Mr. Lucky,
That is just one little aspect of what I meant when I said that The Plan of Salvation is SO big, so thorough, so powerful, so generous that it seems too good to be true.
God hates sin. But his plan at Creation was to have a forever family to love Him back. Then along came satan, Adam’s rebellion, and sin, seemingly dashing God’s plan. But none of that came as a surprise to God. God foresaw it all, and between Him and His only begotten Son, They agreed on a Plan of Salvation, in which the Son, sinless and perfect in every way, would come to Earth as a human being, virgin born to retain His purity, and eventually be crucified and shed His sinless blood to pay for the sins of the entire world. That is why Christ is/was referred to as The Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. Before God ever created a grain of sand, it was already settled, that someday Christ would die to redeem the human race.
The beating and flogging He took before the crucifixion, the spikes through his hands and feet and the crown of thorns were the small change of the transaction. The heavy duty stuff; the part Christ dreaded so badly that He sweated great drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemene was that He knew that once He was nailed to the cross, the Father would place upon his sinless, holy and pure soul EVERY sin and/or shortcoming of ANY and ALL kind of every sinful human such as I; and then that God would pour upon Him and His soul, all the wrath and vengeance that a Holy God would EVER have against sin and sinners for all time.
While on the cross, every sin, every disease, every impurity ever known to mankind was poured into His being, from athsma to syphillus to AIDS to tuberculosis, to you-name-it. The Scriptures say that during those 3 hours, Christ’s body, His appearance, his visage was so marred, so devastated, that if it hadn’t become pitch dark and hidden the the spectacle from human view, He would not have been recognizable as a human being. With no irreverence intended, I believe that if it would have been visible, His body would have resembled a hunk of rotten carrion hanging there. In those 3 hours, a Just and Holy Judge poured out every scintilla of His wrath against sin, so that when Christ cried out, “It is finished!”, it truly WAS finished for all time and eternity.
So now, along comes Tommy Tucker, hears the Gospel message, realizes he’s a lowlifed sinner and needs a Savior; and in dumb, humble faith in God’s Word, confesses his sins and invites Christ to wash and cleanse him, to come into his heart and be his Savior. And Christ did. I’m not the same person. God’s Word says so.
Christ said that, “He that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.” He said, “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anything or anyone pluck them out of my hand.” And all down through history prior to the Cross; and in the Gospels and the Epistles we are promised that once we receive Christ as our Savior, all our sins, past, present and future are under the blood and never remembered against us FOREVER.
Yes, it’s mind-boggling. But I take God at His Word, and out of gratitude for a GUARANTEED home with God for ETERNITY, I show my gratitude by walking as close to God and Christ as a fallible, bumbling human such as I can do. And not a day goes by that I don’t look up toward Heaven and say out loud, “Thank you Father. Thank you Jesus. I love you back, and I will praise and thank you eternally as I enjoy the wonders of your infinite Universe in my Glorified Body, just like Christ had when He walked out of the tomb on that First Easter Morning. It’s free and available to EVERYONE. But we must personally confess our NEED of it, and ask Him for it, and have a teeny little bit of faith, even as a grain of mustard seed that He’s as good as His Word.
Grab your Bible, turn to Matthew, and read all about it.
Blessings.
God doesn't forgive because He's forgetful; He forgives because he's Gracious. God knows everything (1 John 3:20) and yet even knowing our every sinful thought and deed is so Gracious that He forgives those who believe in Christ as their Savior.
Amen. Christ even took the sins of those whom would denie Him.