If I Spare Them…

“Because of His affliction, He shall see the light in fullness of days; through His suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt He shall bear.” Isaiah 53:11

We all want to get to heaven, to dwell in the house of the Lord, don't we? It's beautiful there, glorious, love abounds! But the problem is, how can I, with all my sin, my selfishness, my irritability, my callousness, my carelessness with my speech and thoughts, ever belong there? How can I even get near a holy, sinless, righteous God?

Even if I stand on Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on earth, where I am nearest to the sun, I'm still terribly far from it! The difference is negligible. So even if I try my hardest to be good, all my effort, will not make me more ready for heaven!

It took Jesus, God's beloved Son, who became an abomination, who took our sins, became the sacrifice that satisfied the demands of a righteous God. My sins, my guilt, my shame, heaped upon Jesus' body, and it pleased God to crush Him, instead of me!

Here is a conversation John Flavel, an English Puritan Presbyterian minister, imagined God the Father and His Son had, before Jesus came down to save us. This is the Bargain of all Bargains!

The Father speaks. "My Son, here is a company of poor, miserable souls that have utterly undone themselves and now lay open to my justice. Justice demands satisfaction for them, or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them." 

The Son responds. "Oh my Father. Such is My love and pity for them, that rather than they shall perish eternally I will be responsible for them as their guarantee. Bring in all Thy bills, that I may see what they owe Thee. Bring them all in, that there be no after-reckonings with them. At My hands shall Thou require it. I would rather choose to suffer the wrath that is theirs then they should suffer it. 

Upon me, my Father, upon me be all their debt." 

The Father responds. "But my Son, if Thou undertake for them, Thou must reckon to pay the last mite. Expect no abatement. Son, if I spare them... I will not spare You." 

The Son responds. "Content Father. Let it be so. Charge it all upon Me. I am able to discharge it. And though it prove a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverish all My riches, empty all My treasures... I am content to take it."

Thank You, Jesus, for bearing all my sin, my guilt and shame.