FRANCIS M. BURG by FRANCIS M. BURG

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 11, 1915

FRANCIS M. BURG

By FRANCIS M. BURG

“Is There Unrighteousness With God?”—No. 2

FRANCIS M. BURG

“And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.” Rev. 15:3.

WHEN the people of God shall have finished their course in the school of Christ, they will have learned some wonderful lessons to which they will give expression in everlasting song. Among the fundamental principles which they will have learned will be the justice of God in all his dealings with his creatures. When Lucifer instigated his rebellion in heaven, he insinuated that Jehovah was arbitrary and unjust in his treatment of his subjects. So the plan of salvation was laid along such lines that its outworking would fully demonstrate the justice of the Creator and vindicate his character before the whole universe. This is one of the main objects in the great plan of human redemption. When this plan is finally worked out, the people who are saved will declare in eternal song that the ways of Jehovah are just and right.

While infinite love and mercy led the Lord to provide a way for man’s redemption from sin, the demands of justice were not set aside. “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Ps. 85:10.

Justice demanded death for the guilt incurred by transgression. This demand could not possibly be ignored in making provision for the forgiveness of sin. The debt must be paid; forgiveness could not be justly offered in any other way; so to meet this demand, mercy provided a substitute whose life should be given in payment of the debt and to give the offender the fullest opportunity to see the magnitude of his guilt and to return to his allegiance to God. So God “gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

The terms of the great plan by which the guilty may be restored to the favor of God and to the right of eternal life, are beautifully stated in Rom. 3:25, 26: “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Notice that only as the righteousness of Christ is imputed to cover the life of guilt, in response to the sinner’s faith in the vicarious sacrifice, can God be just in freeing, or justifying, the offender and restoring him to the divine favor. It takes but little reasoning to see that in order for God to be just in forgiving sinners, he must accept a vicarious sacrifice of one who himself is sinless, and whose life is of sufficient value to atone for sin; and also that the sinner must in repentance and true sorrow confess his guilt and by faith accept the offered grace. Never can God admit a soul to life eternal who does not meet these conditions. Otherwise than this, Jehovah would be open to a charge of injustice, for it would be manifestly unjust for him to give his Son to suffer and die, and then on any other terms whatever than true repentance, confession, and faith, justify the offender. This thought is clearly stated by the Lord himself in speaking to Moses: “And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.”

In the nature of things, Jehovah cannot forgive an unrepenting sinner. There is a vital reason why the gospel herald first calls for repentance. Said Peter on that great day when the power of God was so wonderfully manifested, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:38. The burden of the message by John the Baptist was, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matt. 3:2. And again the message was spoken, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Luke 13:3. So the call for repentance and the offer of forgiveness are inseparable parts of the gospel message. John, in his first epistle, touches the same thought when he, in familiar language, shows the willingness of God to forgive: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.

Under the plan of God for the salvation of sinners, he can both freely and safely forgive sins, and at the same time be just in so doing. So while the redeemed will, in the ages to come, tell the “exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Jesus Christ,” and ascribe everlasting praise to him who loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood, they will also join in the great oratorio in which Jehovah’s attributes are extolled,—his power, his holiness, and his justice. By the outworking of his plan to save men, his judgments have been “made manifest.”