In my last post I discussed God's role as our Creator and His purpose for doing so. This time we are going to take a look at God's role as our King. This role is vital in understanding a lot of God's decisions. Today the word king has a very negative connotation to it, especially in the United States. This was because we rebelled against the rule of a tyrant. Would we still have rebelled if King George had been a kind and gracious king? God isn't just a kind, gracious, and patient king. God is the most kind, most gracious, and most patient king. God is so gracious that he has never done anything that wasn't for our benefit. Psalm 103:8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
I discussed a couple these things in my previous post. One of those is that He created us and the world around us. The other is that He gave us dominion over it. Another thing that God did for our benefit is give us the Law through Moses on Mount Sinai. Why is this for our benefit? At the time God had just delivered the Jews from their oppression in Egypt and they were a new nation. Any nation needs laws so God gave them laws that if they kept them then they would be called His people. It is important to point out that these laws (the Ten Commandments) are impossible for us to keep because they are God's standards and no one who is not Him can keep them. As the King, God punished the Jews when they failed to keep His laws although more often than not it merely involved God standing aside to let them harvest the fruit of their own actions so that they would learn that God's way is always the best way. 1 Samuel 8:7 And the LORD said to Samuel, "Obey the voice of the people in all they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. But no matter how many times they turned away from Him, God was always willing to welcome them back with open arms once they realized just how much they needed Him.
God loves us very much and takes His duty as our King very seriously. He knew that we would never be able to keep His holy laws because of our own sinful nature. However, He can't change the laws because the Law is a reflection of who God is and changing them would mean that He denied His own holiness. Yet all crime must be punished. Sin must be paid for. So what did God do in the face of this dilemma, knowing that sin cannot be unpunished but still wanting us to be able to be with him? He sent his one and only Son to take the punishment in our stead. Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
As our King, God had to make a very hard decision in order to save His people. He had to sacrifice His innocent Son to the death that we rightfully deserved for rebelling against His law. I can't imagine what that would feel like but I don't know many fathers who would willingly sacrifice their innocent children so that some outlaws might be saved. That is what makes God such a merciful King. He sacrificed his Son to the traitor’s death that we deserved, in order to save us from that very thing.
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