid it in his son, where we are already told by the world that -Relationship isn’t the first entity of this world.
Life preceeds love in other world views. The world says , “To have God’s Love we need to lead a Sacred life.” Love preceeds Life in Christian view. Love in the trinity, and Lord offers his love. There is only one point in the history of man , where the convergence and meeting place of Ultimate Evil, Justice , Love and Forgiveness come together– Where was this place…? It’s a Mount .. at the mount of Calvary ..the Cross of Christ!! Cross signifies the epitome of evilness of men , Justice & Love of God with an emergence of his Forgiveness. The best sacrifice that God approved. A sinless man paying the wages for a sinful human race. 2 Cor 5: 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. God loved us first . We love each other because God loved us first.
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God , the Holy Spirit can come and live inside each one of us and Jesus said , “My sheep hear my voice “. God’s Spirit can speak to our own human spirit . Holy spirit resides in a man ,in the one who believes in Christ . That doesn’t mean that we become God . It means that we have become adopted children of God in the spirit . Our inner man or spirit is the true child of God. Our status changes from the position of being slave of sin to adopted sonship who inherits all spiritual riches .In God’s house you become a son rather than a slave. But when you were under the world or under the influence of the Universe , you are slaves to the prince of this world , satan . One has to be very careful when you begin to worship the Universe , there is possibility that you can get into unknowingly and indirectly worshipping the evil one. According to the word ,other than God there was only one person who tried to raise himself to the state of God , and said , “I am God and will reach to the position of God. “ , who was also known as the angel of light named satan or lucifer or the devil or the serpent or the morning star . He is the Prince of the Universe or called Prince of the Air . He has been given authority only for a temporary time and his authority doesn’t imply on a believer in Christ . Satan even tried his temptation on Jesus himself and tried to offer an authority of this world. A Spiritual Created being like satan trying to tempt a Creator in his human form . Jesus had to take the human nature as well , because of many reasons which the word of God explains clearly . Man would try to justify against God and say that , “As a man, God , you don’t know our weakness and situations, since you are in heaven, we are in this world ,how can you ever understand our human condition “. But through Jesus even that point of justification is no more valid , ‘cause he himself decided to go through that human state . So that no heaven or earthly beings can open a single word against him and every knee will have to bow down , says the word . Although for God , there is no need for Him to justify himself. Jesus existed as the Word of God in his Godly being before the incarnation. No word from any being in heaven or earth can ultimately stand against the true Word of God. Since he has triumphed , excelled as a Man and is also God eternal at the same time.
God knew a time would come when men would start worshipping his Creation rather than Him which was also prophesied thousands of years back. (Rom 1: 20 For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
21 Because that, when they(men) knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.)
From very old times, men had a sacrificial system of redeeming their sins , which was only a shadow of the coming reality which was yet to be revealed in the Ultimate Sacrifice which was pleasing to God . No amount of any animal sacrifice could vent out the holy wrath of God against sin. The fulfillment of all the past sacrifices was once and for all accomplished by the perfect, full, sufficient sacrifice of God himself . Which is a symbol of his Holy nature- Love. God .John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Rom 3: 23 , “ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”. Sin is not an act, it is a condition before it becomes an act ( Sin is defined as - missing the mark from the original plan and design of God ). Malcolm Muggeridge, well known british journalist & satirist,1900s.. said, “The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable fact but at the same time the most intellectual resisted fact” . The fact that they deny sin is proof of their sin , core of sin is pride. Man is morally self determining being. He also said,” “People do not believe lies because they have to, but because they want to. ” Have you noticed,you don’t have to teach a small child on how to become angry or complaining or disobedient ..
