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CHAPTER 30

GOD CANNOT CARRY SIN

In the same way that it is impossible for YHWH God to commit sin, so it is also impossible for Him to take on or to carry sin. YHWH is a gracious and merciful God, Who willingly forgives our sins, but He cannot carry them. He is eternally holy and righteous and there is no moment in His existence in which He can cease to possess these qualities. If God should take our sins unto Himself, in that very moment He would become tainted by our sins, and hence, in that very moment would cease to be holy and righteous. That just could not be! Since God desired to redeem man and it was impossible for Him to do so Himself (as it is impossible for God to bear or carry sin), He had to find someone who was qualified, so He sent His Son. Jesus Christ came into the world as the spotless Lamb of God and shed his blood as a sacrifice so that mankind could be reconciled to God. We read in Matthew 27:46: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Being crucified, and in the throes of death, in a loud voice Jesus cried out to his God because his God had forsaken him. Why did YHWH, a

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loving and caring Father abandon His Son, His only begotten Son whom He dearly loves, in this his hour of greatest need? How could a kind and compassionate Father commit such a seemingly cruel act? This now brings us to two very important points to which we must now give serious consideration. Firstly, it is evident that Jesus did not know that God would have forsaken him at this time, and secondly, he did not understand why. The question which Jesus directed to the Father makes that obvious: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? How could Jesus be God and not know that the Father would have forsaken him at this time? How could he be God, and not know why he was forsaken by the Father? How is that possible? So why did the Father forsake his beloved Son in such a dire situation? When Jesus, on the cross, was about to take on the sins of humanity, the Father, Who at the time was indwelling him, had no choice but to abandon him at that point. The Fathers abandonment of the Son at that time is not an indication that the Father was not concerned about him, because it was at that precise moment in time, that the concern of the Father for the Son was at its greatest. Despite such great concern for His Son, however, in that moment, the Father could not have continued to indwell Christ, because by so doing, He God, would have been taking on the sins of the world unto Himself. That simply could not have been allowed to happen! Though the Father dearly loves the Son, in order to redeem mankind He had to place on him all our sins. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53:6). For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Cor. 5:21). These texts speak explicitly that it was on the Son that mans sins were placed; not on the Father. It was the Father Who placed the sins of the world on the Son. He did not and could not have placed mans sins on Himself. In that very instant, when humanitys sins were placed on Christ, he (Christ) became a sinful person, more sinful than the worst of sinners. If the Father had not abandoned Christ when He did, He too would have been left bearing our sins, and in so doing, He too would have become sin (sinful) for us. If that had been allowed to happen, in that very moment, with God bearing mans sins, He would have ceased

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to be pure, holy and righteous. YHWH God could never have allowed that to happen! NEVER! Are you now beginning to understand why it is impossible for Jesus to be God? One very fundamental reason, as we have learned, is that God could not qualify to become the Sacrificial Lamb, since it is impossible for Him to take sin unto Himself. This means that if Jesus were God (whether in his pre-existence or in his humanity), he could not qualify as the propitiation for our sins. He could not have taken on the sins of mankind. The holy and righteous God cannot bear or carry sin. He can only forgive or punish the sinner. Therefore, since it is not His desire to punish the sinner but to forgive, God made the provision whereby we could be forgiven by the sacrifice of His Son, since He did not qualify as the sacrifice.