#18.

The Lord's Supper Proclaims the Justice of God

Hebrews 2:13a For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard,
so that we do not drift away from it. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable,
and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, 3 how will we escape if we
neglect so great a salvation?...
"I don't think a God of love would send anyone to hell"
"Sin can't be that serious - why doesn't God just let us off?"
These are the words of those who have created a god in their own image because the God of the
Bible is unpalatable to them. They bring God down to the level of sinful humans, making Him
no different than the next person.
The fact of the matter, though, is that the God of Scripture is very different than you and me. He
is not a "comfortable" God. As the well-known author, CS Lewis, said of Aslan the lion (a
picture of Jesus) in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", He is not safe, but He is good.
He is so pure and holy that He cannot bear sin in His presence - it instantly provokes His anger
and His wrath, because it is an offence against His character. Every sin must be punished as it
rightly deserves. We are out of touch with how sinful sin is. Sin itself has blurred our vision so
we think of it as nothing that important. We excuse "little sins" and "white lies" and have even
embraced some heinous sins as desirable, doing them and encouraging others to do so too. So
Paul refers to us all as the children of God's wrath, living in lust and pride, and walking in the
footsteps of our father, Satan (Ephesians 2:1-3).
God does not see sin as a small thing, something to wink at and sweep under the carpet. He does
not look on us, smiling as an indulgent father as He sees our rebellion against Him - our wicked,
selfish pursuit of pleasure at all costs and our utter disdain and contempt for Him and everything
He stands for. We have broken His law at every point, and He assures us that He will by no
means leave guilty sinners unpunished.
This may seem like a strange way to begin a meditation on what is proclaimed in the Lord's
Supper, but that is far from the case, since the Table proclaims the justice of God. If anyone was
to be saved from their sins, those sins had to be punished to the full extent of the justice of
God. He could not overlook them, or He would no longer be true to Himself - He would no
longer be the God of Scripture.
So He sent Jesus to the cross in the place of His people. He charged Jesus as guilty of their sins
(though He had never sinned at all) and then He poured out His just wrath upon His own Son,
and Jesus received the wages of our sins, and died.
For those who think God wouldn't send anyone to hell, look at the cross and see Jesus sent to hell
in the place of His people and punished in their place. If God would do this to the Son of His
love so that He could save His people, do not think for a moment that He would hesitate to do

the same to those who have hated Him and rejected Him from the womb!
For those who think that sin is not serious - look at the cross, see the bitter pain and agony of
Jesus Christ, and ask yourself whether God takes sin seriously or not.
For those who think that God might just let us off, look at the cross and realize that for anyone to
be saved and to enter heaven, not one sin could be ignored - they all had to be dealt with on the
cross.
And note another way in which God is not like us. He didn't apply one standard to us and a
different, more lenient standard to His Son. He doesn't send us to hell for our sins (if we continue
to spit in His face and refuse His rule in our lives) but stop short of sending Jesus to hell for the
sins of those He had determined to save in His amazing love. He is consistent, and He is totally
just.
Next time you come to the Table, listen to what it has to say about the justice of God. Marvel if
you are His child according to His matchless grace, and tremble if you are still a child of His
wrath and drawing inexorably nearer to the fires of hell.
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