“Jesus didn't come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live “ - CS Lewis
What we discuss in our circles is generally about Morality . Christ emphasized on Righteousness which is slightly different from morality . The word says there is no one righteous and it is impossible to become righteous with human efforts . Righteousness is a quality only for God. It cannot be earned by Human works or good deeds. Because here we are not comparing righteousness between man and man. But a superior righteousness compared to God . The yardstick is the uncomparable Holy righteousness of God. Our highest forms of righteousness , the word claims that it is , as good as a dirty stained rag (Isaiah 64: 6- All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind. ). This is the best result we can achieve with our own human righteous acts or deeds . Our best results of righteous acts are yet uncomparable to The Righteousness of God. Its like we are trying to clean our dirty body with an already dirty cloth . God only has a single standard for righteousness which is nothing less than perfect. The most righteous act or deed God found worthy of any recognition in heaven was the Sacrifice of the righteous one on the Cross.
Different people and religions have different laws or paths & vary in their text .
As per the word , Moral Law is a school master which takes/ leads us to Christ . Law is like a mirror which shows you , on how dirty you are. When you want to wash your face, the mirror doesn’t clean you . To clean your face you need to go to the water faucet. The law is a mirror of your sins. All that the law can do is educate and inform but it can never change your heart .
To understand how the law works…lets consider for eg.. if you notice the traffic laws, it always tells you what is good and bad driving is . But it always punishes you for only the wrong you do . It never shows how good you drove. But only shows/ highlights your fault. Similarly always God’s law is an indicator of your weakness or sin . It doesn’t make you good literally . The law always shows your fault when you cross the red signal . It is an indicator of your badness . Even the slightest desire or slight lust or small lie cannot be justified by an Amazing righteousness of God . Without the law you wouldn’t be able to discern what is good or bad . There is a law in our conscience also telling us between good and bad . In general , law was used for man to come to a realisation that , with no amount of good deeds he does , one red signal crossing or a wrong lane entry is enough to condemn you to wages of sin , which is death . This may sound a bit harsh from the perspective of man and cannot be comprehended. And God himself made a solution for this incapability of man . The solution was so simple by our acceptance , that he just wanted us to believe in his solution. Although it was dreadfully horrendous and painful for him to implement the solution through the Cross.
Gal 3: 19 Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Moses gave 613 laws, what did it do. All it created was more chaos. Jesus summarized it to 2 Why?
The Old testament mirrors this concept in the setting of Moses and is a shadow of the revelation in the New testament . In precedent to the 10 commandments the truth is written as follows.. Ex 20 : 1-3 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. God just does not go into the 10 commandments or the laws of righteous acts. In the first place ,he had to save his people ( who brought his people out of the land of slavery- it’s the prohetic indication of God redeeming us first ,out of the slavery of sin ) and then gave them the law to follow and worship him . In Christianity Redemption is always prior to righteousness, then it is followed by worship . You cannot be righteous until you are first redeemed. You become righteous because of His redemption. The cross of Christ which is your redemption gave us the right standing with God ( or the righteousness) . You cannot worship until you are righteous. Unlike other beliefs , where the salvation or redemption or the saving process is at the end of the cycle after measuring your acts of righteousness and your acts of worship to God . Here , Christ saves you in the first place and then you become righteousness because of his saving work and further leading us to a thankfulness and worship of God . Righteousness is the fruit and not the root . Is truth Dead …. The work on the Cross is God’s redemption ( Cross of Christ). We become righteous before God when we understand that we are truly a sinner , unrighteous and repent to God and believe in God’s redemption .
Col 2 : 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross
God saved you , not when you became righteous . He saved you when you were a sinner and in enemity with him .This is the God we worship , a merciful Father who knows our weakness and bondage of sin . Who himself lived in this world to understand our weakness .Good works are the fruits of salvation, not the root for salvation . We need to improve the community and world around us and God has fore ordained those good works ,for each one of us before the foundation of this world . Good works are fruits and reflection of your Faith .It should not be done as in to achieve something for our own gains… If so the good works are no longer good works , but a work for your own ulterior gains. Even good works should not be done with only an intention to achieve any eternal life or any other state or position for your own self. It should flow out of you as a reflection of your love and faith due to God’s saving grace towards you .
Eph 2 :10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.