The Most Terrifying Truth
The most terrifying truth is that God is good, and we are not. Let’s explore this idea.
Think of it like this:
A man breaks into your house and brutally murders your family and is apprehended. He gets his day in court. The presiding judge declares, “I am loving and kind. Therefore, I find you ‘not guilty’ of this crime.” What would be your reaction? I would hope that you would be angry with the judge and that you would see him as no better than the man who committed the murder. God, however, as a righteous judge of sin, makes the declaration of “guilty” against unregenerate sinners because if He were to fail to do so, He would no longer be a good and righteous judge. (As a side note, one of the attributes that God has given man is a love for justice. As an example, every television news broadcast I have seen in America leads with stories of crime to hook the viewer based on the viewer’s love of justice. We are a people who love to see the guilty receive their due punishment.)
Because God is so holy, He cannot let sin go unpunished. Ponder these verses: (Exodus 34:6-7) “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.’” If you took time to analyze those verses, you may ask, “If God claims that He forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin, then how does He also not leave the guilty unpunished?”
The answer is the cornerstone of Christianity: Jesus Christ. Because Jesus became a curse and took on the sins of those who would believe (admittedly, I don’t know the mechanics of how that worked because my theology is lacking), God was pleased to pour out his wrath on Jesus. When you come to salvation, God then justifies you. This justification is a legal standing before God that declares you in good standing with Him. Jesus made a sacrifice that appeased the wrath of God that was due you (i.e. “propitiation”), and Christ’s righteousness is then imputed to you at salvation. If you are in Christ, God sees Christ’s righteousness covering you. The only way that God will forgive you of your sins is if He has saved you by his grace. You are saved from God (i.e. from His wrath), by God, and for God.
As a human, I cannot conceive of God’s holiness or how far we have fallen as a race, but I would be lying if I claimed that my own sense of justice were not somehow satisfied by knowing that evil will be punished. The thing is, though, that we are all evil in comparison to God. Every last one of us. None of us can imagine the terror of experiencing God’s wrath, and, if you have not taken an honest inventory of your faith, I urge you to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). I completely understand that warning readers of fire and brimstone is not a great approach to winning souls over to Christ, but you do need to be aware that sin, apart from Christ’s imputed righteousness, will have to be punished by God because He is good, and we are not.
That is the the most terrifying truth.
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