Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/97

Contributor - Tom Torrance

Title - The Father's Provision

Topic - Editorial

What goes through your mind when you think about bringing children into the world? Do you see all of the wonderful things that they will experience for the first time: friends, school, reading, the seasons, learning skills, working, falling in love, getting married, having children of their own, and so much more? Life, with all of its stages, is a wonderful journey. Do you remember your first visit to a restaurant or a park or a playground? Do you remember your first part-time job? How about your first visit to a shopping mall? Children have a lot to look forward to, and we can certainly experience a little excitement in anticipation of the experiences that they will have. We have such hopes for their happiness.

If you could make a provision for the children that you bring into the world, what might it be? For many parents, the provision would certainly be financial. Many parents, and grandparents for that matter, put something aside for a child's education or for the purchase of a home, someday. Other parents would do something like that if they could, but financial difficulties prevent such gestures. Our generation and our parents' generation seem to have been marked with the burden of debt. The next generation seems to be falling into the same pit. Having a credit card (and the debt that goes with it) is almost as necessary as having a name. You met book a room at an inn without having a credit card. Colleges and universities welcome new students with an invitation and easy access to student credit cards. For thousands of young people, getting an education means taking out a student loan. They leave school in debt and may spend long, hard years struggling to get out of it. Is this part of the provision we have made for our children?

As a father, if it were within my ability, I would gladly pay off all of the debt that fell on my children, and I would try to guide them though life without debt.

Wouldn't that be a sound provision? Wouldn't that make the journey of life better?

In our spiritual life, we are also burdened with debt-the debt of sin. We are born into this debt, and the penalty is death. Our children and our children's children will be born sinners. Everyone is under the burden of this debt.

But God the Father has made a provision for His children. He has paid the price with the agonizing death of His Son, Jesus Christ so that you and I (and our children and our children's children), if we accept His gift, may enter heaven debt free. The slate is wiped dean. Our debts have been paid for us through the provision of a loving Father.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not parish but have eternal life. (John 3.16)

It was not the pains of the flesh (the nails in his hands and feet, the crown of thorns, the wound in his side) that caused Jesus to cry out in agony from the cross. It was the burden of all the sins of the human race. This was the cost of our debt.

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished" With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19.20)

At that moment, all of our debts (our sins) were paid for. On the third day, Jesus rose from death. You and I (and our children and our children's children), if we accept His gift, will have life eternal.

Easter is the celebration of God's wonderful gift to us. It is the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus. It is the Father's provision.

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