For
while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
--Romans 5:6
But God demonstrates His own love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. --Romans 5:8
And He Himself is the propitiation for our
sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. --I John
2:2
I
cannot walk up to an unbeliever and proclaim that because he sins he will go to
hell. No one is going to hell because of sin. The sin issue concerning the
human race has already been dealt with at the cross. Jesus died for the
ungodly! Man is not doomed because of sin; rather, man is doomed because of
pride; it is pride that sends man to hell. It was pride that caused the initial
fall in response to temptation. God prioritizes what is considered bad by
listing pride first, unbelief second, and sin third. Somehow we have reversed
the order.
When the resurrected Christ appeared to the
disciples, they did not recognize Him. To prove Who He was, He showed them the
marks of crucifixion, the same marks that kept the disciples from recognizing
Him. Before a crucifixion the Romans would take a whip made of twelve strands
of leather (glass embedded on each side with a hook on the end) and strike the
victim 39 times across the back and once across the face, completely
disfiguring him. Jesus was marred beyond recognition, and for all of eternity
He will bear those marks. At the right hand of the Father sits the marred
Jesus. We will never fully understand the price that the Word of God paid to
become a man; however, we know that it was great, for He is still a man in
heaven. Is it any wonder that we will see Him in heaven as the Lamb that was
slain and fall down in worship?
Because the sin issue has been dealt with,
all that God requires is our belief in and receiving of the marred Jesus that
sits at His right hand. Unbelievers will not perish because of sin but because
of the pride they hold dear that denies the Son of God who made the supreme
sacrifice.
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