Questions from Our Readers

There are many Scriptures which point to a universal truth concerning mankind. In Psalm 14:2&3 we read that “the LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” In Romans, chapters 1-3, Paul establishes that all the world is guilty before God. With God there is no respect of persons, meaning that the Lord is sovereign and judges according to His eternal and divine standards, not those of man. In Ecclesiastes 9:2 we read that “all things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean …”, etc. (italics are mine—HH).

It is also proper to ask questions in this manner. Why were you stricken with sickness but not others? Why must you be afflicted and bear a heavy cross but not others? Why …? The answer is the same as we mentioned before. The purpose is to bring us at the feet of the Lord. I once heard a minister preach who explained that God’s children learn to thank the Lord for the afflictions they receive. At one point this minister said, “O God, I thank Thee that I was counted worthy to receive yet a blow.” Even in this the Lord made a difference where there is no difference. David wrote, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes” (Psalm 119:71). In verse 75 he writes, “I know, O LORD, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.”

Finally, I wish to point to one example in the Bible where God made no difference when righteously He could have made a difference. Could not the Lord have spared His own Son, the Son of His eternal good pleasure, the Son whom He loved from before the foundations of the world, the Son who was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was? This is the Son who was by Him as one brought up with Him, daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, but with this Son God made no difference; He did not spare Him. Should not God have made a difference with His Son? Should not He have spared such a Son who is so holy, undefiled, and harmless? On the contrary, we read that it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, to smite Him, and to put His soul to grief. All this was necessary so that a difference may be made manifest to whomever is sovereignly brought under the truth of Jesus, the Mediator, who with His shed blood reconciles sinners with God. Jesus is the Mediator of reconciliation, intercession, and communion. Glory to God in the highest that you and I may hear of such a Mediator. God makes a difference where there is no difference. p

Please send your questions to Rev. H. Hofman, 112 Pratt Road, Kalamazoo, MI 49001, or hofman@premieronline.net.

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