Love and righteousness are two of God’s attributes or if you want to say, part of God’s character. The two attributes of God seem to contradict each other, on one side He loves everybody and on the other side He is just and judges sin and disobedience.
Many people, even some Christians say, if God is love, how can He send people to hell and to everlasting condemnation.
At first let me explain the two attributes one by one. The bible says in 1 Cor. 13:4-7:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrong. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres.”
In John 3:16 scripture says:
“For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Now let us look at righteousness. It is described in the dictionary as justice, morality, uprightness and honesty. Therefore God is just, moral, upright and honest and can not tolerate sin, rebellion and disobedience. God proclaims His righteousness and that He will judge the world. If we sin, we are missing the goal or standard which God has set and we are in debt to Him.
Psalm 50:6 says:
“And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God himself is judge.”
Let me tell you a story to bring some human understanding to this situation. In medieval times if a man had big debts, he was thrown into prison, or also called the debt tower. This was a dungeon, cold, wet and damp and with hardly any light. His food was just bread and water or sometimes a watery flour soup.
He had to stay in this situation until his debts were paid. Certainly he was not able to pay for his debts himself, so he relied on family members, friends or a good Samaritan. If nobody would pay for his debts, he would rot and die in this dungeon.
To get out of this situation, someone had to pay for his debts and the only thing he had to do, was to accept the good deed and he would be set free.
The human race is in a simular situation. We all commit sins every day through our lives and our debts to God our Heavenly Father increases to tremendous proportions. You might say, I am not so bad, I haven’t murdered anybody but let me tell you there are lots of sins we are committing on a daily basis.
1. We take things that don’t belong to us
2. We don’t always tell the truth
3. We commit adultery and have sex outside marriage
4. We have our idols like houses, cars, money etc.
5. We don’t give God the honour, he deserves
6. In fact there are far too many to list all of them.
God says in Romans 6:23:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Therefore we are like the man in the debt tower, we can’t pay for our debts and therefore are condemned to a life in prison ( hell ) and then death ( the lake of fire) if nobody comes to our rescue.
God Himself has prepared a way out of this situation. He sent His only Begotten Son to be born in a human body and live among us. He lived a sinless live and therefore did not have to die but he offered his life of his own free will, to pay for our debts, our sins. He was crucified on our behalf and if we accept his sacrifice and repent then we will go free, we will be forgiven. On top of this our Heavenly Father gives us a gift, the gift of eternal life. What a supreme act of love by the righteous God, He punished His only Begotten Son for us so that we might go free.
But if we reject the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the fact that He paid for our debts on the cross then there is no hope for us and we will end up like the man in the debt tower.
That’s why Jesus said in John 14:6:
”I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Many people, even some Christians say, if God is love, how can He send people to hell and to everlasting condemnation.
At first let me explain the two attributes one by one. The bible says in 1 Cor. 13:4-7:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrong. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres.”
In John 3:16 scripture says:
“For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Now let us look at righteousness. It is described in the dictionary as justice, morality, uprightness and honesty. Therefore God is just, moral, upright and honest and can not tolerate sin, rebellion and disobedience. God proclaims His righteousness and that He will judge the world. If we sin, we are missing the goal or standard which God has set and we are in debt to Him.
Psalm 50:6 says:
“And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God himself is judge.”
Let me tell you a story to bring some human understanding to this situation. In medieval times if a man had big debts, he was thrown into prison, or also called the debt tower. This was a dungeon, cold, wet and damp and with hardly any light. His food was just bread and water or sometimes a watery flour soup.
He had to stay in this situation until his debts were paid. Certainly he was not able to pay for his debts himself, so he relied on family members, friends or a good Samaritan. If nobody would pay for his debts, he would rot and die in this dungeon.
To get out of this situation, someone had to pay for his debts and the only thing he had to do, was to accept the good deed and he would be set free.
The human race is in a simular situation. We all commit sins every day through our lives and our debts to God our Heavenly Father increases to tremendous proportions. You might say, I am not so bad, I haven’t murdered anybody but let me tell you there are lots of sins we are committing on a daily basis.
1. We take things that don’t belong to us
2. We don’t always tell the truth
3. We commit adultery and have sex outside marriage
4. We have our idols like houses, cars, money etc.
5. We don’t give God the honour, he deserves
6. In fact there are far too many to list all of them.
God says in Romans 6:23:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Therefore we are like the man in the debt tower, we can’t pay for our debts and therefore are condemned to a life in prison ( hell ) and then death ( the lake of fire) if nobody comes to our rescue.
God Himself has prepared a way out of this situation. He sent His only Begotten Son to be born in a human body and live among us. He lived a sinless live and therefore did not have to die but he offered his life of his own free will, to pay for our debts, our sins. He was crucified on our behalf and if we accept his sacrifice and repent then we will go free, we will be forgiven. On top of this our Heavenly Father gives us a gift, the gift of eternal life. What a supreme act of love by the righteous God, He punished His only Begotten Son for us so that we might go free.
But if we reject the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the fact that He paid for our debts on the cross then there is no hope for us and we will end up like the man in the debt tower.
That’s why Jesus said in John 14:6:
”I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
1 comment:
Like the illustration with the debt tower. Well done!!!
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