Infinite Distance

We must occasionally bring to mind the great gulf between sinful man and our Holy Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer. We must recall Who and What He is, and who and what we were in order to more fully comprehend and appreciate what He did! We should not want to dwell on who we “were” but rather appreciate more what He did for us.

What we were is in 1 Cor. 6:9-11... Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate by perversion, nor those who participate in homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers whose words are used as weapons to abuse, insult, humiliate, intimidate, or slander, nor swindlers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God. And such were some of you before you believed. But you were washed by the atoning sacrifice of Christ, you were sanctified, set apart for God, and made holy, you were justified, declared free of guilt in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit of our God the source of the believer’s new life and changed behavior. (AMP)

All those sins. And then it says... (we) were washed by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, (we) were sanctified and made holy (set apart) for God, (we) were justified (declared free of guilt) in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit of our God, the source of the believer’s new life and changed behavior.  (AMP)

Christ came in the flesh, under the Law, to fulfill the Law on our behalf.

Galatians 3:13, says, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”

What is the “curse of the law?” The curse is that sinful man cannot keep the law and is therefore condemned by it, followed by the death that it brings. The curse is the penalty levied for not keeping the law. The law was and is the ministry of death, 2 Cor. 3. The law makes faith necessary... The just shall live by faith. Jesus was sinless. He kept the law perfectly. There was no condemnation on Him. And He did not have to die.

Jesus became a curse on the cross... for us.

Luke 16:19-31 we read of what was a great gulf fixed... an infinite distance between hell and paradise. Today we see a great division between wealth and poverty, we see the desperate isolation between torment and comfort, between the dark abyss of sin and the glorious light of holiness... we perceive the everlasting separation of eternal life and eternal death. Death closes the door on those who will not be persuaded even though One rose from the dead. There is also a great gulf FIXED between the lowest man and the highest beast, which has no trace of God-consciousness. Science and Darwin have done nothing to bridge that infinite gulf.

There is also, a very great “GULF” between sinful man and a Holy God, but it is NOT fixed except in the impenitent hearts and minds of the lost.

The great gulf between rejection and acceptance is bridged by confession and faith.

But God is unknowable to the “natural” (faithless) man. It was difficult enough for Job, a perfect and upright man, and his “friends.” In Job 11:7-9, his friend Zophar says, Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than hell; what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.

He was unknown to me before someone gave me the book of John, and indeed those words are full of Grace and Truth. They convincingly declared to me the sufferings of an innocent man, crucified because God did not want me to go to hell, even though I was deserving of it. I saw the rich man in hell as being me, I sensed his torment. And I saw Lazarus comforted in the bosom of Abraham. I wanted to be Lazarus. Jesus went to the cross because He spoke the truth of a Holy God and the eternal separation of sinful man, and HE Himself (that is, God) would make reconciliation by His atoning sacrifice.

2 Cor. 5:19&21 says, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Our God is an EXCEEDINGLY GREAT God! He is Who we call Father... because He has bridged that great gulf for the elect with the cross of Jesus our Lord. But what God and Jesus have done is more than a “bridge.” We are united with Jesus in Christ! This is a union which exists between our souls and our Lord and our God even WHILE IN THE WORLD. How deep and broad is this mystery of our communion!

2 Pet. 1:3-4, His divine power has bestowed on us everything necessary for a dynamic spiritual life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has bestowed on us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may escape from the depravity that is in the world because of evil desire, and become partakers of the divine nature. (AMP)

This is not an “escape” from the world when we leave, or that we partake of the divine nature in heaven... but it is for NOW so that the world might know that we are the children of God! It is not enough that we were made righteous, but now we must practice righteousness, as James says.

We believers have a living connection with God. He can truly be called our Father, but not because He made us, but because He redeemed us. Peter’s statement is hardly different from Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:16-19 where he prays...

That He would grant (us), according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in (our) hearts through faith; and that (we), being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that (we) might be filled with all the fulness of God (in the inner man).
This is not Bible study classroom knowledge; this is an experiential lesson... this is to be lived!

Paul’s preface asking for power “to be strengthened with might” ...in order to be able to “comprehend” the scope and totality of, not only God’s love but also of Jesus’ love, implies that Divine enabling is essential. And so is the believer’s “desire to know.” Paul said, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.” The word “know” when used in these contexts, refers to a perfect knowledge of spiritual mysteries, as opposed to academic learning, or carnal knowledge.

Our Father in heaven, above all else I pray that Your will be done in Your time as You have ordained in Your pleasure. You have predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Yourself, according to the good pleasure of Your will. Who can explain Your decisions? You have made known to us the mystery of Your will, according to Your good pleasure which You purposed in Yourself. Who can understand Your ways? How can we know the depths of the riches both of Your wisdom and knowledge? I thank You for your Grace which has revealed to us Your wisdom by Your Word. Your servant David said, Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. But we have the mind of Christ! We have Your Holy Spirit the revealer, to help us understand. So as men, we cannot know; but as saints we understand. In Jesus’ name we thank you. Amen