When Standing Before God Terrifies You
Stories of injustice trouble me. The accounts of innocent people being victimized are bad enough, but when no one steps in on behalf of those victims, the story takes a far more tragic turn.
My story is equally tragic, but I’m not innocent. I am a victim, but I am a victim of my own sin. Injustice for me would mean not getting what I deserve. I fully deserve the justice that is coming to me, and that’s what terrifies me.
Let me correct that. I was once terrified by the justice that was coming to me.
A tragic figure in the Old Testament was the man Job. He had it all, and he lost it all. Kids, property, health. He was left with a wife who wanted him to curse God and die and three cheery friends who tried to ease his pain by telling him what a miserable sinner he was. Gee, thanks.
Job was terrified. He was known as a righteous man—even God Himself acknowledged that (Job 1:8). He had an appropriate fear of God—that reverential awe and humility before the sovereign Lord of the universe—but that fear took on an element of terror when Job was at his lowest. Job rightfully knew God was God and He can do as He chooses, yet he wished he could plead his case before God. But how could he plead his case when the Judge he would stand before was also the One prosecuting him?
Job wished for someone to plead his case for him.
“For he is not a man like me, that I can answer him, that we can take each other to court. There is no mediator between us, to lay his hand on both of us. Let him take his rod away from me so his terror will no longer frighten me. Then I would speak and not fear him. But that is not the case; I am on my own” (Job 9:32-35).
To stand before God without an advocate is a very lonely place to stand—and a terrifying one.
That is where we all stand. Guilty sinners standing before God with no valid excuse or alibi for our sin. But there is an Advocate! And He is even a “court-appointed attorney.” Sin and guilt must be dealt with, and God sent His Son to represent us, to take our guilt upon Himself. He died and took the punishment we deserve.
This Friday is Good Friday, the day of Jesus’s death by crucifixion. As a kid, I thought it was odd to call it Good Friday, but I discovered what makes it so wonderfully good. In His love, Jesus took my death upon Himself, so I need not fear death. I need not fear punishment. I no longer need to be terrified of what awaits me because what now awaits me is forgiveness. A new life. Righteousness.
“He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).
Job felt like he had no one to speak on his behalf, but we need not feel that way. Jesus—God Himself!—speaks for us.
“But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one. He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2).
We no longer need to live in terror. We should fear God for the almighty, all-powerful God that He is, but abject terror should be a thing of the past. In fact, we can now stand before God with boldness. Not arrogance, but a confident boldness grounded in the eternal relationship we’ve been given in Christ. We rest safely in His hands (John 10:28-29).
“Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).
As for Job, he may have felt like a helpless victim, but he still looked confidently forward to a Redeemer, one who would rescue him. And that’s just what happened.
“But I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the end he will stand on the dust. Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh. I will see him myself; my eyes will look at him, and not as a stranger” (Job 19:25-27).
Let’s be thankful this Friday for the Redeemer and Advocate we have in Christ.
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