He did think of a simple question and decided to go with it. “Why not just forgive people and give them a new start? Why do they have to be reborn as a new creation?”
AWAKE to a New Life… Night 5 page 19
Ever wonder why presidents can pardon criminals, but the Son of God had to suffer the death penalty for us who are not criminals? Why does God not take the approach of presidents? Especially if we are contrite, why does He not simply forgive us and allow us to start over with a clean slate? Why did the Son of God need to suffer, die, and rise from the dead to pay for the sins of people who wish to be forgiven? And why does He say we need to be reborn, and what does that mean? The AWAKE to a New Life… book’s character asks the logical questions that many of us have. Of course, God has answers that we need to know. So, let us see some of God’s truths about pardons and commutations.
- As background, God tells us that His ways are not the same as our ways; and that’s good because our ways got us into the mess we have today.
- For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8)
- Because He is a just God, justice must be served for all sins.
- The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he. (Deuteronomy 32:4)
- The consequence of all sin is separation from God and spiritual death.
- But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2)
- The justice that must be served for all sin is severe.
- For the wages of sin is death… (Romans 6:23a)
- Only God can pay the justice of sin because our sinful separation from God requires us to be reborn from death into a new life.
- But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23b)
- Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” (John 3:3)
- That rebirth into a new life in Christ is truly that.
- I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
7. Although the Son of God has already served the sentence for our sins and is The Way for us to be reborn into a new life, we are called to an all-in commitment of following Jesus as both Savior and Lord of our life going forward.
- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
So, presidential pardons do not really matter unless the recipient accepts the truth of Christ. As we continue to see the oft-deceptive news of this world, let us first turn to the Word of God in the Bible for the Good News of truth.