How the Hunter Biden pardon saga brings you one step closer to understanding the gospel
If you in any way shape or form feel there was something unfair or shady about the pardon of Hunter Biden, hold on tight to that feeling, you are going to need it in a second..
This kind of exercise of pardon is precisely the answer to the age old question, “Why did God not just forgive us for our sins? What is the point of sending Jesus Christ?”
Let us ignore all the dirty politics and corruption allegations around the Hunter Biden story for a moment. Let us dispassionately look at the situation. When we do so we realise that in as much as we can relate to the love of a father for his son, In as much as it is a heart warming story of a father’s forgiveness and show of grace, there is one fundamental aspect to this, to wit; It is just not fair! Justice has not been done! We might not query the heart behind the forgiveness but we can sure as hell criticize the process of the forgiveness.
The second element to this is that for all intents and purposes under the law, Hunter Biden remains guilty. All the pardon does is to ensure he will, at least on a federal level, not be punished for his guilt. More than the mere collective feeling of unfairness in the zeitgeist of public opinion, there is actual, palpable guilt floating around as well. There has been a crime but there will be no punishment thus adding salt to injury!
Now revisit your feeling of angst and unfairness at the pardon. This is how Satan and the host of heaven would have felt if God had chosen to just pardon mankind due to his love for them. Say what you want about Satan but he lawfully took dominion from Adam at the garden, the restoration of that dominion could not be anything other than lawful.
Equally, the heavenly host would have had similar feelings of “unfairness”. God is a God of justice, everything He does MUST be done in fairness. Even the mercy of God has to be underpinned by justice, hence the very foundation of His throne is described thus,
“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Mercy and truth go before Your face.”
(Psalm 89:14)
And again,
“He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice,
A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.”
(Deuteronomy 32:4)
Righteousness must underpin and undergird every action the God of the universe takes. If He is to forgive, the process must be unassailable and not found wanting when weighed on the scale of justice.
In Jesus Christ, there is a righteous basis to forgive sin because sin is punished in Him. If sin has been punished in Him, it means as many as come to God through him can indeed be guilt-free. As Isaiah writes,
“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.”
(Isaiah 53:10–11)
In Christ, there is an atonement, a real handling of the sin problem. An expiation of guilt.
“being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
(Romans 3:24–26)
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
(John 3:16)
The cross of Christ demonstrates God’s righteousness as well as His love. Satan for his part can no longer feel hard done by because he, by tempting Judas Iscariot, had a hand in putting Jesus, a man who had not sinned so had no business dying, to death. The host of heaven cannot feel the forgiveness of man is unfair because an extraordinary price was paid by God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ to atone for man’s sin.
The Hunter Biden story (again ignoring all the political drama and corruption) might very well be a case of a loving father forgiving his son at the expense of justice. Everyone who asks why God does not forgive without the cross would do well to recall this story. God cannot love at the expense of justice and if justice is to be done how can he show love? In Christ however,
“Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed.”
(Psalm 85:10)
In conclusion, we see in the one story, a father’s love moving him to pervert the course of justice and on the other story, we see a Father honouring justice by giving up His only Son so that His love can be grounded in justice. This is the gospel my friend.
