Can God Look On Sin?

Recently during my prayer and study time I discovered that a statement I have spoken many times was leading me to an incorrect understanding. So many times I have been told and repeated to others the statement "God cannot look on sin." What this statement portrays is that somehow God has a weakness. He is flawed. You see I would get this mental picture of sin being kinda like God's krytonite. Just like superman having one flaw, God's was sin.

Here is what that lead me to believe. I was still sinful by my nature so God still couldn't look at me. So Jesus by my salvation stood in front of me, sort of like a screen or a filter. That way God only saw Jesus not me.

It's a great analogy but it left me with no understanding of my current state before God. Because my thought pattern left me as nothing had really changed about me, I was still really unacceptable. Not unacceptable to God but unacceptable to man.

It left me with a warped perception of who I now was and what my worth to Him was. Furthermore, with my old self worth still intact, I was still not good enough. God might be able to accept me now because Jesus had stepped in front of me as a buffer but the true nature of my self worth hadn't changed. God just didn't see me the same as everyone else because He was looking at Jesus not me.

Here is the truth..... and it changed everything for me. God CAN look on sin. Satan goes before God and he is full of sin. (a subject for another day) Satan is a different being. He is Spirit not human. We are not told the penalty of death is for him, no, it's for humanity.

Here's the thing, it's not that God can't look on sin, it's that if man goes in the presence of God with sin on him he will die. God could show himself to us but the penalty for our sins would come into play and we would drop down dead. The penalty of sin is death. So the penalty for man going before God with sin on him is death. Hence the seperation from God. Since we now have a sin nature and cannot keep from sinning, we must be seperated from God.

With sin comes death. In order to cleanse our sin off of us the penalty must be paid, blood must be shed, death must come. In the old testament, the Hebrew people would make blood sacrifices to attone for their sin. Once a year the high priest would go into the holy of holys in the presence of God. Before he would do this, he would make sacrifices for the week prior. There would be extra sacrifices made to make sure all the sin was attoned for so he wouldn't die once he was in the presence of God.

When Jesus came and died as a sinless man, the ultimate price was paid. The final and lasting penalty was paid. At the cross he proclaimed "It is finished" and it was. The penalty was paid for all mankind forever. The penalty of death was removed. Yes, we are still left with a sinful nature that wants to sin. But with our acceptance of Jesus Christ, we are covered by His blood sacrifice, therefore, we are blameless before God.

With the acceptance of Jesus as my Savior and Lord comes a new life. I am "born again" "a new creation". The old nature no longer has to hold me and I am made righteous and good enough not just before God but before man. The old person is gone and the new is now living. I am not that old person with the same self worth. I am different, new, worth much.

What freedom this brought me. I hope if you are stuck in a wrong perception of who you are in Jesus Christ, this will help you to know you too are enough.