"If God made me with a rebellious nature, then isn't He responsible for my sin?"
Understanding the Heart of God:
God is not morally evil because He creates us knowing that we have a rebellious nature. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemene he was sorrowful. He was praying that God take this cup away from him but not as his will but the Father’s will. He knew that what he was going to suffer and die for people who would still reject him. It anguished Jesus’ heart because he knew that the people at the present time were rejecting him and also in the future to come after he finished the job on the cross. Foreknowing that future people will be born with a rebellious nature he still went to the cross. He still took the judgement of God for those who rejected him knowing that most would reject him but for the hope of the few that would be saved it was worth the cost. He took the judgement that we deserve knowing that we would still reject him. How is that unloving?
God’s sovereign plan did not force Judas to betray Jesus.
At the night Judas betrayed Jesus, he could have turned to Jesus in faith but instead turned away. Afterwards, he confessed his sin to the religious leaders instead of Jesus. Sadly, he chose remorse instead of repentance. This is a good reminder that God plans events but also holds every human responsible.
Christian Freedom and God’s Sovereignty:
The universe has a destiny. It is not an impersonal mechanism of determinism. The destiny of this human race is in the hands of someone who is personal, absolutely Holy, wise, just and loving.
— R.C. Sproul
God is absolutely powerful and sovereign in all things. Nothing happens apart from His will in a certain sense. However in the context of God’s sovereignty God can operate His power actively and passively. God can allow me my freedom within limits and so get me where I need to go and get the world where it needs to go without taking away my freedoms. He has absolute power over the created order.
When Jesus Christ was crucified. Couldn’t he have delivered himself from it? Was he not delivered up to the cross by the foreknowledge and forecounsel of God?
Had someone tried to stop Jesus and exercised their choice to stop him from dying on the cross God would have moved Heaven and earth to restrain that man’s choice from bringing actual results.
The religious leaders had determined not to pursue Jesus during the Passover. However, God overruled their plans; Jesus would be arrested the very time that God foreordained — during Passover. His beloved Son was to be sacrificed during Passover.
Each year the Israelites commemorated the first Passover, when God delivered the Israelites from the tenth plague that fell on Egypt — the death of the firstborn. In faith and obedience, Israelite families killed a lamb and spread its blood over the doorposts of their home the death Angel passed over the homes covered by the blood of the Passover lamb. Jesus fulfilled everything that Passover symbolized. Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
It was necessary for Jesus to die on the cross. It served to affirm His mercy, justice and sovereignty.
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