Christ Having To Die
I have been faced with two questions. If God planned on saving everyone from the beginning, why did He need Christ to do it? Did He really need a sacrifice for all mankind? Was God not enough? And the second question is why does God not appear to be more involved in His creation as opposed to the old testament?
D____
Hi D____,
Thank you for your questions.
Your first question is:
If God planned on saving everyone from the beginning why did He need Christ to do it? Did He really need a sacrifice for all mankind? Was God not enough?
I must confess that I don’t follow the second part of your question, but I do understand the first part, “Did God really need a sacrifice?” I find your question very reasonable. Many people have this same question. I know of no human who would offer his own son to save mankind. If any human were asked if he, personally, would have contrived such a plan, most of us, if not all of us, would carnally admit that we would have come up with a much more “humane” system for the salvation of mankind.
In fact the apostle Paul, when explaining the subject of God’s sovereignty in Rom 9 answers this question very bluntly. First he explains that there is no such thing as the common orthodox Christian doctrine of man having a “free” will. Paul tells us that man’s will is wrapped up in God’s will:
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will [ have mercy], and whom he will he hardeneth.
Paul knew that a statement such as this would provoke the very question that you are asking:
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Paul is referring to the Old Testament teaching which states that no one can resist God’s will:
2Ch 20:5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,
2Ch 20:6 And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?
Isaiah says the strength of the nations is as nothing to God:
Isa 40:17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
Your question is slightly different in that you want to know why God needed Christ’s death to accomplish His purpose, but the answer to your question is the same. It is blunt, but it is the Truth of God’s Word. It is God who gives us the gift of His faith, I cannot give you or anyone else God’s gift of faith. So for those who have been given that gift, here is the Biblical answer to why God is doing things the way He is doing them:
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed [ it], Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22 [ What] if God, willing to shew [ his] wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Rom 9:23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Rom 9:24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
God is God. We may not appreciate that fact, but if “all the nations are less than nothing” then our lack of appreciation for God’s way of carrying out His business, and our lack of faith in God’s Word really don’t amount to much. God’s answer to all such questions is simply that how He carries out His plan is really none of our concern: “O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
I cannot add to or take away from the word of God. He wants us to know and humbly accept the fact that He is in complete charge of His creation and that every thing that happens is in His sovereign plan and purpose, even all the evil that we see all around us:
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
This is a very negative message for the flesh, but it is positive and comforting for the spirit. God has begun a good work with all mankind. It is a work that requires man to experience evil in order to humble mankind:
Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.
“It is an evil experience to humble us.” So God’s plan and purpose includes an evil experience for man, but it is for good. It will humble us all, and we will be purified and cleansed through it all.
When it is all done we will then understand the truth of these verses:
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? [ shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In the end God will have all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the Truth.
The reason God seemed more involved in the Old Testament is because there was no requirement for faith or the trial of faith in the Old Testament. Peter tells us that the prophets of the Old Testament were made to know that they were not prophesying for themselves but for our benefit. So the requirement for faith is greater among those who will be given more in terms of rulership and accountability.
1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
That is a profound statement which is seen by few and understood by even fewer. But that is the truth of God’s Word. The prophets and patriarchs and kings and priests and all the servants of the Lord in the Old Testament were all put there and experienced all they experienced for us and for our admonition and “not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister.”
1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world [ aions, ages] are come.
The ends of the ages did not come upon any who lived in the Old Testament. They have come upon those who know Christ in the New Testament times.
I hope this all helps you to see why God has seen fit to give mankind a Savior who had to die for our sins, and I hope you also see more clearly why God seems to be less hands- on in our time.
If you still have questions please feel free to e- mail me.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike
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