TRUSTING IN GOD'S VIEW OF THE DEATH OF HIS SON

Hebrews 2:10,"For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering."

I ask questions of God often these days.  When I ask the question, as I often do, why did God have to send his Son into this world as a human being, and why did God require that Jesus suffer as he did, and why did God believe it necessary that in order to save us and bring us into glory Jesus had to endure the shame and pain and horror of suffering on a cross . I confess I don't understand why it had to be this way. Jesus in my place as my substitute? Bearing God's holy and just wrath? Atoning for my sin? Satisfying God's holy justice? All of my sin imputed upon Him? My ransom price? 

Allot of people now days question or are offended by such a view of the death of Jesus, even among some professing Christians. But how did God feel about what had to be done to secure our salvation? When I ask those kinds of questions, the author of Hebrews tells me: “it was fitting,” or “it was appropriate,” or “it was in perfect harmony with God’s nature and character,” or “it was compatible with God’s intentions to glorify himself,” or some such rendering.

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In other words, Christianity is what it is because it perfectly expresses the perfections of God. The way in which God has gone about securing your salvation and my salvation is entirely “fitting” and “good” and “proper” and “reasonable”, at least to God’s way of thinking! It is coherent and symmetrical and beautiful and grand. There is nothing illogical or absurd or immoral or unsavory about the way God saved you and me, namely, through the sufferings of his Son, Jesus Christ.

So, I bask in the wonder of Gods brilliance, even when I don't understand. :)

I simply wonder and pray and praise what Paul proclaimed:

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:33-36 

THE PRECIOUSNESS OF PROVIDENCE

"I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. ” Psalm 57:2

"The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me..." Psalm 138:8

Do you ever feel like all you see ahead of your future is darkness? Do you feel that you have messed up your life and God's will for you? Do you feel helpless, weak, and the prisoner of others, circumstances, or the consequences of your own decisions? Then listen to the straightforward truth that David clings to in Psalm 57:2 and 138:8.

Here he states two basic facts: God has a purpose for him and God will fulfill that purpose. Both these truths combine to become that deep and wondrous theological concept we call “providence.” The word means "to see beforehand".

Providence is the sovereignty of God made palpable. It’s the outworking of his power and authority for his children in space and time, which means, in the things we schedule, the air we breathe, the moments we move, the decisions that we and others make,

Since God is sovereign, and this world is his, then every moment, in a sense, is a moment of providence. Wherever you find yourself right now has come by the process of events he ordained. Every past moment of your life has led to your now. The same will be true tonight, and tomorrow, and ten years in the future. Our experience of providence is our experience of the present, which we know has been wondrously woven together by God.

I have written before that there are millions of micro-reasons for God doing what He does that He has chosen not to reveal to us (Deuteronomy 29:29). Most of the time we have not a clue. That is why we must ground ourselves with an iron hold onto the things He has revealed to us in His Word, His macro-reasons.God is always doing 10,000 things we can’t see. Always. God is doing “ten thousand times more” than we realize. This doing, whether seen or unseen, whether painful or pleasant, is resolutely and effectively targeting our eternal joy. We will be like Christ . . . with him . . . forever.  (1 Corinthians 15:49; Psalm 16:10-11).

God’s intended aim for his people, after all, is that we are conformed to the image of Jesus. This is his decree and promise, having chosen us for this before the foundation of the world and having promised us unto this that all things will work together (Romans 8:28–30).

We may get it wrong. We may make sinful, foolish, and poor decisions. God never gets it wrong. He doesn’t swing and miss. Every detail of our days comes through the blueprints of his meticulous care for us. And even when all hope seems lost, remember he is the one who “gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist” (Romans 4:17) — and he will do that for us.

Not only is God flawlessly at work for our good, but he doesn’t let loose until he’s finished. God providence never dries up or fizzles out. It is always in action to accomplish his intended aim. Everything he does is right, and it is all right until it is done.

“He does all that he pleases,” “no purpose of [his] can be thwarted,” and “none can stay his hand” (Psalm 115:3; Job 42:2; Daniel 4:35) — these words about God are assurances that he will complete what he began in us (Philippians 1:6). Nothing can separate us from his love for us in Christ (Romans 8:39), and nothing can distract the simplest of circumstances from hitting the target of our transformation. There’s no stalling with God. He doesn’t procrastinate. Even if we are clueless to his designs right now, God’s providence is blaring full-throttle toward our Christlikeness, and his glory

Providence means that God has no "plan B" for you. Gods design is that though our sins and failures He will make us into useful vessels that will far surpass the beauty we had before. I am encouraged that all my sins, mistakes, bad decisions, and and failures do not mean that I am consigned to accept Gods second best alternate plan B for my life rather than His first choice of plan A. That's not how He thinks, purposes, or operates. The Lord is free and able to fulfill His perfect and best plan for us. God is in the business of making miserable failures into beautiful demonstrations of His mercy and grace. The next time you wonder whether God is able to make something out of your life, you need to know that the answer is 1000 times, YES!

 God sees the moment of our failures in life at the same time He sees us on the moment that we stand before Him as a faultless bride. He sees us the moment we were born at the same time He sees us at the moment of our last breath

Be revived, encouraged, comforted, God is fulfilling his purposes.

Day by day, and with each passing moment,Strength I find, to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment, I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.He whose heart is kind beyond all measure,Gives unto each day what He deems best—Lovingly,its part of pain and pleasure,Mingling toil with peace and rest. Karolina W. Sandell-Berg, “Day by Day”

Pastor Bill