Only through the Son’s seeking and finding and
Only through the Son's seeking and finding and through the Spirit's enlightening can sinners re turn to the Father. Without the Son's redemption and the Spirit's enlightenment, we cannot come home to Him. Furthermore, if the Son had not died for us, the Father would not have the ground to receive us. However, because of the redemp tive death of His Son, the Father has the ground to receive all who come to Him through Christ. This indicates that the Father's receiving of us must be according to His righteousness. Apart from the incarnation and crucifixion of Christ, there is no way for the righteous God to receive us and to impart Himself into us. If God were to dispense Himself into us without the requirement of His righteousness being fulfilled, He would place Himself in an unrighteous position. There fore, the dispensation of the Triune God must be according to His righteousness.
God's righteousness required that we die be cause of our sin. However, if we had died, we would have perished. Because God does not want us to perish, He provided Christ as our substi tute. Christ died on the cross for us according to God's righteousness to fulfill God's requirements. The purpose of Christ's death on the cross was not to enable us to go to heaven when we die; it