Satisfying the requirement for justice

http://www.intouch.org/read/magazine/daily-devotions/the-justice-and-mercy-of-the-cross?firstItem=c84b9c64-219b-4602-8c20-4bdf6a30f534

From the CANON on this blog:

Salvation Verses

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Rom. 3:23

From today’s scripture reading:

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith.

Romans 3:23-27

From today’s devotional:

The cross of Jesus Christ presents us with a dilemma. If the heavenly Father is good and loving, why would He let His Son endure the agony of crucifixion? From our human perspective, there’s nothing loving in this scene. But by looking beyond the obvious, we’ll see an awesome demonstration of love.

To grasp what took place at the cross, we first need to understand that the Lord is absolutely righteous and just. He always does what’s right and never acts contrary to His nature or His Word. On the other hand, mankind is sinful and deserving of eternal punishment. God couldn’t simply decide to forgive us, because He would then cease to be just—justice requires that a penalty be paid for sin. Either the Lord had to condemn us all to suffer His wrath, or He needed to devise a plan that would satisfy His justice yet allow Him to show mercy.

Before the foundation of the world, God already had a plan in place for His sinless Son to come to earth in human flesh to bear our sins (Revelation 13:8). The Father placed upon Him all our guilt and punishment. Because the Savior’s payment fully satisfied divine justice, sinful man could now be declared righteous. Justice punished sin, and mercy rescued sinners.

No matter who you are or what you’ve done, if you accept Christ’s payment on your behalf, you will be saved. God’s goodness and love are proved by the very act that looked cruel and hateful. This was the sole plan that could save us, and God’s perfect Son was the only one qualified to give His life in our place. What’s more, Jesus did it willingly.