Wednesday, April 05, 2006
God's Grace
I had a teacher that said once, "You don't have to squeeze grace out of the Old Tesament like you would try to squeeze blood from a rock. The Old Testament is already saturated with grace. It's practically dripping grace all over."
The story of Cain and Abel is the same. As I was thinking about how fast the Bible's history records the rise of murder, and I wrote about that last week, I realized that the same story is dominated by God's great grace. Cain, guilty of murder was approached by God. God came to Cain with the same instructive attitude, asking questions and leading Cain to the truth, just as He did with Adam and Eve. God judged the sin of Cain, because justice was required, but God made the judgment gracious and loving. He made the judgment bearable.
I believe that God did this because ultimately God loved Cain as much as He loved Abel. He passed the judgment of Cain's sin onto the future judgment of all sin in the promised Redeemer. Cain, as one can read in Genesis four cried out for mercy beyond the mercy that God had already given. Rather than becoming angry and upset with Cain, God eased Cain's pain even more.
I talk a lot about the argument that the Bible is, because I do not believe it is legends, or stories, or sentiments. I believe that the Bible is a systematic presentation of a complete theological, cultural, and practical culture. This passage of Scripture is no different. Aside from Moses, the author, arguing for the depth of sin's depravity, Moses is arguing that God's justice is carried out in a grace that is far deeper. God loves mankind. He loves me. He loves you. He has a "missionary heart," in the sense that He comes to men, reveals Himself, judges the sin and saves the sinner. As we say in Portuguese, "Que tão grande amor!"
The story of Cain and Abel is the same. As I was thinking about how fast the Bible's history records the rise of murder, and I wrote about that last week, I realized that the same story is dominated by God's great grace. Cain, guilty of murder was approached by God. God came to Cain with the same instructive attitude, asking questions and leading Cain to the truth, just as He did with Adam and Eve. God judged the sin of Cain, because justice was required, but God made the judgment gracious and loving. He made the judgment bearable.
I believe that God did this because ultimately God loved Cain as much as He loved Abel. He passed the judgment of Cain's sin onto the future judgment of all sin in the promised Redeemer. Cain, as one can read in Genesis four cried out for mercy beyond the mercy that God had already given. Rather than becoming angry and upset with Cain, God eased Cain's pain even more.
I talk a lot about the argument that the Bible is, because I do not believe it is legends, or stories, or sentiments. I believe that the Bible is a systematic presentation of a complete theological, cultural, and practical culture. This passage of Scripture is no different. Aside from Moses, the author, arguing for the depth of sin's depravity, Moses is arguing that God's justice is carried out in a grace that is far deeper. God loves mankind. He loves me. He loves you. He has a "missionary heart," in the sense that He comes to men, reveals Himself, judges the sin and saves the sinner. As we say in Portuguese, "Que tão grande amor!"
