Justice

I've been thinking lately about a question I hear posed a lot: how can God punish our finite sins with an infinite punishment (hell)?  How is that fair?  Here is an analogy that I have used, that even kids can understand.

If your big brother says to you, "Go and do this for me," and you say, "No!  I want to do what I want to do," you'll probably get punched or yelled at.  But that's it... because he's just your big brother, and disobeying him isn't that big of a deal.


If your parents say to you, "Go and do this for me," and you say, "No!  I want to do what I want to do," you'll probably get sent to your room, or spanked.  The punishment is greater, because it's important to obey your parents.


If there was a king, and he called you and said to you, "Go and do this for me," and you said, "No!  I want to do what I want to do," what do you think would happen then?  You would probably get thrown in the dungeon or beheaded, because it's the KING, and you must never disobey the King!


So what do you think should happen to us when the omnipotent, glorious, eternal Sovereign God, King, and Judge of the entire universe, who is infinitely holy and pure and beautiful, who created us for himself, says to us, "Go and do this for me," and we say, "No!  I want to do what I want to do!"  Surely, infinite woe must be the portion of any soul who would dare to insult the King of the universe to His face.

The severity of the transgression increases with the glory of the One transgressed against.  As J.I. Packer wrote, "There can be no small sins against a great God."

Praise God that we have an atonement great enough to cover the height of our iniquity!