Q: How can anyone stand or exist in the presence of Almighty God in heaven? How can I be justified before God?
28-Apr-09
If there is one thing that differentiates true Christianity from various religions & beliefs, it is the answer to the above questions. The answer is rooted in a correct view of who God is & who mankind is in relation to Him. These are foundational truths that must be understood, so let’s summarize what the Bible says about who's who:
God is:
wholly holy, perfectly righteous, incorruptibly pure, mightily magnificent, awesomely majestic, altogether glorious, absolutely sovereign, all-powerful, all-present, all-knowing, all-wise, solidly unchanging, totally loving, patiently merciful, continually faithful, bountifully gracious, immensely compassionate, eagerly forgiving, overwhelmingly just, sin detesting, imminently judging, intensely pursuing… |
All people (including you & I) are, by default:beautifully created, intrinsically valuable, hopelessly fallen, shockingly sinful, stubbornly in denial, honestly resistant, unlawfully rebellious, truthfully deceived, unknowingly needy, awkwardly unaware, unwittingly hostile, spiritually lifeless, desperately rescue-able, relentlessly pursued… |
We now have both ends of the spectrum & no one in between, amidst an eminently disastrous situation (Job 9.32-35). In answering the question “Why doesn’t God show Himself?” we observed that in His presence, the justice of a Holy God would require the instant & eternal punishment of sinful man, so how can anyone go to heaven to be in the presence of the LORD forever (1 Sam 6.20, Mal 3.2)?
Given the above condition of mankind, if there is any hope for us at all, it must start in the person of God Himself. It is God who, by love & grace (Jn 3.16, 2 Tim 1.9-10), reconciles us to Himself – the offended reaching out to the offenders (see 2 Cor 5.11-21 to the right). Now, when someone offers reconciliation, the offender must respond by honestly seeking forgiveness which is evidenced by a reasonable effort to stop offending (repentance - Mt 3.8, 2 Cor 7.10), else reconciliation is not achieved. And if God’s reconciliation is refused, then punishment is at hand (Heb 10.26-27). |
"Since, then, we know what it is to fear (revere) the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. |
But, if we are reconciled to God, then we have His endless forgiveness that He permanently guarantees by His Holy Spirit (Eph 1.13-14), forever changing our position with God. This is a matter of a VERY IMPORTANT TRUTH known as justification. It’s soooo important, I’ll spare you a click & copy over the definition from the “Christian-ese” page.
Justification: The permanent status of having a perfect righteousness in God's sight which is only attainable from a sinless Christ. This is instantly given by God to anyone who exclusively trusts in His total forgiveness & absolution of all sins (past, present & future) purely by means of Christ's sacrificial death. It is never attainable through or supplemented by human effort, works, deeds, sacraments, rites, rituals, religion & the like.
(Rom 3.22-24, 4.4-5, 9.16, 2 Cor 5.21, Col 1.22, 1 Pet 2.24, Gal 2.16, 21, 3.3, 5.4, Gen 15.6)
This comes about by the infinite & sinless Christ taking the penalty for finite & sinful men, then giving the royalty of His perfect righteousness to the believer. It results in indisputable qualification for heaven with the simultaneous neutralization of God’s wrath & liquidation of God’s love through Christ’s shed blood (Rom 5.9). Alas, Christ is the one sent from God to stand between God & mankind (1 Tim 2.5, Isa 59.16).
Any attempt to be justified before God in any other way is serious sin. It is idolatry in that it attempts to make God into what we want Him to be instead of who He truly is. It is blasphemy in that it shows contempt & lack of reverence for God. Jesus tells us that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, who convicts us of our sin & God’s righteousness & judgment, is the only unforgivable sin noted in the Bible (Jn 16.8, Mt 12.31-32). Any measure of self-justification insults Christ’s sacrifice by declaring it insufficient (see verses under the definition). As noted, the position of being justified is never attained, earned or added to by our own merit or participation in religious practices (Lk 21.36).
One must come to terms with God’s only true revelation of who He is & who we are. Only then, can the need to be reconciled to Him be realized & accepted by obeying the Gospel. THEN, justification occurs entirely through Christ’s physical death & resurrection.
As a Christian, one can NOW be:
forever forgiven, un-deservingly justified, peacefully reconciled, fiercely loved, spiritually alive, wonderfully re-created, God pleasing, supernaturally guided, divinely empowered, perpetually grateful, eternally spared, confidently heaven-bound, sufficiently supplied, consequently motivated, freely submissive, continually sanctified, un-accusably defended, heavenly accessible, dependently praying, faithfully trusting, gladly praising, daily worshipping, ever growing, joyfully enduring, purposely fulfilled, fruit bearing, deed doing, light bearing, truth dispensing, Gospel scattering, kingdom seeking, lovingly serving, other-edifying, mercy smitten, occasionally opposed, life overcoming, death conquering, sinfully slipping, regularly repenting, always forgiven, relentlessly pursued…
Who would want to miss out on all that?!? Knowledge of justification is important, but what really matters is what or who you are trusting in to be justified before God Almighty. You can get a lot of things wrong about Christianity, but if you trust in anything other than Christ’s justification, you will freely choose to take God’s wrath instead of His love. God is for you! Are you for Him? - (Mt 12.30, Jn 3.18-21)
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. – 1 Pet 3.18a
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. – Heb 4.16
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. – Rom 5.1-2
Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! – Rom 5.9-10
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. – Rom 8.1-2