For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)
My older brother Rusty, fourteen years my senior, is suffering from ALS. Although he is fighting valiantly, courageously even, the disease is slowly taking its toll. His ability to speak is becoming more and more difficult and his strength is declining. The strong, older brother I always looked up to is losing a battle to an awful disease. While his weekly chronicle of events reflects the positive, inspirational attitude he has maintained throughout his struggles, the unfortunate truth is that this is a war he cannot win.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they condemned all of mankind to death. As a result, our time on this earth is limited. Then we die. All of us. No one escapes. This is our future, at least on this planet. While no one likes to dwell on death and dying, it is inevitable.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they not only condemned man to physical death, but also to spiritual death. They severed the perfect union they had previously enjoyed with God. They traded the beauties of the Garden of Eden for the realities of a harsh, sin-filled world. The fellowship they shared, not only with God, but also with all His creatures was destroyed. Their idyllic life became anything but. Struggles and suffering replaced joy and freedom. Even worse, the righteous punishment for their terrible act of rebellion was eternal separation from God, eternal suffering for their mistakes, eternal spiritual death.
Although Adam and Eve may have started it, we are no better. We have all rebelled against God too many times for us to count. We have pursued our own goals, our own ambitions, our own desires. We have relegated God, and our neighbors, to secondary positions and placed our wants and our needs ahead of everything else. We have violated the Ten Commandments so many times that, if we are honest with ourselves, we truly recognize that the fair punishment, that justice demands, for our sins is eternal damnation. That is what we deserve. Every last one of us. To Hell with us all.
Fortunately, this is not the end of the story. Fortunately, God did not leave Adam and Eve, and the rest of us, in this awful state. Fortunately, God had a plan to save us from ourselves. Fortunately, God was willing to do the only thing that could deliver us from this terrible fate. Fortunately, God was prepared to die in our place.
The almighty God, Creator of the universe and everything in it, was willing to die for us. For us, poor, miserable sinners, who have failed Him so, so many times, who have hardly treated Him with the awe, with the reverence, with the fear that He deserves. No, in spite of our wickedness, in spite of our selfishness, in spite of our sin-filled hearts, God decided that He would bear it all. He would take on our punishment. He would humiliate Himself to become man, He would live a perfect life with the limitations of being a man, He would die an excruciating, shame-filled, completely unfair death on a cross for us. For us. For us, miserable sinners. For us, totally undeserving, completely wretched sinners. He would take on our punishment so that we didn’t have to. He would die so that we could live. He would bear the punishment of the Father so that we could become His children. He would trade His perfect righteousness for our miserable filth.
What God has done is so mind-blowing that I struggle at times to accept it. Why would God die for scum like me? Why would almighty God even care about me? I am not worth saving. I deserve eternal damnation; that would be fair. Anything else is being merciful to me. Eternal life with God, eternal bliss in Heaven? No, I certainly don’t deserve that.
The truth is none of us deserve eternal salvation. None of us merit eternal bliss. Certainly, none of us measure up to the standard of being called the children of God. Yet, this is what we are. Through God’s grace, He has given us this incredible gift. We totally, totally don’t deserve it. All we can do is offer our humble thanks and praise.