#1. God Cannot Look On Sin
You’ve probably heard that statement before.
Maybe you’ve even said it yourself.
But is it accurate?
Let me ask it another way…
Can God save sinners?
Of course He can. Certainly So.
This is one of the key beliefs of Christians. A key teaching of the church.
But… how could that be possible if our opening statement is true? How can God save sinners if He can’t look on sin? or if He can’t hear the prayer of a sinner? How could He save a sinful person if He must turn His back on them until they are righteous?
Hmmm… maybe this statement is one we’ve gotten a bit wrong.
Now it is true that God will not allow sin into His eternal, heavenly kingdom. But sin in our lives does not necessitate that God turns His back on us. Instead, it means that we have broken our fellowship with Him, not our relationship.
As a parent, when your child does something “wrong” by deliberately disobeying you does it damage your fellowship with the child? Yes. But does it break your relationship – such that you are no longer the child’s parent until he/she comes and apologizes? Do you turn your back on them until they confess their wrongdoing? Of course not. It doesn’t break your relationship… you are still his/her Mom or Dad. Your child is still a beloved son/daughter. It is the same with God. When we are rebellious, it damages our fellowship, but it doesn’t change our relationship. He is still the loving father who doesn’t turn His back on us. Rather He reaches out to us.
Many of us have heard that the moment when Jesus took all the sins of the world and became our sin, God the Father turned His back on Jesus, God the Son. It is true that at that moment, God could not retain full fellowship with Jesus, who became sin. But He did not turn His back on Jesus… In fact, Psalm 22 – a prophetic psalm of the crucifixion of the Messiah, indicates that God did not reject Jesus nor did He hide His face from Jesus. Jesus willingly took on our sin and so willingly felt what it was like to be without the intimate fellowship of God the Father.
But let us be careful that we don’t say things that let others think that God might turn His back on them.
What a terrible thought! …That God might turn His back on me.
From the very first sin that happened in the Garden of Eden, we find that God doesn’t hide Himself from sinners. Instead He pursues them. He is the One who pursued Adam & Eve who were hiding after their sin. Had God not pursued those two sinners, it is unlikely they would have interacted with Him again. So even in the midst of my willful sin, God pursues me and calls me to return to Him. He pursues me to restore fellowship with me.
God is holy.
God will not let sin into His eternal kingdom.
Therefore He gives us Jesus to provide us with righteousness to cover our unrighteousness. While we were still sinners, God looked upon us with love and sent Jesus to show us the full measure of His love for us in sin.
God’s mercy is huge. God’s grace is unfathomable.
His righteousness is big enough to cover our sin.
But let’s strive to hate our sin like God hates it.
“God started the sacrificial system for at least two reasons. First, He desired His people to loathe sin. With the constant stream of bloody sacrifices offered by the priests, people were confronted continually with the seriousness of His holiness and their sin. Every time they sinned, something had to die. Second, the sacrificial system was intended to help people long for a Savior whose sacrifice would be complete and perfect. The system was elaborate, but it was never intended to be sufficient; instead, it pointed to something much deeper. It was designed to be a tutor to teach people they could never fulfill the law.” (Matt Chandler, ‘Creature of the Word’)
On this, the week we remember the cross and the empty tomb, let’s thank Jesus for fulfilling the law for us… for becoming that perfect and complete sacrifice. And let’s thank Him for looking on our sin, hating it, and doing something amazing about it.