Put yourself in God’s shoes: for anyone other than God himself, the following “problem” would be virtually insurmountable:

On the one hand, God is characterized by exquisite order, unalloyed holiness and uncompromising justice. Consequently, every human being is accountable — to the last detail — for every attitude or action taken in this life, whether they are aware of it or not.

God’s “cosmic courtroom,” energized by its unalterable universal moral laws, demands swift and proportional justice.

Adam and Eve were manifestly guilty of the most flagrant offense of all, defying a direct order from God to his face.

Then Adam added to the insult by accusing God of giving him the woman who led him astray. This was an open-and-shut case if ever there was one.

On the other hand, the God revealed in the scriptures is not a dispassionate and remote force or thing. He is a person, possessing the defining characteristics of personality, including intellect, will and emotions.

As the creator of man in his image and likeness, he is intimately connected with humanity, his most precious race of creatures. When they hurt, he hurts.

So how can the demands of his holiness and justice be reconciled with the compelling force of his love and mercy? Bear in mind that this adjudication process is not done in private, but in full view of all intelligences, principalities and powers in the universe.

God’s own standards of holiness and justice are continually being evaluated and weighed — his reputation is at stake in this contest.

Sin, which is any attitude or action that falls short of God’s perfection (literally, missing the mark, an archery term), cannot just be winked away or simply dismissed (even if He wanted to, which He does not) — at least not in the universe that God in fact created.

To overlook or minimize the slightest holy demand would be to call into question God’s righteous character, His holy law, and His authority to administer universal affairs fairly and consistently.

Who would respect a court of law that arbitrarily sentenced one man to death for a parking violation and let another off scot-free for murder?

Even God cannot arbitrarily change the demands of His own righteousness. If He saves anyone who has been justly condemned by His law, that salvation must fully satisfy the requirements of His righteousness — to the letter.

God’s ultimate solution to this divine conundrum is as creative as it is radical. A hint: someone is going to have to “pay the bill,” but not just anyone — one who has “the assets” to settle the bill in full.

That brings us to the notion of substitution — the innocent in place of the guilty …

The solution to God’s “dilemma” was no less dramatic and radical as the problem itself. Heaven stood breathless as Adam and Eve placed God in a seemingly impossible position.

This was no oops or minor slip-up on the part of man, but a spit-in-your-eye affront to the God of the universe — all played out in public.

Would God react as He did when Lucifer rebelled, and summarily banish them from His garden, His kingdom and ultimately His heavenly life? Was the universe to be spoken out of existence and dismissing all creatures in the process?

Remember, not just the fates of Adam and Eve hung in the balance but all humanity down to the present day.

But then, as we said, “The omnipotent God who flung the universe into being with a word would have to admit defeat at the hands of mere mortals in full view of the collective intelligences of the universe.” Not.

Cosmic Solution

The cross of Christ was central to God’s ultimate solution to this cosmic predicament. Although God would never alter the stringent demands of His own righteousness, He was, as the omnipotent master of the universe, able to perfectly satisfy the demands of that righteousness Himself.

In fact, since every human was automatically sin-doomed by Adam and Eve’s rebellious actions, no one else but God could do anything about it.

And so, He took it upon Himself to step into the affairs of man at great personal cost. Think of the proverbial good Samaritan who steps between two men to break up a fight, only to get pummeled himself.

Similarly, God steps into the affairs of man — but not without paying a price. He revealed an ingenious way to fully settle all claims of divine justice against the sinner, while providing a full and free pardon for the recipient.

Picture this: There you stand in front of the cosmic court of law, having been charged, tried and convicted of crimes against heaven and against your fellowman.

The judge somberly places a black handkerchief on his head and pronounces that, for these crimes, you are to be taken to a place of execution and put to death.

You’re stunned and reel around to beg someone in the court for mercy, anyone, please help! But everyone is powerless to lift so much as a finger.

As the reality of your predicament settles in, the bailiffs move forward to take you away.

But then, something unheard-of occurs.

The judge stands up, takes off his robe, and walks around to the front of his own desk and stands next to you. He casts a loving eye in your direction and addresses the court.

“Your Honor (now speaking to his freshly vacated chair), I would like to substitute myself for this man (you) and I want to be executed in his place.”

The courtroom buzzes in shock and amazement.

There is nothing anyone can do to stop the judge, now acting as your savior, from receiving in his own person the penalty that he himself imposed as the righteous judge.

He signs the necessary papers, making himself the legally guilty party, as you are fully pardoned and free to go.

The process is perfectly legal, just and final. Instead of reaching for you, the bailiffs now seize the judge and take him to the gallows.

He dies. You live.

As written in 1 Peter 3:18, “That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all — was put to death and then made alive — to bring us to God.”

With His righteousness fully satisfied through the substitutionary death of Christ, God is free to lavish His grace on the worst of sinners, and no one can raise an objection.

In Jesus’ day, just as in ours, this notion of grace being extended to the undeserving greatly offends the proud heart of self-righteous man.

Our world runs on a “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” economy. God’s economy skips over such worldly principles and extends a friendly hand to anyone willing to take their place as a common sinner.

However strict or demanding God’s righteousness might be, God Himself (the judge) has provided — to the uttermost. And, as described in 2 Corinthians 5:19, all of this was accomplished through Christ: 

“God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them …”

What Good Friday Is All About

The entire solution was accomplished within the trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Man had nothing to do with it, since he was part of the problem.

God made the problem His own, anticipating it before man was ever created and providing the solution in advance.

Remember, God went to great ends to buy you back from “the slave market of sin.” It cost Him the blood of His son, Jesus.

His long-predicted unblemished lamb (Jesus) was killed to fulfill God’s redemption of mankind — a plan that was in place before He created the world, before He created the first man, before sin wreaked its havoc.

And immediately after Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice, God signified His acceptance of that sacrifice by raising Him from the dead.

This provided the incontrovertible proof that all who trust in Him will share in His resurrection and spend eternity in glory together with their savior.

This plan of redemption by Christ’s cross was no afterthought, or Plan B.

God was not caught by surprise by Adam’s sin, nor did He need to cook up a quick solution. God knew what He was doing from the start, before anything was created.

He had big plans for mankind — bigger even than the angels — to conform mankind into the very image of His son.

And to do that, He graciously met the demands of His own justice up front.

Now that’s good news!

4-1-1

Click here for a fascinating AI-generated podcast on this essay.