The Story Behind the Story (2)

"Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said. . . 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God.'" -Hebrews 10: 5, 7.

"Theologians speak of another kind of covenant that is not between God and man, but is among the members of the Trinity. This covenant they call the 'covenant of redemption.' It is a covenant among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in which the Son agreed to become a man, be our representative, obey the demands of the covenant of works on our behalf, and pay the penalty for sin which we deserved." -Wayne Grudem

In the first segment of The Story Behind the Story, we ended with a look at Satan's motives and looked ahead to the fall of man.

God's response to man's rebellion against His will and purposes is anger--what the Bible calls wrath. We tend to equate wrath with outburst of anger or rage, but the wrath of God is an ongoing attitude towards those who will not recognize His sovereignty over them. The fact that we don't like this attribute of God is a pretty good evidence of the rebellion of our own hearts. When you think about it, God certainly has a right to set down the laws of His creation and enforce them if necessary.

But the wrath of God is the result of something deeper than just a challenge to His authority. Consider where God's love is principally centered: in the Person of His Son. If Satan could not attack the Son's majesty, he could twist and distort the image. When God looks at fallen man, he sees the most beautiful image in the universe broken, marred, and perverted. Satan's successful attack on man struck not just at the sovereignty of God, but at His very heart. Satan's temptation pulled man down to a level that deserved God's wrath; and yet the image remained, though marred. God had originally intended this creature to be part of a drama to be enacted before the whole creation. So what is God to do? Justice demands a penalty; love demands a solution that will not circumvent justice.

Somewhere in pre-history, or to be more accurate, somewhere outside time and space, the Trinity held a conference and agreed upon what theologians call the covenant of redemption. The Father made a plan, the Son agreed to carry it out, and the Holy Spirit agreed to apply it both in the Son and in believers. The Son agreed to become a second Adam. As Adam stood for all his descendants when he succumbed to rebellion, so the Son would become representative man, and do for them what they could not do for themselves: live a perfect life and bear the penalty of God's justice. The Trinity basically planned an invasion.

This plan was so unforeseen, so unbelievable, so audacious, so opposite to human thought, that even the most religious men of Jesus' day couldn't see it--though a calloused Roman soldier was moved by it on the spot. The plan was simply backwards. That's why when men hear of it, they are called to "repent," a word that does not mean to feel sorry or be remorseful, but to "change your mind"--flip your mind around to accept what is the foolhardy daring of God.

Next: The S-word.