The Father Accepts the Payment

Imagine that I go to a friend and say: “Don, I’m in trouble. I need to borrow $10,000. Would you lend me $10,000?” And Don says, “Sure. He lends me $10,000 and I understand that I now owe him $10,000. We have a perfectly legal, perfectly ethical arrangement. Unfortunately, I wake up one morning and I find out I can’t pay the $10,000. Now I’m in big trouble. However, my sister says: “Don’t worry about it. I’ll pay the $10,000.” So she pays Don the $ 10,000 that I owe. Now I owe Don nothing. My debt has been canceled 100 percent. In fact, he must receive that $10,000 legal tender in payment for the debt because the only responsibility I have to him is pay the money. That’s the way a debt is.

But suppose I were to break into Don’s house and steal $10,000. Don comes home, finds his $10,000 missing, and calls the police. The police find my fingerprints, track me down, and find the $10,000 in my possession, so they arrest me. I might say: “I’m sorry that happened. Here, take the money. Give it back to Don and lets just forget it .” Or perhaps I’ve spent the money by the time they arrest me, but my sister steps in again and says, “Wait a minute, I’ll give him the $10,000.” In either scenario, Don is not bound to receive that $10,000 and wipe the slate clean because not only have I incurred a “debt” to Don, I have committed a crime against him and have violated him as a person. He has the right to decide whether he will accept that payment and refuse to press charges—because he is the one who has been wronged.

When Jesus offers to make satisfaction for me, In order for that payment to be accepted, God the father, Who is my Creditor, the party I have violated, and my Judge, must decide and decree that He will accept that payment from another in my behalf. In other words, if I owe God the death penalty because I sinned against Him, and Jesus says, “I will die for him,” and then lays down His life and dies for me, would the Father be under any obligation whatsoever to accept that payment? No. There first must be a judgment by the Governor of the universe that He will in fact accept a substitutionary payment for my debt, my enmity, and my crime.