From or For

"For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness rein in life through the one man, Jesus Christ."- Romans 5:17

I had an interaction on social media recently about God and His redemption for His creation through His Son. I made a comment and then someone responded by saying “What’s the point of God saving His creation from himself?” (I added the bold and italics)

This is a great question, but a common misconception of Jesus. Yes, the wrath of God is what He saved us from, but He didn’t save us from Himself. On the contrary, He saved us for Himself!

To see God as a “cosmic game player” (this person did suggest that) is a sad view of who He really is! This God who created this world with love and in perfection did not plan on His creation failing.

However, when we did, He kept us in His hands. He didn’t let us go. We as humans have to own the fact that we failed. Our sin is what separated us from Him. We hold that. He didn’t cause us to sin and still doesn’t.

He knows our flaws. He also knows and knew that there was/is no way we could possibly come to Him on our own due to our brokenness.

From the very beginning He wanted us for His own. The problem is, when we sin, we are putting our selfish desires above Him. He is no longer our main priority when we choose to sin and continue to separate ourselves from Him.

This is why He sent His Son. It is FOR Himself and not FROM himself He saved us. He wants us to be His again.

He called His Son to die for us to be reunited with Him. That was His purpose. In Romans, Paul shares, “If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.” (v. 5)

This misconception of a God who sent His Son to die in order to save us from Himself is flawed. Everything points to a God who sent us a Savior to redeem us in order to be with Him in the end. He wants us back. He wants us for Himself in order to bring glory to His name.

His mercy redeems us. His grace refreshes us. His death forgave us. His resurrection reconciled us. We are His and we are saved for HIS Glory!

QUESTION: How do you view God and the sacrifice of Jesus, for or from?