GOD’S NATURE: THE BASIS OF ATONEMENT

GOD’S NATURE: THE BASIS OF ATONEMENT Lesson 1 for the 4th of October, 2008

JUST GOD IS... ONLY ONE OMNIPRESENT OMNIPOTENT UNCHANGING HOLY TRUTHFUL ETERNAL LOVE OMNISCIENT CREATOR REDEEMER PERFECT PATIENT CLEMENT FORGIVENESS GOODNESS TRUTH FAITHFUL GRACE God is eternal, holy, creator, omniscient,…., but none of those qualities drove Him to atone for man’s sins. Only by His great love He devised and carried out the Plan of Salvation

How does God’s nature influence on our atonement?

God’s OMNIPRESENCE permits that everyone is able to know about the Atonement “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew, 28: 20up) “For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke, 1: 37) God’s OMNIPOTENCE allows Him to resolve any problem that hampers that humanity could understand and get Atonement

God is FORGIVENESS and Atonement makes possible that this divine attribute can be applied to sinner man “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee”(Psalms 86: 5) God’s MERCY makes Him to judge leniently those who have accepted the Atonement of Christ “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy”(Psalms, 103: 8)

God’s IMMUTABILITY assures us that He won’t change his redeeming plan which He prepared for us before Earth’s foundation “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed”(Malachi, 3: 6) God is ONLY ONE; no one out of Him cans save “I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour”(Isaiah, 43: 11)

God is JUST and He devised a plan of redemption which would satisfy justice and, at the same time, would permit humanity’s Atonement “God judgeth the righteous” (Psalms 7: 11) From a PERFECT God came a perfect plan for our salvation “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”(Matthew, 5: 48)

The fact that God is FAITHFUL assures us that as He has accomplished part of Atonement so far, He will accomplish it until our final redemption “Because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee”(Isaiah, 49: 7up) God’s GOODNESS becomes evident in His natural tendency to do right to all His creatures “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared” (Titus, 3: 4)

God is TRUTH and everything He says is TRUTHFUL. He said He would save us, and how He would do that. We can trust in His word absolutely Divine PATIENCE assures us that everyone (those who lived, those who are living and those who will live) will have the opportunity of accepting Atonement “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”(2 Peter, 3: 9) “And now thou art God, and thy words be true”(2 Samuel, 7: 28)

GOD IS ETERNAL God exists because of himself; He doesn’t depend on anybody or anything to exist He is the only one that has life in himself, so He is the only one who cans give life to repentant sinner “When man can measure the exalted character of the Lord of Hosts, and distinguish between the eternal God and finite humanity, he will know how great has been the sacrifice of Heaven to bring man from where he has fallen through disobedience, to become part of the family of God” E.G.W. (Youth's Instructor 11-2-1897)

GOD IS CREATOR As Creator, everything belongs to Him and depends on His power to subsist The same power which He used to create us in His image, will re-create that image in us again “Christ came that He might re-create the image of God in man” E.G.W. (The Desire of Ages, page 444)

GOD IS HOLY “They know that they are to wash their robes of character in his blood, to find acceptance with the Father in his name, if they would be in the bright assembly of the saints” There is nothing holier than God and only He is worthy to be praised He cannot stand sin, but He prepared a path–Jesus Christ– so we could be sanctified and we could enjoy comradeship with Him again E.G.W. (Review and Herald, 22-12-1891)

GOD IS OMNISCIENT Despite God knew that sin would exist and that angels and men would fall in it, He didn’t want to abandon them nor decided not to create them He prepared a plan “before the world’s foundation” in order to atone for sin and to bring salvation to the fallen man “Redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam, but an eternal purpose, suffered to be wrought out for the blessing not only of this atom of a world, but for the good of all the worlds that God had created” E.G.W. (That I May Know Him, January 12)

All God’s attributes we know come together and magnify His love. GOD IS LOVE It was for love that God “gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” His eternity, His creative power, His holiness, His omniscience,…, they alone didn’t lead God to plan the salvation of humanity

For God had such love for the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever has faith in him may not come to destruction but have eternal life For God had such love for the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever has faith in him may not come to destruction but have eternal life John, 3: 16

GOD’S NATURE: THE BASIS OF ATONEMENT