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Writer's pictureBible Brian

Good judges punish crime


A lot of Heavenly dilemmas tend to lose their power when you put an earthly spin on them. A common example is the question of how could a good God send anyone to Hell? When we put an earthly spin on this question, it becomes more logical to ask how a good God could not send a sinner to Hell.


I remember one time in church the preacher told a story about a judge who made headlines because he acquitted a burglar just because he thought it took guts to be one. I don't remember if it's a true story, but hearing this, could you not say this judge is actually a very bad judge? Prison isn't nice, but it is the legal, and justified punishment for burglary. When you break the law, the law breaks you. That's how justice works. And yet, so many people ask how a good God could punish a sinner.


Habakkuk 1:13 tells us that God is of purer eyes than to look on evil. With God, sin = death. Like wood to a fire is a sinful man to God. Therefore, just as a good judge must punish a crime, so also must a good God punish sin. Unlike a judge, God is not even capable of making a mistake. He can't judge an innocent man as guilty, a guilty man as innocent or apply a punishment that doesn't fit the crime.


But there is one exception. There was a time when God judged an innocent man as if He was guilty. Jesus, who had no sin of His own, took the full wrath of God upon Himself in our stead. You can think of this as Jesus going to jail for us. Because Jesus took our punishment, we can receive His reward. This is a gift from God to man. All you have to do is open it by faith. Confess Jesus as Lord, and believe God raised Him from the dead, and rather than go to Hell, you will instead go to Heaven forever.

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