What a God!

When we were overwhelmed by sins, you made atonement for our transgressions.           (Psalm 65:3)

Sin.  High treason against the Lord of the Universe.  It is not a joke. It is mutiny.  It is raising a fist against our good and loving God. Given the chance, we would kill God.  As a matter of fact, we had the chance two thousand years ago, and we took it … on a hill outside of Jerusalem.

It is reckoned that there have been somewhere around 120 billion people in Earth’s history. Each one has been a mutinous rebel (Romans 3:23). And wonder of wonders, our collective sin (imagine the mountain of human sin!) has not overwhelmed God! It has grieved God.  It has saddened God. (Genesis 6:6). But it has not overwhelmed God.  He is not the one overwhelmed in Psalm 65. God is not like a frazzled parent wondering how she is going to cope with the naughty kids.  Our sin has not threatened the throne of God.

But our sin has overwhelmed us.  We sin, and our sins engulf us like a flood.  Just look at your own life.  Ponder your worst days for a moment.  Consider the times when your temper, your lusts, your greed, your selfishness have overwhelmed you. Look at society.  Watch the news.  Our collective refusal to have God’s loving rule over us has overwhelmed us. We are caught in the swirling vortex of our own treason against God and we are drowning in it.

So, what does God do about this? What does this good and holy God do about the rebel race on the tiny planet called Earth? He cannot do nothing, for He is a holy God, the Governor of the Universe. He could just obliterate us. That would be fair play.  Here we are shaking a fist at Him, cursing Him, defying Him, and He … makes atonement for our transgression. Stop everything and let this sink in.  Ask God the Holy Spirit to help here. The offended One makes a way to pardon the offender. The One against whom the crimes have been committed comes to the rescue of the overwhelmed criminals. He does this in love and mercy.  He displays His most awesome attribute of all, that He is a gracious and merciful rescuing God. And He does this on that hill outside of Jerusalem, where He Himself, in Jesus, bears the sin of the rebel race.  What a God!

… and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.  Isaiah 53:6