Why God Cannot Fail Us: Underscoring the Impossibility of Divine Failure

.

.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me,

so far from the words of my groaning?”

Psalm 22:1

It is impossible for fallen mortal humans to grasp the implications of the cross without the assistance of the Holy Spirit who inspired King David to compose Psalm 22 a millennium prior to the Savior’s echoing verse one from the cross.  This is the wonder of it all–the inerrant, infallible, corroborating proof of the Word of God set forth in the unparalleled Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

The apostle Peter, a participant in this wonder of wonders, put it this way:

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. [1]

There is one matter, however, that needs to be made patently clear–Peter was not merely describing an isolated miraculous event but was himself a participant in the event as a first-hand witness to the Messiah’s fulfillment of the Old Testament promise of redemption.  Christ Jesus chose Peter to be a unique apostolic leader and witness of that event so that succeeding generations of the church might know beyond the shadow of a doubt that their faith rests upon reliable evidence. 

To be a Christian is not a blind leap into the dark.  While it is a spiritual event, involving the transformation of a person’s innermost being and transcending human reason, it is based upon the well-founded rational testimony of first-hand witnesses to certain historical events: the miraculous birth of Jesus of Nazareth, His miracles and teaching, and particularly his voluntary death on behalf of sinful human beings (including ourselves), followed by his bodily resurrection three days later.

David C. Brand.

[1] 2 Peter 1:3-4.

David C. Brand currently resides in Wooster, Ohio, with his wife Marilyn.  This couple first met at a high school youth conference conducted on the campus of the College of Wooster.  Married in 1964, Dave and Marilyn have four grown children and eight grandchildren.  Dave completed his B.A. at the College of Wooster, his B. D. at Fuller Seminary, and his Th.M. from Westminster Seminary.  In 1991 the American Academy of Religion published his Th.M. thesis under the title Jonathan Edwards, Self-Love, and the Dawn of the Beatific.  It is available through Oxford University Press.

.